GUILFORD COLLEGE
October 2024 | www.guilford.edu
Guilfordians are impacting our communities, nation and world through their public service
Jeff Thigpen ’93
CONTINUING A DISCOURSE ON PEACE
Friends,
A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR ALWAYS REMINDS ME that Guilford students are moving forward in their educational careers. They are exploring new interests in the classroom, interacting with friends, and making early steps in planning the careers that they will launch after graduation. They have the tremendous support of a Guilford community that never ceases to amaze me with its perpetual interest in supporting all Guilfordians.
Our students — and most students in the United States — are fortunate to continue their educational journeys. They are part of a broad U.S. network of over 3,900 higher education institutions across the country, with thousands of faculty and staff who are committed to the success of students across the nation.
Unfortunately there are thousands of students in countries around the world where this isn’t a reality. Instability in many regions has brought scores of challenges to the daily realities of students worldwide. Globally, the number of students at all levels of their education whose learning opportunities have been impacted by conflict have increased dramatically in recent years. Pick the warzone — Gaza, Darfur, Myanmar, across Ukraine — and the impact on students has been heart-wrenching.
A United Nations report earlier this year estimates more than 220 million students have experienced a disruption in their learning because of war or conflict over the past year.
Like many college presidents, I have spent a lot of time the past several months reflecting on the daily insecurity that many students around the world and their families are facing.
As the President of Guilford, an institution where members of its community have never shied away
from finding ways to make important contributions, I’ve reflected on many of the perspectives members of the Guilford community have shared as we’ve looked for ways to make a positive impact in the world. The notion of Guilfordians making a difference has been a part of our DNA since the days of the New Garden Boarding School, when free Black abolitionist Lavina Curry, a school employee, and local Quakers helped enslaved Africans seek freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Our more recent efforts include the founding of Every Campus A Refuge at Guilford. Our Bonner Program participants, our Ethical Leadership Fellows, and so many of our other student groups make significant impacts in the wider community. These examples and others speak to who we are as individuals and as an institution.
including people who have been providing educational opportunities to children and youth impacted by conflict in different parts of the world.
In April, we launched an initiative known as Conceptualizing Peace. Through it we aim to find ways to refocus energy and discourse on matters of peace. A college founded on Quaker principles should lead a discourse on matters of peace. Indeed, given much of our history as an institution, we have a moral obligation to find ways to engage people on strategies for promoting and building peace.
Over the next several months, we will involve our students, faculty, staff and alumni in this critical dialogue around working with friends from across the globe on this effort.
This fall, as part of our Conceptualizing Peace efforts, we are launching “Education Interrupted,” a six-part webinar series that will focus on matters related to the disruption of educational experiences as a result of war and conflict. We have an impressive list of presenters who will be part of the series,
Higher education institutions, including Guilford, have a number of responsibilities in today’s world. Of course, a central role is providing educational opportunities for our students and doing our best to support our faculty, staff and alumni. Another critical role is finding ways we can help make an impact on local and global needs in a world that greatly needs to experience a better sense of tranquility and a lessening of the burdens of conflict. As part of the learning experience at Guilford, we will work with international partners to prepare students to be responsible global citizens. We want to impact our own students as well as students in other parts of the world in regard to the realities of global issues.
I look forward to working with members of the broader Guilford community to reflect on our roles as educators, students and global citizens to find ways that impact the lives of others and further conceptualizing peace to ensure a more tranquil reality for others.
As Guilfordians, we have critical work ahead of us to enhance our small but important role with our students in promoting peace in the world.
Warmly,
Kyle Farmbry, J.D., Ph.D. President
Scan the QR code with your phone to watch the latest "Education Interrupted" interviews.
EDITOR
Robert Bell ’11
DESIGN
Chris Ferguson
PHOTOGRAPHY
Lynn Hey
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING TEAM
Ty Buckner, Vice President of Communications & Marketing
Robert Bell ’11, Director of Communications
Michael Crouch ’10 & ’12, Director of Brand & Marketing Operations
Ady Franken ’24 ’25 MBA
LaToya Marsh , Director of the Bryan Series
Aziz Peregrino-Brimah , Digital Content Manager
FUNDRAISING TEAM
LaDaniel Gatling II, Vice President for Advancement & Alumni Relations
Elizabeth Freeze, Senior Director of Philanthropy
Rick Lancaster ’88, Director of Development & Strategic Engagement
Lauren Reinking , Director of Alumni Relations & Engagement
Lindsay Gauldin ’23, Assistant Director of Emerging Gifts
CONTACT US
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A Passion for Public Service
The values of servant leadership — putting others first and leading from the heart — need to emerge from every corner of American life.
A month from now – maybe longer if history repeats itself – America will know who its next leader will be. In one sense I’ll be relieved because the race to Nov. 5 has not been pretty. How can you be a genuine public servant when both sides belittle fellow citizens and freeze out those who hold opposing views?
Fortunately our country is filled with public service employees who are already quietly and faithfully serving our nation and world. They are our police officers, our teachers, our local politicians and so many more unsung heroes. This issue of Guilford College Magazine celebrates the Guilforidans among them.
I am thankful for the public service leaders like those found within these pages. We need more men and women willing to serve those who are not like them. I hope you enjoy their stories as much as we did gathering them.
We need your help with Guilford College Magazine’s spring issue, in which we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of the renovation of Founders Hall. If you have any memories or photos you want to share, call me at 336-316-2239 or email me at bellrw@guilford.edu. I hope to hear from you.
— Robert Bell ’11 Editor
IN THIS ISSUE
22 06
6 Stoked for STEM
A federal grant is helping five Guilford first years interested in STEM fields attend the College.
8 Call of duty
Steve Hankins ‘75 remembers everything about President Kennedy’s funeral in 1963. He was part of it.
10 Serving others
Many Guilfordians have a servant’s heart. These graduates are making a career out of it.
16 Home sweet Hobbs
Guilfordians returned to the College last month to celebrate Mary Hobbs Hall, a building that was more than a dorm.
18 All in the family
Leslie Alexander ’95 is the schools superintendent in Watauga County, North Carolina, but she’s a teacher at heart.
20 A cool change
Art professor Mark Dixon ’96 is always evolving. He wants the same for his students.
22 Under the radar
Guilford’s winningest coach could be standing next to you in Founders Hall and you might not know it. That’s just how Tom Palombo likes it.
25 Running the show
After years as an assistant women’s volleyball coach, Kelsey Goodman is getting her chance to lead at Guilford.
27 Running the show II
Angel Moore ‘17 made it her mission at Guilford to run her own accounting firm. Eight years later she’s doing just that.
29 A passion for service
Guilford ignited a fire in Doug Scott ’73 to serve others. For years that flame burned bright.
October 2024
On the Cover
As Guilford County’s Register of Deeds, Jeff Thigpen ’93 applies what he learned at Guilford in serving a wide range of constituents.
A TEACHER GIVES BACK
Hannah Moran ’11 knows the impact a good teacher can have on a student. Her gift to Guilford will help create more of those teachers.
HANNAH MORAN ‘11 IS A HIGH SCHOOL
English teacher in Massachusetts who is quick to share the joys of teaching –the inspiration, the humor, the “ah-ha” moments when a line from Shakespeare resonates with one student or makes a literary connection to a Taylor Swift song. She’s also seen the other side of teaching, the one where would-be educators struggle financially before even getting into a classroom.
Like any teacher who sees a student struggling, Hannah wanted to help.
In August, Hannah directed a $50,000 gift from the Subak Family Foundation to Guilford’s Education Studies Department, the latest of several annual gifts her family has made to Guilford. This latest gift will be used to cover the financial burden of licensure exams and other state licensure mandates, which can often cost upwards of $1,000 for students on the cusp of graduating. The gift will also serve as a scholarship for Education Studies majors who might be unable to pay bills incurred due to the commitments associated with student teaching, which generally includes 40+ hour work weeks for students.
Hannah says the gift will ease some of the financial and personal pressures graduating Education Studies students face before entering a classroom.
“My hope is that this (gift) allows them to focus on becoming the best teachers they can be,” says Hannah.
