Hello SLFP alumni and friends!We hope you enjoy reading updates from the Program and your fellow alumni as much as we enjoy get-ting all the updates from you. Collectively, all the wonderful things you are doing combined with several testimonials connecting your involvements to things you learned as SLFP participants, there is no ques-tion that this Program is fulfilling its mission. `2018 Program stats: 1,084 SLFP graduates 771 different community members have served as mentors 121,408+ hours of community service in positions of leadership 484 different community service internship sites

The UN 250 leadership class projects last year were “Sustainability Sunday,” an environmental education event for children in our neighboring town of Ishpeming and “Dining for Dreams,” a spaghetti dinner and silent auction fundraiser for Bay Cliff Health Camp. Both events offered tremendous educational opportunities for the SLFP students and provided great service to our community. The SLFP Alumni Committee held its first annual social event where Program alumni and current members enjoyed ice cream while sharing stories, networking, and learning from one another. As a final highlight, last year, two SLFP students, Georgia Harrison and Olivia Walcott, partnered with the NMU Sustainability Advisory Council to develop a sustainability (economic, social, & environmental) focused peer-to-peer educators program for their Community Service Internship. They launched a workshop series, hosted sustainability week, assisted with a zero-waste hockey game, and led dozens of interested students in five program development-related committees. They coordinated a selection and recruitment effort that resulted in 30 EcoReps being selected for the inaugural fall 2018 cohort of EcoReps and they presented all of their accomplishments to the NMU Board of Trustees. In an unprecedented move, the Board unanimously voted to fund the Program with $40,000 for the 2018-19 year.

Thank you all for staying connected with this amazing community leadership initiative!

Jon Barch Hannah Lewis Ann Parent

Special thanks to all the 2017 - 2018 financial contributorsAamodt, DianeAllen, RonaldAnderson, JamesAnderson, KevinAndersons, RichardBailey, Jr., Brendon and Dr. JudithBarch, Dr. JonBarrett, DamienBelanger, SusanBennett, TimothyBlood, DanielBohl, Michael and Dr. GingerBolduc, EricBonsall, DavidBowles, AllisonBoyle, KevinBrandimore, Merry JoBrandly, GailBrende, KellyBrown, CourtneyBuick, DavidButorac, LindseyCathey, JenniferChenhalls, AliciaCialek, CharlotteColombo, HeatherDeCaire, Nancy

Dever, RheaDiebolt, AlysaDiedrick-Cyran, JulieDubow, KarenDupler, MarinaEckard, Dr. AlexisErnst, HeidiFields, BrigetFoster, RebeccaFrank, Dr. GinaFranklin, BrendanGereau, TimothyGoetz, GregoryGooch, BarbaraGosian, LynnetteHarger, BrettHarris, RachelHawkins, AmandaHefke, Dr. Norman and SueHuhta, GretaIngold, AngelaIshpeming KiwanisJamsen, JaneJanisz, MichelleJedd, ShannonKamps, JaneKanka, Jerry

Kellermann, MaryKeplinger, Dr. JamesKerlin, MaryKotz, PaulKroger, KristenLarson, ChristineLeonhardt, VictoriaLewis, HannahLugaro, JulieMallo, SavannahMarois, ElizabethMcClelland, James and AmyMcGreevy, YolandaMyers, RobertNiemi, Edward and SarahO’Brien, MargaretPaavola, CindyPlace, Nick and SarahReese, Dr. KarenRogers, BrianneSaari, KarenSabin, ElizabethSargent, MarySchmit, LaurieSchmitt, JillSchneider, JacquelineSchreuder, Ellen

Seavoy, TamiSelling, JoeyLynnShawhan, LauraleeSprague, ShannonStencil, DanielSterr, GaryStoll, RobertStump, RonaldSurrell, Jr., Matthew and JaneTaylor, StephanieTodzy, MichelleTrefilek, Matthew and AbbyTucker, ElizabethVerrette, WilliamWalk, BonnieWeber, NicoleWells Fargo Foundation Educational Matching Gift ProgramWilliams, ConnieZonta Club of the Marquette AreaZubiena, John

