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CO M M UN IT Y DRIV E
2013
ALL TOGETHER Two executives with Employee Benefit Management Services, Inc. (EBMS), who both earned their degrees at Rocky Mountain College, will co-chair the 2013 RMC Community Drive, kicking off next month. Rod Kastelitz, EBMS Courtesy/ EBMS vice president strateLynAnn Henderson gic partnerships, and LynAnn Henderson, EBMS vice president business development, will spearhead this year’s Community Drive that begins . Kastelitz is a 1991 RMC graduate and Henderson a 1992 RMC graduate. “We are fortunate to have two chairs who Courtesy/ EBMS exemplify the standard Rod Kastelitz of scholastic excellence and leadership that RMC represents,” Julie Seedhouse, RMC vice president for advancement, said. “Who better to tell the RMC story to the community.” RMC’s $20 million annual budget makes it one of Yellowstone County’s top 20 employers. More than 1,000 students patronize local businesses, and RMC students are known for their volunteer service to Habitat for Humanity, Billings Food Bank, and Billings Boys and Girls Club, to name a few. “Our success depends on broad community support. When people recognize the Community Drive helps provide scholarships and academic resources, I think they’ll recognize it’s a good investment in our future,” Kastelitz said. The involvement of Kastelitz and Henderson also continues a tradition of EBMS support for RMC. Rick Larson, co-CEO, with his wife, Nicki, has served on the RMC Board of Trustees, and they have had two children, Kevin and Kelsey, graduate from RMC.
RMC President Bob Wilmouth follows the tradition of first lighting the candle of the oldest alumna, in this case, Helen Mathew, at the annual Candlelight Dinner. F O C US ON FACULTY
MAKING MEMORIES
When Jacqueline (Eaton) Dundas read the poem, “Hold High the Torch,” at the 104th Candlelight Dinner, it hearkened back to the days when her father, Tom Eaton, used to recite the same poem. “Hold high the torch, you did Jacqueline Dundas, RMC professor of English, reads the poem “Hold High not light its glow the Torch.” It was given you by other hands, you know.” The poem speaks to the heritage she cherishes with her grandfather and great uncle who founded Billings Polytechnic Insitute, which morphed into Rocky Mountain College. Reading the poem at this year’s Candlelight Dinner refreshed the heritage of four generations of Eatons whose lives are interwoven into the history of Rocky Mountain College. “We lived where Scott Morledge Hammond now lives (the yellow home on the corner of Poly and 17th), but back then it was open all around it. It was my grandparents’ little Continued on back page
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Keeping our friends and supporters informed about what’s new and exciting at Rocky Mountain College
RMC ALWAYS HAS CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON MY PO IN T O F V IE W
BY ROBERT WILMOUTH, M.D., F.A.C.S. -
President
The upcoming Academic Awards Banquet will honor those “championship” students who have excelled in specific majors and those who have achieved the highest cumulative grade point average along with the students who will be honored with RMC’s highest award – the President’s Cup – for academic excellence, leadership, and community service. This is an exciting event that honors students who shine in the classroom. The aviation and athletic programs will also be holding program-specific events to honor outstanding students in those areas. All of these events are leading up to the
March is an exciting time of the year. “March Madness” is underway – that time when the nation’s best basketball teams compete to see who will be crowned the national champion. We have had a championship season of our own here at RMC. The men’s basketball team won the Frontier Conference tournament and was awarded a berth at the NAIA championship tournament, and both our men’s and women’s ski teams won national acclaim at their recent championship competitions. Our distance track and soccer teams have also represented Rocky Mountain College in national competition.
biggest championship of all –commencement. This is an opportunity for RMC to not only award degrees to our students, but to celebrate them and their exceptional achievements and accomplishments. It is exciting to see students graduate and continue being leaders and champions in their fields of study outside of RMC. In a sense, it’s always championship season at Rocky Mountain College. As our students learn, grow, and succeed, both on and off the court, we recognize them for what they truly are – champions.
COMING EVENTS APRIL 4 NOBEL LAUREATE Steven W. Running, who is a recognized expert in global ecosystem monitoring, will speak at Rocky Mountain College’s Fortin Auditorium, at 7:30 p.m., as part of the annual RMC Environmental Lecture Series. The talk by Running, who is Regents Professor of Ecology at the University of Montana, is free and open to the public. For more information: David Strong, Rocky Mountain College professor, philosophy & environmental studies, 406.657.1073 / strongd@rocky.edu. NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY: Held in the Great Room of Prescott Hall, at 5:30 p.m. Community members are welcome to come and meet our seniors. Hosted by Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow (STAT) club, it is a networking opportunity for current students and social gathering for alumni. $10 for the public; free for RMC graduating seniors. For more information: Justin Jantz, RMC annual fund director, 406.657.1007 / Justinjantz@rocky.edu.