The Subak Family Foundation’s gift to Guilford is similar to one made last
year to the University of Maine. That gift proved so successful that Hannah and husband Steve Moran, a former Director of Student Leadership & Engagement at Guilford, were inspired to shift their generosity to support future educators studying at Guilford.
Hannah’s grandfather, John Subak, did not speak English when his family escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia by immigrating to the U.S. when John was 11. With help from others, he learned English, attended a private school, and enlisted in the Navy. He later graduated from Yale and was a successful attorney.
Hannah remembers her grandfather sharing that his educational opportunities were among the greatest gifts he received. “When figuring out what we wanted to do with our gift, educational access and removing boundaries and obstacles to getting that education was important to us.”
Hannah’s excited about the foundation’s latest gift and encourages others to give when they can to the College. “Teaching is not glamorous, but it’s wildly important and rewarding,” she says. “If this can help make folks’ road to becoming educators a little easier, that would be amazing.” • PHILANTHROPY
HANNAH MORAN HOPES HER LATEST GIFT TO GUILFORD WILL INSPIRE OTHERS TO GIVE AS WELL.
Family Affair
Five generations of Parkers attended Guilford. Many of them are helping create a Wall of Champions in Ragan-Brown Field House.
ELWOOD PARKER ’64 IS KNOWN TO generations of Guilfordians as the easy-going Math professor who taught at Guilford for nearly 47 years. Lesser known were his accomplishments as a baseball and basketball player when he attended the College.
Elwood’s sister, Elizabeth Parker Haskins ’76, was a standout athlete, too. She played basketball and volleyball, and her No. 22 basketball jersey hangs from the rafters at Ragan-Brown Field House.
Like Elwood, Elizabeth is a member of Guilford’s Athletics Hall of Fame. They are two of five Parker family members who are Guilford hall of famers.
ELWOOD
’ 64
So when Elwood and Elizabeth learned this spring that the College wanted to celebrate all of its hall of fame athletes with a permanent and public display, they were eager to help. Phone calls were made to family members. Emails were sent.
This summer, Elwood, Elizabeth and their extended families — all Guilfordians and overwhelmingly former student-athletes — agreed to donate $50,000 to establish the George C. and Elizabeth Gilliam Parker Family Wall of Champions and History
in the lobby of Ragan-Brown Field House.
“It’s going to be a nice way to honor not just the Parkers but all of our hall of famers and recognize the longstanding Parker connection to Guilford,” says Elwood.
“I think Mom and Dad would be happy.”
The Guilford-Parker family tree is vast. Its branches reach back five generations and tell the story of a Quaker family’s love for the College and athletics. Ruth Peele Parker ’06 planted the seed when she graduated nearly 125 years ago.
With every new generation, the tree grew wider, its roots dug deeper. Today there are 18 Guilfordians who can trace their heritage back to Ruth. Kyle Parker Humphrey ’14, Elwood and Ellen’s grandson are the most recent.
“It’s pretty amazing when you think about it,” says Elwood. “I don’t think any of us felt the pressure to attend. I think we saw what the College could offer us and what it did for family members and wanted to be part of something special.”•
PARKER
Your gift will help recognize our Hall of Fame athletes. To give, scan the QR code and use the dropdown box to click on Athletics.
SOFIA MAHMOOD ’ 28 WANTS A CAREER IN FORENSIC SCIENCE.
ALL IN ON STEM
Five first-year students receive National Science Foundation scholarships.
WHEN SOFIA MAHMOOD ’28 completes her double major in Biology and Criminal Justice, she hopes to land a job as a crime scene investigator or a forensic medical examiner — a dream made easier after receiving a valuable STEM scholarship from Guilford.
Sofia, who lives in High Point, is one of five Guilford first-year students who are part of the first cohort this fall to begin studying in selected STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields with the help of a National Science Foundation S-STEM Scholarship program.
“I was already planning on attending Guilford, so when they called to tell me I
was getting the scholarship, I was even more excited,” says Sofia, who is the first in her family to attend college.
The grant covers tuition, books, and room and board for the next four years for Sofia and four other students from North Carolina: Makayla Brown of Asheboro, Alyssa Daniel of Cameron, Isabella Irizarry of Waxhaw, and Antonio Puopolo of Holly Springs.
Sofia grew up watching true crime shows on television. Her favorite was “Forensic Files.” “You know, the one where people go around murdering people and try to make it look like an accident for the insurance policy and then the police use forensic science
to prove it wasn't really an accidental death,” says Sofia. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
The foundation's grant includes support for the students throughout their four years at the College to ensure they are prepared for the workforce or further graduate study.
“We will be with them every step of the way to help them succeed,” says Chafic Bou-Saba, Associate Professor of Computing Technology and Information Systems. “Bringing in new and distinguished students, giving them access to a liberal arts education at a college like Guilford, this is a major win for the students and the school.” •
PHOTO BY ROBERT BELL
A New Focus
Steve Mencarini, who spent six years as Dean of Students, is leading the College’s efforts to grow enrollment.
GUILFORD’S NEW ASSOCIATE
Vice President of Enrollment
Management and Retention is a familiar face around campus. Steve Mencarini, who served as Dean of Students at the College for six years is now leading Admission efforts to recruit students to Guilford College. Just as important, Steve will play a key role in promoting their retention.
Steve assumed his new position in July. Now that Guilford’s 364 Class of 2028 students and 40 transfer students are enrolled, he’s busy working on increasing those numbers for next fall. “What excites me most is the opportunity to have a generational impact on the institution in a different way than how I've been able to contribute to the institution before,” he says.
“The lifeblood of this campus is the students and how we recruit those students and get them to come to campus and set them up to be successful here. It’s a critical piece of
their journey,” he says. Steve succeeded Kyle Wooden ’11, who worked in Admission at Guilford for 12 years and accepted a position at High Point University.
Steve came to Guilford from Elon University, where he was Director of the Center for Leadership. Before that, he had positions at the University of Maryland, William & Mary and
Gonzaga University. Impressive schools, but nothing like Guilford, he says.
“When your personal values align with institutional values, that makes going to work and working there a lot easier,” he says. “I firmly believe in the mission of Guilford College and what we're trying to do here. It’s so much more distinctive than anywhere else I’ve worked.” •
STEVE MENCARINI SAYS HE “FIRMLY BELIEVES IN THE MISSION OF GUILFORD COLLEGE.”
DIGITAL BONUS
Scan the QR card with your phone to learn more about Steve and his new role at Guilford.
CALL OF DUTY
Before he helped Guilford win a national title in basketball, Steve Hankins ’75 was a young Marine who stood watch over history.
WHAT LINGERS IN THE MEMORY is how ordinary the weekend was shaping up to be. Barely 19 and a few months removed from Parris Island, Marine Private First Class Steve Hankins ’75 was loafing in his barracks when a news bulletin shattered the Friday afternoon calm.
President Kennedy has been shot.
A few agonizing hours later, the date Nov. 22, 1963, was seared into a nation’s memory with Kennedy’s assassination. Sixty-one years have passed and the images of that day — and the three days that followed — are no less crisp for residing on the outer edge of Steve’s memory: The announcement on his transistor radio… the six white
horses pulling the funeral caisson… the flag-wrapped coffin… the endless line of black automobiles bearing world dignitaries… the clip-clop of horses and cadence of muffled drums.
Those of a certain age recall the nation’s wrenching farewell to President Kennedy in grainy black-andwhite memories. Steve remembers in
PHOTO BY ROBERT BELL ’ 11
STEVE HANKINS ’75 WAS ONE OF ABOUT 60 MARINES WHO TOOK PART IN THE 1963 FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR PRESIDENT KENNEDY.
Technicolor. Stationed in Washington, Steve had a front-row view of history. “I think a lot about it when the weather changes,” he says. “I used to not like thinking about it. Now I know I was part of something special — sad, but special.”
Before he became a part of Guilford lore by helping the Quakers win the 1973 NAIA National Basketball Championship, Steve was a high school graduate in 1962 looking to join the military. As he recalls, the officers in Greensboro’s Army and Navy recruiting centers told him he was too tall and to try the Marines.
The Marines recruiter never measured Steve, who was 6 feet, 7 inches. Instead, the recruiter recorded his height at 6'5". The next day Steve was a Marine, and by November he was stationed in Washington as part of the Marine Presidential Honor Guard.
