Radical Mercy - Vanguard University

Transcription

VANGUARD UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
vanguard
winter 2006
Radical
Mercy
LARRY HAYNES ’86
Class Act 5
Rose-colored Classes 7
Homecoming 2005
18
Hip-Hop Symphony 20
www.vanguard.edu
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7
5
20
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mission statement
Vanguard University of Southern California (VUSC), founded in 1920, is a
Christian Comprehensive University of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. At the
heart of its mission, VU is committed to preparing students through an education
marked by academic excellence and spiritual vitality for productive service in a variety
of vocations and ministries that are matched to the marketplace of the 21st century.
2 vanguard magazine winter 2006
Contents
In This Issue
Volume 6 number 3 • winter 2006
features
Radical Mercy ..................................................................2
Larry Haynes ’86 graduated from VU with a radical commitment to help
the poor. Twenty years later, he is Orange County’s leading anti-poverty
advocate, a respected community leader and a social visionary who’s still
as radical at heart as when he was a student.
Class Act ..........................................................................5
Susan Berkompas built VU’s theatre program into a national
powerhouse, winning major awards, landing a spot in the prestigious
Kennedy Center competition two years straight, and sending VU
students into the finest MFA programs.
Rose-colored Classes ......................................................7
Freshman Lisa Pallay, an energetic young woman from Pasadena, won a
spot on the 2004 Rose Court, part of the Tournament of Roses. But she
got an extra bonus when Rose Court led her to discover VU, where she
decided to attend college.
Hip-Hop Symphony .......................................................20
Flynn Atkins ’96 graduated from VU and co-founded L.A. Symphony, a
leading Christian hip-hop group. Now, with his music career in
overdrive and with a new gig at Relevant Media Group, Atkins is using
his creativity for a higher purpose.
departments
From the President...........................................................1
Class Notes ......................................................................9
Advancing Vision 2010...................................................16
Windows.........................................................................17
A Vine of His Own Planting ............................................23
On Campus ....................................................................24
Sports.............................................................................26
Calendar .........................................................................28
Postcards .......................................................................29
University Governance
Chair, Board of Trustees
T. Ray Rachels
University Administration
President
Murray Dempster
Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs
Russell Spittler
Vice President for Advancement and
Enrollment Management
Rick Hardy
Vice President for Business
and Finance
David Alford
Interim Vice President for
Student Affairs
Ed Westbrook
Editor
Joel Kilpatrick
Art Director
Chauncey D. Bayes
Director of Marketing and
Communications
Patti Ammerman
Director of Alumni Relations
Colette Smith
Vanguard University of Southern California, in compliance with laws
and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color,
gender, age, disability, national origin, or status as a veteran in any of
its policies, practices, or procedures.
vanguard magazine is a free publication published quarterly by
Vanguard University of Southern California. All contents copyrighted,
2006, Vanguard University of Southern California.
Bulk rate postage paid at Santa Ana, CA. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to: VUSC Alumni Relations Office, 55 Fair Drive,
Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
his is the kind of issue of vanguard magazine that fires up my
engines because each story embodies the best Vanguard
University has to offer. I think you’ll see what I mean.
T
Our cover story on Larry Haynes ’86 shows how passion and ideas,
put to good use, can change thousands of lives for the better. When
Haynes attended VU in the 1980s he was an outstanding student and
intellectual renegade who called for his fellow students to serve the
poor and neglected in society. Haynes didn’t walk away from those
beliefs when he graduated, but embraced a calling to serve the poor.
For fifteen years he has headed up Mercy House, one of the most
exciting, dignified and widely-respected homeless-serving institutions
in Orange County. Haynes’ story is a terrific example of how VU can
spark dramatic changes in students’ lives that leads to a life of
significant work.
Speaking of drama, our faculty profile is about Susan Berkompas,
artistic producing director of VU’s theatre program, who has turned it
into one of the best theatre programs in California. This year VU will
compete for a second time at a national theatre competition sponsored by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Susan’s life story,
and the story of how she built the program, will inspire anyone who
desires to be the best in their field.
Also featured is alum Flynn Atkins ’96 who is busy touring with the
group he co-founded, L.A. Symphony. Atkins developed his musical
passion and creativity in VU’s communication labs before graduating,
and he has since become an exciting part of the professional music
and media industry. You’ll enjoy reading about the twists and turns in
this young alum’s successful musical career.
You will also read about Lisa Pallay, a freshman who was introduced
to VU serendipitously while serving on the Rose Court as part of
Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses. This vibrant young woman has
great things ahead of her, and through her story you will get a glimpse
behind the scenes at what it’s like to be an integral part of the
Tournament of Roses.
As usual, there are plenty of other stories and excellent columns to
round out this issue. Lewis Wilson illuminates a crucial advancement
in VU’s history and the man who made it possible. Our campus pastors, Mike and Kristi De Vito, write about the keys to understanding
students of this generation. The always-popular Class Notes and
Homecoming sections include updates and photos of many alums.
I trust you will be enriched by this winter 2006 snapshot of the VU
community, which captures what our people are doing here on
campus and around the world.
Read and enjoy!
vanguard magazine winter 2006 1
Alumni Feature
Radical
Mercy
arry Haynes ’86 was a campus radical and honors student whose passion and action have since helped
build one of the most unique and
promising homeless-serving organizations in
Orange County and the U.S.
County. One Mercy House building boasts
a beautifully Craftsman-esque design and
15,000 square feet of perfectly appointed
luxury, from overstuffed furniture to a baby
grand piano and two-story rock fireplace in
the lobby.
“When I was 19 and a student at Vanguard,
ideas meant something,” says Haynes. “And
it’s important to me, in my forties, that they
still do. Being a Christian is supposed to
mean that our values, our vision, our goals
are different. My life struggle is to figure out
how to make that so.”
Mercy House’s transitional shelters in Santa
Ana — and now in Ontario — have helped
thousands of people emerge from poverty to
become economically independent. Just as
impressive, Mercy House has earned the
respect of its community; other cities want
Mercy House to build transitional housing
complexes in their neighborhoods. And,
Haynes, says, Mercy House may soon
become a national organization with major
financial backing.
L
Haynes is the executive director of Mercy
House, whose facilities in Santa Ana look
more like a $200-a-night hotel or luxury
condominium complex than what they really are: transitional housing for homeless people and people with HIV/AIDS. Mercy
House’s goal is to serve poor and neglected
people with dignity, offering a variety of
services and housing to help them live independently. But instead of offering merely
adequate living quarters, Mercy House
apartments are stunningly gorgeous, with
Ralph Carmichael.
amenities,
furnishings and architectural
design to rival any upscale home in Orange
It’s not what most people expect when they
think of transitional housing. But Larry
Haynes has never followed an expected path.
Haynes grew up in Riverside, the son of a
steelworker. At the altar of a small, raciallymixed Foursquare church, he felt the call to
ministry. By 16 he was preaching the
Sunday night sermons.
He was also an outstanding student and
intellect. He turned down generous scholar-
ship offers from Ivy League schools,
Stanford and USC, telling the
recruiters who visited him that he
had no desire to “be taught about
God by atheists.” He enrolled at Vanguard
to train for the ministry, expecting to be
“the next great minister, and write scholarly
works and teach at Oxford, changing the
world through ideas,” he says. But midway
through his undergraduate career, through
the influence of his political science and biblical studies classes, he experienced an intellectual revolution about what it means to be
a Christian. Suddenly, his conscience was
awakened to the plight of the poor and to
the social injustice he felt was rampant
in America.
Haynes started having an on-going dialogue
with other students and professors about
social issues. He became a “lightning rod
figure and campus radical speaking out on
left-wing stuff,” he says. When he and his
friends couldn’t get their articles printed in
the student paper, they started an underground paper which grabbed attention with
articles on feminist issues, economic justice,
nuclear war and homosexuality. Haynes and
Alumni Feature
“Larry is passionate, articulate
… He’s a social visionary.”
—Michael Metzler, president and CEO
of Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce
the other writers attached their names and
phone numbers to each article as a matter of
principle.
Some of the paper’s content proved so incendiary that Haynes found himself embroiled
in controversy and at odds with the administration. But many of Haynes’ professors recognized his sincerity and encouraged him to
carefully consider and refine his arguments.
“The professors were fantastic and that’s
what made VU special to me,” he says.
“They took a personal interest, made sure I
stayed on track and made sure I believed in
myself. They allowed me to have the ongoing dialogue I’ve had since I was 5 years
old, which is, what does it mean to be a
Christian?”
It helped that Haynes was a model student
who earned straight A’s, attended chapel and
obeyed the rules. He graduated with honors
in ’86. He sees his days as campus radical as
training ground for what he does now.
“I realized I don’t need to be a jerk as an
adult,” he says. “Maybe I got that out of my
system at Vanguard’s expense.”
After graduating, he and other VU students
and alums founded a Christian commune,
pledging to reduce their consumption, invite
the poor to live with them and live “as a
prophetic witness to the Christian world.” But
personal disagreements fractured the utopian
spirit, and the commune fell apart. Haynes
was already pursuing his PhD at USC and
had just left a homeless shelter in Orange
County when the position at Mercy House
opened up. Haynes, 25, became the first
employee. His goal then is the same now.
“I want us to do more than simply alleviate
poverty,” he says. “I want us to ask why
poverty exists and stop it from happening in
the first place. … It is irrelevant to say we
love God and to do nothing about [poverty].
God must be relevant to those that are poor
and suffering. I can’t get away from that.”
Mercy House started in a small 3-bedroom
house. Haynes soon learned that hot public
rhetoric often failed to create any change.
He drew on lessons from Dennis McNutt’s
’59 international politics class, and began to
see Mercy House as a nation-state coexisting
with other groups — cities, neighborhoods
— whose operating principles are not
always altruistic.
“When I devise Mercy House’s strategies, I
understand that neighbors and cities have
other interests,” he says. “You can advocate
so strongly that you become ineffective. At
the end of the day, I don’t just want to be a
loud voice. I want to get something done.”
He stopped trying to be a thorn in the side of
his community, and became its partner while
never wavering from his commitment to serve
the needs of the poor. David Ream, longtime
city manager for the City of Santa Ana, says
Haynes “is the best person I’ve ever met in
terms of developing and administrating shelter programs. He tries to see the community
side of the story, not just advocate blindly for
his clients. It’s been very effective here in
Santa Ana. Mercy House is viewed as an asset
Larry Haynes, continued on page 4
Alumni Feature
Larry Haynes, continued from page 3
in the community because of the outstanding
architecture and operation.”
because the buildings look nice and are wellrun.