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please contact the Dean’s Office at 657-1018 or email teresa.rowen@rocky.edu for tickets by Tuesday, April 2nd.
Children enjoyed the static electricity sphere at last year’s Seussville University.
APRIL 9 SALUTING SCHOLARS: RMC Academic Awards Banquet, 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m., in the Bair Family Student Center. Free to all RMC students, faculty, staff, board members and their families, this annual event honors students who have excelled academically throughout the year. If you plan to attend,
The 2013 RMC Alumni Directory will be available December 2013. The hardcover edition comes with a CD as well. Many alumni have already ordered their copies, but if you want one, there is still time to make sure you receive a limited edition. For more information, contact Vicki Davison, RMC alumni director, 406.657.1005 / Vicki.davison@rocky.edu.
APRIL 11 BEAR BASH: A social gathering to support RMC Athletics, with dinner, games and entertainment, at Knights of Columbus. For more information contact Justin Jantz, 406.657.1007/justin.jantz@rocky.edu or Robert Beers, 406.657.1124.Robert.beers@rocky. edu. APRIL 12 SEUSSVILLE U: The 3rd Annual Seussville University, 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., in the small gym of the RMC’s Fortin Center. Almost 200 first and second graders from Highland Elementary and Rose Park Elementary will be spending the day attending six different activity booths themed around Dr Seuss books. Any questions or wanting to volunteer, please contact Jill Washburn, jill.washburn@rocky.edu. APRIL 18 FLIGHT NIGHT: RMC Aviation Program Awards Banquet: 6:30 p.m. at the RMC Flight Operations hangar at the Billings Airport. Awards and scholarships presented to outstanding students. Guest speaker is Kristi Ivey, the Northwest Regional Representative for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). For reservations, call Dan Hargrove, 657-1060
STUDENTS EXPLAIN WHY RMC WORKS FOR THEM FOCU S O N S T UD EN TS
Candlelight Dinner is always enhanced by the perspectives provided from current RMC students. This year Jase Oriet and Caroline Jones were both eloquent spokespersons when explaining the transformational education experience that has always been RMC’s legacy in learning. Contrary to the popular expression, sometimes failure is an option. It can be as important as other lessons learned in college, according to Jase Oriet, who freely acknowledges a failure in the aviation program when he first came to Rocky Mountain College helped him wake up to what his real interests and passions were: communications and art. “If I hadn’t learned to cope with failure and to use that as a platform to get up and get going in a different direction, I would have missed an important life lesson,” said Jase Oriet, when he spoke about what Rocky Mountain College means to him at the annual Candlelight Dinner. “You can’t learn to succeed unless you learn to fail.” Oriet, who graduates this May, thinks one of the most important facets of RMC is that
there are always opportunities and he took advantage of a wide range, from being an RMC resident advisor to serving in student government, to being a LEAP (Leadership, Engagement and Leadership Program) mentor. “RMC offers a clean slate for students to find their calling and pursue it. RMC’s greatest opportunity is that there are no limits to what a student can create, apply, or achieve,” Oriet said. Oriet gives special praise to professors in his majors like Erin Reser (communications), and Mark Moak and Jim Baken (art), but also to Dan Hargrove (aviation) who helped him realize that was not a discipline meant for him. “Each have helped me develop personally, academically and pushed me to achieve
Caroline Jones credits happenstance for how she chose Rocky Mountain College. A family vacation to Yellowstone Park with a stop enroute in Red Lodge, where there was a gift shop with a Rocky Mountain Caroline Jones College sweat shirt displayed, resulted in her curiosity about the college. The Minnesota native checked RMC out online, decided to visit, and found her home. “I visited campus and never seriously considered going anywhere else. I was drawn to the pretty campus, nearby mountains, and the outdoor recreation program,” she said. “And I found much more when I got here.” The junior double majoring in business management and managerial accounting embarked on a journey of exploration. “I learned to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, meet new people, go to new events,” she said. “Rocky’s a learning community if you open yourself up to new experiences. I’ve learned to ride a horse. I’ve been to three national parks. I wielded a hammer with Habitat for Humanity. I participated in the Big Sky State Games.”