Hours after Kennedy’s assassination, Steve was part of the security detail at Bethesda Naval Hospital when the First Lady, still wearing the bloody pink suit from the shooting in Dallas earlier in the day, arrived with her husband’s body for the autopsy. When foreign dignitaries arrived to pay respect to the Kennedy family, Steve and other Marines were lined up outside the White House in their starched dress blue uniforms to greet them.
“We were told to look straight ahead and not to eyeball anyone when they walked by,” Steve recalls. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, covered in ribbons and medals, was the first to arrive. “He walked right past me and it was hard not to stare at all those ribbons,” remembers Steve. “But after a while, so many came in and out you got used to it all.”
Steve and other members of the Presidential Honor Guard led a solemn procession down Pennsylvania Avenue,
“ I used to not like thinking about it. Now I know I was part of something special — sad, but special.”
— Steve Hankins ’75
escorting the horse-drawn caisson from the White House to the Capitol Rotunda.
After President Lyndon Johnson laid a wreath on the casket, police opened the Capitol doors around 2 p.m. to the crowd waiting outside. The building was supposed to close at 9 p.m., but newspapers at the time reported that the line for visitors wanting to pay their respects still stretched for two miles so officials extended visitation hours through the night.
Despite the long hours and nearfreezing temperatures, Steve and the rest of the Honor Guard stood stiff as tin soldiers into the evening. He recalls the profound and prolonged silence throughout. “What I remember was nobody said a word,” he says. “You know nowadays if there was an event for, say, Mr. Trump, people would be running around and rah-rahing, but
not that day. I don’t know if it was out of respect or because they were so overwhelmed. There was just this feeling of overwhelming sadness, so nobody spoke.”
The next morning Steve was part of the procession bringing the casket back to the White House. Pennsylvania Avenue was lined with more than a million people. He says many lowered their heads and removed hats when the coffin passed by them.
Steve served nine years in the Marines, including three tours in Vietnam with the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, also known as "The Walking Dead." It was a nickname earned for its high casualty rate. The battalion fought in some of the war's most difficult battles and experienced the longest sustained combat and highest killed-in-action rate in Marine Corps history. “I didn’t serve as much as I survived,” says Steve.
The longtime teacher and coach respects his place in history, albeit begrudgingly. “I didn’t do anything to earn that except be there in the barracks when I got my orders,” he says.
Press him and Steve will talk about his role in equal doses of humility, humor and reverence. He understands people’s curiosity, though time has lessened that interest. “People stopped asking me about it over the years, which was fine with me,” says Steve. “I never brought it up because it was a job, an order like any other order I got. That’s what I thought then, and I still do.”
But a few minutes later, like time itself, Steve’s perspective changes. “When you’re 19 and put into a situation like that you don’t really think about it the same way you do when you look back now,” he says. “At the time I thought I was just doing my job. I can see now it was more.” •
In Praise of Public Service
In this election season, these Guilfordians are showing us what public service looks like.
We take them for granted, and we shouldn't. They are the front line responders in our lives, the ones we count on to lead, to protect, to heal, to teach while never expecting anything beyond a paycheck and, maybe, a smile, for helping others. In this season, the spotlight shines bright on our elected officials, two in particular.
Yet just beyond the light, it’s the work of countless civil and public servants, deeply committed to serving others. Generations of Guilfordians have made careers out of public service. Working as politicians, teachers, firefighters, or nurses – it’s more than just a job. For them, it’s a vocation. Take a look at these Guilford public servants. They are patriots masked in their humility. They represent the best of Guilford and America.
In a polarized world, Jeff Thigpen seeks the middle ground
TO UNDERSTAND WHY JEFF THIGPEN ’93 has spent the past 26 years in public service — the last 20 as Guilford County’s Register of Deeds — requires a road trip to Burgaw, an old railroad and farming town in eastern North Carolina where he spent his childhood.
Jeff was five years old when his father lay bleeding next to a barn door, tangled up in a two-ton combine harvester that had ripped his left leg off. Thomas Thigpen would spend the next 314 days in a hospital and another year in physical therapy. He would never work on a farm again.
Shortly after his father came home from the hospital, Jeff’s mother, Geraldine, lost her vision for nearly a year.
Between his father’s surgeries and skin grafts, his mother’s blindness and the mounting medical bills for both of them, a rare constant in Jeff's life was watching a community come together for one of their own.
Even now, all these years later, Jeff shakes his head at the memories of so many who stepped up. “I still have these vivid images of my family’s picture on the coin cup filled with money at the convenience store. I remember neighbors who worked with us on the farm, white and Black, working class and dirt poor people coming to sit with us and bring food,” he says.
PHOTO BY LYNN HEY
Tom and Geraldine had purchased a home a few months earlier, and after the accident local civic clubs stepped in and helped pay the mortgage. “What’s great about communities is how everyone comes together to help someone in need,” says Jeff. “Not just your friends — strangers, too. A lot of different people and unlikely people came together for us, maybe even saved us. So when I see that today in other families struggling, I’m drawn to helping them.”
That sense of community and his four years at Guilford drive Jeff as Register of Deeds. Guilford, says Jeff, helped open his mind — not just to understanding the answers to problems
but understanding the right questions to ask about a situation.
“Guilford taught me about the value of community and how power works and the importance of integrity, the idea of seeking truth, and what does that mean, when you're dealing in situations where people disagree?” he says.
“How do you bring your best self to civic discussion and dialogue? That whole idea of consensus building is really hard and forces you not just to think about what you want, but think about what you want within the context of a broad community of people that may not always agree on things. It’s important not to forget what we agree on when we're dealing with disagreement. That's something that's going on in society right now that we're struggling with.”
That mindset served him well in 2014 when same-sex couples showed up at his office to apply for marriage
licenses as part of a national campaign to protest the ban on gay marriage.
A year earlier, North Carolina voters had approved Amendment One, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
The couples hoped Jeff would follow the lead of a Pennsylvania registrar issuing same-sex marriage licenses in defiance of his state’s ban because he believed the law there was
unconstitutional.
Jeff, a fervent supporter of gay marriage, turned down his constituents. “I told them what I believed and what the law was were two different matters and that we needed to abide by the law,” he recalls.
Two years later, when a federal judge in Asheville, N.C., overturned North Carolina’s ban on a Friday afternoon minutes after his office
PHOTO BY LYNN HEY
IN 2014, GUILFORD COUNTY REGISTER OF DEEDS JEFF THIGPEN HELPED SAME-SEX COUPLES GET MARRIED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NORTH CAROLINA.
“It’s important not to forget what we agree on when we're dealing with disagreement. That's something that's going on in society right now that we're struggling with. ”
— Jeff Thigpen ’93
had closed, Jeff rushed into action. He reopened his office and asked his staff to come back to work to marry the couples, many of whom had been gathering outside his office . Some of the staff objected for religious reasons. Rather than force them to their jobs, Jeff gave them other work that needed to be done.
Jeff was one of only three North Carolina registrars to open their doors that night to serve. By the time he closed his office, 24 couples were married and the images of Jeff’s office marrying same-sex couples made national news.
Jeff shrugs it off. “I never thought there was any other way to handle that situation,” he says. “What I did then and now in my job I can draw a straight line back to a tobacco field in Burgaw.”
Jeff, who studied Justice & Policy Studies and Political Science at Guilford, says he has no inclination to seek higher office. That old chestnut about local government is where the rubber hits the road still speaks to him.
“Whenever you don’t have a strong, thriving local community of support, people start to lose a sense of not just themselves but the community around them. I’m called to right where I am today to help build that community right here,” he says. •
Ronnie Lowenstein crunched numbers, not politics
Talk about job insecurity. In 1998, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told anyone who would listen that a publicprivate effort to build a new Yankee Stadium on the west side of Manhattan would save taxpayers millions of dollars rather than building one in the Bronx.
That’s when the city’s Independent Budget Office, led by Director Ronnie Lowenstein ’73, started crunching the numbers.
In the end, Ronnie’s office had to — how do we say this nicely? — publicly correct the mayor on his math. After Ronnie's office released its report, a new Yankees Stadium was built across the street from the old one in the Bronx.