Michael Metzler, president and CEO of the
Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, served
on the board of a federal empowerment
zone with Haynes.
Haynes has served on many boards and has
become Orange County’s top advocate on
anti-poverty issues. He co-founded the
Interfaith Shelter Network in which churches support shelter and supportive services on
a rotating basis. Mercy House has earned
dozens of awards and recognitions from
Congress, the state legislature and
community groups.
“Larry is passionate, articulate, smart as a
whip, has strong opinions, but at the same
time has the unique capacity to compromise
properly, not just for compromise’s sake,”
Metzler says. “It’s a rare skill in negotiating.
When he takes on an issue, he thoroughly
understands it. When it appears unsafe to
bring up a contrarian view, he has the
courage and ability to bring it up in a way
that doesn’t alienate. You may not like what
he says, but you can’t disagree with his character. He’s a social visionary.”
In the fifteen years since Haynes came to
Mercy House, the organization has conquered the NIMBY syndrome — “Not In
My Back Yard” — he says, and now other
cities and neighborhoods want Mercy
House to build transitional housing there
“All of this comes out of my education at
Vanguard, and the relationships I had with
professors in class and the kind of student I
was while I was there,” Haynes says. “People
always laugh because at 40 I’m still doing
the stuff I said I would when I was 19.”
He is most excited about the scholarship
VU has begun offering to children of Mercy
House residents, a partnership he calls “a
peak experience in terms of accomplishment.” The combination of housing and
education “creates new hope and ends
poverty for generations to come,” he says.
VU alums also serve on his staff. Haynes
hopes one of them will take his place, and
“that the same faith that has inspired me all
these years will do the same for them.”
Haynes and wife Donna (Lynn ’94) have
two daughters. Aside from his work at
Mercy House, Larry is most proud that his
church allows him to be a lay preacher.
Though now a respected community leader,
Haynes remains a radical at heart.
“If I don’t change the world, I’ve failed,”
he says, falling into tearful silence. “If the
world is not different, not better, then
I’ve failed and wasted the gifts that God
has given me. That’s the whole reason
for being.”
Every day brings him new opportunities to
help those in need, and Haynes pours himself into the task with passion and delight.
“Today at Mercy House we’re ending someone’s homelessness,” he says, “and that’s an
exciting thing.”
Larry Haynes ’86 at a planning meeting with Mercy House staff
members Paul Blankenship ’05 and VU student Mark Mayotte.
Faculty Profile
Class Act
I
n less than eight years at the helm of VU’s theatre program,
Susan Berkompas has transformed it into a West Coast powerhouse, helping VU win national recognition and earn a
spot in the most prestigious collegiate theatre festival in the
U.S. for an unprecedented second year in a row.
In 2004, Berkompas was named educator of the year by the
Kennedy Center, a national honor.
Success “happened fast, and that’s the Lord,” she says. “He
brought the right people in. We have such a fabulous team
right now.”
Berkompas’ path to theatre excellence began when she was a
fourth-grader in Great Falls, Montana, and wrote, produced and
performed in her first play.
“I’d never seen a live play, but I knew right then that’s what I
wanted to do,” she says.
She earned her BFA at the University of Montana in Missoula,
and fully expected to attend Yale University, one of the top theatre
programs in the country. But devastating events in her personal
life re-directed her plans, and dashed her hopes of attending Yale.
“It was a rough time in my life,” she says. “I realize now that
everything was in God’s plan.”
She had met the Lord through a Christian roommate while competing in the Miss Montana pageant in college, but Berkompas
had no Christian upbringing, and it took her four years “to understand what being saved meant,” she says. She moved to southern
California, spent a lot of time in church and soon met the man
she would marry. She worked as a headhunter for a temp agency,
and as an elementary school art teacher.
But her love for theatre was never quenched, she says. “I wanted to
get more theatrical training, become a professional actor and at
some point be a university professor and be involved in a theatre
arts program.”
The first goal was met when she became one of three women, out
of 600 serious contenders, to be accepted into CSU Long Beach’s
MFA program, one of the finest in the west. Instead of relying on
a one-shot audition, Berkompas intentionally got the judges’
attention by winning the role of Queen Elizabeth in a production
of Shakespeare’s Richard III, put on by the CSU Long Beach’s
undergraduate program.
“I knew the artistic director of the MSA program, California
Repertory, would see this show,” she says. “After the show, the
director of the program called me into his office and invited me to
the program. I was very strategic. I knew how to get in.”
Sue Berkompas, continued on page 6
Faculty Profile
VU’s 2005 production of Into the Woods
was named show of the year among local
colleges and universities by the Daily
Pilot. Pictured (l-r) are Paul Hanegan ’03,
Sue Berkompas and VU student Caitlin
Macy-Beckwith.
rare feat when, for the second year
in a row, one of its shows was chosen to go to the Kennedy Center
festival regionals to compete against
a handful of other finalists. If VU
wins, their production of As It Is In
Heaven will compete at the
Kennedy Center in April in
Washington, D.C.
Sue Berkompas, continued from page 5
So began three years of almost non-stop
work to earn the MFA degree and a separate MA in theater history. Upon graduating she directed and acted professionally
around L.A., and taught at CSU Long
Beach. Then she had three children and
quit theatre for five years to devote herself
to mothering.
students many opportunities to act, direct,
design and light the shows. The result, she
says, is that students know the theatre
process inside and out and have a comprehensive theater education.
But one day she saw a job posting for chair
of theatre arts at VU. The university was
looking for someone to rebuild the program.
“I thought, I’ll never get this but I’ll apply
anyway,” she says.
Within a year the program caught reviewers’
attention. The Los Angeles Times and the
Orange County Register, which rarely review
student productions, gave VU’s shows
favorable ink. In her second year, a VU student was named man of the year in the arts
by the Daily Pilot, and a VU play was chosen as the top pick among all colleges and
universities.
She interviewed well and, to her surprise,
was hired as artistic producing director. She
threw herself into re-creating the program
from scratch, modeling it on two of the best
programs in the country: Yale and UCI.
“I sought out what made them great university theatre departments, and thought
about what we could do on a smaller scale,”
she says.
She visited their sites, studied their curriculum and watched their shows. Her goals
were ambitious. Instead of doing one or
two shows a year, she wanted to do four.
She made full participation a unique offering of VU’s program. At larger universities,
theatre majors rarely act onstage during
their four years. But Berkompas gives her
“I didn’t know what I was doing, but I had
confidence,” she says. “I said, “OK, Lord,
you’ll have to teach me and show me.”
In 2004 the program’s success went national when its production of The Lion in
Winter was chosen to compete at the
regional Kennedy Center American College
Theatre Festival. It was one of six mainstage plays chosen from 300 plays in the
western region.
“People were saying, ‘Vanguard? Where is
that?’” Berkompas says. At the competition,
Berkompas was one of six theatre directors
to win the educator of the year award for
excellence in education.
All of this has catapulted VU into the
top echelon of Christian university
theatre programs in the U.S. The
program has grown from eight to
fifty students majoring in theatre and
draws students from across the country. VU
presents six mainstage shows a year plus a
Vanguard Players summer tour and a student
showcase. VU’s program has placed students
in elite MFA programs, and graduates of
VU’s program are presently enrolled in MFA
programs at Rutgers, UCI, UCLA, the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
and the American Conservatory.
But for Berkompas, excellence on stage is
only part of her job. She also spends much
time mentoring students.
“That aspect of the job took me aback at
first,” she says. “I didn’t realize how much
students need a mentor. … That’s why we
always focus on praying with students,
especially during rehearsals and performances. It has to come from the top down.
People turn to the arts because they want to
find out the truth about themselves, or why
they are hurting. If we’re strong as a staff
spiritually and emphasize prayer and devotion times, that trickles down.”
Heaven Peabody ’04 was accepted into the
American Conservatory Theater’s MFA
program in 2004.
“Sue created an environment where I could
cultivate my acting skills and develop spiritual disciplines,” Peabody says. “I left
Then, in late 2005, VU accomplished a
Sue Berkompas, continued on page 22
Student Profile
Rose-colored Classes
isa Pallay got to live her dream when she became a princess
in Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Court in 2004. But she
got an unexpected benefit from the experience as well: an
introduction to VU, where she is now a freshman.
L
“My dream to be on Rose Court led to where I was supposed to go
to college,” says the bubbly 18-year-old. “God had everything in
order for me.”
Pallay caught the Rose Court bug when she tagged along to tryouts
with her cousin in 2003. The Rose Court Queen and six Rose
Court Princesses represent the Tournament of Roses and Pasadena
during the fall months, and are chosen for their poise, personality,
public speaking ability and scholastic achievement.
“It became my heart’s desire to be on Rose Court,” says Pallay. “I
wanted something big to happen for me.”
In fall 2004, Pallay became one of 250 girls to advance from the first
tryout, which drew nearly 1,000 contenders. Pallay impressed the
judges with her years of experience teaching Sunday school at the
church where her father is youth pastor, tutoring students at her
high school, and her involvement with the church choir, junior
ROTC, Bible club, ASB, yearbook and the black student union. She
had also excelled in academics.
“My parents instilled in me to be involved in the community anywhere I go,” she says. “I thought my experience and character would
make me a good representative of Pasadena.”
In the interviews Pallay did her best to be “charming, funny, whatever I could,” she says. She had learned public speaking as a young
child when she and others in her church were made to stand in front
of the congregation and say what they had learned in Sunday school.
“That was good practice [for Rose Court],” she says.
Pallay advanced to the third tryout with seventy-five other girls, and
after a week of waiting, found out she had advanced to the final tryout at Wrigley Mansion.
“I did the best in that interview of all my interviews,” Pallay says. “I
knew what I was trying to say.”
When the members of the Rose Court were announced, Pallay’s was
the first name to be called.
“I just stood there out of breath,” she says. “I could see my dad in
Lisa Pallay, continued on page 8
Student Profile
“My dream to be on Rose Court
led to where I was supposed
to go to college. God had
everything in order for me.”
with Doug Petersen ’76, executive director
of Vision 2010. Though Pallay had never
heard of Vanguard until then, she looked
into VU and weeks later, was approved
for admission.
“My being at VU stems from being on Rose
Court,” she says. “I had no clue this was
where I was meant to be. It was like a divine
appointment for me.”
But first she got to finish out her senior year
and her Rose Court term. She attended the
Rose Bowl game and had dinner with both
football teams, Texas and Michigan. The
high point of the experience was the Rose
Parade itself, which began for Pallay and the
rest of the Court at 1 a.m., when they got
their hair done. Dozens of photo opps and
media interviews later, they climbed aboard
the float for two hours of smiling and waving to the crowds.
