WINTER/SPRING 20 14
Magazine
Forward Ever Forward Saint John’s Launches Campaign p. 28
Johnnies Serve Rural Tennessee p. 10 What Says “Saint John’s” to You? p. 16 Creating Entrepreneurs p. 18
Magazine WINTER/SPRING 2014
28 Departments My Perspective 2 View from Collegeville 3 Service to the Church 8 In Sight 20 Johnnie Sports 26 Alumni Connection 30 Milestones 34 Inspiring Lives 40
Features 10 Another Kind of Graceland These three Johnnies traveled different paths after SJU, but their roads converged in rural Tennessee.
16 You Know You’re at SJU When … Alumni and friends tell us how they know they’re at SJU and nowhere else.
18 Entrepreneur Launchpad The Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship celebrates ten years.
22 New Teaching Technology Online learning, flipped classes and clickers are in the news these days—and at CSB/SJU.
28 Saint John’s Moves Forward Alumni and friends toasted the announcement of Forward Ever Forward, the Campaign for Saint John’s, on Sept. 27, 2013. On the cover: Math professor Robert Campbell uses technology to improve learning in the classroom. He is pictured in the new Tse Yiu Kai ’59 “smart” classroom in Alcuin Library. The classroom was a gift to Forward Ever Forward, the Campaign for Saint John’s.
SAINT JOHN’S MAGAZINE is the magazine of Saint John’s University. It is published in the fall and winter and the CSB/SJU Magazine is published with the College of Saint Benedict in the spring.
EDITOR Jean Scoon
STAFF CONTRIBUTORS Glenda Burgeson Rob Culligan ’82 Brendon Duffy, SOT ’02 Jennifer Mathews Emery Leslie Hanlon Michael Hemmesch ’97 Adam Herbst ’99 Ted Kain ’12 Jeannie Bykowski Kenevan ’98 Mike Killeen Ryan Klinkner ’04
DESIGN Lori Gnahn
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Julie Scegura
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST Peggy Roske ’77
EDITOR EMERITUS Lee A. Hanley ’58
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LETTERS jscoon@csbsju.edu or Jean Scoon Saint John’s Magazine P.O. Box 7222 Collegeville, MN 56321
ADDRESS CHANGES Ruth Athmann Saint John’s University P.O. Box 7222 Collegeville, MN 56321 rathmann@csbsju.edu Find the Saint John’s Magazine online at csbsju.edu/sjualum/saint-johnsmagazine.htm. © 2014 Saint John’s University
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My Perspective Who is Salman Khan? You may not recognize the name, but I bet you know of him. Khan is the former financial analyst who started tutoring his cousins in math over the Internet, eventually moving his offerings to YouTube. In 2006, those tutorials became the educational website Khan Academy, whose mission is to use distance learning to provide “a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere.” Who would not get excited about such a profound idea? And do the possibilities of distance learning mean the death of place-based education and the institutions that provide a residential experience? At Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict, we view these technological changes as opportunities, not threats. It turns out that providing high quality learning is not quite as simple as combining a great lecturer with a fast Internet connection. A recent study found that completion rates averaged only 4 percent for individual, free, online classes. As Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford professor who founded Udacity, a leading online course provider, said recently, “I’d aspired to give people a profound education—to teach them something substantial, but the data was at odds with this idea.” In another closely watched experiment, San Jose State University offered three low-cost introductory online courses for college credit last year. The program was pronounced a “flop” after less than a quarter of the algebra students passed the class. Students in all the online courses did worse than those taking the equivalent traditional classes. These experiences indicate that, at this juncture, for all its benefits, online pedagogy does not work as well as the traditional brick-and-mortar setting for most students.
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Steve Woit
Michael Hemesath ’81, President
The challenges facing online models remind us of the strengths of our residential, liberal arts experience. On our campuses we live the benefits of small-class discussions, student-faculty interactions and group work. Students and alumni alike testify to the benefits of extracurricular learning on athletic fields, in music practice rooms and in student government. None of this is to say that we will not adapt new technologies and pedagogies to make a CSB/SJU education even better. This is not your grandfather’s bachelor’s degree. While we stick to our residential mission, we will also employ new technology and pedagogies when and where appropriate. In the pages that follow, you will meet a sample of our faculty who are embracing the hard work of change to challenge their students and make their classes better through judicious use of new technology.
View from Collegeville
2017
P 4P Quiz Kevin Curwick ’17 has been nationally recognized for a social media campaign he started at his high school in Osseo, Minn. What issue did his successful campaign address? a. Anti-bullying b. Vending machine selections c. Lack of parking d. School mascots
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ANSWER 4 a. Curwick’s cyberbullying awareness campaign on Twitter has been emulated by other schools and organizations and was featured both in USA Today and Huffington Post.
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Johnathan Nguyen ’17 collected memorabilia for the North Star Museum of Boy Scouting & Girl Scouting as his project to earn what prestigious rank? a. Your Ship’s Purser b. Eagle Scout c. State Historian d. Faculty Resident
o o o o ANSWER 4 b. Nguyen collected o more than 60 boxes of artifacts for his
This fall, 497 young men enrolled in the Saint John’s Class of 2017. These first-year Johnnies come from 24 states and nine countries. Sixteen percent of the class are American students of color, the highest in SJU history. But there’s more to these new Johnnies than statistics. Take our Pop Quiz 2017, and you’ll feel proud of the latest additions to our ranks! of the museum, which is dedicated to preserving the history of scouting in the upper Midwest. Zachary McFarland ’17 hit the target when he achieved several state championships and records in this sport. What is it? a. Skeet shooting b. Javelin c. Shot Put d. Archery
o o o o ANSWER 4 d. McFarland achieved one o Minnesota State Archery Association championship, two state records and three National Field Archery Association state championships. Richard Larkin McLay ’17 was one of just 250 students who attended JSA Summer School at Georgetown University, where top professors and political leaders teach students about government in the nation’s capital. What does JSA stand for? a. Junior State of America b. Jimmy Stewart Association c. Jerry Seinfeld Academy d. Jazz Singers Anonymous
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ANSWER 4 a. At Junior State of America Summer School, Larkin McLay had the opportunity to hear speakers such as U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Rep. Allen West and Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Larkin McKay delivered the commencement speech at graduation.
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As editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper in Buffalo, Minn., Michael Swearingen ’17 won a national studentjournalism award unofficially known as “the Pulitzer Prize of student journalism.” The award shares a name with a medical device. What is it? a. National Defibrillator Award b. National Pacemaker Award c. National Inhaler Award d. National Nebulizer Award
o o o o ANSWER 4 b. Swearingen attributes winning o the National Pacemaker Award to the newspaper staff consistently striving not just to inspire change within their school but within the greater community as well.
Eagle Scout to enhance the collection csbsju.edu/news
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View from Collegeville
Cokie Roberts, political commentator for ABC News, delivered the seventh annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture on Sept. 18, in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the SJU campus. Roberts, an Emmy-winning broadcaster and bestselling author, also writes a syndicated weekly newspaper column with her husband. Roberts’ remarks addressed the changing role of women as well as the positive influence of religious women on society. “… it’s safe to say that the number of religious women who are acting on their faith to serve society is higher than ever before in human history,” she said. “And many of those of us who feel that calling feel it because of the women religious who taught us and taught Gene McCarthy. Awe-inspiring, holy women, women of spirit, who constantly push us to create a better world for the people of God.” The McCarthy Lecture was established in January 2006. It carries on McCarthy’s deep commitment to the ideals and principles of democratic self-government. Past lecturers in the series have included newspaper columnist, author and commentator E.J. Dionne (2007); civil rights leader Julian Bond (2008); current Secretary of Defense and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (2009); Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (2010); columnist and political analyst Mark Shields (2011); and journalist Tom Brokaw (2012).
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Evan Gruenes ’14
Political Commentator Cokie Roberts Delivers Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture
CSB President MaryAnn Baenninger to Retire in June MaryAnn Baenninger, 14th president of the College of Saint Benedict, has informed the CSB Board of Trustees that she will step down from the presidency on June 30, 2014, at the conclusion of her 10th year. “I’ve made the decision that this is the right time for a transition for me and for Saint Ben’s,” said Baenninger. “We will have concluded our centennial celebration year and a very successful decade for the college. My husband Ron and I are also ready to be closer geographically to our children and grandchildren at this point in our lives. We will forever love and remain connected to the wonderful community at Saint Ben’s, and in Central Minnesota.” “The College of Saint Benedict is a stronger, healthier and more vibrant institution because of the leadership of President Baenninger,” said Michael Hemesath ’81, president of SJU. “I am personally thankful to MaryAnn for her generosity, kindness and wisdom in my first year on the job. Furthermore, Saint John’s University is a better institution because of the ways in which she challenged and encouraged us to look at our educational mission and our relationship with CSB in different ways.” The CSB Board of Trustees has begun a search, with the expectation that a new president will take office on July 1, 2014.
Painting the Holy Land Ever since Jerome Tupa ’69, OSB, first visited the Middle East, he’s been fascinated with the religious buildings and the artifacts they contain. Between 2005 and 2011, Tupa painted many of these holy sites—some of which are now struggling to survive—to preserve their history. His collection is currently exhibited in the Saint John’s Abbey Chapter House and is open to the public.
An example of his work (above) is Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, which depicts a monastery in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Saint Catherine’s was created in the fourth century by the mother of Emperor Constantine to mark the spot where Moses received the Ten Commandments. During the Islamic expansion, Mohammed designated this a holy place. “Monasteries like this are some of our earliest interreligious landmarks,” says Tupa. “And many of them have been badly damaged or are in danger of closing.”
Paul Middlestaedt
Hunt ’56 Reunites with Campus Gator When Vincent “Bob” Hunt ’56 graduated from Saint John’s, he gave Fafnir, his pet alligator, to his biology professor, Fr. Adelard Thuente, OSB. Hunt later learned that Fafnir, a wellknown escape artist, disappeared shortly thereafter. Apparently, in the fall of ’56, a fisherman was startled to see an alligator sunning on a rock in Stumpf Lake. A monk captured the reptile, but it died within days. Hunt believes that Fr. Adelard had the alligator stuffed to add to the Biology Department’s collection of wildlife specimens in the Natural History Bob Hunt ’56 holds his former pet, Fafnir (probably), as biology Museum. chair Bill Lamberts looks on approvingly. When Hunt was on campus last fall, he told Beth Pettitt ’95, CSB/SJU adjunct professor of biology, and her colleague, Marcus Webster, professor of biology, about Fafnir’s possible fate. Pettitt and Webster subsequently located a stuffed alligator in the department’s collection and notified Hunt. Hunt, who is retired from a career in family medicine at Brown University and work in Africa with the World Health Organization, returned to campus from his home in Hudson, Wis., for a reunion with his pet in November. So is the stuffed alligator the real Fafnir? Hunt isn’t sure. This much we know: Judging by that grin spread across the gator’s face, Fafnir had the last laugh. csbsju.edu/news 5
Gina Benson ’84
View from Collegeville
Gagliardi Honored Live on ESPN Former SJU head football coach John Gagliardi (R) received the National College Football Awards Association’s Contributions to College Football Award during the Home Depot College Football Awards show on Dec. 12. The ceremony, hosted by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler (L), was televised live on ESPN.
