17 minute read
Class Notes
CLASSNOTES
(photo courtesy of Northwestern Michigan College)
DOING THE MATH
Drake marks five decades of teaching at Michigan college
Steve Drake, pictured participating in a Northwestern Michigan College commencement ceremony, has maintained a passion for learning and teaching that now spans 57 years.
Steve Drake ’64 wasn’t sure he would last as a teacher when he graduated from Northwest with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and biology. Now, 57 years later, he can’t imagine being any place but a classroom, and last spring he surpassed 50 years as a faculty member at Northwestern Michigan College, becoming the first to reach the milestone in the college’s 70-year history. “I wanted people to learn mathematics,” he said. “I wanted them to be able to do something with it. I always teach a tremendous number of applications and a wide variety of uses for mathematics and show them why they have to learn about logarithmic and exponential functions and how systems of equations work.” A native of Mt. Ayr, Iowa, Drake chose Northwest because it was close to home and it was affordable. “The prices were very reasonable, and that meant a lot to me back then. My parents were farmers, and they had money to get along well, but they didn’t have enough money to just send me to college.” He worked to save enough money to cover his first year’s tuition and then persisted to complete his two bachelor’s degrees in four years. During three of those years he was a member of the Bearcat wrestling team. Among the faculty who left an imprint on Drake were George Barratt, an associate professor of mathematics, and Dr. Irene Mueller, a member of the biology faculty. “She knew every tree on that campus personally and there were a lot of trees, and nobody dared touch a tree without permission from Dr. Mueller,” Drake said. “I really enjoyed the biology class and Dr. Mueller and our field trips and naming the trees.” Drake’s professional career began with teaching stints at the former St. Joseph State Hospital and then in King City, Missouri. Subsequently, he received a National Science Foundation grant to complete a master’s degree in nuclear physics at the University of Wyoming – the first in a series of grants, in fact, that also took him for study and teaching to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, Kansas State University and the University of Michigan. “They kept giving me grants to go places,” he said. “All told, they had sent me to about eight different universities to study anything from computer science to mathematics and physics. The National Science Foundation was very kind.” But as Drake completed his study at the University of Michigan with six job offers, he believed a community college setting provided the best fit for him. He chose Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. “I could tell that they had a lot of smart people,” he said. “The faculty is another reason I came. They didn’t want to just play
games and get people to pass.” In his half-century at the college, Drake has watched his students go on to advanced study at institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and successful careers with companies such as Th e Dow Chemical Company. One student, he recalls, was just 13 years old when she enrolled in his calculus course before going to study in England and writing fl ight control software. He has witnessed tremendous changes to technology but none more disruptive than the COVID-19 pandemic that forced him to transition his teaching landscape from marker boards to livestreams and Zoom sessions. Meanwhile, among his numerous honors, Drake, now 79, says he’s most proud of receiving Northwestern Michigan’s Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award – which he has received twice. “I just enjoy the teaching profession, and that’s why I’m still doing it,” he said. “I suppose I’ll have to quit someday. I take it a year at a time.”
For more of this story, visit nwmissouri.edu/ alumni/magazine. WYATT FAMILY NAMED NORTHWEST FAMILY OF THE YEAR The Wyatt family, of Independence, Missouri, is Northwest’s 2021 Family of the Year, a recognition bestowed each fall during the University’s Family Weekend activities.
Left to right in the front row are Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski; Mitzi Craft Marchant ’91, ’09, the vice president of university advancement and executive director of the Northwest Foundation; Mirissa Corbin; Joslin Wyatt; Alpha House; Erica Wyatt; Paula Rector Davis ’91; and Student Senate President Bailey Hendrickson. Left to right in the back row are Calvin Davis, Vincent Wyatt, Marcellus Corbin and Northwest Director of Campus Dining Spencer Martin ’09. Zerryn Gines and Briona Monroe are not pictured.
1960s
Jack Anderson ’61 is retired after 20 years as a superintendent of schools in Iowa. He also is a member of the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Iowa High School Athletic Association Offi cials Hall of Fame. He resides in Jeff erson, Iowa. Steve Clark ’69 is the author of “A Miracle: Blessings and Hope of a Polio Survivor,” published in February by Christian Faith Publishing. He retired as a superintendent of schools, concluding 42 years in education in Iowa, which included recognition as 2007-08 Superintendent of the Year by the Green Valley Area Education Agency. He resides in Melissa, Texas. Roger Martin ’69 retired in January after 39 years with Altec Industries Inc. in St. Joseph, Missouri. After returning from Vietnam and before joining Altec, he worked at a John Deere dealership and owned a small engine repair business. In retirement, he enjoys volunteering and spending time with family.