Lisa Pallay (second from left) enjoyed her time on Rose Court, which included participation in the
Rose Parade (top).
A year later, Pallay is enjoying the college
she found through Rose Court.
Lisa Pallay, continued from page 7
the crowd jumping up and down with the
video camera flying everywhere. He was
proud of his baby girl. He was crying. That
was the most exciting moment of my life.”
For the next three months, Pallay lived the
life of a princess — with all its duties.
“You’re immediately on stage, the media is
right there, they interview you, and you
have to answer the same questions fifty
times,” she says.
Everything about her life was planned to the
last detail, including the outfit, jewelry, purse
“It goes by so fast,” Pallay says. “We were
waving the whole two hours, but it’s so
much excitement you don’t think about it.
You just switch to the other arm and keep
waving. It’s baffling how many people are
out there to see the parade.”
and shoes she would wear to each event.
Rose Court members must match perfectly.
The girls were also schooled in public relations, and told what they could and couldn’t
say, how to put on make-up, even how to
get in and out of a car. From October
through December, they participated in 150
events, sometimes four in a single day.
That’s how Pallay discovered Vanguard.
One of the Court’s first events was a 3-day
weekend trip to Balboa Island. There, at the
Bay Club, Pallay met and spoke at length
“I love being here at VU,” she says.
“Everything has been working out the way I
was hoping it would. Being here has helped
me to develop my relationship with God.
That’s how I wanted my life to go.”
She is studying psychology and communications because she loves public speaking
and hopes to become a role model for
younger girls.
“I’m finding my interests and getting
involved in any way I can,” she says. “I love
the school and the community.”
Class Notes
Let us know what’s going on with you! Email Colette Smith, director of alumni relations, at
[email protected], visit the Vanguard Connection at www.vanguard.edu/alumni or call 714-966-5494.
50s
Wilma (Rendell ’55) and Claude Rediger
’56 have served as Assemblies of God missionaries in Samoa, the Philippines and
Indonesia before joining Youth With A
Mission full time. After training in
Switzerland they extended their work in the
South Pacific to include Canberra, Australia,
Hawaii, India, New Zealand, Singapore,
Malaysia and Taiwan. The Redigers then
worked at the University of the Nations in
pastoral care, helping to disciple younger
missionaries from Nepal, Bangladesh and
India. They recently moved from their
condo in Edmonds, Wash., to join the
YWAM community at Discovery Bay, Fla.
Claude and Wilma are the parents of six
children and twenty-one grandchildren.
Becky (Hawbaker ’55) Santee lives in
Jacksonville, N.C., where she is enjoying
retirement from the Marine Corps Exchange
and remaining involved in her family’s
custom bath designs business.
60s
Dianne (Myers ’64) Haneke
and husband John celebrated
their fortieth wedding anniversary by taking a cruise in the
Alaskan Inland Passage during the summer.
Friends flew to Seattle to join them. The
cruise was part of their six-week RV tour to
and from the Pacific Northwest. John works
as an engineer, mentor and trainer of trainers at Dell Computer where he just celebrated ten years of service. Dianne is facilitating
a reunion for the 1960s alumni from
SCC/Vanguard University in June 2006,
and has her first contract with a publisher
for a book on improving your writing.
Jim Martin ’63 lives in Canon City, Colo.,
where he supports many Christian ministries
in the area. He is especially proud of his five
children and 13 grandchildren.
Miguel Maturino ’69 is in his 32nd year of
work at Sierra Intermediate School where he
teaches social studies for grades 7 and 8. He
also attends Corona Christian church and is
a soccer official in Orange County schools.
VeeAnn (Zelmer 1965-1966) Yates says
her greatest memories were of the Vanguard
Chorale and traveling with the choir. She
now lives in Puyallup, Wash. Her husband
Ron is retired, and they have five children.
VeeAnn is the women's ministries director of
her church and works full time as an executive administrator for the Boeing Company.
70s
Blandina (Tamara ’79) Chacon is the associate pastor and Christian education director at Templo Sinai and assistant principal
at Adams Elementary in Santa Ana. She has
three children: David, 18, Christine, 16,
and Benjamin, 10.
David Cleaveland ’77 served as a missionary to the Philippines for 15 years before
coming back to the States to minister to
Native Americans at the American Indian
College. He and his wife Marsha live in
Glendale, Ariz.
Gina (Burton ’79) Coye and husband
James live in Arvada, Colo. Gina is mother
to children William and Melody.
Mike Ellis ’72 has been owner of
Motivational Ad Specialties since 1986. He
and wife Cindy celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary this year with their three
grown children.
Nancy Heidebrecht ’77, professor emeritus,
continues working in lay education in
churches. She and husband Dennis live in
Huntington Beach. They are proud grandparents of six.
Robert Leacock ’78 lives with
wife Lory in N.C. They have
two children, Susan, 20, and
Greg, 19. Robert is a business
administrator for First Assembly of God in
Winston-Salem.
Class Notes, continued on page 10
Class Notes
Class Notes, continued from page 9
Heart
and Sole
Brenda
Springer ’99
wanted to do
something
meaningful with
her career. As
public relations
manager for Sole
Technology,
makers of etnies
brand shoes,
she uses her
marketing skills for a good company, and
a good purpose.
“It’s been a thrilling ride,” she says. “I’m
pouring into the lives of people who work
for me, helping them grow professionally,
while having a great time doing PR. I’m on
Cloud 9.”
Springer came to VU from Salt Lake City,
full of “hope and eagerness to build a life
for myself,” she says. At VU she was “surrounded by a wonderful community of
people.” To this day her social network is
full of friends she made at VU.
“Vanguard provided a good foundation for
me,” Springer says. “It helped me discover
who God made me to be. I was able to
identify God’s call on my life and charge
after it full force.”
As a communications major Springer developed a passion for public relations, but she
wanted to do more than push corporate
products. She helped Hands Across the
Border revamp their communication
approach. That taught her she could use
her gift to glorify the Lord.
She graduated and did public relations for
the Los Angeles Mission. In a short time
she was able to get exposure for the
Mission on CNN, Fox News, ABC, and in
the pages of the Los Angeles Times and New
York Times. She also developed a celebrity
relations program, cultivating relationships
with people like Kirk Douglas, Henry
Winkler, Jennifer Love Hewitt and others
to support the Mission’s events.
While seeking sponsors, she met Pierre
Senizergues, owner of Sole Technology,
who agreed to donate 2,000 pairs of shoes
for a Mission event. As a result, etnies was
featured on news nationally, including a
spot on CNN. A month later Senizergues
invited Springer to be his company’s
PR manager.
“I was honest with him,” Springer says. “I
told him I wanted to wake up every day
knowing I was not just making him
money, but was making a difference in
someone’s life.”
Senizergues shared his passion to promote
the positive spirit of youth through his
company.
“Something about that meeting made me
realize this was a great opportunity,”
Springer says.
She took the job, and for the past eighteen
months has helped the company expand
brand awareness globally. She runs the
company’s worldwide PR programs. Her
staff has grown from two to seven people
and she manages a dozen PR agencies
around the world. Sole Technology’s shoes
have become more popular with famous
actors, musicians and consumers in general.
The company’s shoes and apparel are available in 70 countries and 4,000 retail shops
in the U.S.
“I’ve risen pretty quickly in my career and
sometimes I call an old prof and say does
this sound right? Am I making a right decision?” Springer says. "That’s the kind of
relationship VU fosters. If I hadn’t gotten
that I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
John ’79 and Renee (Stearns
’81) Michno are missionaries
to Saint Petersburg, Russia.
John retired from the US Army
Chaplaincy in February 2003. They served
as interim pastors of the International
Christian Assembly in Kiev, Ukraine from
June 2003 to August 2004 before arriving in
Saint Petersburg in September 2005, where
they are planting an International Church.
They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year and have two daughters,
Natasha, 21, and Kathryn, 19.
Rick Quisenberry ’79 and wife Margaret
live in Piedmont where Rick is a software
developer and technical lead of financial
services for Charles Schwab & Co. Their son
Jason is 18.
80s
Michael Bogdan ’87 is a medical recruiter
and placement manager at Readylink
Healthcare. He lives in Palm Desert and has
two children, Amanda Elizabeth, 10, and
Robert Stuart John, 7.
Patti (Pearson ’86) Brown and
husband Rick will celebrate
their 16th wedding anniversary
in February. Rick is a custom
pool builder with Blue Lagoon while Patti is
a homemaker. The Brown clan includes four
children: Josh, 14, Joy, 11, Trevor, 7, and
Troy, 5. They live in Eagle, Idaho.
Sylvia Esquerra ’82 received her master’s
degree in business administration from the
University of California at Irvine in 1999.
She lives in Lake Forest.
Sophia (Padilla ’83) Hall and husband Jon
live in Rancho Santa Margarita with their
three children. Jon is the associate pastor and
art director at Canyon Hills Church while
Sophia maintains ownership of her entrepreneurial business as a children’s clothing
designer. The business designs unique apparel for the boutique market and can be found
at www.sophiacarolina.com.
Class Notes
Richard Jessup ’81 and Lisa, his wife of 23
years, live in Paso Robles. Richard is an
administrator for North County K-12
Christian School located in Atascadero. They
have two children, Larissa and Richard.
Shirley (Fedorka ’85) McDonald and her
husband of 19 years, Bob, live south of
Indianapolis. They have two children, Alicia,
1, and Andrew, 12. Bob and Shirley work at
a large Vineyard Church where Shirley is the
outreach pastor.
Alvin Moser ’83 lives in the Dublin-San
Francisco area with wife Debbie and daughter Kaylee, 13. He works at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, a premier
research and development institution for science and technology applied to national security, as the deputy chief financial officer. Al is
associated with the Institute of Management
Accountants and Project Management
Institute. The Moser family attends
Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore.
Dianna (Wray) and Greg Salciccioli ’84
live in Bend, Ore., and serve ministry leaders
all over the world by coaching them to serve
with balance, passion and direction. They
have two sons, Nate, 20, and David, 17.
E. Andrew Stenhouse ’84, ’87 MA earned
his doctorate in institutional management
from Pepperdine University in 1999 and is
an associate professor at VU. He and his wife
Karen have three children: Taryn, 15, Kayla,
13, and Lindsay, 13. The Stenhouse family
lives in Newport Beach.
Stanley Wilson ’86 lives in Kenosha, Wisc.,
with wife Lin and their four children, Chris,
Danielle, Joshua, and Luke. Stanley works
with the Kenosha Unified School District as
a math teacher.