Lee Hanley ’58
Saint John’s Arboretum Announces New Name
New Book on J.F. Powers Receives Critical Acclaim Katherine A. Powers, daughter of National Book Award winner and SJU faculty member J.F. Powers (1917-99), was on campus this fall to read from a new book she edited on her father. Suitable Accommodations: An Autobiographical Story of Family Life: The Letters of J.F. Powers, 1942-1963, is a collection of J.F. Powers’ personal letters and journal entries. J.F. Powers won the 1963 National Book Award for his first novel, Morte d’Urban. Powers and his wife, author Betty Wahl ’45, and their five children moved back and forth from Ireland three times before finally settling in Collegeville in 1975. This new book sheds light on the struggles of two writers who spent the better part of their careers in search of “suitable accommodations.” The book has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal.
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csbsju.edu/news
Saint John’s Arboretum, the environmental and outdoor education arm of SJU, recently changed its name to Saint John’s Outdoor University. The more than 2,500 acres of Saint John’s Abbey land, where much of the education programming takes place, is now designated as Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum. Founded as a natural arboretum in 1997 by Paul Schwietz, OSB, of Saint John’s Abbey, Saint John’s Arboretum has been dedicated to environmental education, land stewardship, and spiritual renewal for the last 16 years. Saint John’s Outdoor University will continue to use field-based science education, outdoor family events and leadership and teambuilding activities to give people the tools to experience, enjoy and make responsible decisions for the outdoors. Saint John’s Outdoor University is a member-supported organization. Upcoming events, opportunities to get involved and more information can be found at csbsju.edu/OutdoorU.
Award-Winning Administrators Patefield ’70 and Delles Retire
Richard Larkin McLay ’17
Richard Larkin McLay ’17
In his nearly 35 years at Saint John’s, Bill Patefield ’70 has done almost every job in the business office at one time or another. In January, he retired as director of investments. Not bad for a SJU sociology major who jokes that when he started, he didn’t know the difference between a stock and a bond. Patefield began as the student-loan collections manager, and with the encouragement of Gervase Soukup ’42, OSB, began taking accounting classes. He eventually completed his accounting major and passed the CPA exam. “He was very supportive of me and saw something in me,” says Patefield. For more than 25 years, Patefield has been the liaison to the investment committee of the Board of Trustees and worked closely with auditors. In 1996, Patefield was awarded the Administrator of the Year Award at Saint John’s. He’s been an organizer of a lunch-hour pickup basketball game in Guild Hall that scores of people have joined during the past 30 years. Patefield and his wife, Karen, are the proud parents for four alumni: Willie Patefield ’99, Paul Patefield ’01, Beth (Patefield) Willenbring ’03 and Catherine (Patefield) Eveland ’08. “Saint John’s has been a very important part of my life,” says Patefield. “There’s just so many great people here.” You can send Bill a note of congratulations at bpatefield@csbsju.edu.
Ginger Delles began working as a line server in the Saint John’s dining service in 1981. Her husband had been laid off, the unemployment rate was high and the couple had decided Ginger might have an easier time finding a job. “When I was looking for a job, I said to God, ‘Put me wherever you want me,’ and I truly believe God placed me at Saint John’s, where I could grow,” she says. Delles eventually became the director of conferences and events. She has dished out Benedictine hospitality to thousands of visitors on campus for gatherings ranging from Homecoming to weddings to summer conferences. She was awarded the Saint John’s Administrator of the Year Award in 2000. Delles is as well known for her good work in the community as she is for her good work on campus. She has volunteered countless hours for food shelves in the St. Cloud area and led volunteer trips to Guatemala with Common Hope, a St. Paul-based organization that provides education, healthcare and housing to Guatemalan families. When asked what she’ll do in retirement, Delles jokingly says, “Well, I’m sleep deprived…” She’s looking forward to taking up quilting. You can send Ginger a note of congratulations at gdelles@csbsju.edu.
csbsju.edu/news 7
Service to the Church
New St. Cloud Bishop Is a Johnnie Recently appointed St. Cloud Bishop Donald Kettler is a graduate of SJU and Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary
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ishop Donald Kettler had a bird’s-eye view of the modern-day Catholic Church while attending Saint John’s University and Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary from 1964-70. Kettler, who was named bishop of the St. Cloud Diocese on Sept. 20, was an undergraduate student at SJU for the latter half of the Second Vatican Council, which ran from 1962-65 in Rome. He says it was a “blessing” coming to SJU during the Council. “It was during Vatican Council II, and it was an extremely important experience to be able to hear about Vatican Council II firsthand,” says Kettler, who graduated from SJU in 1966 and the School of Theology • Seminary in 1970. While an undergraduate, Kettler was taught by Benedictine Fathers Godfrey Diekmann, Michael Marx and Colman Barry, who was president of SJU from 1964-71. Fr. Godfrey had a leadership role as a theological adviser with the Council in the drafting and implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. “They actually taught classes then,” Kettler says of the three. “They would go to the Council in the fall, and
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come back and teach courses in the spring. That was an unbelievable experience. “However, I also wish that I would have appreciated it a little bit more than I did at the time. Now, I appreciate it more than I did, even then.” Kettler, who served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, before being appointed by Pope Francis to come to the St. Cloud Diocese, was very much interested in intramural sports while attending Saint John’s. “Any time that I could, I was involved at Saint John’s in intramural basketball, intramural softball. Part of that was the opportunity to play these sports with college students,” says Kettler. “It wasn’t just intra-seminary stuff. That’s how I got to know a number of priests of the Diocese of St. Cloud. Oftentimes, they would come out on their days off, and we’d have a touch football, basketball, softball game together. Actually, I remember the priests best from that experience, rather than the more formal stuff. I tell people that the athletic side was pretty important at the time.” Kettler says there were two sides to his spiritual formation at Saint John’s.
“There was the spiritual formation offered both by the Diocese of St. Cloud and by the Benedictine spirituality. I had the opportunity to see both—kind of a two-fold education, which was good for me,” Kettler says. “That was really useful. Because I was interested in the diocesan priesthood and not consecrated life and monastic life, I was glad they had both programs.” He also sang in the seminary choir, which was directed at the time by another seminarian, Charlie Parker—now retired Fr. Charlie Parker. “He (Parker) had his doctorate in choral music. We turned out to be a pretty decent men’s choir, because of his expertise,” Kettler says. “He came back for my installation. That was kind of neat, for me. “So, the music part was important, the theology of Vatican II was pretty important to me, and the athletics and getting to know the priests were all important.” Dr. Victor Klimoski SJU ’67, SOT ’71, director of Conversatio Lifelong Learning at Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary, remembers Bishop Kettler from his seminary days. “Don was by everyone’s estimation a ‘nice guy,’” Klimoski says. “He was about being faithful to who he was as a person, a disciple of Christ, someone with a vocation to be a priest for the larger good, not for his selfembellishment. Given his background since seminary and the quality person he is, I can’t think of a better match for the diocese.”
Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary graduates who have become bishops: Most Rev. Qinjing Wu ’03 Diocese of Shanxi Shanxi, China Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz ’85 Diocese of El Paso El Paso, Texas Most Rev. Robert W. Donnelly ’72 (ret.) Diocese of Toledo (auxiliary bishop) Toledo, Ohio
Paul Middlestaedt
• Kettler was born in Minneapolis and raised in Sioux Falls, S.D. • Attended Crosier Seminary in Onamia, Minn., then transferred to SJU. • Received a bachelor’s in philosophy in 1966 from SJU and a master’s of divinity from the School of Theology•Seminary in 1970. • Ordained to the priesthood May 29, 1970. • Entered Catholic University of America in 1981 and received a licentiate degree in canon law. Became judicial vicar for the Sioux Falls Diocese In 1983. • Served as associate pastor, pastor and rector of parishes in Aberdeen, S.D., and Sioux Falls and celebrated the TV mass in Sioux Falls. • Appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks on Aug. 22, 2002. • Appointed Bishop of St. Cloud on Sept. 20, 2013.
Most Rev. Donald J. Kettler ’70 Diocese of St. Cloud St. Cloud, Minn. Most Rev. Mark Schmitt ’48 (dec.) Diocese of Marquette Marquette, Mich. Most Rev. John L. Paschang ’21, DD (dec.) Diocese of Grand Island Grand Island, Neb. There are also at least 14 graduates of the Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary currently serving or retired from service as abbots, priors, prioresses or leaders of other religious communities. Saint John’s School of Theology • Seminary offers one-week summer short courses for personal enrichment in June and July. For more information, go to csbsju.edu/SOT
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Three Johnnies from three decades end up together serving the poor and founding Catholic churches with the Glenmary Missioners in mostly Baptist Appalachia
ury ’97 F n w a h By S Racey Murphyy Patrick Photos b
L to R: Rev. Steve Pawelk ’82, Rev. Aaron Wessman ’04 and Joe Grosek ’98 work with the Glenmary Home Missioners in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
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“
ello. Bueno,” says Rev. Steve Pawelk ’82 when he picks up the phone. By the time our conversation—in English, although for Fr. Steve, it could just as easily have been Spanish—ends an hour later, he’s covered a lot of ground while discussing his work as a pastor for Glenmary Home Missioners at two rural churches in eastern Tennessee. He talks about arriving in Grainger and Union Counties in 2011 and establishing a Catholic presence in areas that had never before had a Catholic church. He’s passionate about immigration reform and helping the counties’ Latino population, the migrant workers who are making a home in a new country. And he describes the geography of Tennessee and Appalachia, the mountains and tomato farms and all those narrow, winding roads he drives as he navigates between two counties. “Nothing is close and there are no straight roads,” Fr. Steve says. The same holds true for the path Fr. Steve took to his current assignment, as well as those traveled by fellow Johnnies Joe Grosek ’98 and Rev. Aaron Wessman ’04. All three work for Glenmary, and all three serve in
A New Catholic Presence Each man grew up in small towns—Fr. Steve and Fr. Aaron in Minnesota, Grosek in South Dakota. At Saint John’s, none of them envisioned a future that included working in Appalachia country in Tennessee, in areas where extreme poverty reigns and Catholicism is almost unknown. Fr. Steve pictured a future as a principal at a Catholic school. Fr. Aaron saw himself as a math teacher or perhaps an engineer. Grosek considered law school. All these roads eventually led to rural Tennessee—to Appalachia and lives of service, volunteering and faith. Glenmary goes to areas where there has never been any real Catholic presence—Catholics make up just one percent of the population in Union and Grainger. Before Glenmary, the few Catholics in those counties drove 30 minutes or an hour to services or may not have gone at all. Glenmary serves poor areas, and more than 18 percent of people in Union and Grainger live below the poverty line. Even residents of Grainger County—famous for its tomato farms—understand that it is little more than a dot on the map to most. On the county website it reads, “Grainger County is the undiscovered gem of East Tennessee.” For many in the U.S., the word “Appalachian” conjures unflattering and unfair stereotypes—hillbilly, redneck, backward, uneducated. “People don’t realize how rich the culture is down here,” volunteer director Grosek says. “They’re self-reliant. It takes a lot of work to get inside their community, but once you do something and do it well you know you’ll get more acceptance.” Fr. Steve has earned that trust in communities throughout the South during his three decades with Glenmary, even if it’s a life he didn’t see coming during college. He’s a farm kid from Maple Lake, Minn., and the first in his family of eight kids to earn a college degree. He “thought about the priesthood in between girlfriends,” he says with a laugh. He came to Saint John’s after two years at Bemidji State, determined to work as a principal at a
d a o R Grainger and Union Counties—Fr. Aaron as associate pastor and Grosek as volunteer director for the entire organization. “What are the odds?” Fr. Aaron says of the likelihood that a trio of Johnnies would be working together in this spot. But they’re only slightly more improbable than the odds that any of them would be working there.