A few years earlier, when the mayor’s office boasted per-pupil spending in city schools was up, it was Ronnie’s office that had to — ahem — point out publicly that wasn't actually correct.
In fact, spending, when adjusted for inflation, was actually down, according to a report released by Ronnie’s office.
“Those were not messages the mayor’s office wanted out there, but that was not my concern,” says Ronnie, who spent 19 years as director of the IBO, which provides nonpartisan budget, economic and policy analyses to New York’s elected officials and taxpayers.
“Politicians didn’t always agree with what we reported, and they let us know it. Sometimes in very public ways,” she says.
That public pressure never deterred Ronnie or her staff. Her career with the IBO covered four mayoral administrations before she retired in 2022. By then, she says, the anger and vitriol from politicians grew into respect and trust from city officials and taxpayers alike.
The city’s IBO was modeled after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which provides fiscal answers to federal lawmakers. After serving as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Ronnie joined the IBO when it was created in 1996. Two years later she took over as director. One of her first acts was to change her party registration from Democrat to independent to emphasize her neutrality.
“Did I have political beliefs?” asks Ronnie, not waiting for an answer. “Of course I had opinions, but I made sure to put those aside at work. I made sure my staff did, too.”
An Economics major at Guilford, Ronnie earned a master’s in Economics at Columbia University. She could have easily found a private, six-figure position in banking, but chose a road less taken. “I realized my skill sets could help me in public service with a lot of issues I cared about,” she says.
Two of those issues were public education and affordable housing.
“I want to leave the world better than I found it,” says Ronnie. “Isn’t that why a lot of public service workers do what they do?” •
A trip to the pool forever changed James Beverly
WHEN HE WAS 5 , James Beverly’s ’90 mother surprised him one summer morning by taking him from the family’s largely black neighborhood in Baltimore to a mostly white neighborhood across the city for a morning of swimming. It was maybe a 10-minute drive, but to James the new neighborhood was a world away.
“It wasn't just the pools,” James recalls. “There were parks and trees and restaurants – things we didn’t have back in my neighborhood.” Fifty years later, the image is no less crisp for residing on the edge of his memory.
“I remember thinking, ‘What is this? Why don’t we have the same things, the same amenities they have in South Baltimore?’ From there on I became animated with this sense of how do we – not just I – but how do we help those who really need our help?”
For 12 years as a Democratic state legislator in Georgia, the last four as House Minority Leader, James, an optometrist from Macon, Ga., who earned a Biology degree at Guilford, worked tirelessly to help improve the
lives of not just his constituents back home, but across the state.
“It’s the best feeling in the world when you’re able to be part of change that helps improve someone’s life,” says James.
In March, James announced he would not seek re-election. The decision was driven in part by a redrawn district that introduced new territory but also because he believes he can do more back in his hometown as a private citizen.
He encourages others to get involved in public service, politics in particular.
“It changes you,” he says. “You knock on enough doors and hear people’s hopes and dreams and aspirations, that changes you. For years I'd walk down streets, make phone calls and listen. Those people’s stories? Their dreams and desires? Working for them made me a better human being because it took me out of myself and focused me on them. For a period of my life, I had a chance at public service at a very high level and it changed me into a better human being.” •
Jason Meisner feels at home helping others displaced from theirs
ASK JASON MEISNER ’09 why he hops on a plane with little notice to spend weeks — sometimes months — helping others across the world displaced by conflict or natural disaster, and he’ll shrug his shoulders. “In a lot of ways that’s all I’ve ever known,” he says.
Jason spent most of his childhood overseas. His father was an agronomist and his mother a teacher with American International School. “I saw how much they gave to others,” says Jason. “Over the years I guess that service became a part of me.”
These days, after graduating from Guilford with a double major in Peace & Conflict Studies and Political Science, Jason is a Foreign Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID is an independent agency of the government whose primary function is to administer civilian foreign aid and development assistance to distressed countries. He has worked in Iraq, Lebanon, and Somalia. His work has also taken Jason to the Philippines to help after a typhoon slammed into the island in 2013, to the Turkey-Syria border after an 2023 earthquake left thousands homeless. Often that aid looks like cash, food, or shelter for the many who are in need.
Those short-term fixes are rewarding, but more fulfilling is when the advocacy work of Jason and other USAID Officers leads to longlasting policy changes that impact people over their lifetime.
“That’s when our work leads to more permanent solutions,” he says. “That’s what makes the work even more satisfying.” •
Overworked and underpaid, Jonathon Vogt loves his job
JONATHON VOGT ’07 is an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cincinnati who handles nuisance litigation. His office takes on private and corporate landlords who shirk their duties. His salary is set no matter how many cases he is assigned. That number is growing.
But here’s the rub: Overworked, underpaid Jonathon wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’m proud of the work we do,” he says. “When you’re able to take on a case that threatens people’s safety and the basic human right to have access to quality safe housing for themselves and their families, that’s something worth fighting for.”
Jonathon says renters are often living paycheck to paycheck. “They
certainly don’t have the resources to take on these companies,” he says. That’s what makes public service so rewarding for me.”
Jonathon started off a Theatre Studies major at Guilford before switching to Political Science. The last job he expected to be working at was public defender. Guilford changed that.
“The ideas I was exposed to, and getting to meet and live within such a diverse student body helped put me on the path to becoming the man and person I am today,” he says. "The professors — people like Provost Maria Rosales — inspired me to find out who I really am, find out what I am passionate about. I am extremely grateful.” •
When her party called, Cameron Reny answered
THREE YEARS AGO, WHEN LOCAL DEMOCRATIC party officials asked Cameron Reny ’07 if she was interested in running for a seat in the Maine Senate, she told them she needed to think about it. But not for long.
Cameron was raised in a family that believes in giving back to the community. “That means more than just writing a check for a cause,” she says. “You have to really roll up your sleeves and do the work and give your time and effort.”
Cameron won her seat in 2022 and is knocking on doors again this fall for re-election. In her first two years in the Senate, Cameron, who chairs the state’s Marine Resources Committee, sponsored and passed eight bills. Her measures have helped remove red tape when filing mental health insurance claims, protected fishermen when they are injured or their boats break down during the fishing season and helped put more local seafood on the plates of school menus.
While studying abroad at Guilford, Cameron, a Community & Justice Studies major, and classmates worked with city officials in a small town outside Guadalajara, Mexico, to bring clean water to residents.
“That trip showed the power people can generate when they work together,” she says. “You can make a really big difference no matter how much the odds are stacked against you. I like to think I’m still doing that today.” •
HOME SWEET HOBBS
At last month’s Homecoming & Family Weekend, generations of Guilfordian women gathered to celebrate the grand old dame that is Mary Hobbs Hall.
FROM HER HOME ACROSS THE ROAD , Mary Mendenhall Hobbs needed only to glance out her bedroom window in 1907 to watch her legacy take shape. A half-made structure, its beams, columns and trusses rising bare from the Guilford campus. Soon it would be fortified with those iconic red bricks, prompting Mary to write of its grandeur: “The walls are about done and it does look beautiful.”
Later, Mary could barely contain herself, writing to a friend that the building that would one day bear her name “was not just so much brick and mortar but the realization of our hopes and prayers, the result of our labors, the crown of our love…the house is a monument of loving kindness and good will.”
Is she embellishing? Does it matter?
In September over Homecoming & Family Weekend, alumni who called Mary Hobbs Hall home celebrated
“A dorm is a place where students sleep and study. Hobbs was a community. Everyone was there for each other. ”
— Janice Lynch Shuster ’84
its 115th anniversary. The oldest residential building on campus has endured attic fires, basement floods and four renovations, but isn’t showing her age. Everyone agreed on that. The weekend was a chance for former “Hobbits,” as some residents proudly call themselves, to gather and swap stories that need no embellishing. Everyone also agreed on that.
As far as consensus goes, that’s about it. Nearly all the rest of Mary Hobbs Hall, as seen through the gauzy
memories of its former residents, is uniquely colored by their own experiences, says Becke Blackwell Jones ’59. “I bet you could ask a hundred girls who lived in Hobbs what they remember most and get just as many different answers,” she says. “There was so much to remember.”