William Zimmerman ’84 and wife Julie live
in Menifee with daughter Jennifer. Bill has a
graphics consulting business in Temecula,
and Julie works for an architecture firm. The
Zimmerman family enjoys camping, quad
riding and off-road racing. Bill plays in a
rock band for fun.
90s
Heather Jo (Smith ’98)
Ambrose and husband Brian
recently returned to San Diego
from Richmond, Va. Heather
continues to teach. They are the proud parents of Reagan Jane, 2, and expect another
bundle of joy in February.
Natasha Baucas ’96 lives in
San Diego with her beloved dog
Joxer. Natasha works as a bookkeeper and accountant and
loves to travel (most recently to Rome).
David Bond ’99 worked with
abused and neglected children
at a children’s home before
accepting a position as a chaplain’s assistant with the U.S. Army serving in
Germany, Kosovo, Kuwait and Iraq. He
recently became a second lieutenant in the
Transportation Corps and is going through
airborne training in Fort Bragg, N.C. David
adores his son James Edward, 4.
Loren Brooks ’90 is married and lives in
Farmersville. He is a commercial relationship
manager with Wells Fargo Bank and is pursuing a business administration degree at
Ashworth College.
Steven Buehler ’96 and wife
Cherissa celebrate six years of
marriage. Steven is a production
metrics specialist and senior
technical associate for AT&T Solutions
while Cherissa is a homemaker. They are
proud parents to Samuel, 2, and live in
Lakeland, Fla.
Kristin (Fagiano ’92)
Calderwood and husband Billy
are lead pastors and church
planters of Aqueous Church in
Santa Barbara. They will celebrate their
tenth wedding anniversary in March. The
Caldwerwood family includes Jeremiah, 7,
Emma, 5, and Isabella, 3.
Yosemite National Park in the town of
Coarsegold. They have purchased ten
acres and are building a new home. George
owns his own general contracting company
while Virginia is a homemaker to their
five children.
Ken ’99 and Carolyn (Waisenen ’00)
Dillinger live in Laguna Beach. Ken is an
associate pastor at Celebration Church in
Aliso Viejo. He is also the executive director
of South County Teen Center that will open
in June. Carolyn relocated her corporate law
practice to Costa Mesa.
Rebecca Fraticelli ’98 lives in Costa Mesa.
She is a teacher with the Santa Ana Unified
School District.
Ralph Gideon ’90 is a sales executive with
Indalex. He has three children: Josh, 19,
Cassie, 13, and Alex, 12. He lives in
Moreno Valley.
Andrea (Oleson ’94) Ide lives in Kirkland,
Wash., with husband Andy, who is a graduate student at Mars Hill Graduate School.
Andrea is the resident dean of student development at Northwest University.
Jennifer (Kurtz ’98) Hall and
husband Greg have two children, Caleb, 6, and Hannah
Faith, 1, and live in Washougal,
Wash. Greg is returning to school for a
degree in education while Jennifer homeschools their children.
Don Howard ’98 and wife
Carmen have two children
Kayla, 17, and Kevin, 13.
Carmen is an office manager
for Blue Ribbon design. Don will receive his
doctorate of medicine from Loma Linda
University School of Medicine this upcoming May.
Lori “Ollie” (Halliday ’92) Kale and husband Jim have two children, Karen, 6, and
Gunnar, 4. They live in Merced where Lori
is a high school teacher and coach.
Virginia “Gini” (Pierce ’90) and George
Cummings ’92 recently moved from their
home in Costa Mesa to the foothills of
Class Notes
Reaching Youth
and Baja
When Corrina (Morris ’00)
Castillo went to Mexico with
Hands Across the Border in
1997, she didn’t know that one
day she would direct the outreach and pioneer a similar ministry to high school and junior
high kids.
“It was an eye-opening trip for me,” she says. “I had a heart
for the people of Mexico and seeing them be reached.”
Castillo came to VU to study pre-med, but found herself
drawn to ministry so strongly that after two years of biology and chemistry, she switched her major to religion. She
went to Mexico with HATB every year from 1997 on, and
in 1999 directed HATB’s trip to Mexico.
Soon the team began getting requests from youth pastors
who wanted to take their youth groups on HATB trips, so
Castillo and crew started a separate outreach trip for high
school and junior high kids. She and other VU alums
poured their energies into the youth trips after they had
graduated, sacrificing vacation time to help lead the outreach each year.
“One of the things that surprises me is the longevity of our
leadership,” Castillo says. “We are passionate about it and
want to make it happen. If you believe in what you’re
doing, you’re willing to do a lot.”
The outreach, now called Reach Baja, offers church youth
groups a blend of camp experience and missions trips, with
days full of serving others through children’s ministry or
construction, and mornings and evenings bookending the
experience with worship and devotions. Every night at a
campfire service the kids share what happened that day.
It’s a chance “to do the ministry and to process what God’s
doing in their lives,” Castillo says.
“It’s rewarding to see the life-changing effects of the trip on
the lives of students,” she says. “Some go into ministry as a
result. Some are going to VU in part because of this trip.”
Castillo is also a college pastor at Faith Chapel in San
Diego, and is married with a daughter. For more information on Reach Baja, see www.vanguard.edu/reachbaja.
Melanie (Lotich)
and Thomas
McGraw ’98 will
celebrate their
eighth wedding
anniversary in January.
Melanie is working for
University of Phoenix as a
business development specialist
in San Bernardino. They have
two children, Jayden, 5, and
Mykayla, 2, and live in
Redlands.
Lori (Piskur) and
Christopher Macklin ’92
reside in Decatur, Ill. Lori is
the director of programs and
operations for the Howard G.
Buffett Foundation.
Lisa (Smith ’98)
and Raymond
Mitchell ’95 celebrated their ninth
wedding anniversary in
January. Ray is a probation
and parole officer with the
Department of Corrections,
and Lisa is a mother to Sydney,
6, and Casey, 5. The Mitchell
family lives in Nampa, Idaho.
Daphne (Cordova ’91) and
Sergio Montenegro ’90 live in
Gilroy with their sons
Christian Joel, 5, and Joshua
Leon, 3.
April (Waisenen ’98) Moore
and husband Ken live in
Riverside where Ken is an IT
consultant with Moore IT
Solutions. April teaches high
school English and is a project
specialist training teachers how
to integrate technology into
the classroom.
Maria (Mendoza ’90) Morris
and husband Garland recently
celebrated their 13th wedding
anniversary. Garland is a sales
estimator while Maria is a proud mother to
their two children in El Centro.
Marshal Musselman ’90 has traveled extensively around the world. For the past 8 years,
he has served as the principal at East Valley
Junior and Senior High School. He is looking
forward to receiving his MBA in April.
Wendy (LeValley ’99) Newman and husband
David Parker live in Bakersfield. David is a
field mechanic for Quinn Engine Systems.
Wendy is using her master’s degree in physical
therapy in her work with pediatrics and acute
care at California Children Services.
Marsha (Gulfan ’93) Owens and husband
Alvin Dean recently celebrated their third
wedding anniversary. Alvin is a youth pastor
at Grace Christian Assembly of God and a
counselor at Grace Christian Academy. After
earning her MA in teaching from Grand
Canyon University, Marsha is taking a break
from full-time teaching to take care of their
daughter, Mikaela Jael, 1, and works at the
church office as the coordinator and director
of Grace Bible Institute. The Owens family
lives on the island Saipan in the Northern
Mariana Islands, an American territory.
Manfred Pereda ’92 recently received his MA
in education from Grand Canyon University.
He lives in La Verne and teaches English with
the Pomona Unified School District.
Shirley (Jareb ’97) Ramirez and husband
Richard recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary. They have one daughter,
Alexandra, and live in Fullerton.
G. Robert Schaller ’95 earned an MS degree
in child development from Florida State
University in 1998. He is an independent
business owner of Thoughtful Solutions that
specializes in home environmental technologies for residential and commercial application. He is father to Adam, 16, and lives in
Fort Myers, Fla.
Andra Spires ’90 moved from Orange
County to San Diego to take over an established real estate appraisal business. In her
spare time, she is writing a symphony
composition.
Class Notes
Cecil Talkington ’92 works as a counterintelligence analyst in Doha, Qatar.
Rebecca (Metzger ’99) Taylor
and husband Cassady are proud
parents to Dylan Moana, 1.
Cassady is employed at CJ
Segerstrom & Sons while Rebecca works with
leasing and commercial real estate with
Weingarten Realty Investors. The Taylor family lives in Ladera Ranch.
Kari Ternus ’97 lives in Santa Ana and is
employed as an administrative assistant for
Land Concern.
Heather Joy Wells ’98 completed her M. Ed.
in college student affairs from Azusa Pacific
University in 2001. She lives in Riverside
where she is the director of campus activities
at California Baptist University.
Mike Whitford ’99 and wife Robin were
married in September 2002 and are expecting
their first child, a girl, in March 2006. Mike
and Robin are youth pastors at North East
Assembly of God in Fresno.
Kelly Channing ’04 works full-time for the
County of Orange as the communications
and policy advisor for Supervisor Thomas
Wilson. She is also actively working in the
hotel and catering industry as a server and
event captain on the weekends.
Sarah Forte ’03 is a full-time student in Biola
University's masters program in Teaching
English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Claire Friday ’04 works as a stage manager at
the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
on the campus of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. In pursuing her MFA in
stage management, Claire has assisted on the
world premier of The End of Cinematics and
Six Degrees of Separation, as well as the
operas L'Heure Espagnole and La Vida Breve.
In the spring, she will stage manage a
Stravinsky and Weill double bill: MahagonnySongspiel and Histoire du Soldat.
Angie Gadd ’03 lives in Santa Ana and teaches first grade at Edward B. Cole Senior
Academy.
Deanna (Routon) and Jed Willett ’94 just
purchased a new home in Orange. Jed is a senior account manager for distribution and
channel sales of computer hardware with
Kingston Technology in Fountain Valley.
Deanna is employed by the Walt Disney
Company in Anaheim. They have two children, Olivia Leigh, 3, and Barrett Charles, 1.
Jessica Garza ’05 is pursuing a master’s
degree in human resource management at the
University of Phoenix. She lives in La Quinta.
00s
Kasey Hamel ’02 is a probation counselor
and lives in Santa Ana.
Joel Agee ’04 lives in Sokolov, Czech
Republic, where he teaches English and serves
as a missionary. His web log documents his
continuing adventures and can be found at
www.czechdream.blogspot.com.
Ronni Hamilton ’04 lives in Buckeye, Ariz.