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Catholic school but eventually drawn to the priesthood and a life with Glenmary. His two years at Saint John’s still affect him. “I never wanted to be a Benedictine, but I used to go on Sunday evenings and that whole rhythm of prayer was peaceful, and I think the whole motto of prayer and work continues in missionary life,” he says. In a different world, Fr. Steve could have ended up as Fr. Aaron’s boss at a rural high school in the Midwest. A Cokato, Minn., native, Fr. Aaron “didn’t consider the priesthood for the first 21 years of my life,” he says. Fr. Aaron majored in mathematics and secondary education after starting on a pre-engineering track at Blessed John Paul II Catholic Mission storefront church in Rutledge, Saint John’s. He saw himself working as a Tenn., is one of two churches founded since Glenmary Missioner math teacher. But during his senior year he Fr. Steve Pawelk ’82 arrived to serve the region in 2011. struck up a friendship with a visiting priest from Glenmary. Over Christmas break, he started thinking about a life devoted to the church. Even Glenmarians don’t receive a salary and take vows of as his final year on campus concluded, he sent out resumes poverty, chastity, obedience and prayer. They work in to high schools and received interview offers, proof that non-Catholic environments, sometimes in places where as a math teacher he would always be in demand. At the Catholics aren’t always welcomed. Instead of remaining same time, though, he researched Glenmary, seminary life and the priesthood. “So of course I chose the most unlikely in the same diocese, they move around to different assignments and different states. Glenmary priests and path,” he says. volunteers serve the entire county, Catholics and non The Catholic culture didn’t originally draw Fr. Aaron Catholics alike. For both Fr. Steve and Fr. Aaron, choosing to Saint John’s—when he first visited he fell in love with the setting and the beauty of the campus—“but that’s really Glenmary proved an easy decision. “I’ve always had a real desire to go where I’m an outsider,” says Fr. Aaron. “That what became the most important aspect of my life there.” Lessons learned at Saint John’s still influence his missionary always shaped me for the best because I get a chance to not only share who I am with other folks, but especially to learn life, especially the “liberal arts aspect of Saint John’s that from them what gives them joy, what is their experience of really opened my mind up to at last seeing different issues faith, what is their experience with God?” and thinking about them in a different way.” Fr. Steve worked as the vocation director at Glenmary for a decade before getting back to missionary work with Baptists are the majority in this his 2011 arrival in Tennessee. He was the first of the Saint area, but they’re willing to work John’s trio to arrive, tasked with creating two Catholic with their new Catholic neighbors— churches where before there were none. He and another Glenmarian arrived at a rental house with a table, some and the feelings are mutual. “We’re chairs and air mattresses. At the first service in Maynardville trying to be of service beyond the in Union County, Fr. Steve welcomed 26 people. Two years Catholic walls,” Fr. Steve says. later, 95 households belong to the church. In Rutledge in Grainger County, 92 families belong to the church today.
Growing Fast
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How does that compare to two years ago? Eleven English speakers attended the first Mass and 45 the Spanish service. “Most places don’t grow like this,” he says.
works is it was nobody’s church when we began. There wasn’t a church,” Fr. Steve says. “So both communities began together, where oftentimes an immigrant community comes, and there’s competing. This became our space together, from the beginning.” He has a rhythm—prayers like the “Our Father” are said in both languages while It took a few months for Glenmary to establish places others alternate. He preaches in both languages but doesn’t of worship—early services took place in carports, with repeat the sermons for fear of losing the bilingual kids who “bring your own chair” guidelines. In Grainger County, don’t want to listen to the same thing twice. “You find Glenmary finally found space in an old flower shop, with different ways to weave everything in—you keep the same a barber shop and Laundromat next door. That’s where themes but tell different stories.” members of Blessed John Paul II Mission now worship. There’s nothing grand about the churches—no An old hot-dog stand—which was also a storage shed—in stunning stained-glass windows, no awesome altars—except Union County became Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Mission. for the ambitions of the men who work there. Fr. Aaron was These small-town storefront churches—Rutledge has a ordained in 2012 and joined Fr. Steve that year. He leads population of 1,129, Maynardville 2,390—host four faith formation in both missions, teaching the fundamentals services each weekend, two in English, two in Spanish. of Catholicism—even something as basic as the sign of the Each church also has a bilingual service during the week, cross—to people eager to learn the old rules about their where Fr. Steve welcomes English and Spanish speakers new faith. Even after choosing the collar over the classroom, and says Mass in both languages. “Part of the reason it he remains a teacher. But when it comes to preaching, he learned the size of a congregation does nothing to lessen the size of his task. “I find it far easier to preach or celebrate Mass for 500 people than I sometimes do for 50 or 60,” Fr. Aaron says. In a small space with every face a familiar one, a priest has to make a connection with each person. Preaching to hundreds of strangers who have heard it all before is one thing. Preaching to church newcomers focused on every word is more challenging, he says. Fr. Aaron now uses more stories and anecdotes. “It is so intimate, and you know personally what’s going on in the lives of all the people there,” he says. “Part of being a missionary Members of Blessed John Paul II church pray together. Parishioners include a is trying to figure out how to mixture of recent immigrants and longtime residents. communicate well with the people you’re with.”
From Hot-Dog Stand to Church
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Fr. Steve credits the growth at both missions to the “personable” nature of the churches, the welcoming community. Just as important is the visibility of the Glenmarians and everything that takes place inside the counties but outside those small storefront facilities. They knock on doors, attend community events, participate in food pantries, home repairs and drug-prevention programs, often joining forces with other denominations that have long had a dominant presence. Baptists are the majority in this area, but they’re willing to work with their new Catholic neighbors—and the feelings are mutual. “We’re trying to be of service beyond the Catholic walls,” Fr. Steve says. Those efforts received a major boost in the spring of 2013 when Joe Grosek moved to Grainger County from Kentucky, where he spent more than a decade running the Glenmary Farm Joe Grosek ’98 (L), volunteer director, and Fr. Steve Pawelk ’82 visit a in Lewis County, which welcomes 500 homebound parishioner. Glenmary volunteers built this wheelchair ramp volunteers a year. Glenmary opened a to help him get out and about more easily. new volunteer site in Tennessee, and Grosek will again spearhead the effort, necessarily a long-term plan. It was more like something he this time on a place affectionately called might do for a year before law school or pursuing a master’s “Toppa Joppa,” a nod to the site’s mountaintop location. in history. Instead he found his way to Glenmary and has Grosek grew up in the Lead-Deadwood area of South been there ever since. He was drawn to the hands-on nature Dakota. A history major at Saint John’s, Grosek—who of the work, which he still participates in today, balancing helped at the nursing home for the Benedictines in it with his administrative duties. Within a few years he became Glenmary’s volunteer director. During his time at “I’ve found in my years the best the Kentucky Glenmary Farm, he also met his future wife, witness we can be as a volunteer Laura. They now have two young children.
program is by being a presence in people’s lives.”
Collegeville—played rugby and belonged to the College Democrats. Following graduation, Grosek planned on law school. But first he took a job back home in a gold mine, where he had worked in the summers. Eventually he started considering working with people in need, but it wasn’t
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Saving the Day, not the World Grosek trains short-term volunteers—mostly high school and college kids who come for a week—as well as the long-term volunteers who are crucial to Glenmary’s success. While those short-term workers immerse themselves for a few days in a rural area and savor experiences that can still change them forever, the long-term volunteers become
NASHVILLE
Tennessee MEMPHIS
KNOXVILLE
CHATTANOOGA
ambassadors in the community during their yearlong stays. They are virtual extensions of Grosek. As a newcomer, Grosek is sensitive to Glenmary Missioners’ need not to be seen as outsiders marching in and dictating to the locals. They don’t want to be patronizing, and there’s the danger of volunteers arriving with a “messiah complex,” Grosek says. Glenmary is there to help. Providing a meal to a lonely elderly person can sometimes save the day, but this type of work isn’t about saving the world. Home repair and food pantries are just two of the ways Grosek and his crews provide aid. Grosek and the volunteers work in nursing homes and with the mentally challenged, with shut-ins and the children of migrant workers. They build real fences while breaking down invisible walls. “I’ve found in my years the best witness we can be as a volunteer program is by being a presence in people’s lives,” he says. Grosek, Fr. Steve and Fr. Aaron won’t be in this corner of Tennessee forever. The president of Glenmary assigns
Union and Grainger Counties people, but in Grainger and Union Counties they work under the bishop of Knoxville. Once a parish reaches a certain level of maturity, Glenmary works with the diocese on the transition and leaves. “We start from nothing,” Fr. Steve says, “and when it’s all built up and really fun to be here, no more financial worries and all these wonderful people doing things, we say, okay, time to go. Where do we go now where no one’s ever done anything before? Where’s the next place to take our shovel to?” Wherever that is, Grosek, Fr. Steve and Fr. Aaron will do what they’ve always done for Glenmary, what they’ve done in Union and Grainger Counties—change people’s lives through service and faith. Shawn Fury ’97 is a New York City-based writer and the author of Keeping the Faith: In the Trenches with College Football’s Worst Team.
Glenmary volunteer director Joe Grosek ’98 collects food donations from a local school for distribution to the needy. The Hands of Christ Food Pantry is a joint effort with Baptist and Methodist churches.
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You feel at home. From the moment I stepped on campus during Fly-In Weekend, I knew that SJU was where I belonged. —Andrew Jones ’05
You know you’re at You turn off of the interstate and catch your first glimpse of the Abbey Church bell banner. —Peter Gathje ’79 SOT’81 You walk through campus and at least five people greet you, even when you graduated almost twenty years ago. —Scott Springman ’95
I see both of my sons’ smiling faces! (I have a senior and a freshman at SJU.) —Trish Lynch
“The Piano Man” takes on a life of its own. —Valentin Sierra ’10
Responses excerpted from Saint John’s Alumni Facebook page.
