Archives for Alumni Category
Read the latest stories about Goshen College alumni around the world.
Do you know of an alumnus in the news? Let us know!
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Goshen College grad involved with opera airing on PBS – The Elkhart Truth
Andrew Landis has been traveling since he graduated from Goshen College in 2009 to work with opera companies across the country, and for the first time, he will see one of the productions he worked with air nationally on television.
Goshen alumni spread peace with peanut butter
A St. Louis-based organization called Project Peanut Butter (PPB), which produces fortified peanut butter for malnourished children in Africa, needed two people with construction experience and the flexibility to spend a year abroad. Mark Histand '08 and Alex Caskey '10 had both.
Lisa Koop ’99 – MVS takes participant from limericks to law – Mennonite Mission Network
Koop currently works for the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago. In her role as associate director of legal services, she helps individuals navigate the legal system, and advocates for systemic changes to the federal legal system.
Letters from Lois
Though it was well known in her family, community and college that Lois Mary Gunden Clemens ’36 (Goshen College French professor 1939-41, 1944-58) had served in southern France during World War II with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), helped many children and had been a prisoner of war for a year, the extent to which she risked her own safety and played a critical role in helping to save Jewish children’s lives during the Holocaust recently came to light with the research of her niece Mary Jean Gunden ’77.
Experiencing “Jesus and his nurses”
When Isaac Steiner, 7, died on March 6, 2013, after a 21-month struggle with brain cancer, his parents, Rob and Sarah Steiner ’98, were devastated. Though the experience of Isaac’s illness was agonizing, the Steiners found that having meaningful nursing care made a difference. As a tribute to their son and his nurses, they recently established a scholarship for Goshen College nursing students in the hope that recipients will provide the same kind of compassionate care that Isaac received.
Merritt Lehman ’64: Rowing to gold on the world stage
Merritt Lehman ’64 won the gold medal at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston in February. In the process, he set a new American record in the 2,000 meters for the 70-79 lightweight age group.
Laura Charles ’00 takes a Tony with Cinderella costume
Few people can say that they created a Tony award-winning costume, but Laura Charles '00 can. Charles, who honed her costume design skills as a Goshen College theater major, lives in New York City and works for a shop called Tricorne that produces costumes for Broadway shows.
Hannah Sommers ’96 innovates for NPR
It all started when Hannah Sommers '96, of Washington, D.C., landed an internship at National Public Radio (NPR) in 2001. A few years later, Sommers was hired by the organization as an audio archivist. Today, as program manager, she leads a team that develops digital toolsets and workflows.
Amya Miller ’98 advocates for Japanese tsunami victims
Just weeks after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated 300 miles of Japan’s coastline on March 11, 2011, Amya Miller '98 returned to the country, where she was born and spent her childhood, in order to volunteer as an interpreter for a relief organization. More than two years later, Miller is still working to ensure that the needs of disaster victims are not forgotten.