She is employed by Catholic Social Services
as an abstinence educator to surrounding
communities.
Noel Bean ’04 is a sixth grade teacher at
Liberty Christian School. She lives in
Huntington Beach with fellow alumni Kelly
Channing ’04 and Lisa Hyde ’04.
Annie (Barnes ’01) Boateng is a teacher
with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
She and husband Sarpong live in Los Angeles.
Kathleen Goglin ’01 is a drama
teacher at West Valley Christian
School, in West Hills. She has
completed training in Act One:
Writing for Hollywood in Chicago. Kathleen
lives in Cornville, Ariz.
Rebecca (Ower ’01) and
Jonathan Hartshorn ’96-’98 are
proud parents of Caleb Morgan,
4. They have their own business,
Hartshorn Woodcraft, where Jonathan is a
custom carpenter and Rebecca does the bookkeeping and finances.
Holly (Wells ’01) and Logan Heyer ’01 live
in Antioch. Logan teaches high school history
and is the athletic director at Cornerstone
Christian School. Holly stays home with their
daughters Payton, 3, and Madison, 1. Holly is
involved at their Hillside Covenant Church
MOPs group and helps Logan part-time with
athletic training at Cornerstone.
Roger “Craig” Johnson ’03 spent some time
at a small independent record company before
filling his current position as mail service specialist at Vanguard University. He lives in
Costa Mesa and is engaged to Erin Shelsta
’04, a shareholder account representative with
Capital Group. Their wedding is planned for
June 2006.
Colleen Kimball ’03 is a resident director at
Simpson College and lives in Redding.
Nicole (Avila) and Jason Lankow ’03 will celebrate their second wedding anniversary in
April. They live in Mission Viejo where Nicole
is a teacher and notary public. Jason is a mortgage advisor and loan officer for Jayco Capital
Group, a Christian real estate company.
Amy (Bennett ’03) and Brian Lay ’04 work
at Vanguard University. Amy is the assistant
registrar and is pursuing her MA in biblical
studies while Brian is the biology lab associate.
They make their home in Costa Mesa.
Laura Lee ’03 lives in Wasilla,
Alaska, where she is the office
manager and bookkeeper of the
general contracting company
Jenson and Sons Construction. She also finished a degree in national certified medical
assisting from Career Academy in 2004.
Sara Lewis ’02 and husband Bryan live in
Murrietta. Bryan is the chief information officer for Hewlett Packard while Sara takes care
of their son Nathan, 1.
Crystal (Fraticelli ’03) and Kelly Lowery ’99
are youth pastors at Brimhall Road Assembly
of God in Bakersfield. They will lead a missions trip to Romania this summer.
Alise McBrien ’04 will graduate this May
with a master’s degree in kinesiology with an
Class Notes
Baseball alums from VU’s 1985 College World
Series team celebrated their 20-year reunion with
a weekend of fun on Oct. 8, 2005. They played
an afternoon game against Vanguard’s current
team on the VU baseball field.
management companies in California. He
lives in Orange.
Charles Shinn ’05 and wife Renee will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary this
year. They have six children and live in
Midway City.
Shay Sorrells ’02 lives in
Newport Beach and works as a
family preservation consultant
with Girls and Boys Town.
Jim Sonnenburg ’05 lives in Lake Forest. He
is an administrative assistant and serves with
the college ministry at Saddleback Church.
emphasis in athletic training from San Jose
State. She lives in Sunnyvale.
Church. He also coaches several cross country
athletes in Orange County.
Jodi (Peters ’02) and Jason
Mockabee ’98 live in Tuolumne
where Jason manages a web
company and Jodi works as a
Realtor. They are expecting a baby boy this
spring. For Mockabee family info, visit
www.mockabee.com.
Patrick Pace ’03 was employed by Azusa
Pacific University as the field supervisor of
campus safety before transferring to West
Valley Christian Center in Chatsworth where
he is now an associate pastor. He and wife
Melanie live in Canoga Park and are pursuing
a church plant in Venice.
Danelle Moreno ’05 lives in
Plymouth, where she works as a
shelter specialist at Operation
Care, a battered women’s shelter.
Jim Peugh ’02 MTS is stationed
at Camp Pendleton as the chaplain for a Marine Combat
Logistics Battalion. He completed
an additional master’s degree through Fuller
Seminary, qualified as a Navy Fleet Marine
Force officer, and started a degree program
through the Marine Corps Command and
Staff College. He is preparing for his upcoming
re-deployment to Iraq where he will minister to
wounded and injured service members at the
medical facilities headquarters.
Micah Mount ’03 lives in Costa Mesa and
works in information technology with Spam
Soap, an enterprise level email security solution that provides virus protection, spam filtering and email security.
Lydia Murray ’05 lives in Lincoln where she
is an admissions counselor at William Jessup
University. Southern California is her main
area of recruitment.
Susan Nylander ’01 lives in Menlo Park and
works full time as a program director for
Menlo Park Presbyterian Church’s high
school ministry team. She recently returned
from a missions trip with the students to
Ethiopia. Susan also attends an extension
campus of Fuller Theological Seminary, pursuing her master of divinity degree.
Daniel Orduna ’05 works as the high school
ministries associate at Irvine Presbyterian
Amee Pina ’01 lives in Long Beach and
works at the Boeing Company.
Dawn Richardson ’02 received an MA in
religion and an MA in counseling from
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in
South Hamilton, Mass., in May 2005. She
lives in Salem, Mass., and teaches world religion at a college.
Matt Ryder ’05 is marketing coordinator for
The MERIT Companies, one of the largest
property and community association
Timi (Harris ’02) Trinity and husband Joel
live in Austin. She works with Megabyte
Express, Inc. as the accounting manager.
Candace Jade Wong ’02 is in her first year at
San Francisco State University’s master's in
social work program. She interns as a high
school special services counselor and works
part time for child protection services in San
Francisco in their emergency shelter unit.
In her spare time, she volunteers with her
family ministry Calvary Street/Isaiah 58
Ministries, ministering the gospel to homeless
and drug addicted populations on the streets
of San Francisco.
Future VU Alumni
Jose Alvarez ’03 and wife Marta
Elizabeth welcomed their son
Jacob Steven on June 16, 2005.
Jacob’s siblings include Matthew
Jonathan, 4, Andrew Nathaniel, 3, and
Katherine Gisell, 1. Jose and Marta have been
happily married for 5 years. Jose is an office
manager for Hamlin Dental Group and is
attaining his credentials with the Northern
Pacific Latin American District.
Felicia (Jenkins ’90) Birney and her husband
brought Toby Uriah home with them January
24, 2004, as his foster parents. As of
December 9, 2005 the adoption has been
finalized. They make their home in Rancho
Santa Margarita.
Janna (Rush ’97) and Gregg
Cochran ’98 are proud parents
of Carter Rush, born August 2,
2005. Gregg is a bank manager
for US Bank. The Cochrans live in
Salem, Ore.
Melissa (Freeman ’98) Galpin
and husband Jeffrey welcomed
Travis Kenneth in April 2005.
The Galpin family lives in
Smartville.
Elizabeth (Fisher ’03) Girard and husband
Werner welcomed their son Rand Arthur on
October 1, 2005. Elizabeth is the library circulation supervisor at Vanguard University.
Kahanah (Rapport ’01) and Matt Swift ’02
welcomed Cohen in June 2005. Matt is a
worship and young adult’s leader at a local
church and will complete his doctorate of
physical therapy this year. Kahanah is a parttime kindergarten teacher.
Rebekah (Aue ’01) Walker and husband
Chuck welcomed Abigail Elizabeth on July
21, 2005. After completing her teaching credential at CSU Hayward in 2003, Rebekah
taught third grade at Valley Christian
Elementary and first and second grade at Oak
Tree Christian. The Walker family lives in
Orland and is active on the worship team and
in Sunday school.
Kristine (Wright ’99) New and husband
Michael have a new baby boy, Cody
William, born February 16, 2005. They live
in Hesperia.
{Bequest}
our
“Southern California Bible School changed the
direction of our lives. We can't think of a better
institution to support. We want to help struggling
students, like we were. We only wish we had a few
million to give, but what we have, we give with a
heart filled with love and devotion to our Lord.”
Dorothy (Haberman) Boyd ’38
Dudley Boyd ’44
You can endow the future…
Just like Dudley and Dorothy Boyd. Invest in the world-changers of tomorrow by
leaving a legacy gift to Vanguard University today. Your bequest will help secure
and shape the future of the University and the lives of the students we serve.
To learn more about our Wills and Bequest Program and other giving
Send us your photos!
opportunities, contact the Office of Planned Giving at 714-556-3610 ext. 314.
We would love to showcase pictures of your
new baby, wedding or anniversary. Email your
photos (at least 1 megabyte in file size ) to
[email protected] or mail your prints (at
least 3” by 4”) to Alumni Relations, 55 Fair Dr.,
Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Prints will not be
returned.
55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, California 92626
p: 714.556.3610 w: vanguard.edu
Advancing Vision 2010
Opening Doors
for Students
H
al Keener ’44 has been dedicated to Vanguard’s mission
for six decades, even as his
work as a minister and entrepreneur took him around the world with a
U.S. president and a future Pope. Keener
recently set up the Harold and Ruby Keener
scholarship to help VU continue to train
young people for excellence.
“I want to give where it can do the most
good,” Keener says. “Vanguard is filling the
need for Christian businessmen, teachers and
ministers. That just thrills me.”
Keener arrived at SCBC at 16 from Illinois
to train for the military chaplaincy. Instead,
he went into pastoral work, following in the
footsteps of his father. He met and married
Ruby Ragsdale ’43, then pastored churches
in Illinois, Indiana, Wyoming and
California. In Cheyenne he followed
O. Cope Budge at First Assembly of God.
Later, when a property in Costa Mesa was
being considered for SCBC’s new location,
Keener, then a pastor in Bakersfield, helped
sway opinion at the district council meeting
toward buying the property. As a result, the
school relocated to Costa Mesa.
But Keener had entrepreneurial leanings,
too, and desired to support himself and others in missions work. He prayed the Lord
would let him run a business that entirely
supported his ministry and travel. He took a
job managing a Christian television station
in Visalia. Two years later, a business colleague offered him a Yamaha dealership.
“I knew nothing about motorcycles,” Keener
says. But he took the challenge, and the business grew quickly, thanks in part to Keener’s
savvy marketing. He also put a portion of
each day’s income into a missions fund.
“The Lord has always been my partner,” he
says. “I never did anything without looking
to him to guide me.”