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Everyone you talk to knows what the words “refectory” and “palaestra” mean. —Aaron Anderson ’94
You know what certain buildings used to be named, even if not officially. —Michael Monnens ’93
Saint John’s when… Strangers give you the Johnnie nod to say hello as you walk by. —Dave Martin ’97
You walk into Tommy Hall, year after year, and it still smells the same. —Drew Waldbillig ’10
You smell the Johnnie bread! —Molly (Dolan) Johnson ’81
Illustrations by Lori Gnahn
You see Fr. Don smile, or maybe even greet you by name. —Molly McCue ’12
Like us at facebook.com/SJUAlum
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CreatinG Entrepreneurs
Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship Celebrates 10 Years By Dana Drazenovich Entrepreneurs are a different breed, says McNeely Entrepreneurship Center director Terri Barreiro. They embrace ambiguity and risk as they tenaciously pursue opportunity. And cultivating entrepreneurially minded students takes a different brand of education, which is why the McNeely Center was founded a decade ago. The center provides a totalimmersion entrepreneurial experience for students of all majors, plenty of whom launch ventures while still in school with the guidance of faculty and experienced mentors. In this way, Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s are almost a breed unto themselves, drawing prospective students and giving graduates an employment edge.
The best way to celebrate the McNeely Center’s first decade is with the success stories of its alumni and students. Here are three worth toasting.
New Company, New Fuel Nicholas Novak ’10 Nicholas (Nick) Novak ’10 found himself with an exciting dilemma last year. He had the chance
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to buy a company with financial and social promise but also existing debt. Oh, and its success relied on training America to use a new fuel. “I reached back out to the McNeely Center, and this was a huge benefit to me,” says Novak, who had been an accounting major and Entrepreneur Scholar. Within hours, McNeely Center director Terri Barreiro connected him to Pat Maxwell ’66, the center’s executive-in-residence. Maxwell told Nick that what he was doing was very exciting and then helped him think through his next steps. Novel Energies, as Novak and his business partner renamed their venture, is off to a strong start. “We are always learning. We’re growing. We’re actually expanding on a national level.”
Novel Energies retrofits vehicles to run on compressed natural gas, installs natural-gas fueling stations and also provides consulting services. Novak sees the social benefit, a McNeely Center hallmark, in natural gas. “The main reason I’m passionate about this is because it’s new, it’s a chance to educate people and it’s an opportunity to honestly decrease our dependence on oil,” Novak says.
Cleaning Up Ben McDermott ’11 Once it was tedious for companies using Salesforce.com
management software to find duplicates in their system. Now they have an app to do that, thanks to Ben McDermott ’11 and 1771, the Minneapolis-based venture he started in May. McDermott teamed with developers to build the Cleaner application for the Salesforce.com platform, followed by 1771’s Saver, Scanner and Dragger apps. “These applications are large-enterprise utilities that add value to Salesforce,” he explains. McDermott was working for a marketing firm last spring when he discovered that Salesforce had its own app store. “The opportunity I
saw was in the number of Salesforce apps out there. Fewer than 2,000 applications are offered to companies that use the cloud software. In contrast, the iPhone app store has more than a million apps, so this is kind of the toddler phase for the Salesforce AppExchange.” McDermott, an art major and Entrepreneur Scholar, had launched a company as a student as part of the team that created Campus2Canvas, which hires artists in China to create oil paintings of Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s. “Probably one of the most important things is just the ability to get started,” he says. “It was easy for me to see this opportunity and act on it because I had already gone through many of these steps before.”
“They give you a fresh perspective, especially because the McNeely Center recruits people from different backgrounds.” He got a loan through Saint John’s Student Development and started testing the program in November. Wojciechowski, a management major, sees tremendous value in
Healthy Business Ryan Wojciechowski ’14
the supportive environment the McNeely Center offers, which Barreiro calls the trampoline system. “We are allowed to experiment and try things,” he says. “They might fail, but the risk doesn’t necessarily fall on yourself, which I think enables people to push their limits and maybe try things they normally wouldn’t.” Johnnie Fitness lives up to its social entrepreneurship definition. “For me it’s more than just a business,” Wojciechowski says. “You’re really changing lives.”
If the campus becomes a little healthier, Ryan Wojciechowski ’14 will meet one of his business goals. Wojciechowski recently introduced Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s to Johnnie Fitness, a venture he launched through the McNeely Center’s Entrepreneur Scholars program. Johnnie Fitness provides student and faculty clients a team of student nutritionists, health advisers and personal trainers to create individualized wellness and training plans. Wojciechowski conceived the idea in Terri Barreiro’s social entrepreneurship class and took advantage of the center’s mentor and alumni networks as he developed his business plan.
The Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship ENTREPRENEUR SCHOLARS A three-course certificate program: Creating World Class Ventures, Global Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship as well as travel to Silicon Valley and China. EXPLORERS Explore venture ideas through the center’s resources, with coaching from the center director and faculty and consulting with alumni and mentors. The center also offers a student-venture loan fund. OTHER COURSES Courses for student-run-venture managers and social entrepreneurship and a revised entrepreneurship basics course.
Dana Drazenovich is a former journalist and public relations writer who teaches CSB/SJU communication and first-year seminar classes.
EXECUTIVE-IN-RESIDENCE A seasoned and accomplished business leader on campus 20 to 25 days a year to provide advice, mentoring and group discussions. MENTORS Alumni and friends of the schools lend their expertise to students who are designing or implementing a new venture. ENTREPRENEUR LUNCHEONS Luncheons five times a year at the Minneapolis Club for alumni entrepreneurs and professionals. ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS Celebrating influential and successful alumni entrepreneurs as well as social entrepreneurs who exemplify the center’s mission of creating social value in addition to economic opportunity. For more information, go to csbsju.edu/Center-forEntrepreneurship.htm
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In Sight
Ice skating on Lake Sagatagan in the 1890s. If you would like a reprint of this photo, please email sjumag@csbsju.edu with your name and address, and we’ll send you a complimentary 8 x 10 photo.
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Click
For a Great Liberal Arts Education…
From flipped classes to online courses, technology is transforming education. How is it changing CSB/SJU? By Erin Peterson
Assistant professor of math Robert Campbell likes to refer to himself as the “professor of impossible mathematics.” And as someone who teaches students mindbending concepts like tangent fields and linear systems, he has always tried to find innovative ways to help his students master difficult material. So perhaps it’s no surprise that he’s pursued the idea of the “flipped classroom” so energetically. The idea is simple: students do much of the preliminary work outside of class, including watching recorded lectures and short videos online. That leaves class time to wade through the most challenging ideas. Instead of trying to work their way through the hardest material by themselves in a dorm room, students learn it when Campbell is right there to help them. “I can help students recognize where their wall is and help them get over it,” he says. “I figure out where their misconceptions are and fix them right away.” Smart? Definitely. Easy? Not at all. Zach Silbernick ’15, who took a course from Campbell, says that staying on top of the lessons required discipline, and for long stretches, he didn’t like the class at all. But as he’s moved forward in his academic career, he’s grown to appreciate how powerful the experience was. “Near the end of the semester and after the class, I realized how much I had actually learned,” he says. “[That approach] gave me the ability to persevere through struggles.” He says his current math classes—taught in the traditional format—are actually easier, because he’s become so much more adept at tackling the easier work on his own and maximizing classroom time to ask his professors the tough questions. There’s no question that new technology, such as online lectures, has made its way into education in ways that few people could have predicted a decade or two ago. From clickers that track student learning to online-only courses that make any room a classroom, students and faculty members
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In flipped classrooms such as math professor Robert Campbell’s, students study recorded lectures on their own outside of class, giving them more time with Campbell in class to apply learning to problem-solving.
are finding ways to use technology to connect and learn in nuanced ways. But adding technology for technology’s sake isn’t Saint John’s goal, says President Michael Hemesath. “We know that the world is changing,” Hemesath says. “We need to embrace technology, and use it in a way that enhances and augments what we do already.” And that’s why CSB/SJU faculty and staff are working thoughtfully to use these new tools in ways that improve the school’s centuries-old work of educating young men and women.
The Power of Small Bigger may not always be better, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at some of the most popular trends in education today. In recent years, plenty of attention has been lavished on companies like Coursera and Udacity, which offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Featuring online
Photos by Denise Gagner
Here lectures, readings and quizzes, a single MOOC can attract hundreds of thousands of students from around the world. That massive “classroom” represents, in some ways, the antithesis of the work of a small, private liberal arts school, which emphasizes individual connections and small-group discussions. But that doesn’t mean that Saint John’s isn’t culling lessons from these new kids on the educational block. Recently, for example, CSB/SJU has been offering a small number of online courses for credit. But they differ vastly from their MOOC counterparts. Associate professor of accounting and finance Mary Jepperson ’80, for example, teaches an online course in accounting in the summer, with a class size that hovers around a dozen students. Students “attend” live online lectures from anywhere on the planet and experience the same academic rigor they would in a typical Saint John’s classroom.
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clickers
“We even have some data from students who do the GRE or MCAT later who say they don’t have to do the reviews because they retain the information they learn much longer.” Kate Graham, associate professor of chemistry
Beyond the Classroom Integrating technology into the classroom can lead to better classes: done right, it can also lead to better outcomes beyond it. Associate chemistry professor Kate Graham has been working on ways to bring technology into her classroom
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smart
for two decades. Her current chemistry classes include online tutoring sessions and homework problems as well as electronic clickers that allow her to track student learning instantly through class-wide surveys. It’s challenging work for students, but she says the payoff for those who put effort into it is enormous. “They’re able to solve more sophisticated problems [when they focus on the basics outside of class],” she says. “We even have some data from students who do the GRE or MCAT later who say they don’t have to do the reviews because they retain the information they learn much longer.” Flipped classrooms, too, are leading to real payoffs. Because professors can use the bulk of in-class time to take advantage of students’ proximity to one another, they can design classes that emphasize learning that’s best done with others: group work, discussions and collaborative learning. While many students may prefer working on their own, the ability to work in teams is a critical skill to learn, says Richard Ice, academic dean. “People don’t usually work in isolation or alone. They collaborate. Is there too much group work in a [flipped classroom]? I don’t think so. That’s the way the world works. And our job is to prepare our students for that.” To that end, Saint John’s is taking steps to outfit its
flipped
Jepperson makes sure that all students check in regularly through required quizzes, homework and other deadlines, and classes are lively. She believes that, done well, the personalized and rigorous Saint John’s classroom experience can be translated online. “I don’t think we should ignore [students who want to take online classes],” she says. “I’d much rather have them take a quality online class here than a poor quality online course from some other institution.” Adam Kunkel ’14, who took Jepperson’s summer class, says that he was grateful to take the class for exactly that reason: he was in the Twin Cities over the summer for an internship when the course was taught. “I wouldn’t have been able to take the class without the online format,” he says. “We had a set class time, but keeping up with the material was flexible.” He acknowledges that the flexibility didn’t mean the course was easy. He worked exceptionally hard to keep up. And that, says Jepperson, is the way it should be. A Saint John’s education has always been about more than just transferring knowledge from a professor’s brain to a student’s. If that’s all it were, students would need little more than textbooks and lectures. Instead, it is about engaging with knowledge in meaningful ways. That may mean heated class debates or long discussions with professors during real (or virtual) office hours. It may mean synthesizing information in one class with ideas from another, or using the ideas from one course to appreciate a specific off-campus study experience a year later. And thanks to technology, the possibilities for these types of experiences are expanding.