1970s
Jeanne Briggs Cracraft ’71 retired after 27 years of teaching French in the Cainsville (Missouri) R-I School District. She also taught part-time at Ridgeway and North Harrison schools and previously taught English at a private school in Okinawa, Japan, while her husband was stationed there with the Air Force. Randy Euken ’75 and his family received the 2020 Iowa Environmental Stewardship Program Award from the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association in recognition of outstanding beef farmers who care for the land with as much dedication as they care for livestock. Randy began his farming career and launched the farm operation in Lewis, Iowa, in 1978.
1980s
John Timberlake ’86 was appointed in April as president and chief executive offi cer of Berkshire Biomedical, a privately-held digital health company. His career spans more than 30 years of bringing products to market in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. Jeff Hutcheon ’89 works as a NCAA Division I college football offi cial and recently was promoted to the PAC 12 football conference as an on-fi eld offi cial. He resides in Castle Pines, Colorado, where he is self-employed as the founder and executive director of Th e Remnant, a non-profi t ministry focused on uniting, developing and mobilizing leaders throughout the world. Sherry Turner was honored in October with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Athena Leadership Award. She is executive director of the Kansas City Women’s Business Center and founder of OneKC for Women Alliance, an umbrella organization that brings together the Women’s Employment Network, Women’s Business Center, Women’s Capital Connection and Women Lead Initiative.
’81
JAZZED ABOUT FOOD
Simpson serves unique cuisine, maintains connections at diner
Brandon Simpson ’99 gets a twinkle in his eye when he talks about the time as a child that he helped his grandmother bake a cherry pie. When she served the pie at a family gathering, she deflected the compliments, giving young Brandon all the credit. The moment spurred something in Simpson that continued through his teenage years in Waterloo, Iowa, from get-togethers with family and friends to cooking his own meals while his mother worked multiple jobs.
“You get to playing with stuff and you find these flavors,” Simpson said. “We had some very eclectic neighbors where I got to try some of their stuff and how they do things, and you just evolve. I just knew that if I was going to do anything outside of sports, it was cooking.” Simpson arrived at Northwest in the fall of 1997 to join the Bearcat football team as a transfer student and was a part of the program’s first two national championships in 1998 and 1999. But food was as much a part of Simpson’s college experience as his football success, and he created a business plan as a food science and restaurant management major for a restaurant he dubbed Jazzy B’s. “It cost way too much for a kid coming out of college to start something like that,” he said. “It was just a mock. I think I got an okay grade on it.” But in 2010, after honing his skills through a series of restaurant management roles, sales jobs and a catering gig on the side, Simpson took his first steps toward making Jazzy B’s a reality and launched his idea as a food truck.
Through years of trial and error, Simpson built a brand, and his mouth-watering menu – with its crab cakes, shrimp po’boys and barbecue sushi – eventually gained traction. In 2016, he opened his diner in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, where his Jazzy Fries, burnt ends and crab balls are popular. With a loft dedicated to Northwest and displaying memorabilia from Simpson’s Bearcat football days, Jazzy B’s also has become a gathering place for alumni in the Kansas City area. In recent years, the restaurant has hosted numerous social events for alumni and watch parties. The Bearcat football team also visits occasionally, triggering fond memories for Simpson of road trips with his teammates. “I love it,” he said. “There’s something to be said about the connection, that ‘Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat,’ and the friendships that we formed. Then, once you start meeting other people, different years of graduation, different ages, the memories and the conversations are just so similar, and you connect with them.”
For more information about Jazzy B’s, visit jazzybsdiner.com.
Rick Reeve was named senior vice president of development and fraternal relations for Masonic Homes Kentucky. He has more than 25 years of experience in philanthropic management, major gifts and endowment development and most recently served with the USDA Farm Services Agency as the Lyon/Osceola County executive director in Iowa.