Keener became involved in the Republican
Party, and President Nixon invited him and
Pat Boone to accompany him on the first
visit by a U.S. president to China. There,
Keener helped gauge the Chinese people’s
opinion of America. Keener returned many
times to China and took thousands of tracts,
Bibles and copies of Pat Boone’s testimony
translated into Mandarin.
He also traveled to Poland to lecture on the
Pentecostal experience at Krakow Catholic
Seminary. There he met future pope John
Paul II. And in travels to Africa Keener
preached to the army corps in Rhodesia,
now Zimbabwe, and played gospel songs on
the South African Broadcasting Company.
“My philosophy has always been, if you’re
willing to flow with God’s direction, you
never know what doors will open,” he says.
In 2005, Keener traveled to China with the
Vanguard Singers and Band.
“It was absolutely one of the greatest experiences of my life,” he says. “If you had told
me in 1975 that a religious group would
sing the gospel in China, I’d have said not in
my lifetime. I was amazed at how well the
Vanguard choir was accepted.”
This year Keener won Vanguard University’s
Career Achievement Award in recognition of
a lifetime of ministry and generosity. His
goal is for the Harold and Ruby Keener
scholarship to top $250,000, to cover tuition
for several students a year. He has also begun
financially supporting recent graduates who
serve in small churches.
“I have such confidence in President
Dempster and the alumni association,”
Keener says. “The greatest joy of my life is
giving. That’s one reason I’ve gotten closely
associated with Vanguard. I hope this scholarship thrusts forth people into the harvest
field and produces great workers in the ministry of the Lord.”
If you are interested in receiving information
about establishing an endowed scholarship,
please call the Office of Development at
714-556-3610 ext. 414.
Advancing Vision
2010
Windows
Editor’s note: Windows gives a view into student
and university life from the perspective of a
different staff or faculty member each issue.
Mike and Kristi De Vito
Just Married
Jennifer (Bolger ’01, ’04 MA)
Anderson married Aaron
Matthew on May 21, 2004.
Aaron is a CFO for Brandes
Associates, Inc., and Jennifer works with
western youth services. They live in
Newport Beach.
University Pastors
The Relating Generation
Erin (Bongiorno ’02) was married to Brian Donovan on
October 8, 2005. They live in
Baltimore where they recently
bought a house. Brian works for Motorola,
and Erin serves as the individual development account program director for AG
Charities, a faith-based organization located
in Washington, D.C.
his generation of college students
is all about relationships.
Kristi just returned from a
delightful “Christmas Dessert
Night” at a fancy hotel with six Vanguard
students. These young women and Kristi
met weekly this semester, sharing the ups
and downs of each week, praying and holding each other accountable for good choices
in their lives, and learning to invest their
time and love into others. The night at the
hotel was for them to have some fun, celebrate the love of Jesus and the love they
have for each other.
Rachel (Carver ’01, ’04 MA) married Chris
Steffen on July 30, 2005 in La Habra. Chris
and Rachel live in Modesto where Chris is a
fireman and Rachel teaches high school
physical education in Atwater.
Last week Mike sat in a baseball dugout;
the week before he cheered his friends on at
the basketball game. And just yesterday he
ate sushi with a young guy, just to share a
meal and listen to his story.
Freya (Mermis ’90) married Ron Remmer
on July 17, 2005 in San Clemente. Freya
teaches English and PE in Irvine, and Ron is
a numismatist. They live in Tustin.
If you invest your time to listen and value
students’ life stories, they’re more open to
trust you with the personal areas of their
lives. They’re also more open to counsel,
but only after you have demonstrated that
you care. As campus pastors at Vanguard,
we have discovered four ways to do this in a
relationship-oriented generation.
Jennifer (Bird ’02) and
Benjamin Schoening ’01 were
married May 8, 2004 in
Newport Beach. Benjamin is a
sales manager for Performance Resources.
The newlyweds live in Westminster where
they both serve as youth pastors at
Westminster Christian Assembly.
In Memory
MaryBelle (Sauter ’40) Cox passed away
November 7, 2005.
Bowyer B. Osgood ’36 passed away
December 11, 2005.
John York ’66 passed away
December 22, 2005.
T
Walk with them. Moses told us to teach
God’s ways to our children by “talking to
them when you sit in your house and when
you walk by the way and when you lie
down and when you rise up.”
(Deuteronomy 6:6,7) These verses reek of
lifestyle. Since this generation desires a
sense of community, we walk life together.
Being available, not in a hurry and putting
value in every facet of life are key ingredients to building relationships.
Play with them. Laughing and enjoying life
taps into students’ joys and passions. Eat
sushi with them, hike, drink coffee, surf,
shop, play PlayStation, do lunch — whatever they have fun doing, do it with them,
and you will discover their huge creativity
and passion.
Pray with them. This is spirit-to-spirit contact, with the Holy Spirit at work, touching
the deep and often painful areas of our lives.
As we pray with students, we encourage
spiritual disciplines like truthfulness, responsibility and servant-living. When there’s
relationship, this generation is more open to
the disciplines of a family, including the
admonishment and accountability we need
at times. In fact, they long for this kind of
community. If you want to relate to today’s
college students, share your life of prayer.
Dream with them. Old school and new
school are better together. The biblical
book of Acts says in the last days God will
pour out His Spirit, and the young will
have visions and the old will dream dreams
(Acts 2: 17). This generation needs those of
us in the old school to dream with them.
Our dreams provide wisdom to empower
their God-given visions. And those of us in
the old school need the freshness of new
school’s visions. Whether it’s in the classroom, ministry place, on the job or around
the dinner table, our dreams can encourage
their visions as they reach a group of people
you and I could never reach.
We pray God provides us — and you —
with the wisdom to walk in relationship
with this generation, letting the normal
everyday stuff of life become opportunities
to walk together, play together, pray together and dream together with this generation
of students.
Homecoming 2005
2005
Homecoming
Homecoming 2005 offered something for every alum. Young alums reconnected at a variety of events (above). Awards
were given to 2005’s outstanding alumni, including Doug Petersen ’76 (right) who received the Alumnus of the Year
award from alumni board member Anita (Dorsey) Hale ’84 (pictured with Doug and Myrna ’95 Petersen). Alumni
board member Katie O’Neal ’03 presented the Outstanding Young Professional Award to Tedla Mekonnen ’97
(below, right). And coach Bob Reid ’65 and the record-setting 1965-66 team were honored during halftime of the
men’s basketball game (bottom right).
Do you know
someone who
deserves an alumni award at
homecoming 2006?
If so, visit
www.vanguard.edu/alumni
or call 714-966-5494
for more information.
Athletically inclined alums
of all ages enjoyed the
alumni vs. faculty/staff
softball game (above),
whose friendly rivalry is
renewed each year. Many
other alums caught up
with each other on less
competitive terms (left).
(counter-clockwise from below left) Janine
(Librojo ’03) and Alex ’03 Jones
presented Hal Keener ’44 with the Career
Achievement Award, and alumni board
member Jeenie (West) Gordon ’74
presented Dave Peters II ’73 with the
Distinguished Service Award.
Alums socialized (right) at the
reception before the Friday night
Music Extravaganza, where Ralph
Carmichael ’47 conducted the
orchestra (below, middle) and drew
an appreciative crowd.
Hal Keener ’44 won the putting contest
at the Vanguard Invitational Golf
Tournament benefiting the University
Excellence Fund. Alumni and friends
viewed the artwork of alumni artists. Lady
Lion alums squared off against the current
Vanguard team in the annual blue/gold
game. And President Murray Dempster
’64, Doug Petersen ’76, Bob Birtwell,
and Jimmy Dent ’00 cheered on the
Lions Basketball teams.
Alumni Profile
Hip-Hop
Symphony
lynn Atkins ’96 came to VU to find a way to use his
artistic gifts for a greater purpose. Soon he had established himself as a leading Christian rapper and cofounder of Christian hip-hop group L.A. Symphony.
F
“I get to make music and travel with some of my best friends,”
Atkins says. “L.A. Symphony has gone through a lot but we’re still
maintaining. We’re believing 2006 will be a good year for us.”
As a high school student in Indiana, Atkins devoted himself to
skateboarding, painting, music and sculpture. He got a scholarship
to attend Ball State University in Indiana, but also received a
brochure from VU which caught his attention.
“It looked really cool. Every skater’s dream is to live in the L.A.
area,” he says.
That dream took shape when his scholarship to Ball State fell
through on a technicality. Atkins’ parents didn’t know if they
could afford to send him to school in California, but at a church
camp that summer a youth pastor from another city prayed for
him and told him, “God has called you for something. You need
to take that step.”
“I knew I had to take a risk and God would provide,” Atkins says.
“I needed to get out there.”
With the help of an unexpected raise his father received, Atkins
headed to Costa Mesa. It was his first time in an airplane, and the
first time he’d been farther west than Kansas City. At VU he made
friends quickly and was elected freshman class president.
“It was a very special time,” he says. “I got planted in that
environment.”
He studied English and communications, and began to meet people from L.A.’s hip-hop scene. Atkins had been writing raps for
years, but considered it just a hobby. But his new friends encouraged him to refine his craft.
Just as he was gaining confidence in his new artistic direction, his
mother was diagnosed with cancer. He dropped out of school to
be with his family while she underwent a bone marrow transplant.
“We were believing she would be healed,” he says. After a year she
encouraged him to go back to college, so he re-enrolled at VU. But
his mother passed away a few months later.
In light of the difficult experience, Atkins began to consider his life
and career more seriously. He ensconced himself in the communications lab, often recording all night long on VU’s ADAT
machine. He became more involved in L.A.’s hip-hop scene.
He also became a Delivery Boy, which gave him a chance to rap
for an appreciative Christian audience. He was able to encourage
kids who had lost parents to cancer.
“I was amazed how many kids at these camps were going through
the same thing,” he says. “God used me there.”
After graduating from VU, he landed a job at Avid Technologies,
where he ended up managing the editors training center. But his
desire was to make music, run a record label and travel and perform, as he had done with the D-Boys. He and a co-worker started
a record label, Eartube Empire, and in 1997 put out Atkins’ first
solo album.
Atkins also began to make friends in the Christian rap community.
They began to meet for Bible studies, BBQs and open mics to hear
each other’s work.
“After a few months we said we should do an album together,”
Atkins says. The group dubbed themselves L.A. Symphony, made
an album and watched as their vinyl singles started to chart. Soon
they signed a deal with Squint, a record label run by Christian
music veteran Steve Taylor who had just released Sixpence None
the Richer’s million-selling single “Kiss Me”.
“Everything was exciting,” Atkins says. “Steve embraced what we
did as artists and totally supported us. We rode that passion with
him. We were young and ready to change the world.”