Using electronic clickers in the classroom to quickly survey student learning enables professors to get instant feedback on student progress. Professors can then spend class time focusing where students need it most.
online
A Smart Way Forward
There is no question that as countless types of new technology find their ways into teaching, the implementation—like anything new—it can be messy and unpredictable. But there’s also no question that such advances hold incredible promise. Campbell says he continues to refine his flipped classroom work, adding digital office hours to his schedule the night before an assignment is due, tweaking his lessons and listening to the feedback he gets from his current students. “Does everybody like it?” he asks. “No. But I’m doing everything that I can to make the most of that buildings and classrooms with the technologies and spaces classroom time. It’s not easy. But students always say that that will make teaching and learning more effective, says they learn.” associate psychology professor Pam Bacon, who worked Graham, too, says her classes have changed dramatically on a “smart” classroom project for Saint John’s. Some during the past 20 years as she tests new approaches and of the changes that have been implemented include discards less successful efforts, but she’s always seeking sophisticated projection systems and multiple screens in new ways to help students learn the important concepts of a single classroom. Other changes are a more subtle nod a class. to the changes that technology has brought to education. But for all that technology promises to change in For example, in some classrooms, rows of desks have been teaching and learning, the heart of a Saint John’s education replaced with more flexible remains the same. It is spaces that allow students “It’s not about being revolutionary. It’s about about thinking deeply, to work together more using technology to develop connections between learning widely and building easily in pairs or groups, community. Technology is teachers and students in a way that traditional a common approach to simply a tool that allows classrooms haven’t always done.” classroom learning when professors and students to do Pam Bacon, associate professor of psychology lectures happen mostly the real work of learning even online. It may not seem better. “Like everyone else in higher education, we’re still like a big change, but it is significant. “It’s not about being learning how to integrate technologies to improve revolutionary,” says Bacon. “It’s about using technology to the experience of students and faculty members,” develop connections between teachers and students in a way says President Hemesath. “The best education [synthesizes] that traditional classrooms haven’t always done.” the best of technology and the best of traditional education Certainly not every class at Saint John’s is shifting to and learning.” this approach. But it is offering a new option that many Erin Peterson is a Twin Cities-based writer. students and professors find valuable.
classroom
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Johnnie Sports
Coach Jim Smith Celebrates 50 Seasons with SJU
The Stats
• Career Record: 766-544 1964-present • Career Record vs. MIAC schools: 581-334 1964-present • Career Postseason Record: 35-32 1969-present • Career Record in MIAC Playoffs: 19-15 1983-present • Career Record in NAIA Playoffs: 11-9 1969-1984 • Career Record in NCAA Tournament: 5-9 1985-present • MIAC Championships: 7 1968-69, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1992-93, 2000-01 • MIAC Playoff Championships: 5 1983, 1986, 1988, 2000, 2001 • Undefeated Conference Seasons: 1 1978-79
Jim Smith, head basketball coach and winningest collegiate basketball coach on any level in Minnesota, celebrates 50 seasons at Saint John’s University this year. Coach Smith began the 2013-14 season, his 50th at SJU, with a 755-535 career record (.585). He gained his 700th win on Nov. 21, 2009, with a win over NCAA Division II MSU-Moorhead. Smith is one of only 27 coaches in NCAA men’s basketball history to win 700 career games. On Feb. 13, 2002, Smith also reached the milestone of coaching his 1,000th career game. 26 gojohnnies.com
• Three-time NAIA District Coach-of-the-Year • Six-time MIAC Coach of the Year • NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year, 1992-93 and 2000-01 • President, National Association of Basketball Coaches, 1981-83 • National Association of Basketball Coaches Outstanding Service Award, 2009 Note: Statistics current through Feb. 7, 2014
Dawid Chabowski ’12
The Awards
Scorecard FOOTBALL (7-3, 5-3 MIAC) played its first season under new head coach Gary Fasching ’81, which included a 20-18 win at then-No. 2 St. Thomas Sept. 21. Eight Johnnies earned All-MIAC honors, including two on the first team: center Kevin Battis ’14 and linebacker Andrew Rose ’15. Battis also became the 20th Johnnie football student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors this fall. Former head coach John Gagliardi received the National College Football Awards Association’s (NCFAA) Contributions to College Football Award during a live ESPN broadcast Dec. 12 in Orlando. SOCCER (9-7-3, 6-2-2 MIAC) ended its fourth season under head coach John Haws ’99 to finish fourth in the conference standings and earn an MIAC Playoff berth for the second consecutive year. The Johnnies upset the top seed, Gustavus Adolphus, in the first round before falling to Carleton in the MIAC Playoff Championship. Forward Michael Coborn ’14 and forward David Wee ’15 were named to the All-MIAC first team. Coborn joined forward Mike Lilly ’78 and goalkeeper Terry Leiendecker ’84 as the only Johnnies to earn All-MIAC first-team honors all four seasons. He ended his career as SJU’s all-time leader in assists (36), third in points (88) and fifth in goals (26) in 71 career matches. Coborn was also selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) AllNorth Region team for the third consecutive season in 2013. He was named to the All-Region third team in 2011 and first team in 2012. CROSS COUNTRY finished fourth out of 11 teams at the MIAC Championship and eighth out of 26 teams at the NCAA Central Regional this fall. John Subialka ’14 and Matt Scherber ’14 finished ninth and 15th, respectively, at the conference meet. Scherber (14th) and Subialka (26th) also led the Johnnies at the NCAA Central Regional to earn All-Region distinction (top 35). The honor was the third for Subialka
and second for Scherber, who advanced to compete at the NCAA Championship. GOLF ended its fall season by capturing the 2013 MIAC Championship with an eight-stroke margin Oct. 5-7 at Bunker Hills G.C. (par 72) in Coon Rapids. With the team victory, the program’s 11th conference title and first since 2010, SJU earned the conference’s automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Division III Championship May 13-16 at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C. The nationaltournament appearance will be the Johnnies’ 14th in the last 15 seasons. Brett Draxler ’15 became the 10th Johnnie in school history to earn medalist honors at the MIAC Championship with a three-day total of 218 (+2), five shots ahead of second place. He shot one-under par on the back nine during the final round to finish with a 75 (+3) and earn the MIAC crown. Casey Vangsness ’14 tied for fourth to earn his fourth All-MIAC honor (top 10, including ties). CLUB SPORTS LACROSSE advanced to the final four of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association Tournament in spring 2013 before falling to Westminster College in the semifinals. Saint John’s returns several key contributors from last year’s final four team and hopes to improve on its national showing in 2014. RUGBY, coming off of a national title in spring 2013, will again be heading to Colorado to participate in the National Small College Rugby Tournament in April. The team advanced through state and regional playoffs last fall.
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Advancing the Mission
Forward Ever Forward Onward and upward. That’s the mantra of Saint John’s latest capital campaign, Forward Ever Forward, which was publicly announced on September 27, 2013. The campaign theme originates from the inspiring words of Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, founder of the first Benedictine monasteries in the United States: “Forward, always forward, everywhere forward.” “For me, this campaign is all about a bright and dynamic future,” commented Mike Hemesath ’81, president of Saint John’s University. “It is about a continued faith in Benedictine, residential, liberal arts education, and our ongoing commitment to innovation, excellence and service for the common good.” “Forward Ever Forward is the most ambitious fundraising campaign in Saint John’s history,” observed Rob Culligan ’82, vice president for institutional advancement. “The goal for the campaign, which runs through 2016, is $160 million, and we have already raised $115 million, which bodes well for the future success of the campaign.”
Photos by Paul Middlestaedt
Saint John’s Launches $160 Million Capital Campaign
This campaign is all about furthering the pioneering spirit of Saint John’s. No institution, especially Saint John’s, can afford to be standing still … or to spend too much time and energy looking backwards. Our goal is to strive forward, always forward.” Abbot John Klassen ’71, OSB
Saint John’s holds a special place in our family. It connects us across generations. It deepens our relationship as siblings and aunts and uncles. I am thrilled my son is a Johnnie who loves this place as much as my father and I do. My parents taught us about giving back and being part of something larger than ourselves. Dan McKeown ’85 When it comes to charting a course for the future, it’s not just about moving forward; it’s about where you’re heading. This campaign will support the next generation of innovative programs at Saint John’s University, such as the FirstGen Scholarship Program, the Saint John’s Learning Commons, the Center for Global Education, the Benedictine Institute, and upgrades to our athletic and residential facilities. Joe Mucha ’66, Chair, Saint John’s University Board of Trustees
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Forward Ever Forward the Campaign for Saint John’s
Priorities
Saint John’s University $114 Million • Student Scholarships • Learning Commons • Academic Programs • Athletic Facilities Saint John’s Abbey $20 Million • Monastery Renovation • Vocations Programs • Benedictine Volunteer Corps • Abbey Healthcare and Retirement Saint John’s has always been forward-looking. The Benedictines are known for listening to the signs of the time and addressing the needs, challenges and opportunities of an ever-changing, modern world. Michael Hemesath ’81 President, Saint John’s University
This is a volunteer-driven campaign. Our success depends on our ability to mobilize the interest, energy and commitment of our alumni and friends. We encourage the entire Saint John’s community to step forward in support of this effort. Dan Whalen ’70, Chair, Forward Ever Forward campaign
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library $16 Million • Manuscript Preservation • Groundbreaking Research • Access to Collections • Facilities Renovation
School of Theology • Seminary $10 Million • Scholarships for Seminarians and Graduate Students • Endowed Chairs and Professorships • Center for Christian Community and Youth in Theology and Ministry • Restoration of Emmaus Hall Chapel
To support the Saint John’s capital campaign, please contact Rob Culligan ’82 in the Office of Institutional Advancement, 800-635-7303, or go to sjualum.com/forward
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Alumni Connection
Spotlight on
Richard Larkin McLay ’17
Benedictine Bar Association
CSB/SJU graduates who work in the law or are law students and current students interested in law careers are welcome at BBA events. For more information, write or call Adam Herbst ’99, SJU director of alumni relations, at aherbst@csbsju.edu or 320-363-3819. Hundreds of CSB/SJU graduates have enrolled in law schools and pursued careers in law—and now many of them have come together to support future Johnnie and Bennie lawyers. The Benedictine Bar Association (BBA) is a CSB/SJU alumni club comprised of alumni who work in the law and those currently enrolled in law school. The club was formed to provide resources for members and current students interested in law. “It’s important for alumni to be examples to students who are interested in law,” says Art Boylan ’01, a shareholder at Stinson Leonard Street LLP in Minneapolis and a member of the club’s Founders Committee. The club also provides networking opportunities for alumni lawyers. Dan Thompson ’89, dean of students at William Mitchell College of Law and a fellow member of the Founders Committee, finds great benefit in this kind of connection.
