From a revitalized downtown, a building boom and a thriving manufacturing sector to cutting-edge health care, increased diversity and an evolving education system, the city of Goshen is undergoing rapid change.

Housing developments are sprouting in former cornfields, downtown buildings are being renovated and more diverse residents are filling classrooms and production jobs. Goshen’s transformation is partially a story of numbers:

• The city’s population – idling at 19,665 in 1980 – now tops 32,000 and is growing at a time when most cities in Indiana and across the Midwest are losing residents and struggling to keep their college graduates.
• About half of Elkhart County’s workforce is involved in manufacturing – the highest such concentration in the United States – including half of the nation’s RV production. The steady job increase has fueled population growth and kept the unemployment rate one of the lowest in the state.
• Latinos make up 12.6 percent of the county’s population – the biggest such percentage of any Indiana county – and about 20 percent of Goshen residents. But that’s only part of the city’s diversity. Between 1980 and 2000, the percentages of African-Americans tripled and Asian-Americans quintupled.
  

The Maple City has long been known for its tree-lined streets, affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, the Mill Race and dam pond, a historic downtown, the county courthouse and such venerable community institutions as the South Side Soda Shop (recently features on the Food Network), the Chief ice cream stand and the Olympia Candy Kitchen. They’re still here, along with such thriving institutions as Greencroft, now the largest private sector senior care facility in Indiana. Also on the upswing is Goshen General Hospital, which has become a state-of the art medical facility. It has 1,300 employees, highly rated nursing care and a regional cancer care center.

Along with the city’s demographic changes have come amenities once unimaginable: a thriving farmer’s market; coffee shops; the Maple City Greenway trails; new restaurants and big-box stores; concert venues; and a growing artisan community that includes the Old Bag Factory and New World Arts theater company.

Many people are helping make Goshen a better place, but a case can be made that Goshen College alumni have played a significant role. About one-fourth of  alumni have stayed in Elkhart County, and many of them have chosen to live, work, raise families, worship and eventually retire in Goshen.

Among those are six distinguished alumni featured in this issue of the Bulletin – Julia Gautsche ’75, Bruce Stahly ’67, Doug J. Schwartzendruber ’78, Joe Guerrero ’86, Rachel Shenk ’80 and Eric Kanagy ’03. They are being profiled because they offer a glimpse into what keeps alumni in Goshen and the contributions they are making as leaders in their fields – government, education, health care, social work and business. All epitomize the college’s “Culture for Service” motto and are cutting-edge thinkers with a stake in the future of the city.

Many other GC grads – exceptional in their areas – could have been chosen because of their many contributions. “You could go on from those six people and name a whole lot of Goshen College people who are making Goshen a better place,” said Mayor Allan Kauffman ’71, who grew up in the city. “Even I would be shocked to see that list.”

David B. Daugherty, president of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce, said GC grads “bring diversity to the community and an acceptance of diversity” that is welcome and needed. “And when I think about all the cultural things that Goshen College brings, I think it has been probably one of the things that has allowed the community to grow and be vibrant and be attractive to young, creative people,” he said. “That’s an asset not a lot of communities have.”

Giving back to Elkhart County Elkhart County has provided Goshen College with students, jobs, homes, churches and more. In turn, the college provides many benefits to the county every year, including: $36,138,878 in direct, indirect and induced economic impacts 110 music concerts by faculty, students and visiting artists 24 theater performances 19 art exhibits 35 lecture forums 87 athletic events 3,653 active alumni in such professions as business, nursing, education and the ministry Source: Goshen College Economic, Educational and Cultural Impact report, 2007-2008 academic year

Gerry Hertzler ’81, editor of the Goshen News, said alumni are helping define the city. “It would be hard to think of Goshen without the college because it has become a big part of the city and its reputation,” he said.

The city still faces challenges though: an education system that must teach children who are poor and have limited-English skills, intense debate over illegal immigration, prejudice against minorities, the need to clean up and redevelop industrial areas, worsening traffic congestion and the need to diversify the economy beyond manufacturing.

But the college intends to work alongside city leaders to solve these and other issues and to pursue the emerging goal of making Goshen a global marketplace of goods, services, ideas and people, according to President Jim Brenneman.

“The motto of Goshen’s Chamber of Commerce declares beautifully our intent as a college for this city: ‘Together, Growing Goshen,’” Brenneman said during a February speech to the chamber.  “If we are able to navigate together the increasingly global and intercultural character of our city, we might just propel Goshen into the 21st century while more and more small towns across America dwindle away to nothing.”

The following alumni have pursued their professional passions in the city of Goshen, and become leaders in their respective areas. They represent six aspects of the city’s life and vitality, but particularly six areas that are shaping Goshen’s present and future. Jodi H. Beyeler interviewed each with similar questions; what follows is a Q&A with them, edited for length and clarity.