Flynn Atkins, continued on page 22
Alumni Profile
Hip hop group L.A. Symphony’s
Flynn Atkins ’96
Alumni Profile
“I get to make music and
travel with some of my best
friends.”
Flynn Atkins, continued from page 20
But before they could release their first
album, the record label changed hands and
L.A. Symphony’s project languished.
“We felt like slaves,” Atkins says. “By the
grace of God we were able to book shows
and keep the lights on.”
Trapped in a contract and unable to even
release music on the Internet without raising
the label’s ire, the band decided to make a
final stand. They drove all the way to
Nashville and sat in the lobby of their
record label, refusing to leave until they were
released from the contract.
“We figured if we got arrested, that was better for us,” Atkins says. “We were already in
jail and nobody could see the bars but us.
We learned the hard way that nobody cares
about you.”
The move worked. The label released them
from their contract and L.A. Symphony,
after fielding offers from several labels,
signed with Gotee Records and recorded
several albums in a row, including their latest, Disappear Here.
In 2005 Atkins branched into video and television production by accepting a part-time
position with Relevant Media Group. He
now splits his time between L.A. Symphony
and Relevant. He also releases solo albums,
including his latest, In Like Flynn, which are
“a big source of fulfillment,” he says.
Through it all, he draws on formative experiences at VU.
“I attribute a lot of my staying a believer
and a Christian to the friends and fellowship
I had at Vanguard,” he says. “Keith Ewing
stands out. I really loved that guy. He
encouraged me so much as a fellow believer.
I took advantage of things like that which I
wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. I
wouldn’t trade those times for anything.”
Sue Berkompas, continued from page 6
Vanguard with a better understanding of
theatre and a greater understanding of my
role as a Christian in the world of theatre.
I’m thankful that Sue challenged me to be
an honest storyteller, pushing me to excellence in my craft for the glory of God.”
Today, all but one of Berkompas’ twentyfive long-term goals for VU’s program have
been met. She’s working on the twenty-fifth
— creating a professional repertory company based out of VU’s Lyceum theater. She
wants to build two theaters with offices,
shops and more.
“Once we get our facility,” she says, “we
could be absolutely ranked with some of the
top state programs.”
At home, Berkompas’ children have built a
theater in the family garage. One son is a
solo soprano, and was one of the Crystal
Cathedral’s three voice soloists for the
Christmas program. The other son is pursu-
ing sports, and their daughter is in theater.
Berkompas’ husband Jim is the principal
at Stonybrook Christian School in
Ladera Ranch.
Berkompas sees no end to her time at VU.
“This is such a wonderful place,” she says.
“My students have taught me so much. I
look at my life and the people who are most
important to me and I can’t ever imagine
leaving VU.”
A Vine of His Own Planting
Editor’s note: This column looks at major
episodes in Vanguard University’s history.
Lewis Wilson
Academic Dean Emeritus
An Early Pioneer in
Pentecostal Education
T
he year 1939 will be long
remembered as the year
Germany invaded Poland and
ignited World War II, but it also
proved a critical year in the history of
Vanguard University. As war clouds darkened over Europe, Southern California Bible
School in Pasadena quietly made history by
becoming the world’s first Pentecostal fouryear degree granting college.
The achievement must be credited to
Harold Needham, who, with his wife
Hulda, had founded the school in 1920.
They had met at A.B. Simpson’s Missionary
Training Institute in Nyack, New York, and
believed a similar school was needed on the
west coast. Needham had come from an old
and influential Glendora family, attended
the precursor of Pasadena’s California
Institute of Technology, and appreciated
quality. He wrote to a friend, “I believe the
Lord would have the school to be . . . a
place of high standards along every line.”
And he devoted his life, and his family’s
resources, to making SCBS the best. He
staffed the school with gifted teachers,
strengthened the curriculum by adding a
third year, secured the services of a talented
cook who left a wealthy family to oversee
food services, and, in 1927, moved the
school to a beautiful Pasadena campus.
SCBS-trained pastors, missionaries and
other Christian workers were soon serving
throughout the U.S. and much of the world,
but Needham quickly recognized the limitations of even a three-year Bible institute.
From the early ’30s onward he discussed adding a fourth year to better
prepare students for various fields of
service and to assure that graduates
would not be forced to transfer to
other schools to earn a degree. But
the Great Depression made institutional survival a challenge and
forced Needham to wait until 1939
when he was at last able to add the
fourth year and secure state authorization to operate as a degree-granting college. Southern California
Bible School had become Southern
California Bible College.
The new college attracted many students
and allowed SCBC to train military chaplains during and after the war, but Needham
was not satisfied. By 1942 he was studying
the requirements for regional accreditation
and consulting with local college presidents
about their implementation. But before he
could take the initial steps toward his new
goal, Needham suffered a heart attack which
forced him to at least temporarily relinquish
college leadership.
He was never able to resume his administrative role, but Needham continued to serve
on the college’s board of directors which
soon faced an enormous challenge.
Continued college growth could no longer
be accommodated on the less-than-five acre
Pasadena campus, requiring a move to a new
location. After an extensive search, a suitable
property in Costa Mesa was located, but the
school lacked funds for its purchase.
Harold Needham
M.E. Layne, who had supported the school
from its inception and whose wife and
brother had served terms on its board, had
created a charitable foundation. The Layne
Foundation’s decision to fund the full purchase price was clearly the product of the
long Needham-Layne friendship. If so, it
would be Needham’s final contribution to
the school to which he had devoted so much
of his life.
On March 19, 1952, two years after the college’s move to Costa Mesa, Harold
Needham died at 66. His role as founder
and first president have always been recognized, and since 1995 Needham Chapel,
with chimes which sound the hour over the
campus, has honored his memory. But his
commitment to excellence, his high academic aspirations, and his role in securing the
Costa Mesa campus are also important, if
little-known, parts of the Needham legacy to
Vanguard University.
On Campus
Students assist
New Orleans
Moved by the plight of New Orleaners after
Hurricane Katrina, VU students traveled to
the Gulf Coast city in December to lend
their energies to the relief effort.
Chelsea Belardo ’04, alumni relations coordinator, led the team of students which
stayed and worked with the School of
Urban Missions (SUM), a discipleship training school in New Orleans. SUM’s dorms
were transformed into relief effort housing.
VU’s team flew into New Orleans
December 10 and immediately joined
SUM’s full schedule of relief work. Every
morning the day’s tasks were assigned. VU’s
crew of six students and two volunteers
tarped damaged roofs on local houses. A
chainsaw group cut down trees which were
obstructing people’s homes, and a carpentry
group worked with Samaritan’s Purse to rebuild infrastructure. The city had just
opened parts of the 9th Ward, the area
where the levee had broken.
The most grueling job was “mudding out”
flooded homes. At homeowners’ request,
SUM sent crews to gut homes of furniture,
carpet, clothes and more so the structure
could be re-built. As students worked
amidst the mud and mold, they could see
the water line above their heads. They wore
masks, elbow-length gloves and knee-high
boots. At the end of the day their clothes
were so soiled that they threw them away.
“Mudding out was the most heartbreaking
job,” says Belardo. “Watching people go
through piles of their possessions on the
street, deciding what to salvage. That was
difficult.”
The team also helped with a church-sponsored Christmas party for kids, and spent
two days picking Mandarin oranges at a citrus farm which was going to lose the crop
due to lack of labor. The farm donated the
fruit and the VU students gave it out
around town.
“We had wonderful favor with the city
council and police force in Gretna,” says
Belardo. Gretna sits on the west bank of
New Orleans. “We were invited to a council
meeting where the mayor thanked us.”
The trip was “challenging and fulfilling,”
and more trips are planned for spring and
summer. The trip was made possible by the
planning of Jamie Brownlee, director of
VU’s outreach ministries, and Jennie Bryant
’04, VU’s local outreach coordinator. For
more photos from this trip visit www.vanguard.edu/outreachministries
Homecoming events
showcase talent, pride
VU’s annual Big, Big Show offered a slate of
talent, humor and novelty acts during
Homecoming week.
Eight acts took the stage at Newport Mesa
Church, including a ballet dancer, a hip hop
dancer, several musical acts performing
original songs, and two women who lip
synched to opera music while fighting with
light sabers.
with the evening’s theme.
“He made the night,” says Cooper. “People
had a great time laughing at him.”
Later in the week, the Pit Pride rally
stormed into its second year, showcasing
VU’s athletic teams in a high-energy, audience participation rally.
“It’s a big deal for the campus,” says
Cooper. “It’s the one time where athletics is
center-stage and we celebrate them.”
VU’s sports teams performed for an appreciative audience. One student got to try two
half court shots at the basket, hoping to
earn $1,000 in tuition, sponsored by the
alumni relations department. He missed,
but an alum in attendance gave him $100
for his effort.
The rally has become one of the most popular and unifying Homecoming events at
VU, says Cooper.
“That was interesting and hilarious,” says
Amanda Cooper, director of leadership
development. “This was one of the best Big,
Big Shows VU has had. It was fun to have
people do their original work.”
Families enliven
campus on special
weekend
Host Mikey Mulligan played the part of
Indiana Jones throughout the show, keeping
Several hundred people converged on the
VU campus for Family Weekend, a three-
On Campus
Students Sabrina Perlman and Bang
Lo take a break from mudding out a
home in New Orleans.
day open house-style event where families of
students became familiar with campus life
at VU.
“Family Weekend is a fun way to honor
families of our students and give them an
opportunity to interact together on our campus,” says Linda Hartzell, dean of students.
The weekend, which ran October 28-30,
offered family members a chance to attend a
class with their VU student, learn about the
Parents Association and attend a reception
with Residence Life staff. Families also
enjoyed a family luncheon at Newport
Mesa Church.
The centerpiece of the weekend for many
was the Parent of the Year essay contest.
This year forty-three students turned in
essays explaining why their parent should
receive the honor. First place went to
Marilyn Jones, who wrote about her father,
Thomas Howland Jones. Marilyn received a
scholarship for $500, and Thomas was
named VU Parent of the Year. In second
place was Ciprian Boitor, and in third place,
Barbara George. Attendees also heard from
President Dempster, who welcomed them
and shared his vision for VU.
“The weekend is significant because parents
and family members are part of the
Vanguard family,” says Hartzell.
Missions Week
ramps up
prayed for. By the end of the day, every
country on the map bore a fingerprint.
VU’s missionary alums got their own Walk
of Fame during the annual Missions Week.
This year, the event expanded well beyond
its previous slate of activities.