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“Being in the presence of folks who have had or are having the CSB/SJU experience is very rewarding and a great reminder of the good fortune of being able to go to college at two amazing institutions,” Thompson says. The BBA sponsors two events annually. The Red Mass, at Saint Ben’s, invites alumni lawyers to “seek God’s wisdom in the legal profession,” Boylan says. The club also hosts the annual Benedictine Law Fest, which provides an opportunity for members and students to network. “The BBA allows us to really harness important alumni connections for students,” Thompson says. “There seem to be countless stories of how Johnnies and Bennies get their first professional opportunity through a CSB/SJU connection. The BBA is another way for us to help students with this important first step.”
Homecoming & Reunion 2013
Photos by Denise Gagner and Paul Middlestaedt
The unthinkable happened—it rained on Homecoming & Reunion weekend. But no worries. Friday’s Homecoming Banquet was a gala event, celebrating both the Walter Reger Award presentation to Jim Frey ’78 as well as the public announcement of Forward Ever Forward, the Campaign for Saint John’s. On Saturday morning, alumni, family and friends hung out in Sexton with coffee and read The Record or broke out the ponchos and umbrellas to brave the drops. The rain stopped right on cue for the football game vs. Concordia, where Jeff Korsmo ’80 received the Bob Basten Award for Leadership and Excellence at halftime. By the time the aftergame party started, the sun was shining on another unforgettable Saint John’s Celebration on the Tundra.
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Alumni Connection
Join Johnnies and families for the second SJU
Alumni, Family & Friends Weekend June 27-28
Your chance to enjoy summer at its best in Collegeville! From beaching it on the Sag to activities on Watab Island to Fire Hall tours, there’s relaxation and fun for everyone.
Special attractions in 2014 Red Ride for the cyclists among us. Choose from 25- 50- or 100-mile routes through beautiful Central Minnesota. Magic show with Jared Sherlock ’11, awardwinning illusionist and comic magician. Concert with Paul Spring, SJ Prep ’07, winner of the Fall 2013 Parent’s Choice Gold Award for his album Home of Song.
Or create your own event … call or write Ted Kain ’12, alumni relations officer, at 320-363-3828 or 800-635-7303.
For more information and to register, go to sjualum.csbsju.edu/2014Weekend
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Photos by Tommy O’Laughlin ’13
Affordable on-campus rooms and suites available. Tent camping for free on Watab Island.
Jim Biever/Green Bay Packers
Johnnies in the Media
Tom Haeg ’70 was in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune for chaperoning 50 Japanese students visiting Minnesota. Haeg, a former Hennepin County judge, began volunteering for the annual program after his retirement. “I’ve learned from the Japanese the importance of connections and relationships,” he says.
Jim Wolford ’90, CEO and co-founder of Atomic Data, was interviewed in the Minneapolis StarTribune. Atomic Data acquired a data storage center in downtown Minneapolis and struck a seven-year contract with Hennepin County to host the county’s online content and search-engine functions.
Pat McKenzie ’79 (L), the Green Bay Packers’ team physician, was under pressure to clear quarterback Aaron Rodgers to play while he recovered from a collarbone injury. In a Sports Illustrated blog, the MMQB with Peter King, King shared Rodgers’ reaction to McKenzie’s treatment plan after a team victory in Rodgers’ first post-injury game. “… I have so much respect for that man,” said Rodgers. Kevin Schooler ’93 was interviewed in Minnesota Monthly for being the final Minnesotan to cross the finish line at the 2013 Boston Marathon, just moments before the bombs exploded. Schooler, a major in the Army National Guard, had thrown out his back and completed the marathon later than planned. His interview focused on how the experience motivated him to qualify again at the Twin Cities Marathon.
Rick DesLauriers ’81 was profiled on KARE-11’s Land of 10,000 Stories. Years ago, DesLauriers built a batting cage out of netting and discarded old phone poles. The cage has grown and attracted scores of neighborhood kids. Several, including the DesLauriers’ son, have attended college on baseball and softball scholarships. “I’ve had lots of crazy ideas,” he quips. “This one worked out well.”
Noah Whiteman ’98, an ecological geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, was featured in Nature magazine for his field research. Whiteman and his team recently benefitted from a new research center at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado, where they are studying whether bacterial infections make plants more vulnerable to herbivores.
Mark Irion ’83, a Washington, D.C. communications strategist, was consulted for a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article on Gov. Chris Christie. Irion, president of Levick, offered his expertise and some tips for Christie during the recent controversy over lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
Casey Wojtalewicz ’11 is a member of the Santa Monica, California-based band Cayucas, whose music has been featured in commercials for Bose, Verizon and Marc Jacobs. Wojtalewicz, a drummer, joined the band in 2012 and has been touring North America and Europe.
sjualum.com 33
Milestones
Steve Wolfe ’75
Legal Help for the Poor Steve Wolfe ’75 received his first exposure to legal aid when he worked with prisoners during law school. Today, Wolfe is a senior leadership attorney at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS)—where he’s worked for more than 30 years. And while SMRLS handles civil cases instead of criminal, his passion for this area of the law hasn’t wavered since those early days. A wrestler at Saint John’s, Wolfe has fewer courtroom battles in his supervisory role, but he oversees SMRLS’s central office as it helps low-income people in cases involving fair housing, immigration, education, elder rights, medical benefits, family law and much more. “We’re working on cases where it looks like some type of mistake has been made or there’s an honest disagreement about who should prevail in court,” Wolfe says, “and without a lawyer, it’s just not likely to happen for a low-income person.” Now 60, Wolfe still savors lessons he first learned in his early 20s. In legal aid, “You become aware of the common humanity and similarities between people.”
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MARRIAGES ’78 Paul Figlmiller to Robert Sykora, Aug. ’13 ’87 Mark Storck to Craig Berdan, Aug. ’13 ’93 Timothy Greene to Paul Greene, Aug. ’13 ’96 Julie Esselman to Doug Prahl, Jul. ’13 ’00 Debbie Hutchinson to Christian Anderson, Aug. ’13 ’01 Heather Hamernick to Eric Brever, June ’13 ’02 Alexandria Wong to Nathan Feneis, Sept. ’13 ’02 Dr. Susan George to Dr. Robert Yankovich, June ’13 ’04 Kori (Fitschen ’04) to Zach Carlson, May ’13 ’05 Grace Wijaya to Adrian Wijasa, Nov. ’13 ’06 Tamara (Hoese ’06) to Noah Retka, May ’13 ’07 Anna (Roessler ’10) to Tom Dehler, Aug. ’13 ’07 Emily (Simone ’09) to John Harrison, May ’13 ’07 Megan (Duetschman ’08) to Jonathan Howard, Aug. ’13 ’07 Jaime (Goehner ’07) to Andy Humann, June ’13. ’07 Marguerite Wilson to Samuel Koelbl, June ’13 ’07 Bridget (Sitzer ’08) to Dan Nordlund, Oct. ’13 ’07 Trista Lane to Jake Overman, Dec. ’12 ’07 Michele Arko to Dan Parker, Oct. ’13 ’08 Britny Gonser to Andrew Brever, Apr. ’13 ’08 Sarah (Schwalbach ’11) to Samuel Dorr, Sept. ’13 ’08 Amanda (Dunlap ’08) to Chris Gabiou, Sept. ’13 ’08 Kayla Honstrom to Danny Hansen, Oct. ’13
’08 ’08 ’08 ’08 ’08 ’08 ’09 ’09 ’09 ’09 ’09 ’09 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’10 ’11
Rachel Nicoletti to Josh Rosenbush, Oct. ’13 Sarah (Skytte ’08) to David Rothstein, Dec. ’12 Carlene Johnson to Zach Samuelson, Oct. ’13 Mallory (Lundeen ’08) to Justin Swierk, July ’13 Rosina to Matt Weeres, Sept. ’13 JoAna (Cramblit ’08) to Andrew Werner, July ’13 Danielle (Rothfork ’09) to Brian Baker, Aug. ’13 Carolyn (Haupert ’10) to Brandon Drazich, June ’13 Caitlyn (Lothian ’09) to Scott Francois, Sept. ’13 Chloe (Briggs ’11) to Alex Johnson, Aug. ’13 Sarah (Chuppe ’09) to Stanley Mack, III, May ’13 Jeannie (Stubenvoll ’08) to Mike Schumacher, Aug. ’13 Bree (Auringer ’09) to Tom Allen, June ’13 Rebecca Dingmann to Dan Backes, June ’13 Heidi (Sutter ’09) to Joel Coleman, July ’13 Shannon (Osborne ’10) to Brian Cullen, Sept. ’13 Jessica (Hoeppner ’10) to Greg Donaldson, Apr. ’13 Katie (Westlund ’10) to Kyle Ellingson, Sept. ’13 McKinsey (Weydert ’11) to Jake Haider, Oct. ’13 Katie (Kalkman ’06) to Gabriel Harren, Aug. ’13 Molly (McGuire ’09) to Kyle Henkemeyer, Sept. ’13 Cortney (Bystrom ’10) to David Johnson, June ’13 Amanda (Hought ’10) to Nick Lano, Aug. ’13 Erin (Herberg ’10) to Patrick Sinner, June ’13 Holly (Reinking ’11) to Greg Truso, July ’13 Amanda (Grittner ’11) to Brad Allgaier, July ’13
’11 ’11 ’11 ’11 ’11 ’11 ’11 ’12 ’13
Amanda (Buchner ’11) to Andrew Curley, June ’13 Kathryn (Bontjes ’10) to Michael Freeman, July ’13 Alison (Benes ’10) to Matthew Johnson, May ’13 Lisa (Brand ’11) to Nick Kurtz, Oct. ’13 Samantha (Koeck ’11) to Andrew Leintz, Dec. ’12 Abby (Neigebauer ’11) to Patrick McClure, June ’13 Stacey (Zimmerman ’11) to Christopher Seviola, July ’13 Alyss (Sinner ’12) to Josh Meuwissen, May ’13 Megan (Pfannenstein ’) to Luke Dingman, July ’13