Serving as a residence advisor, a student government representative, and being involved in the campus InterVarsity Christian Fellowship might have taxed the time of any student, but Caroline is practical about time management. “Time management is a good thing to learn along the way. The key isn’t to get involved in everything; it’s being passionate and invested in what you are involved in, and learning from it. Set goals,” she advises. She had important mentors. “I’ve had the chance to get to know Professor Dan Hargrove through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He has been so instrumental in my life by keeping me in check with my values and teaching me to align my goals with them. Associate Dean for Student Life, Katie Carpenter, has encouraged me to learn from every opportunity and to manage my time in way that allows me to accomplish everything I want to do here. Tim and Cara Lohrenz, RMC outdoor recreation and student activities directors, respectively, have been an example to me of truly investing in the people and environment around you,” she said. If one wanted a better endorsement for RMC you couldn’t find one better than Caroline’s: “I believe I could not have had the same experience at any other college or anywhere else,” she said.
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more than I ever imaged. These individuals are not only astounding teachers but, they are astounding individuals,” he said. Oriet readily admits he’s not sure what the future holds Jase Oriet for him beyond summer travel in France with his girlfriend, RMC championship skier Eloise Juilland. In fact, he states he wishes he still had more years at RMC. “The past five years have been the best in my life and I would be happy to have five more just like them,” he said. “I learned to show up every day, to not be afraid to ask questions, to trust in time and patience and practice empathy with all those who surround you. That would be my advice to any student at RMC.”
LICENSE TO GIVE! NEW RMC PLATES READY Is your vehicle wearing RMC? Show your support and sport a cool new license plate. The initial cost of the new Rocky Mountain College license plate is $80, with $30 of that cost going directly to the RMC Student Scholarship Fund.* For more information, contact Vicki Davison, RMC director of alumni relations, 406.657.1005 vicki.davison@rocky.edu. *The breakdown of the cost is $10 state administration cost, $10 production cost, $30 state renewal fee, and $30 to RMC.
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AWARDS & REWARDS FOR RMC ALUMNA FOCU S O N A LUM N I
There are awards and then there are rewards. Tonja (Allen) Bell, RMC’84, has an armful of awards for being a good teacher. She was finalist for Wyoming teacher of the year in 1999 and was coach of the year three times. When she moved to Oklahoma she was “Teacher of Today,” Western Heights High School teacher of the year and later the district teacher of the year. In 2012 she was Oklahoma City teacher of the month. But the rewards of teaching are more much satisfying, this RMC alumna will tell you. “I had a student in Big Piney (Wyo.) who I am particularly proud of. There were a lot of doubters in town. He didn’t have strong guidance and people figured he wouldn’t amount to much. I encouraged him to go to college. He did well and graduated. He’s done very well for himself in business in Big Piney. I smile at the thought of his success,” she said. Those kinds of impacts on youth are legion in Tonja’s career. “There are some kids who make it through life on their own, but the majority of kids need some kind of guidance from people who care. That is where teachers who care can make a difference in the life of a child,” she said. Tonja will never forget RMC professors who made that kind of difference in her life. James “Doc” McDowell, who retired from RMC last year, is one. Sandra Barz, who also retired last year, is another. “I modeled myself after Doc,” she said. “I learned the importance of providing a great learning environment and showing the teacher cares.” She fondly recalls the wildlife BBQ Dr. McDowell hosted at his farm for business majors. “Who has the students over for a wild
Tonja Bell, RMC’84, with her daughter, Lisa, and son, Lance. 4
game feed?,” she laughed. “Doc, that’s who. He took a personal interest in his students.” She also learned the importance of being a lifelong learner, for herself as well as her students. After graduating with a business administration and accounting major, she took education classes that helped her land a job in Thermopolis. Later, she taught at Big Piney. A master’s program took her to Oklahoma where she not only earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at Southern Nazarene University and also her board certification, an advanced teaching credential. Only three percent of the teaching workforce achieves this recognition from the National Board of Certification. “I can teach in any state and for me this is the pinnacle in the teaching field,” she said. Tonja’s personal life mirrors her professional life, where she expects the same level of success from her children as she does from her students. She is not disappointed. Her daughter, Lisa, was Homecoming Queen, All-State Softball Player and All-Region Basketball. She had offers in both basketball and softball to further her education. She chose to attend a small school called Saint Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She played softball and pursued a double major in social science and natural science. Her youngest, Lance, “was a tough kid,” she notes. He led the Oklahoma in sacks and fumble recoveries his senior year of high school. He attended Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., where he played football and majored in business administration. “Both kids graduated on the same day, in May 2012,” she said. The future for Tonja holds more learning. She loves the challenges of learning and then teaching technology. “A big emphasis of my job is in graphics design and web page design. I teach with an online environment, which many of my students have never been exposed to. I enjoy that,” she said. “I truly believe I make a difference.” That’s the difference between the awards and the rewards.