As Mary Hobbs turns a year older, it is natural to think of home-cooked dinners, giggling girls short-sheeting roommates’ beds, and — gasp! — scantily-clad women showing off on the porch roof for male students below, but the dorm that looks over Guilford’s quad embodies so much more.
“I never felt like I was living in a dorm,” says Janice Lynch Shuster ’84. “A dorm is a place where students sleep and study. Hobbs was a community. Everyone was there for each other.”
From its inception, Mary Hobbs Hall has been a testament to women and learning. Mary was the wife of
PHOTO BY ROBERT BELL ’ 11
Lewis Lyndon Hobbs, the College’s first President. She was a lifelong Quaker educator, whose interest in the education of women was apparent early. When asked to write an essay on what she would do if given $10,000 to spend as she wished, Mary wrote about establishing a school for girls.
“That was something Hobbs believed in strongly,” says Gwen Gosney Erickson, Quaker Archivist and the College’s Special Collections Librarian. “There were many things Hobbs was very ahead of her time, very progressive in her thinking, and helping educate women was one she was passionate about.”
Mary insisted on New Garden Hall, the building’s original name until 1933, being a cooperative dorm. From its inception, students cleaned, shared laundry duties and helped prepare meals that were eaten together in the first floor dining room adjacent to the kitchen. In exchange for the cooking and cleaning, the women received a discounted housing rate.
As Gwen tells it, the dorm opened its doors when the Progressive Era was still in its infancy and parents weren’t inclined to spend too much on a woman’s education. A discounted dorm rate made
that investment more enticing.
Linda Mercer ’69 spent four years living and working in Hobbs. “When everyone’s cleaning and singing songs while washing dishes and working toward a common goal you become family,” she says. “How can you not?”
Linda and her fellow “Hobbs Girls,” the name her generation of Hobbs residents gave themselves, still meet regularly to discuss all matters Guilford. “As soon as we see each other we just slide back into our old ways, hugging and greeting and teasing each other over lunch,” says Linda. “I don’t think you find that in too many other college dorms.”
Linda has a name for those bonds:
friendship clumps. “There are clumps from the 20s, the 30s and 40s that continued to death,” she says. “Friends that stuck together, kept together, met together. That’s the power of Hobbs.”
Janice, a proposal writer in Maryland, has two daughters. She tried to sell them on Guilford and Hobbs. “When I told them about (Hobbs) they said, ‘Mom, you make that place out to be some sort of utopia.’ They said it couldn’t have been that wonderful, but it really was. I wish they had that chance to experience it.”
Alas, Janice’s daughters attended state schools in Maryland. “That’s OK,” she laughs. “I’ll work on my grandchildren.” •
HOBBS RESIDENTS DID EVERYTHING TOGETHER — FROM EVENING MEALS TO STYLING HAIR.
A LEADER FOR LEARNING
Watauga County Schools
Superintendent Leslie Alexander ’95 feels right at home in her latest job.
A NEW SCHOOL YEAR means Leslie Alexander ’95 is on the road again with her spreadsheet riding shotgun. On the road to schools like Cove Creek and Blowing Rock, Green Valley and Bethel, Valle Crucis and Mabel. There are eight elementary/middle schools and one high school in Watauga County, whose postcard-worthy towns are found on the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.
The mission for Leslie, Watauga County Schools’ second-year superintendent, is daunting. It’s not enough to visit all nine county schools and memorize all of the school system’s teachers by name. She wants to know a little about the educators who will be teaching and forging relationships with students over the next nine months.
“I can’t tell you that I can walk up to every single teacher and tell you their name,” Leslie confesses, “but I knew a vast majority of them last year and this year I’m going to know even more.”
Getting to know over 400 teachers is not unlike a third-grader learning his multiplication tables. It takes effort, but
PHOTO BY ROBERT BELL
LESLIE ALEXANDER SAYS HER JOB AS A SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT REMINDS HER OF THE COMMUNITY SHE FELT AT GUILFORD.
the payoff to both is immeasurable.
Leslie knows the importance of building a rapport. She saw it growing up in Kentucky, where her mother, Linda, was a specialeducation teacher. She experienced it herself when she made the leap into education as a substitute teacher the year her oldest daughter started kindergarten and, later, when she became a lateral-entry teacher herself.
“Education is so dependent on the relationships you build,” Leslie says. “Obviously between the teacher and student, but I really think it’s important from an administrative level, too. When you can’t be everywhere at once you need to really know your school principals and teachers. They’re the ones on the front line.”
“ When you can’t be everywhere at once you need to really know your school principals and teachers. They’re the ones on the front line.”
Even now, all these years later, Leslie’s journey from substitute teacher to school superintendent is a bit unconventional. She came to Guilford as a Continuing Education student and, with her husband and two toddler children in attendance for commencement, graduated with an English degree.
— Leslie Alexander ’95
Next stop, law school — or so she thought. “After having kids your life route changes,” says Leslie, who worked in her children’s schools all the way through middle school as a lateral entry teacher, a media coordinator and a curriculum coordinator.
“It was great being around my kids and doing a job I loved and was good at,” she says. “I thought that’s what I’d keep on doing but when it came time for the girls to go to high school, they put their foot down. They said, ‘Sorry, Mom, you’re not coming with us.’ ”
Leslie took her daughter’s words less as a rejection and more as a sign. This was her chance to pursue that law degree she’d been putting off. Only something in her told her to pause. “I really loved teaching and was good at it,” she says. “I guess I wanted to see what else I could be good at in education.”
She worked administrative roles in the Winston-Salem/ Forsyth County Schools and earned her Principal’s License. She was the principal at Reynolds High School in Winston-
Salem, N.C., where she stayed for six years before serving as the county’s Chief Human Resource Officer. When the Watauga superintendent’s position opened last year, Leslie was intrigued. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Appalachian State University in Boone, the county’s largest town. She and her husband Cantey, a fan of ASU’s football team, had made many trips to Boone in the fall. But those trips were mostly limited to the campus at the expense of the rest of the county.
Before applying for the position last year, Leslie woke up one Saturday morning at 4 for a different kind of road trip. She drove from her home in Winston-Salem to visit Watauga’s nine schools. Not just the schools, but the people, too.
Leslie remembers dropping by a general store across the street from one of the rural elementary schools and chatting up residents in overalls drinking their morning coffee. “The more I talked to them the more I realized this was such a perfect fit for me,” she says. “Watauga has so many wonderful communities and they’re very proud of their schools. I knew if I got this job I’d be home.”
There were more than 30 public school superintendent openings in North Carolina last year. Watauga’s opening was the only one Leslie was interested in. She says Guilford helped her realize what she was looking for in running a school system. “I think the size of Guilford and the types of relationships and depth of relationships I was able to have with my teachers really influenced me,” says Leslie. “I wanted to work where I could have those types of relationships.”
This summer she spent a morning delivering books to children with the county’s school board chairman. “Not a lot of superintendents can do that with their school board chairman,” she says. “And we knew all the families we took books to. I really think I was led to this job because of the environment and relationships I was able to build at a school like Guilford.” •
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF MARK DIXON
Guilford opened him to new worlds. He wants the same for his students.
IN A CORNER OF MARK DIXON’S ’96
Hege-Cox Hall classroom is a portable wooden table that wasn’t always a table. In another lifetime, the table’s top, sides and legs were part of an upright piano. That was before Mark extracted the soundboard from the piano’s innards, sketched out a blueprint, pulled out some tools and — voila! — a table.
Of course when you think about it — and here it should be noted Mark is always thinking this way – the piano wasn’t always a piano either. That soundboard was crafted from a centuriesold Sitka Spruce that once soared above the Pacific Northwest before musical instrument lovers coveting its resonant fine grain toppled her.
Occasionally Mark will carry his tree-cum-piano-cum-desk with him to his second office, which, doubles as Guilford’s quad. There he unfolds the table’s legs in the shade of a leaning sycamore, checking email on his laptop and meeting with students. His outdoors time is less a luxury and more a necessity. So many of us resist change, he says. Mark thrives on evolution. In his art and, because the two are so intricately attached, his life.