Students also enjoyed ethnic food and a
Q-and-A with missionaries at the Global
Encounter, and a bilingual chapel service
with missionary and alum Ron Bueno ’90,
founder of ENLACE.
“This year’s Missions Week was amazing,”
says Kimberley Ann Sandoval, one of the
student organizers. “It inspired many students to go beyond their borders and out of
their comfort zones and get involved by
signing up for a missions trip.”
‘Joni’ to speak at VU
Commencement
For the Walk of Fame, organizers chose a
variety of missionary alums and posted their
profiles and photographs on stakes in the
grass leading from the Scott building to
Needham Chapel.
“We wanted to emphasize our alumni who
serve on the field, and emphasize global
missions as a whole,” says Jamie Brownlee,
director of outreach ministries.
The week’s other major event was Praying
for Missions, held in a specially decorated
Great Commission Hall. In a prayerful environment, students moved through seven stations, which spanned the globe, and read
facts and prayer needs about each area.
Students were asked to use an inkpad to put
their fingerprint on the country they had
Joni Eareckson-Tada
will be the
Commencement
speaker for VU’s
Class of 2006. She is
the founder of the
Joni and Friends ministry, which has encouraged and helped millions of people, particularly people affected
by disabilities. Eareckson-Tada became a
quadriplegic in a diving accident in 1967.
Her book, Joni, was published in 1976, and
a movie about her life was released in 1979
by the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association. For twenty-four years she has
hosted a radio program that is now carried
on 500 stations worldwide.
Commencement will be held Saturday, May
6, at 5 p.m. at the Pacific Amphitheatre. For
updates on graduation details, please visit
www.vanguard.edu/commencement.
Students plunge into
west Costa Mesa
As part of a cultural immersion project
called Westside Plunge, 18 VU students
On Campus, continued on page 28
(l-r) Chelsea Belardo ’04, Kristi (Bakko ’77) Devito, student
Ashley Kamaraad and Jennie Bryant ’04 at a commissioning
service for VU’s student missions teams in December.
Students went to Vanuatu, an island nation in the South
Pacific, with a team led by Ryan ’96 and Stacie
(Hembree ’97) Helbling, and to New Orleans.
Sports
Sports
Running to Win
H
umberto Rojas, 21, transferred
to VU from Orange Coast
College this fall and has
already become the most successful men’s runner in VU’s history. In
October, the two-time junior college crosscountry state champion won the GSAC
championship — a first for any male
VU runner.
“It’s history in the making,” says VU crosscountry coach Bryan Wilkins. “Humberto
trains really hard. He’s been a blessing to
have on our team this year. Everybody really
likes him. He’s a great team person.”
Rojas had wanted to run for larger state
schools in California and Utah, but the
scholarships always fell through. Finally, he
says, “God was calling me to Vanguard.
They didn’t pressure me. That made me
open to it. Other coaches pressured me.”
After enrolling at VU and joining the team,
Rojas became the school’s first men’s AllAmerican in cross-country, finishing 26th at
nationals. VU’s highest finish previously on
the men’s side was 50th. He was also All
Region and finished 11th at NAIA Region 2
championship in Fresno.
Rojas discovered his running talent in grade
school and in junior high began running
competitively.
“Running is the thing I’m good at,” he says.
“I can win.”
As a high school student he placed fifth in a
state meet and broke his school’s record several times, eventually pushing his time in
the mile down to 4:08.
This year Rojas changed his strategy in the
mile race so he could achieve a goal he had
set for himself — to break VU’s school
record in the 5 mile.
“It’s a mental race,” he says. “If you go out
too fast you’ll die. But go out too slow and
you fall behind. You can’t make a mistake
or it will cost you.”
To break the record, Rojas began pushing
himself to run the 5 mile faster from the
start. Normally, his strategy is to start slow
and catch up to win. But soon he was
able to maintain a faster pace from
the beginning. At a meet in Oregon
he broke the school record.
He hopes to run professionally, make the
Olympic team, and then be a cross-country
coach “to show people what you can do
with running.” Next year his goal is to make
the top five in the nationals.
“Sports show me a good way,” he says. “I
want to show people that they can do it if
they work hard. You can do what God created you to do.”
Humberto Rojas is the best male
runner in VU’s history
“That was a proud moment,” he says.
Rojas, who grew up in Costa Mesa,
says he is glad to be at VU.
“The people and the school are great,”
he says. “I’ve never been in an environment where people talk to you
when they don’t know you. The first
day people introduced themselves. I’d
never had that before.”
Even during the summer he never
takes a break from his practice routine
of running seventy-two miles per
week. “If I take a break I get lazy,”
he says.
Calendar
Athletics
Track & Field
Baseball
Softball
Men’s Tennis
Women’s Tennis
Season begins February 2
For a complete listing of schedules please visit
www.vanguard.edu/athletics
Theatre
The Boys Next Door
The Secret Garden
February 24–March 5
March 31–April 15
Join fellow alumni at a reception following
the March 31 opening night performance.
For box office information and show synopses please visit
www.vanguard.edu/theatrearts
Music
Vanguard Singers & Band
February 5: Mission Hills Community Church (Rancho Santa
Margarita, CA)
March 5: First Southern Baptist Church (Hemet, CA)
Concert Choir
February 12: Christian Life Center (Long Beach)
February 24: Concert with Orange County High School of the
Arts (Newport Beach, CA)
March 5: West Los Angeles Faith Tabernacle ( Los Angeles, CA)
Women’s Chorus
March 8: Riverside Christian High School (Riverside, CA)
March 10-16: Spring Tour (Arizona/New Mexico)
March 26: Bethany Baptist Church (Montclair, CA)
Concert Orchestra
February 26: Concert with the Air National Guard Concert Band
(Newport Beach, CA)
March 15-20: Spring Tour (Northern California)
Jazz Band
March 15-20: Spring Tour (Northern California)
Pre-Carnegie Hall Concert
April 23: With special guests the Orange County High School of
the Arts symphony orchestra (Newport Beach)
For concert information, please contact the Music Events Office
at 714.662.5272 or [email protected] or visit www.vanguard.edu/music.
University Events
February 6-17: Bible Drive
To donate Bibles contact Andrew Richey, coordinator of global
outreach, at [email protected].
April 3: Spring Pre-VU
For more information visit
www.vanguard.edu/admissions/prevu.
May 5, 6: Baccalaureate, Commencement
For more information visit www.vanguard.edu/commencement.
On Campus, continued from page 25
spent 24 hours in the households of
immigrant families in west Costa Mesa.
taught me to look at people through the
eyes of God,” he says.
“We wanted students to see southern
California life from the point of view of
an immigrant family, and see what these
families are doing to change their communities for the better,” says Jamie
Huff, assistant professor of anthropology, whose class participated.
Huff calls it the most successful service
learning project he has done in four
years at VU, and says a new group of
students will do it again in April.
Students met at a church parking lot last
fall, were given addresses and told to
find their host families. For the next day
students, in pairs, ate, shopped and
attended church and celebrations with
their hosts.
“Students were deeply affected by their
experiences,” says Huff. “They talked
about how their views were radically
changed for the better. They didn’t see
these people as immigrants anymore,
but as neighbors and people.”
The Westside Plunge was created by
MIKA Community Development
Organization. Some students involved
with the Plunge are now volunteering
with MIKA.
Three from VU
community make
‘power’ list
Andy Christensen, 19, says staying in a
one-bedroom apartment with a newlyimmigrated family of four was a
“paradigm shift” for him.
VU president Murray Dempster was
named the 68th most influential person
in Newport-Mesa on the Daily Pilot
newspaper's annual DP 103, an informal survey of prominent local people.
The Daily Pilot list identifies people who
“contribute in big ways" and have
“influence that expands beyond their
own sphere."
“I went in with preconceived expectations of what it would be like. I thought
I might help them somehow,” he says.
But instead, he was deeply moved by
their story and their hospitality. “I saw
how they rely on God every day for
their needs. It took away a filter I’ve
been seeing through. This experience
Making the list for the first time was
David Elliott (#101), associate vice president for university relations and chairman of the board for the Costa Mesa
Chamber of Commerce. Also on the list
was Vanguard Foundation Board member Jeff Teller (#48), president of
Orange County Marketplace.
Postcards
Advancing Vision
2010
Editor’s note: vanguard magazine’s column, Postcards,
features an essay by a different alum in each issue.
Belonging
R
arely in my life have I known in an instant what God’s
will is. But my decision to attend Vanguard was one of
those times.
I was a senior in high school the afternoon my mom came home
from church having heard the Vanguard choir. She began to tell
me about Vanguard and I knew in that moment that I belonged
there. I applied, was accepted and moved into the dorms.
From the moment I stepped onto campus, Vanguard gave me a
sense of belonging. I took to heart the call to get involved, and
soon built relationships that remain true today.
I had the privilege my junior year of serving as a Resident Assistant
(RA) in what is now called Laguna. I created a theme, made
posters, visited rooms, prayed over residents, did dance routines at
midnight, and tried to keep up with the energy of the students on
my floor. But my most treasured moments are of walking at 6
a.m. with my residence director, Bethany (Stockbridge ’92)
Barnes, who taught me how to meet people where they were at
and humbly find out how to serve them. Bethany also taught me
how to be free and laugh in every situation. She would always
challenge me to make, “the ordinary extraordinary.” She seasoned
me with her wisdom from Proverbs and gave me confidence to let
loose and have fun. After leaving her leadership I tried to carry her
enthusiasm for life into my own.
I also had the honor of being a part of Vanguard’s ASB. Memories
of Friday morning meetings, class activities, and karaoke fun with
Jim Peugh ’01 and John Evangelista ’03 will stay with me forever. Student government taught me how to serve the needs of students. I soon saw that the VU community is all about sharing in
the lives of people around you. It’s why students come back early
to school to welcome new freshman. It’s why they act crazy to
make people feel at home, and it’s certainly why they stay up late
and pray for God’s grace on our campus. Getting involved spurred
me to make my experience just as inviting for new students as it
was for me. It made Vanguard what it truly is: home.
I graduated from VU and became a teacher, so my life is still full
of people. I greet twenty second graders every morning, and am in
frequent contact with their parents. Drawing from the lessons I
learned in ASB, I create a community in my classroom, making
my students feel connected and at home. I still follow Vanguard’s
advice to get involved. I try with God’s grace to meet people
where they are at, to laugh in every situation, and to live with
enthusiasm.
Amber Young ’02
Thank you to all of our sponsors who made
Christmas Fantasia 2005 a great success!
THE REDIGER FAMILY
FOUNDATION
31
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Radical Mercy - Vanguard University

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