BIRTHS ’87 Janine & Mark Haeg, boy, Harrison, July ’13 ’92 Stacy & Tim Ernst, boy, Westin, Aug. ’13 ’92 Kristi (Riley ’95) & Chris Fairchild, girl, Chloe, Sept. ’13 ’95 Kristen & Rob Carr, boy, Baelor, July ’13 ’95 Lakota & Jon Holman, boy, Vincent, July ’13 ’96 Katie & Brad Bierschbach, girl, Kylie, Sept. ’13 ’97 Rachel (Stokman ’97) & Curtis Brown, boy, Jude, Dec. ’12 ’97 Sabrina & Chris Johnson, girl, Zoe, May ’13 ’98 Robin & Patrick Marushin, boy, Peter, Oct. ’13 ’98 Amy & David Vogel, boy, Joshua, Dec. ’12 ’99 Paula (Traeger ’99) & Jason Bloch, girl, Arika, July ’13 ’99 Krista & Brian Gerten, boy, Lincoln, May ’13 ’99 Brenda & Pete Klaphake, boy, Isaac, May ’12 ’99 Jennifer (Carling ’99) & Jeremy List, boy, Jacob, May ’13
’99 Katie & Ken Loehlein, boy, Brock, Nov. ’13 ’99 Basilia & Jeff Muntifering, boy, Nelalakano (L’Kano), June ’13 ’99 Kelli & Tad Palmquist, boy, Jase, June ’13 ’00 Jessica & Trent Kirchner, boy, Landon, Apr. ’13 ’00 Leigh (Degiovanni ’00) & Steven Klaverkamp, girl, Cora, Aug. ’13 ’00 Kristina (Kelly ’00) & Dave Laliberte, boy, Kevin, July ’13 ’01 Becky & Gabriel Hulsey, girl, Addison, June ’13 ’01 Michelle (Stangeland ’02) & Tom Lanz, boy, Elliot, Aug. ’13 ’01 Melissa & Tory Oelfke, boy, Gavin, Sept. ’13 ’01 Leah (Klocker ’03) & Stephen Schwarz, girl, Brooke, Nov. ’13 ’02 Monique (Gregorie) & Jim Kuhn, girl, Calla, Oct. ’13 ’02 Summer & Andy Minnich, boy, Cullen, Apr. ’13 ’02 Anne (Kocik ’03) & Brian Ragatz, boy, George, Apr. ’13 ’02 Katie & Nick Rendahl, boy, Joseph, Sept. ’13 ’02 Megan & Ben Tierney, boy, Owen, June ’13 ’02 Martina & Brian Willegalle, boy, Declan, Oct. ’13 ’02 Janet & Jim Willenbring, girl, Olivia, Aug. ’13 ’02 Julie (Hanson ’02) & Adam Zimny, girl, Halle, May ’13 ’03 Amanda (Boller ’03) & Chris Dykhoff, girl, Mara, Jan. ’13 ’03 Rosemary & David Gallagher, girl, Ruby, Sept. ’13 ’03 Michelle (Minke ’02) & Cam McCambridge, boy, Cullen, July ’13
Kevin Seggelke ’78 Feeding the Hungry
Kevin Seggelke ’78 just finished his 11th year as president and CEO of Food Bank of the Rockies, but really he’s doing the same type of work he did for more than 20 years with Cub Foods. “I tell everybody I’m still in the food business, but it’s just a little different end of the food business. And I’m still in business, but it’s business with a large heart.” The Colorado-based nonprofit—which also serves Wyoming—works as a middleman between food donors and the hunger-relief programs that distribute to the needy. Seggelke’s organization distributed more than 46 million pounds of food in the past fiscal year, collecting and giving out everything from fruits, meats and drinks to household essentials like laundry detergent. “We look at ourselves as income extenders,” Seggelke says. “If we can extend the income of a household, in addition to providing nutrition, we’ve provided a service to the community and that family. … It’s very satisfying looking at each other at the end of the day and saying, ‘We did some good today, folks.’ It’s pretty humbling.”
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Milestones
Dan Dundon ’87
A Different Kind of Education “Our goal is to try and educate students one student at a time,” says Dan Dundon ’87, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) specialist at Highline Big Picture High School in the Seattle area. An alternative public school, Highline doesn’t believe standardized testing works for every student. Students work in internships, whether they want to be architects, nurses, carpenters or any other profession. Some Highline students go to college, but the school also doesn’t believe college is for everyone. What does Highline believe? “If we connect the students with what their passions are and if they have a strong enough sense of why they want to do this, they’re going to meet those challenges,” says Dundon. Dundon fell in love with the West when he was younger and has “always been interested in challenges and small schools.” Highline’s location, size and mission inspire Dundon. “What drives me is, there’s an enormous of talent we’re losing when we only search for talent through standardized tests or sitting in a classroom working on a worksheet. And we’re messaging to people if they don’t learn in those ways, they’re less valuable. And I just refuse to believe that.”
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’04 Marie & Tom Daly, boy, Noah, June ’13 ’04 Anne (Radabaugh ’03) & Matt Darling, girl, Marin, Oct. ’13 ’04 Sara (Lieser ’06) & Jeremy Goltz, twin girls, Remi and Emri, Oct. ’13 ’04 Roxanne (Tchida ’04) & Patrick Haggerty, boy, Connor, Mar. ’13 ’04 Juliet (Govern ’04) & Tommy O’Keefe, girl, Rosilyn, May ’13 ’04 Lindsey (Hoffman ’04) & Adam Sheveland, boy, Louis, Dec. ’12 ’05 Tamara (Yost ’05) & Eric Anderson, girl, Nola, May ’13 ’05 Ashle (Briggs ’06) & Curtis Horton, boy, Sullivan, May ’13 ’05 Megumi & Thomas Kain, boy, Louie, May ’13 ’05 Adrienne & Brandon Keller, boy, Mason, Sept. ’13 ’05 Adrienne & Brandon Keller, boy, Landon, May ’12 ’05 Elizabeth & Jeffrey Lewis, boy, Jonathan, July ’13 ’05 Kimberly (Beggin ’05) & Charles O’Connor, girl, Nola, Jan. ’13 ’05 Theresa (Guentzel ’05) & Matt Reichert, girl, Clare, Oct. ’13 ’06 Bridget (Spaniol ’06) & Ryan Brackin, boy, Connor, Oct. ’13 ’06 Kathryn (Young ’08) & Brian Gasser, girl, Mackenzie, Aug. ’13 ’06 Danielle (Weber ’05) & Andrew Spaanem, boy, Noah, Oct. ’13 ’07 Heather (Hatzenbihler ’07) & Corey Busch, boy, Charlie, July ’13 ’07 Brittany (Billehus ’08) & Chris Sele, girl, Annika, Aug. ’13 ’08 Sarah (Lundebrek ’08) & Pat Dunlay, boy, Desmond, Mar. ’13
’08 ’08 ’08 ’09 ’10
Nicholas Schorr & Molly Goers Schorr SOT, boy, Aaron, June ‘13 Angela (Sigl ’07) & Michael Janson, boy, Patrick, Aug. ’13 Ashley & Stephen Salvato, girl, Annalisia, Apr. ’13 Taylor & Nick Truso, girl, Julis, Oct. ’13 Maria (Gau ’10) & Eric Bavier, boy, Eli, Sept. ’12
DEATHS ’32 Lois Vadnais, spouse of deceased Harry ’32, Nov. ’13 ’34 Dorothea Dupuch, spouse of deceased Eugene ’34, Nov. ’13 ’36 Eugene Geissler ’36, brother of deceased Rev. Lloyd ’38, Aug. ’12 ’37 Clarence Pfannenstein ’37, Oct. ’13 ’41 Richard Welle ’41, brother of Eugene ’52, Robert ’48 and deceased siblings Charles ’49 and Daniel ’49, Nov. ’13 ’42 Theodore Olson ’42, Oct. ’13 ’42 Virginia O’Connell, spouse of Jack ’42 and mother of John ’67 and Tom ’69, Sept. ’13 ’42 Oscar Neva ’42, Oct. ’12 ’43 Donna Kulas, spouse of deceased Everett ’43, Oct. ’13 ’43 Edward Paul ’43, brother of deceased Francis ’48, Aug. ’13 ’45 Paul Stahler ’45, father of John ’80 and Peter ’84, June ’13 ’46 Gerry Hofmann ’46, father of James ’69, Nov. ’13 ’46 Robert Boyd ’46, Oct. ’13 ’46 Doug Dick ’46, July ’13 ’46 Bob Koenig ’46, father of John ’73 and Peter ’76; he is the brother of deceased Ralph ’34, Aug. ’13 ’47 Betty Durenberger, spouse of deceased Bob ’47, Oct. ’13 ’47 Br. Roman Fleischhacker, OSC ’47, Sept. ’13 ’48 Honor Hacker, spouse of deceased Joe ’48, Aug. ’13 ’49 Raymond Raetz ’49, Nov. ’13
’49 Mardelle Proulx, sister of Rev. Don LeMay, OSB ’49, Edward LeMay ’65 and deceased Lester LeMay ’50, Oct. ’13 ’49 Ernie Bergeron ’49, Aug. ’13 ’49 Richard Francis, Sr. ’49, Aug. ’13 ’49 James W. Quinlivan ’49, father of Jim ’72, Mar. ’13 ’50 Tom Sinner ’50, father of Nick ’79 and Tom ’77; brother of deceased David ’56, Sept. ’13 ’50 Carol Unger, spouse of Jim ’50, Sept. ’13 ’50 Jean Stranik, spouse of Dick ’50, July ’13 ’50 George Beretta ’50, father of Dante ’86, June ’13 ’50 Fred Petters ’50, father of Jon ’75; brother of Karl ’58 and deceased brother William ’43, June ’13 ’51 Rev. Del Skillingstad, S.J. ’51, Nov. ’13
’51 Harold Bernard ’51, Oct. ’13 ’51 Bill Okerman ’51, July ’13 ’51 George Richter ’51, June ’13 ’52 Rev. Richard Kalkman ’52, May ’13 ’52 Dick Miller ’52, Oct. ’13 ’52 Shirley Donoan, spouse of Richard “Augie” ’52, Oct. ’13 ’52 S. Vivia Theisen, sister of Rev. Wilfred ’52, Lyle ’53 and John ’56, Sept. ’13 ’52 Urban Schumacher ’52, brother of deceased Rev. Paul ’48, Aug. ’13 ’52 Mary Schnettler, spouse of Ed ’52; mother of Mike ’77, Tom ’79 and John ’85, Sept. ’13 ’52 William Freund ’52, Sept. ’13 ’52 Shirley Boeser, spouse of deceased Robert ’52, July ’13
Alumni and Friends Cemetery
Remember. Celebrate. Believe.
saintjohnsabbeycemetery.org 320-363-3434 or info@saintjohnsabbycemetery.org
Ethan Aronson ’95 Finding Foster Families
Ethan Aronson ’95 grew up in Alaska, attended school in Minnesota, studied in China and lives in Hawaii. But no matter where he’s called home, he’s wanted to help others. And as community liaison for Partners In Development Foundation, he finds families who can open up their homes to foster children. Aronson has been in Hawaii since 2008, moving from Alaska, where he returned after graduation. In Alaska, Aronson worked directly with teens in foster care, while in Hawaii he works with the families who take in the kids. Aronson identifies, recruits, interviews and helps train the families, preparing them for various challenges. “A lot of folks have it in their hearts to help out, but opening your home is another step,” Aronson says. The rewarding aspect of Aronson’s work might appear years later—a call from a former foster youth who now manages a pizza place, bought his own motorcycle with money he earned and is in a healthy relationship. “To hear things like that,” Aronson says, “you think, ‘Wow, that’s what this is for.’ You gave hope to some kids who didn’t necessarily have it.”