“When you think about it there’s no such thing as a stable state,” says Mark, who was promoted last spring from Associate Professor of Art to full Professor. “There are plateaus – I’ve had a few of those – but I think we’re always evolving and changing into something
else. Some people are afraid of change, but why? Why would you want to be the same person you were last week? Last month? Five years ago? That to me is what we should be afraid of.”
This theme of constant change has always intrigued Mark. From the day he stepped on campus as a skinny first-year in 1992 to every class he teaches. In high school, Mark was accepted into Alfred
“ Some people are afraid of change, but why? Why would you want to be the same person you were last week? Last month? Five years ago? That to me is what we should be afraid of. ”
— Professor Mark Dixon
University, a New York school held in high regard for its Ceramics program. He chose Guilford. He knew he was going to be an artist. He just wasn’t ready for the specialization that accompanied four years at a renowned art school. In Guilford, he says, he found a safe place to grow up and try new things. “Guilford was absolutely transformative and it was transformative in ways that were totally unexpected,” says Mark. For all the impact his Art instructors had on him at Guilford, they weren’t
the faculty that changed him most.
“I came in as an artist and left as an artist,” he says. “But I didn't come in as a writer and (former Associate Professor of English) Becky Gibson in really incredible ways showed me that I could write. I write to this day and it's a very important part of my life.”
He took yoga classes with Alice Beecher. “So many classes I would have never been encouraged to take somewhere else were transformational for me.”
There’s that word again.
“I'm really interested in the magical that happens when a thing turns into another thing,” he says. “I'm interested in the way that second thing tells the story of the first thing in some way.”
“I mean, look at this table,” he says, running his fingers across his creation.
“Anybody knows it’s not a piano, but you can see how it once produced music and now it sits here quietly serving another purpose. I love that process of transformation.”
At 50, Mark is lean and fit, with a trace of stubble to his face and head. He frequently roams Guilford’s quad in a signature ascot hat or vintage open-collared shirt. He is, despite his appearance, formal in his casualness.
The eccentric artist stereotype crumbles in Mark’s presence. He expresses opinions after great pause, sometimes only after being coaxed, as if he does not want to seem pushy. But
those pregnant moments of silence frequently produce deep answers.
Art is Darwinian, he says. It evolves incrementally, building on itself. The only limits in his classes are those students self-impose. Mark constantly chips away at those boundaries “because one of the beauties of art is that there should be no boundaries.”
He pauses, which means it’s time to go deep again. “In many disciplines,” he says, “there's a legitimate outside and an inside that's pretty robust. If I'm in Physics and somebody wants to talk about something mythological, that's outside — way outside.
“There’s no outside in art, no lines if crossed you need to step back inside. Sometimes we fail, but that’s okay. We try again, maybe in a little bit more focused way. We try different materials, maybe we listen with new ears that might be better tuned to that frequency. That’s how I teach Art.”
Mark loves seeing those light-bulb moments or, as he calls them, “glimmers in a pan” when a student sees their world anew after a semester or even a class. “They’re transformed,” he says, “and they usually think, ‘Wait, I’ve never seen this or thought this way before. I wonder what else I’m missing
out on. Maybe there’s more. I want to learn more.’ ”
Those are the aha moments Mark strives for — when a student is forever changed. He calls those moments “proof of concept” for Guilford’s purpose.
“When you see the lights turning on, when you see people waking up to their intelligence and gifts? That’s why I get out of bed in the morning,” he says. “The world needs people who are occupying their intelligence and their gifts and figuring out how those gifts connect with the world’s needs. That’s what a Guilford education does for you.” •
MARK DIXON LIVES FOR THOSE CLASSROOM MOMENTS WHEN STUDENTS SEE SOMETHING — ART, POLITICS, LIFE — FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE.
PRIVATE, FIRST CLASS
No other Guilford coach has won more games than men’s basketball coach Tom Palombo. But you didn’t hear that from him.
HE’S BARELY NOTICED OUTSIDE the men’s locker room: a quiet presence surrounded by the thump-thump-thump bass groove pumping down from the loudspeakers high above Ragan-Brown Field House, a figure so easy to ignore that students and alumni barely look up from their seats when he makes his way across the court to the Quakers’ bench.
Later this month, Guilford’s Tom Palombo will begin his 22nd year as Guilford’s men’s basketball coach. He is the longest-tenured men’s basketball coach at a college or university in the state. Yet even after leading the Quakers to an improbable Final Four run last season, he can still walk across campus, grab a bite in Founders in anonymity.
Which, actually, is exactly what he prefers. “I’ve never been someone who likes all the attention,” says Tom. “I think that’s true even more so as I’ve gotten older. I’ll let the players, the assistant coaches have all that — anyone but me.”
He has coached men’s and women’s basketball for 35 years (including 13 at Defiance College in Ohio), but the book on Tom Palombo remains short and sweet: He wasn't good enough as a shooting guard at Virginia Wesleyan College to play in the pros, so he became a coach. Pretty good one, too. He’s won 398 games and four Old Dominion Athletic Conference titles at Guilford. His 636 career wins make him North Carolina’s winningest active men's basketball coach.
Away from the court, Tom is boring. He admits it. For proof, there’s the bowling ball in his closet at home — the one with the Los Angeles Rams logo on it — that he pulls when he goes bowling with players. Every spring when the season ends — as it did in Fort Wayne, Ind., last season with a loss to HampdenSydney College in the national semifinals — he takes a week or so off before hitting the golf course to improve his 4 handicap. But that’s about it. His idea of a big night is one spent on the
PHOTO BY LYNN
HEY
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back porch with his wife, Amy, grilling hamburgers or Italian sausage.
Digging deeper for more details from a self-proclaimed introvert like Tom can be tricky. He sheepishly, maybe even strategically, avoids discussing himself. That leaves it up to current and former players to peel Tom's onion.
“ I love it here. We get some of the best basketball players, guys who also happen to be some of the best students and people. And we do it every year.”
— Coach Tom Palombo
Before Caleb Kimbrough ’08 became a head men’s coach, most recently at Hampden-Sydney, he was an assistant under Tom for six years. And before that Caleb was Tom’s starting point guard his four years at Guilford. If you want to know more about Guilford’s basketball coach, Caleb suggests checking out his players after they graduate.
“One of the first things I learned from Coach was to treat your players like they’re family,” Caleb says. “Coach makes every player, starters to the last guy on the bench, feel good about themselves. I think that's why he’s been so successful. He gets so much out of his players because they want to play for him. I think a lot of us graduated trying to be that person with others in our own careers.”
Forward Julius Burch ’23 ’24 MBA says the player-coach relationship he had with Tom was unlike any other he’s had in his career. “We’re not players, we’re human beings,” says Julius. “He understands we have lives outside of basketball. He’s always trying to make sure we’re taking care of life and at the
same time he’s getting us ready for every game. Just a great mentor and leader.” And like many leaders, he’s driven, compulsive and a legendary workaholic. For years Tom’s predilection for poring over game film into the small hours have made him the butt of many good-natured jokes among his coaching brethren.
Julius knew when Tom had been up all night looking for ways to make the Quakers’ historically suffocating defense a little more smothering. “Whenever you start talking to Coach the day after a game and he gives you a bunch of one-word answers, you know he’s had a long night last night and he’s just running on coffee,” says Julius.
Twenty-two years at the same job might make anyone antsy. Tom says he thought about pursuing other jobs, maybe even a Division I position. He has the connections to make the move, and last year’s Final Four put more of that unwanted attention on him. But there are also inherent risks with such a move, chiefly what he would be leaving behind.
“There’s something about Guilford that I’m comfortable with,” Tom says. “That’s not me saying I’ve settled. I love it here. We get some of the best basketball players to come here, guys who also happen to be some of the best students and people. And we do it every year. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?” •
AT 636 WINS AND COUNTING, GUILFORD'S TOM PALOMBO IS NORTH CAROLINA'S WINNINGEST ACTIVE MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH.
THE NATURAL
Lacrosse came easy to E’leyna Garcia ‘14, who becomes the first women’s lacrosse player inducted into the Quakers’ Athletic Hall of Fame.
WHEN THE CALL CAME FROM Guilford Athletic Director Bill Foti this summer, E’leyna Garcia ’14 didn’t know if it was good news or bad. She knew she'd been nominated for the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame. She knew she had the career to back it up. But still there was doubt.
