Kara Hermogeno: Commissioned as a Colson Fellow

Kara Hermogeno, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, was commissioned as a Colson Fellow on May 15. Becoming a Colson Fellow is no small feat. It takes 10 months of time- and study-intensive work that includes daily devotional exercises related to contemporary culture and its challenges, reading a curated series of books, and collaborating and studying under faculty and with fellow students.

Mrs. Hermogeno has served as a dean in the Professional Schools Program and now teaches Principles of Applied Engineering. She wears a lot of hats: As an academic dean, she’s responsible for course advising and career planning, individual and capstone advising, and meeting with outside businesses. Outside of Legacy, she is a devoted wife to Caesar, coaches her daughter’s volleyball team, and, like most other busy moms, she logs a lot of miles getting both her son, Pete, and her daughter, Gracie, to their various activities.

Kara receiving her certificate from Michael Craven during the commissioning ceremony Kara hiking in Nepal with a village elder as they shared Christ with surrounding villages

Legacy’s former Head of School Bill McGee first told her about the Colson Fellows program. He would regularly forward to her emails from Breakpoint and John Stonestreet and, over the years, a seed was planted in her mind. She researched the program and began to contemplate her path. “I was really motivated to learn more about ways I could effectively incorporate a biblical worldview into my own life and, perhaps more important, into my engineering basics classroom.” As she continued to explore the program, she realized it could even help her become a better wife and a better mom.

Despite the considerable time commitment, Mrs. Hermogeno saw

the benefits of participating in the Colson Fellows program and dove in headfirst, albeit a little late to the party. She submitted her application in late June, was accepted in mid-July, and attended her first meeting at the end of July, entering the program a month later than most of her peers, leaving her with two books to read and various written assignments just to catch up. A consummate goal-setter, she wasn’t deterred, and set her sights on completing the program by the end of the academic year. “I knew the coursework would be rigorous,” says Mrs. Hermogeno, “and I already have a pretty demanding schedule. My goal kept me motivated. I wanted to do it for the school and for my family, so I dedicated myself to reaching it.”

The 10-month study is really a preparatory course for the important work that lies at the end of the commissioning. Colson Fellows are charged with outlining a three-year teaching practicum and a personal mission plan that challenges them to take what they learned through their studies to become servants in God’s kingdom.

The study is designed to get participants to dig deep into their faith and their understanding of worldviews and other cultures and forming a theologically based response to the challenges we face daily. For Mrs. Hermogeno, as she worked through the program, the Lord made it apparent to her that she should devise a curriculum to reach Legacy’s parents. It surprised even her, she says, because as a teacher, she’d always been intent on reaching her students; before the study, she hadn’t really considered the parents. She began to realize the need to involve parents so they, too, could have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the various cultural issues facing our students, as well as the gospel and differing worldviews.

Mrs. Hermogeno has always had a heart for mission work. She took her first mission trip at age 22, just six months after accepting Christ into her own life, and hasn’t looked back. She has served in Russia, China, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Greece, India, and Nepal, to name just a few nations.

“Now,” says Mrs. Hermogeno, “I have more tools in my tool chest to be able to interact with students or parents, or people in the movie theater, or people whom I run into at the mall, or someone on a mountaintop in Nepal.”

After Kara (together with her translator) shared the hope of Christ with this elderly woman in India, she accepted the Lord as her personal Savior

Kara had the amazing opportunity to share her love of the Lord with this group on a mountaintop in India