’97 1990s
Dr. Lara Gilpin ’90, ’97, ’01, began in the fall as principal of Benton High School in St. Joseph, Missouri. She has spent 30 years in education, including the last 28 as a teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal in St. Joseph. Tom Kruse ’90, ’92, was inducted into halls of fame of the Missouri Football Coaches Association and the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association in 2020. He retired after 28 years in education, including the last 20 at RaymorePeculiar High School where he was the activities director and won three state championships as head football coach. Marty Liles ’91 was named in June as the district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s Northwest District. He has held a variety of positions since beginning his MoDOT career in 1994 as a construction inspector in the Kansas City District. Jeff Snyder ’94 was named director of recycling at Rumpke Waste & Recycling in Cincinnati and oversees its 12 recycling facilities. He joined Rumpke in 2020 as senior recycling manager and previously worked as a mill buyer, operations manager and recycling plant manager. Marcy Acosta Schumacher ’95 received the WIDA Fellow Award for the 2021-22 academic year. The fellowship, housed within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, brings together expert teachers and professional learning specialists to enhance the development of WIDA professional learning products and services. She is employed as an English language development teacher in the Park Hill School District in Kansas City, Missouri. Jennifer White ’96 was promoted in August to senior vice president and director of commercial payments account management with Commerce Bancshares. She has served in various roles during her 23-year tenure with Commerce, most recently as national account manager on the payments team, and has been involved with product development, implementations, system conversions and overall client experience.
Sam Anselm ’98 began work in April as the city administrator for the city of West Plains, Missouri. He has 22 years of experience working for municipalities in the state of Missouri and previously served as city administrator for the city of Wildwood and as city manager for the city of Joplin. Dr. Matthew Bonsignore ’99 began in the fall as director of bands for the Platte County (Missouri) R-3 School District. He had served as assistant director of bands, associate director of bands and director of jazz studies during the past 22 years at Platte County. Dr. Rosalyn Manahan ’99 received a 2020 Spirit of Maryville award from the School of Education at Maryville University in St. Louis. She is an assistant principal at Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, Missouri, and is active with Maryville’s National Leadership Council, having earned her Doctor of Education from the university.
2000s
Bob Jerome ’00 began work in July as superintendent of the Blue Springs School District. Previously, he was a social studies teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal in the district. He had served as assistant superintendent since 2018. Valerie Lemke Hunt ’04 recently was promoted to director of philanthropy and major gift officer for Bryan Health in Lincoln, Nebraska. Dr. David Stallo ’04 began work in the fall as principal at Midway Heights Elementary School in Columbia, Missouri. Previously, he was an assistant principal at two other elementary schools and taught for seven years. Nathan Rivera ’05 recently was appointed second vice president of digital products and channels of Ameritas Mutual Holding Company. He resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, with his wife, Emily Benes Rivera ’06. Grant Venable ’05 recently co-authored “Hand Delivered Hope,” a book chronicling the work Sara Wolff Sutherland and her husband, Dane, welcomed their fourth child, Ava Isabel, on June 1. Sara is a multi-business entrepreneur in fitness and a small business consultant.
’03
of Be The Change Volunteers and its overseas partnerships. He has worked since 2010 with Be the Change Volunteers, a development aid organization that coordinates volunteers to assist with education focused development aid projects. Dr. Shaunda French-Collins ’06 received Chadron State College’s 2021 Teaching Excellence Award. She began her teaching career in 2009 and joined Chadron State in Nebraska in 2011. She is a professor of communication and chair of the Department of Communication, Music, Art and Theatre. Anthony Hile ’07 is in his 14th year of work in education and his fourth year of work in administration. He serves as assistant principal and athletics director in the Raytown (Missouri) School District. Charron Whitener ’07 recently published a children’s book, “ABC ... I’m Loving Me!” She has worked for the U.S. government for more than a decade in multiple capacities and currently is employed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She resides in Aubrey, Texas, with her daughter, Lirra. Justin Vaden ’09 recently was promoted from assistant controller to controller for The Wilson Law Group in Little Rock, Arkansas. He had worked in public accounting and as a risk and insurance manager before joining The Wilson Law Group in 2020.