“I mean, they only let the best, the elite into the Hall of Fame so you never know,” E’leyna says.
There was no need for worrying because, of course, Bill was calling with good news: E’leyna is one of six former student athletes and supporters being inducted in the Athletics Hall of Fame in November. She is the first women’s lacrosse player inducted.
“It’s quite an honor,” she says. “(Lacrosse) has been such a big part of my life. “I’ve had a lot of success, made great friends and great memories, and now this. It doesn’t get any better.”
Joining E’leyna as 2024 inductees are basketball players Gabby Oglesby ’14 and Tyler Sanborn ’10, baseball’s John Macon Smith ’14, former women’s basketball coach Stephanie Flamini, and local orthopedist Robert Wainer, who served as team doctor.
E’leyna was 10 years old when a gym teacher in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., put a lacrosse stick in her hands. She’d never seen one before but mastered the stick and the game quickly. “I loved everything about the game,” she says. “You could run, throw, catch. Honestly I think it all just came naturally to me.”
These days E’leyna can’t remember a
“(Lacrosse) has been such a big part of my life. “I’ve had a lot of success, made great friends and great memories, and now this. It doesn’t get any better. ”
— E’leyna Garcia ’14
time when lacrosse wasn’t a part of her life. At Guilford, she dominated the Old Dominion Athletic Conference from the day she stepped on campus in 2010. She was a two-time All-American and
Academic All-American who scored at least one goal in 70 consecutive games.
After Guilford, E’leyna earned her Ph.D. at Howard University. She’s a child psychologist in Houston, specializing in trauma-focused treatment for children and teens. By distance and time, she’s far removed from Guilford, but the College remains close to her heart, especially her teammates.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about them, because it wouldn't have been possible for me to even be in the Hall of Fame or do any of the things that I did without them,” she says. “They made me a better person and a better player.” •
E ’ LEYNA GARCIA ’ 14
Stepping Up
Guilford’s new volleyball coach has some big shoes to fill. Kelsey Goodman is eager to step into them.
KELSEY GOODMAN WOULD LOVE TO TELL YOU she doesn’t feel any pressure as Guilford’s new volleyball coach, but, honestly, who would believe her if she did?
Kelsey is Guilford’s first new volleyball coach in 18 years. She’s replacing Emily Gann, the longest-tenured women’s coach in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference before stepping aside last spring, a woman who was much loved by players, faculty and staff alike.
“Do I feel any pressure? Of course I do,” says Kelsey, laughing. “I’ve connected with different departments around campus and always the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, Emily was awesome,’ or ‘We’ll definitely miss her,’ so, yeah, the pressure’s there.”
But here’s the thing: Kelsey calls it “a welcomed pressure.”
“The goal isn’t to replace Emily,” says Kelsey. “The goal is to build on the foundation she left last season at Guilford.”
Kelsey can’t wait to start building. Her first week on staff back in July was spent calling each player individually to get to know them so that when fall came around there were no strangers in
the locker room. “I’m big on relationships — what coach isn’t? — and the girls are going to recognize that very quickly.”
Kelsey has played volleyball since high school in Midlothian, Va., but it wasn’t until her junior year competing at Old Dominion Athletic Conference rival Roanoke College that she decided she wanted to try to make a living in the sport as a coach.
She comes to Guilford after two years as a Seton Hall University (N.J.) assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Before that she spent a year as head coach at Division III Mitchell College (Conn.).
Emily stepped down at Guilford in the spring to start a volleyball program at a Greensboro charter school her children attend. Kelsey says she wants to borrow from Emily’s legacy, but make the program distinctively hers. “I’m still learning how Emily did things and putting my own twist on them,” she says.
“What Emily did was obviously working, but I’m going to do some things differently, and I think those can work, too.” •
KELSEY GOODMAN COMES TO GUILFORD AFTER TWO YEARS AS AN ASSISTANT COACH AT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY.
A SPIRITUAL HOMECOMING
Forty years after graduating, Brenda Esch ’83 is back in Greensboro, this time as New Garden Friends’
new pastoral minister.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE SOLITUDE OF A LAKE — with only the water, the trees and your thoughts to keep you company — that can be so clarifying? A year ago Brenda Esch ’83 was leading a Friends school in Wilmington, N.C., when she felt a need to recharge and reflect. She packed her bags and spent the next four seasons at her parents’ summer lake house in Indiana.
“I learned a lot about who I am and what I wanted." The year back home brought clarity to Brenda, who in July became the pastoral minister at New Garden Friends Meeting, where Brenda worshiped while attending Guilford.
“This is something of a spiritual homecoming for me,” Brenda says.
She credits Guilford with helping her find herself. “Quaker institutions listen for and name gifts in people, noticing where joys and passions meet the world’s needs toward justice, inclusion and belonging,” says Brenda. “Guilford was this place when I was a student.”
“I never saw (a career in education) coming, but the connections I made with people at Guilford, and then later led me into that life.”
— Brenda Esch ’83
Brenda majored in Religious Studies. “I never saw (a career in education) coming, but the connections I made with people at Guilford, and then later, led me into that life,” she says, adding that the College “encouraged students to fill the gaps that we saw at Guilford.”
“When people see a gap and have ideas around making the place better or doing something that needs to be done that isn't being done, that is exciting to me,” she says.
Brenda wants to see what gaps can be filled between the Meeting and the College. “There’s a deep, long connection between New Garden Friends Meeting and Guilford College, a long association, more than a hundred years old. And it's going to look different as we each evolve. I’m grateful to be part of discovering those gaps and filling them.” •
PHOTO BY ROBERT BELL ’
11
Top Dog
Angel Moore never doubted she would one day run her own accounting business. She just never thought it would be this soon.
Angel Moore ’17 was a 29-year-old claims manager at an insurance and investments firm in Greensboro when she decided to pursue an Accounting degree at Guilford College.
As Angel tells the story, she didn’t know much about accounting at the time and her long-range plans weren’t too long. “I was just trying to make myself layoff-proof,” she says.
It did not work. In the middle of her junior year, Lincoln Financial outsourced its claims department. Angel and her co-workers were let go.
By then, however, Angel was hooked. “I fell in love with accounting and I was certain I wanted to be a CPA,” she says. So certain that she came up with a new goal. She decided the best way to have job stability was to finish her Accounting degree and one day run her own accounting firm.
Angel’s new goal might have seemed audacious and brash coming from an unemployed Continuing Education student still working on her degree, but not now. Not after she graduated, took an internship immediately after Guilford and worked her way up from staff to senior accountant at firms around Greensboro. And certainly not when she became Managing Partner earlier this year at Odom & Company, a tax and accounting firm in High Point, N.C.
“It’s something I never stopped dreaming I could do,” says Angel.
Odom employs five accountants and four staff workers. Angel says it can be a full-time job managing payroll, compliance records and continuing
A PERK OF RUNNING YOUR OWN ACCOUNTING FIRM?
ANGEL MOORE GETS TO BRING RUSSELL, HER CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL, TO WORK.
education requirements and ensuring everyone is licensed to work in the state.
“Sometimes all the other things about running a business can be a full-time job and I still have taxes to handle,” she says. “But at the end of the day it’s incredibly rewarding and satisfying.”
Angel says Guilford gave her more than an Accounting degree. She took a Race & Ethics class as a first year that still helps her with clients today. “That just opened my eyes and introduced me
to perspectives that I would have never thought about,” she says.
“Learning about minorities and the different experiences they’ve had from me has been a huge value to me with this business. I got that exposure at Guilford.”
Now that she’s helping lead her own firm, Angel says she has a new goal: Grow the business. That’s coming. She anticipates Odom opening a Greensboro office next year. •
Brittany Drew ’15 was recently named an Assistant Coach for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington women’s basketball team. Brittany previously served as Head Coach at High Point Christian Academy since 2019 where she averaged more than 20 wins a season. She played at Guilford where she finished her career tied for third with 111 appearances, including 70 starts. She scored more than 870 points for the Quakers.
Ryan Cassidy ’09 was recently named Plant Manager for Polytex Environmental Inks, a Greensboro ink manufacturer. Ryan, who received a double major in History and Political Science at Guilford, oversees production, inventory control, safety, logistics, and forecasting, and helps develop strategy for the company. Prior to arriving at Polytex, Ryan was Plant Manager for Pavement Maintenance Group's SealMaster group in Greensboro.