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Milestones
’52 John “Jack” Ruhland ’52, June ’13 ’53 Ken Gove ’53, brother of Ray ’60, Aug. ’13 ’53 John “Jack” Martin ’53, Sept. ’13 ’54 Joseph Moser ’54, Sept. ’13 ’55 Tom Krebsbach ’55, brother of John ’45 and deceased Ray ’50, Oct. ’13 ’57 Audrey Sande, spouse of Tom ’57, May ’11 ’57 Tom Sande ’57, Dec. ’11 ’58 Mary Meysembourg, Housing the Homeless spouse of deceased H. Peter ’58, Nov. 13 Adam Venne ’00 started at Range ’58 James B. Kennedy ’58, Transitional Housing (RTH) in Virginia, Minn., father of deceased as a summer worker. He’s been executive Patrick ’91, Oct. ’13 ’58 John Welshons ’58, father director for the past seven years, following seven of Tim ’86, July ’13 years as a case manager. Fourteen years on the ’59 Tony Mies ’59, job so far, and Venne still says, “What we do, brother of deceased Peter when you’re helping people, it’s hard to even ’51 and Verlin ’57, Oct. ’13 call it a job.” ’59 David A. Miller ’59, Range Transitional Housing helps homeless Oct. ’13 people in northern St. Louis County find ’59 Merrie Gerlach, spouse of Philip ’59, Aug. ’13 temporary and permanent homes. As executive ’59 Pat Dolan ’59, father of director, Venne does everything—budgeting, Tom ’85 and Dave ’91, grant writing, IT work and human resources. June ’13 The nonprofit works with individuals and ’60 Joseph Blaine, Jr. ’60, families, the chronically homeless and those Nov. ’13 who suddenly find themselves out of a home. ’60 Gerald Johnson ’60, Apr. ’13 Homelessness is perceived as a big-city ’60 Leonard Kinnick ’60, problem, but it isn’t unique to urban areas. brother of Dr. Bernard ’58 and “You don’t see it, but they’re there,” Norbert ’59, Venne says. Sept. ’13 One ex-client, a mechanic, had a good ’60 Judy Sullivan, spouse of job and a home. He lost both after suffering Joe ’60 and mother of Paul ’89, seizures. RTH helped the man—who had June ’13 ’61 Dennis Tauscher ’61, four kids—transition into housing until brother of Rev. Don, OSB ’61 and he settled his disability claim and bought Leon ’69, Oct. ’13 a home. “Our goal is to take homeless ’61 Harry Grzeskowiak ’61, people and get them into housing, brother of Jerry ’61, Aug. ’13 stabilize their lives and help them become ’61 James Honl ’61, June ’13 self-sufficient.” ’62 Duane Harings ’62, May ’12
Adam Venne ’00
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’63 Michael Nilan ’63, brother of deceased Ed ’61, Aug. ’13 ’63 Jim Bishop ’63, Aug. ’13 ’63 Carolyn Oakes, spouse of deceased Richard ’63, July ’13 ’64 Janet Ries, spouse of John ’64, June ’13 ’65 John “Jack” Hickey ’65, Nov. ’13 ’66 Marguerite Kettler, mother of, Bishop Donald Kettler ’66, Oct. ’13 ’66 Hugh Hanlon, father of Jim ’66, John ’70 and Bob ’77, Oct. ’13 ’68 Kathleen Howard, sister of Roger Young ’68, Nov. ’13 ’68 Ron Foss ’68, Aug. ’13 ’69 Chuck Williams ’69, Nov. ’13 ’69 Daniel Shimek ’69, brother David ’86, Sept. ’13 ’78 William Linnemeyer, brother of Bruce ’78, Aug. ’13 ’78 Bill Richards, father of Jess ’93; brother of Br. Paul Richards, OSB ’78; Rev. Peter Richards ’89 and Jerome ’84, Aug. ’13 ’79 Bill Welsh, brother of John ’79, Oct. ’13 ’79 James Bussen, father of Patrick ’79, June ’13 ’80 Ruby Dommer, mother of Rev. Ian Dommer, OSB, SOT ’80, Nov. ’13 ’80 Rick Borg ’80, June ’13 ’81 Joseph Pavicic, father of Joseph ’81, July ’13 ’83 Dr. Antonio Rillo, father of Arnel ’83 and Art ’86, June ’13 ’84 Thomas Felmlee ’84, Oct. ’13 ’84 Jim T. Becker ’84, Sept. ’13 ’84 Gregory Trebtoske ’84, son of Peter ’58, Aug. ’13 ’86 Dr. Fred Banfield, father of Fritz ’86 and Raymond ’88, May ’13 ’87 Christine Gavin, spouse of Peter ’87, Nov. ’13 ’87 Judy Reiff, mother of Bob ’87 and Andy ’94, June ’13 ’88 Lester Stern, father of David ’88, June ’13 ’90 Timothy Belisle ’90, son of Wayne ’62, Nov. ’13 ’90 Andy Hilger, father of Kevin ’90, Aug. ’13
’93 Edward Bik, father of Rev. Michael Bik, OSB ’93, July ’13 ’93 Scott Moulzolf ’93, Nov. ’13 ’95 Clayton “Rex” Heston, father of Ken ’95, May ’13 ’02 Thang Nguyen, father of Vu ’02 and Hai ’05, Oct. ’13 ’02 Aaron Maus ’02, brother of Nathan ’04, Aug. ’13 ’07 Rev. Cody Unterseher ’07, Apr. ’13 ’09 Nicole Bermingham, sister of Shawn Daly ’09, Aug. ’13 ’11 Marge Knowlton ’11 SOT, July ’13 ’12 Jeff Sass ’12, Aug. ’13 ’16 Justin Lothert ’16, Oct. ’13
Saint John’s Abbey Guesthouse
For retreats, reunions, campus events, meetings guestmaster@osb.org 320-363-2573
Fine Arts Programming Executive Director Jose Receives Award Brian Jose (R), CSB/SJU executive director of Fine Arts Programming, received the annual NAPAMA Award for Excellence in Presenting the Performing Arts in January. The NAPAMA (North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents) award is given each year to a distinguished arts presenter in a not-for-profit organization. It is awarded for dedication to the future of fine arts presenting, a high level of professionalism, unwavering respect for colleagues and exemplary ethical behavior.
Fine Arts Calendar
Streb - FORCES Friday, April 25, 7:30 p.m. Escher Auditorium, CSB
The Wonder Bread Years Saturday, February 22, 7:30 p.m. Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU
Compagnia T.P.O. Blue! Friday, May 2, 7:00 p.m. Saturday, May 3, 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Gorecki Family Theater, CSB
Soweto Gospel Choir Friday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. Escher Auditorium, CSB Theater of Public Policy Friday, March 28, 7:30 p.m. Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU Take 6 Saturday, April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU
Letters Home Saturday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU
ARENA Dances Main Street Friday, May 16, 7:30 p.m. Gorecki Family Theater, CSB For more information and tickets, go to csbsju.edu/Fine-Arts.htm
39
Inspiring Lives
Fl p Turns
John Phelps ’79
i
Although I had been a good swimmer growing up, I never swam competitively. But when I started my freshman year at Saint John’s, a dorm-mate from 3rd Tommie Long, Pete Farrell ’79, talked me into going out for the swim team. Back then, there were no cuts. If you came to practice, you were on the team. I hope that is still the rule. (Editor’s Note: It is.) Coach Pat Haws welcomed me to the team even though he quickly learned that I would bring little talent to a pretty strong group of swimmers. Pete, for instance, was a great butterflyer. Pat patiently taught me how to properly swim each of the competitive strokes: free, breast, back and fly. I was miserable at back and fly but was able to swim free and breast without embarrassing myself or my teammates. I’m pretty sure I came in last in every event I swam that season. But aside from teaching me how to lose with dignity and some sense of humor, Pat also taught me how to execute a flip turn. That learning experience didn’t come without some pain—I split open my left heel one afternoon on the pool gutter when I turned too close to the wall. After a few stitches and a week or so on crutches, I was back in the pool. It took a while to bring my turns back in close enough to the wall to push off. My teammates got quite a chuckle watching me flip six feet off, flailing away trying to find the wall. I gave up the swim team my sophomore year and joined the fledgling club water polo team, which was better suited to my limited skills. My love for swimming, however, grew, and swimming became part of my life from then on. I still swim laps regularly to stay in shape. And these days, I’m one of the faster guys in the pool—I even smoke some of the 20- and 30-somethings in the lane next to me.
One of the things I most enjoy about pulling water is executing a “Hawsian” flip turn at the end of each length. Every time I jump in the pool, and I mean every time, I think of Pat and his coaching me through the tuck, flip, twist and push. It seems like a small thing, but it is a pretty big deal to me. Persistence, humility, discipline, teamwork and excellence—all qualities reflected by and refreshed in my own life in that simple turn. Thanks, Coach. John Phelps ’79 is CEO and executive director of the State Bar of Arizona.
“Inspiring Lives” is devoted to reflective pieces with a Saint John’s or Benedictine theme written by Saint John’s alumni. Please submit essays, poetry or other reflections for consideration to the editor: jscoon@csbsju.edu.
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A Love of Learning
A
fter teaching at some of the country’s most prestigious universities and receiving numerous awards, Nick Hayes ’69 (L) was delighted to return to Saint John’s as a Professor of History and the University Chair in Critical Thinking. “Saint John’s played a pivotal role in my education,” says Hayes. “I had brilliant
teachers here who inspired a love of learning. I was honored to know them in my youth and privileged to later call many of them my colleagues.” When Hayes and his wife, Marcia Gahagan, planned their estate, they made a will provision to fund three interests at Saint John’s that will benefit students for years to come: Scholarships in
honor of both Fr. Alberic Culhane ’52, OSB (center) and Fr. Hilary Thimmesh ’50, OSB (R), and a gift to the Saint John’s Pottery.
It’s your will.
To learn more about making a bequest to Saint John’s, contact Jim Dwyer ’75, director of planned giving, at (800) 635-7303 or jdwyer@csbsju.edu
Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID
INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
Saint John’s University
P.O. Box 7222 Collegeville, MN 56321
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Congratulations, Coach Smith
John Biasi
SJU salutes head basketball coach Jim Smith on his 50th season in Collegeville! Coach Smith has led the Johnnie hoopsters since 1964. He is the winningest collegiate basketball coach on any level in Minnesota—and one of only 27 coaches in NCAA men’s basketball history to win 700 career games. Check out the stats and the awards on p. 26.