Photo: Robert Beer/RMC
The score tells the story. RMC’s Battlin’ Bears were guests for all three playoff games leading to their improbable championship.
CHAMPIONSHIP FUND DRIVE They did it the hard way. RMC’s men’s basketball team came from the back of the pack to make a run at the Frontier Conference Championship and it worked. The Battlin’ Bears knocked off top seeded Westmintser first, went on to knock off Lewis & Clark State, and then clinched the championship by toppling Montana Western. To win the trophy, the men played every one of those games on the opposing team’s home court. Next stop was the National NAIA Tournament in Kansas City where the Battlin’ Bears fell just short of knocking off top seed Lindsey Wilson. As Robert Beers, RMC’s athletic director noted, this was a high profile example of RMC’s student athletes excelling, but not the only one. RMC’s ski teams nearly clinched another national championship and did beat the national champs in head-to-head competition. Not to be outdone, this year RMC’s soccer and distance track teams also earned spots at nationals. To help support sending student athletes to national competition, RMC has established the RMC Championship Fund. Those interested in supporting the RMC Championship Fund may contact him at 406-657-1124, or at Robert.beers@rocky.edu or send a check designated RMC Championship Fund to RMC Athletic Department, 1511 Poly Drive, Billings, MT 59102
UNDEM: THE DEAN OF DEVELOPMENT F O CUS O N S TA F F
“I am atoning for all the years I was an attorney and a banker,” Obert Undem likes to joke when explaining his current role as an advancement officer for Rocky Mountain College. It’s never easy having a title like his, director of planned giving. Nothing can empty a room as quickly as a title that implies a gentle arm twist for funding. “But I know how important someone giving me a hand was when I was ready for college and I am eternally grateful, so my job really is not difficult because I am so often working with people who have that same sense of gratitude and who want to give back,” he said. Undem was raised in Dawson County where he attended a one-room schoolhouse before going to high school in Glendive where a kindly couple, who hired him to mow their lawn and shovel their walks, took notice of his academic achievements. Retired banker, Robert H. Watson, and his wife, Ino DeLong Watson, who he fondly called “Auntie Mame” underwrote his education at Carleton College, which they had attended, and later his pursuit of post graduate education at Harvard. “My education was provided by someone who gifted it to me,” he recalls. “They paid all my expenses -- that was an incredible thing for them to do -- and all I did was mow their lawn when I was a kid.” That memory inspires his work with the RMC Advancement Office. “Fortunately for us, our donors are generous, care about others and are passionate about education as a means to change the future. They are willing to take action now to seed generations to come,” he said. Tax advantages subsidize the cost of philanthropy. Undem has the legal and financial background to make the most of those incentives to serve donors. His bachelor of arts degree was awarded cum laude in 1957 from Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota; his master’s in business administration was from Harvard University School of Business Administration, Boston, in 1957; and his juris doctor degree was conferred by William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1963. Undem came to RMC in 1995, after a 20year career as a solo practitioner as an estate 5
Nick Wolter
Photo: James Woodcock, Billings Gazette
WOLTER SPEAKS AT PRESIDENT’S DINNER APRIL 27
Obert Undem
and tax planning attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Prior to that he had a 20-year career as a bank president and trust officer in Minnesota and Arkansas. He is a recently retired member of the Bars of Montana, Arkansas and Minnesota. He has served as a board member of many other civic, cultural and commercial organizations, among them Minneapolis art museums, the Arkansas Symphony, the Montana Community Foundation, and the RMC Institute for Peace Studies. His honors include selection as the Outstanding Professional Fundraiser of the Year 2008, awarded by the Montana Chapter of the Association of Professional Fundraisers, and an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service by RMC in 2010. Undem’s brilliant mind and his warm, quick wit make him an ideal person for the job. He knows state tax, estate and inheritance laws, and he knows money. Even more importantly, he understands the value of education. As do the many RMC friends who seeks his counsel. “Each donor to Rocky Mountain College, no matter the size of the gift, is important because she or he is leaving a living legacy. Such gifts change lives and realize dreams while creating educational magic,” he said. Obert Undem sets the stage for that magic to work solving donors’ desires.