2010s
Mitchell Bailey ’10 was named in July as chief executive officer of GRM Networks, a memberowned cooperative providing communication services in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. He has been employed with GRM for seven years as an accounting supervisor, assistant controller and controller. Heather Stukey ’10 recently began as principal at Windy Hills Elementary in Kearney, Nebraska. Previously, she was principal of Nashua Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, and was an assistant principal at elementary schools in Gladstone, Missouri, and worked as an instructional coach and classroom teacher. Jacob Mercer ’13 graduated from Harvard Law School with his juris doctorate in May and in September joined Winston & Strawn’s corporate practice group in Chicago. Bryston Williams ’14, ’16, joined Indiana State University as an assistant coach in June. Previously, he spent two seasons as an assistant and player development coach with the G-league team of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the last three years as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons.
Clayton Wilson and Sassie Matzen, were married July 4, 2020, in Maryville. They reside in Brookfield, Missouri. Dr. Maci Hicks ’16 recently completed medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina and has entered residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program at Smoky Hill in Salina, Kansas. Nate McDonald ’19 recently began as a secondary principal in the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton Community School District in Iowa.
’18 ’20
WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU?
New job? New child? New spouse? New address? Send your latest news to the Northwest Alumni Association at alumni@nwmissouri.edu or complete the online class notes form at www.nwmissouri.edu/alumni/magazine/classnotes.htm.
You may also submit a photograph. Please include a self-addressed envelope for the photo to be returned, or email it, in high resolution, to alumni@nwmissouri.edu.
Review the Northwest Foundation’s annual report and donor gift society listings online.
Visit www.nwmissouri.edu/foundation/ for a recap of the Northwest Foundation’s fiscal year, financial report, scholarship recipients, donor listings and more.
“OUR 5K IS THE LARGEST DISPLAY OF COLLECTIVE JOY YOU WILL EVER EXPERIENCE. IT’S ABOUT THE GIRLS FEELING THE PRIDE OF DOING SOMETHING THAT WAS OUTSIDE THEIR REALM OF WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE.”
Gina Lichte
RUNNING THE SHOW
Lichte empowering young women in Kansas City
Gina Lichte ’06 found a love for empowering the people in her community when she came to Northwest and became involved in student life. She has carried that love with her throughout her career. Lichte grew up in Lexington, Missouri, and continued to discover who she was as an individual when she stepped onto the Northwest campus. Her involvement in numerous campus organizations — including as a student mentor with TRIO, Student Support Services and mass media honor societies — exposed her to different people and a desire to support others.
In 2013, she started her non-profit career in Kansas City, Missouri, with Women Leaders in College Sports. The organization helps promote the growth, leadership and success of women in intercollegiate athletics. Lichte’s work with Women Leaders allowed her to meet women with amazing careers and backgrounds who needed help building a foundation of confidence for leadership roles.
At a Women Leaders leadership development session five years ago, women were introducing themselves and their dream jobs. When it was Lichte’s turn to speak, she shared her desire to invest in a community and lead a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young women. “I hugely believe in putting out into the world what it is that you want for yourself,” Lichte said. “Always be ready to take your shot.” Soon after, Lichte received a call with an interview offer to become chief executive officer and president of Girls on the Run-Kansas City, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering girls in third through eighth grades to live joyful and healthy lives through an eight-week after-school curriculum that involves running with a team. Girls are paired with mentors who cheer them on to be bigger, bolder versions of themselves while helping the girls discover their own values and find their voices. As CEO and president, Lichte serves as an ambassador for the organization. She not only empowers her team but the young women in her community. She says one of her favorite events is a community 5k run at the end of each season that celebrates everything the girls learned. “Our 5K is the largest display of collective joy you will ever experience,” Lichte said. “It’s about the girls feeling the pride of doing something that was outside their realm of what they thought was possible. I love our people, from my amazing team to being with the girls during practices, being with our families and volunteers who are dedicated to our mission. It’s hard, obviously, to name just one aspect of this work that I love.” Lichte believes her time at Northwest and campus involvement helped prepare her to enter her career field. Her experience working with diverse groups of people, talking with potential students and helping them figure out their own paths helped her find her passion for empowering others. “I really try to live life always learning from every experience and really not say there is ever a regret,” Lichte said. “My experience at Northwest helped me figure out more of who I am. I always love to be green and growing, always learning and evolving, and I feel like my time at Northwest continued me on that path and really helped open me to who I am.”