We Want Your News
Thomas Aker ’21 recently accepted a new position as Cyber Security Engineer at information technology company CACI international in High Point, N.C. CACI efforts helps strengthen security eddorts for the federal government. Thomas, a Computing Technology and Information Systems major who played on the Quakers' men's soccer team, previously worked as an Information Systems Security Officer at Corvid Technologies.
Thomas Swindell ’04 was named Chief Finance and Operations Officer at Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School in Washington, D.C. Thomas, an Accounting and Spanish double major, earned an MSA in Accounting and Finance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Before arriving at Beauvoir, Thomas was Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations at After-School All-Stars.
Share your news with classmates and friends! Submit your Community Notes online to magazine@guilford.edu. The deadline for the April 2025 issue is February 3.
REMEMBERING GUILFORDIANS
The following Guilfordians died recently, and we offer condolences to their families and friends.
A Life of Service
FROM THE START, there was nothing about Douglas Scott ’73 to suggest the life of public service to come. Not on the outside, at least. That’s not to say he lacked a heart of helping others. He just needed someone or someplace to ignite that fire within.
He found that spark at Guilford. Family members say Doug, who died April 27 at the age of 73, graduated from the College with a passion to leave the world better than the one he inherited.
Betsy Agniel Scott ’73 remembers meeting her future husdand as first-years at Guilford. She says they were both transformed over time by “the ethos of the community and the tenor of the classes — how could you not be inspired to serve?”
“Social justice was at the forefront of everything we did at Guilford,” says Betsy. “Maybe it was the time that we attended, but helping others was on everyone’s minds. It was a big part of our discussions in classrooms, back in the dorms, at lunch. The question on everyone’s minds was, ‘How do we take what we are learning out into the world?’ That’s what Guilford did.”
Betsy was a German major; Doug majored in Sociology and Anthropology. Two different degrees, one shared cause. “When we graduated,” Betsy remembers, “Doug’s thoughts were ‘what can we do to make things better in the world?’”
Doug, a former student government president at the College, earned a law degree from Wake Forest University, and the two of them went to work for Central Carolina Legal Services in Lexington, N.C. , advocating for victims of abuse, families on the brink of homelessness and others in legal crisis.
“You could tell this was Doug's calling,” says Betsy, “both of us, really, but Doug in particular. He loved helping others.”
The couple later moved to Richmond, Va., where Doug ran the Virginia Poverty Law Center. Much like his old job, the center helps lower-income residents with civil legal matters.
Elizabeth Scott, Doug’s eldest daughter, is an urban planner in Illinois. Growing up, she remembers conversations around the kitchen table centered on social justice and social purpose. “There was always talk about housing opportunities made equal and helping people with debt issues,” she recalls. “Dad
DOUGLAS SCOTT ’ 73
“You could tell this was what Doug was called for. He loved helping others.”
— Betsy Agniel Scott ’73
had a clear mind of how the world should be and he was committed to seeing it through.”
Betsy Scott lives in Ginter Park, a historic neighborhood on the north side of Richmond. She says Doug spent many weekends restoring their two-story bungalow through the years. “Doug had a lot of nervous energy,” Betsy says. “He had to be occupied all the time. There’s not a lot of surface in this house that he didn’t touch, and improve.”
She paused. “You know, I think it was that way in his life, too. He touched a lot of lives and made them better.” •
Lee McKay Johnson , a Professor of English emeritus who taught literature at Guilford from 1980-2000, died April 3. Lee had a passion for art, architecture, literature and music. He loved finding the connections between these disciplines and others and helping his students recognize the beauty in them. Lee enjoyed traveling internationally and believed that experiecing different people and places were critical to understanding the world. To this end, he helped lead the study abroad program at Guilford College with Miriam Collins from 1992 to 1998.
William “Bill” Stevens, a key figure in driving record enrollment in the College’s Continuing Education (CCE) program in six years as Dean, died July 1. Bill was an Associate Professor of Business Management and served as department chair. He taught at Guilford from 1982 until his retirement in 2006. In 2000, Bill was tapped to revive the College's CE program ,which provided educational opportunities for adults and significant revenue for the College. Under Bill's leadership, enrollment of CCE students at Guilford reached a record of more than 1,300.
Ann Deagon , a retired Hege Professor of Humanities and Writer in Residence, died June 24. Ann, who taught at Guilford from 1956 to 1992, was also the founder and editor of The Guilford Review, which published the literary and art work of faculty, students and friends. She organized and directed Poetry Center Southeast at Guilford and helped establish the North Carolina Writers’ Network. Her awards included a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the 2012 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet award.
James B. “Jim” Gutsell , a Professor of English emeritus who played a critical role in the development of the College's Study Abroad and Honors programs, died July 26. Jim came to Guilford in 1963 and taught at the College until his retirement in 1999. Working with President Grimsley Hobbs ’47 and others, Jim helped implement a new curriculum and create a more diverse student body and faculty. He was the second faculty member to lead the London semester, which was the beginning of the Study Abroad program, now known as Global and Off-Campus Initiatives.
Strolling down Memory Lane
“THIS WAS MY SENIOR PHOTO FOR THE YEARBOOK . Mike Gatton ’80 took the picture. It seemed like we spent all afternoon looking for the perfect spot before coming across this store downtown on Elm Street. The store says Memory Lane and the sign says closed, but really those memories are still with me. I grew up having my own bedroom, being the only boy in the family. I really enjoyed having a roommate and living in Milner Hall with a bunch of other students. The fact that we were so different from each other really brought us closer together. I called Milner my home away from home for four years. I still stay in touch with classmates from those days. Forty-plus years later what I remember most about Guilford are the times spent with friends in Milner.˝ John Crane ’82
Do you have a photo and memory of Guilford you want to share for Last Look? Send them to Robert Bell at magazine@guilford.edu.
5800 West Friendly Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27410
2024–25 GUILFORD HOME BASKETBALL
Men
Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 vs. NC WESLEYAN 7 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 20 GREENSBORO (@ Greensboro Coliseum) 7:30 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 26 vs. WILLIAM PEACE 6 pm
Saturday, Dec. 14 vs. METHODIST 3 pm
Friday, Dec. 20 vs. BRIDGEWATER 7:30 pm
Sunday, Dec. 29 vs. SEWANEE 7 pm
Monday, Dec. 30 vs. BELHAVEN 4 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 8 vs. HAMPDEN SYDNEY 7:30 pm
Saturday, Jan. 11 vs. EASTERN MENNONITE 3 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 15 vs. VIRGINIA WESLEYAN 7:30 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 22 vs. MARY WASHINGTON 7 pm
Saturday, Jan. 25 vs. SHENANDOAH 3 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 29 vs. LYNCHBURG 7:30 pm
Saturday, Feb. 8 vs. WASHINGTON AND LEE 3 pm (Alumni Day)
Saturday, February 22 vs. AVERETT 4:30 pm (Senior Day)
Women
Saturday, Nov. 9 vs. MEREDITH 2 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 19 vs. SOUTHERN VIRGINIA 6 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 20 vs. GREENSBORO (@ Greensboro Coliseum) 5:30 pm
Wednesday Dec. 4 vs. FERRUM 7 pm
Friday, Dec. 13 vs. WILLIAM PEACE 5 pm
Saturday, Dec. 28 vs UW-LACROSSE 3 pm
Sunday, Dec. 29 vs. BERRY 3 pm
Saturday, Jan. 4, vs. SHENANDOAH 2 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 8 vs. RANDOLPH-MACON 5 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 15 vs. RANDOLPH 5 pm
Saturday, Jan. 18, vs. BRIDGEWATER 2 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 29 vs CNU 5 pm
Saturday, Feb. 1 vs. LYNCHBURG 2 pm
Wednesday, Feb. 12 vs. AVERETT 7 pm
Saturday, Feb. 22 vs. HOLLINS 2 pm (Senior Day)
Home games at Ragan-Brown Fieldhouse. Visit www.guilfordquakers.com for more information.
ANNA GIANNOPOULOU ’ 26