The annual RMC President’s Dinner, Great Room, Prescott Hall. Guest speaker will be Dr. Nicholas Wolter, CEO Billings Clinic, who will discuss healthcare. Entertainment provided by Ellen & The Old School (which includes Ellen Moak, RMC 2011; Mark Moak, RMC professor of art; Sam Hamm, RMC professor of music; and Scott Niinnemann. Cocktails at 5:30 p.m.; dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets: $50. For more information or to make reservations: Vicki Davison, Advancement Office, 406.657.1005, Vicki.davison@ rocky.edu.
Photo: James Woodcock, Billings Gazette
Ellen and The Old School
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Credit
Photographs appearing in Rocky Now, unless otherwise noted, are by Dave M. Shumway, RMC staff photographer and web content manager.
RO CKY NOW FOCU S O N FACULT Y
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MAKING MEMORIES farm. They had an arts and crafts cottage, built by the same craftsman who built the Great Hall and some of the other homes around the area. There was a small barn, an orchard with 100 trees, a rose garden. For me, as a young child, it was idyllic,” she said. Nearby was her great uncle’s house that had a ballroom to romp around in, surrounded by fields with grasses high as a horse’s chest. Her grandfather, Lewis, and great uncle, Ernest, grew up in hardscrabble Maine, worked their way through college, and became educators. Her father, Tom, graduated from BPI in 1939, and was also a lifelong educator. Jacqueline graduated in 1968 (when the Science Building was rechristened Eaton Hall), and her son, Ian, graduated in 2003. Jacqueline’s grandfather, Lewis Eaton, died in 1934; her dad, Tom, in 2002; and her husband, Don, in 2008. “All of their services were held in Losekamp Hall,” she noted. “All were educators, all devoted to learning and teaching. It just seemed right to have their memorials here.” Part of her family history included the ranches the family purchased in the mountains of Stillwater County, which cultivated Jacqueline’s early interest in horses. Her father made sure that equine love was nurtured at the ranch he bought near Huntley Project. “My dad was a remarkable man. He loved horses, poetry, art, teaching, the outdoors .
. . he knew hundreds of poems by heart and he used to recite them when he was driving and we’d join in. He’d sculpt clay, making figurines of the seven Indian chiefs (from Montana’s seven reservations). He even sculpted the bees wax from a toilet bowl ring,” she said. His love of horses produced an exceptional breed, Montana’s only indigenous breed, a cross between a Morgan and Tennessee Walker that was registered as “Montana Traveler.” It was a big, barrel-chested, gaited breed. That legacy of learning motivated Jacqueline. After earning her masters in education she taught at Billings Senior and Billings Central before coming to RMC in 1998. Like her grandfather and father, she, too, became a lifelong educator. Her teaching focuses on freshmen writing and critical reading. She is also division chair for humanities and fine arts. “I love teaching. I’m teaching Montana literature and I cherish bringing students into the books that they will learn to love,” she said. When she’s not teaching, she’ll hurry to ride her horse “Good Good Mister,” nicknamed “Buckwheat.” In past years she showed her horse, “One O Six in the Shade,” in the select division at national AQHA shows, but riding Buckwheat is simply “a way to let all the rigors of life fade away and enjoy the poetry of riding.”
RMC’s Invitational Honors Concert in February launched a busy season of musical concerts this spring.
MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC APRIL 4 JAZZ CONCERT: RMC Music Dept. presents the Jazz Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., Babcock Theater. Free. For more information: Tony Hammond, RMC assistant professor, music/ director of bands, 406/238.7283 / tony. hammond@rocky.edu. APRIL 13 CHOIR & CHAMBER SINGERS: RMC Music Dept. presents the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, 7:30 p.m., St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral. Free. For more information: Steven Hart, professor, music/director of choir, 406.6571115 / harts@rocky.edu. APRIL 17 CONCERT BAND: RMC Music Dept. presents the Concert Band, 7:30 p.m., Babcock Theater. Free. For more information: Tony Hammond, RMC assistant professor, music/ director of bands, 406/238.7283 / tony. hammond@rocky.edu.
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