Hefke’s Donate to the SLFP

Thank you to Dr. Norm & Sue Hefke for their generous gift to the David L. Bonsall Endowment for the Student Leader Fellow-ship Program. Dr. Hefke was a former Vice President for Student Life at NMU and Sue was a former teacher and Director of Volunteers at Marquette General Hospital. The Hefke’s recently visited the UN 250: Leadership Theory and Practice Course to share thoughts on leadership and life. Their presentation was engaging and insightful. These students, as well as SLFP’s mem-bers, staff and alumni, are extremely grateful to have the Hefke’s continued support and generosity.

Red BlockMarleen (Domke) Brown has just five short years until she retires from teaching with the Onaway Area Community School District as a Special Educator and Middle School Language Arts instructor and wonders where the time has gone! She is very active with her community’s United Methodist Church and is the advisor for their high school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. Dalton, Briget and Skylar Fields stopped by the CSE recently to say hi.

Dan Jaroche stopped by the CSE to say hi. He and his wife have four children.

Annette Johnson is married to Maximo Vargas and they have two handsome boys, Joshua-9 and Jacob-6. Annette has been a stay-at-home mom the last few years, but is gearing up to head back into the workforce! Annette is pictured with her niece, Madison (left).

James McClelland and his wife, Amy (Purple Block) have 3 children: Elizabeth-16, Jake-14 and Katie–3. James is a Field Director for the Boy Scouts, managing a team of five executives to reach their goals. He is also a Rotary Club officer.DeAnna Doyle-Strand and her husband, Fred, have been Mr. and Mrs. for 23 years! Their daughter, Kennedy, is 22 and pursuing a career in event planning (which must be in the genes!), daughter, Nikkole is 19 and considering art therapy for her education path. Their son, Trey is 16 and is a high school junior. Although the “kids” are all busy, they still manage to have family trips or get-togethers quite often which makes her heart happy! After 14 years as the HR/Training Manager at Venchurs, DeAnna started as the Learning and Development Specialist at Gift of Life Mich-igan (GOLM) in early June. She will be doing cool things like working with new hires in orientation, developing and leading soft skills training for management, assisting with the launch of a new quality program, and all of the other FUN training things that she loves to do. GOLM facilitates organ and tissue recovery and is an amazing organization

that honors life through donation. DeAnna feels incredibly blessed to be a part of it in a position that she is extremely excited about!

Blue BlockNicole Fende’s daughter, Sarah-9, is in the fifth grade. Nicole continues to run her own consulting business under the moniker, “The Numbers Whisperer®.” She wrote and performed a one-woman play for the 2017 Fringe Festival in Minnesota titled, “Oxygen is Overrated: A Sci-Fi Parable.” Based on her second book, “The Prosperity Dimension: A Small Biz Sci-Fi Adventure,” it taught business lessons through the adventures of a bounty hunter named Brenna Rain. Leveraging gamification and playful process, Nicole is making boring, intimidating topics approachable and easy to understand. She is currently developing a board game based on this as well, and has recently launched a podcast titled, “The Sci-Fi Biz Show.” This fall, she is co-hosting a two-day training intensive for small business owners titled, “Crack The Code: Legal Speak & Numbers Geek.” Nicole supports the Kiva.org through her business as well as personally funding micro-loans. She is raising awareness around the issue of sex trafficking in Minnesota, who it effects, and that it’s much more likely to happen through grooming than a “Taken” scenario.

Green BlockKrista (Jenson) Malley lives in Leonard, Michigan, enjoys the country on some acreage and time with her hubby, Dwayne and daughter, Emma, who recently started Spanish immersion first grade. She and Dwayne celebrated their 10 year anniversary this past March and their daughter Emma will be 7 and they can’t believe how grown up she is. This past year, Krista was honored to be in Oakland University’s second Leadership Academy and had an amaz-ing experience with colleagues from across campus. She was also named the 2018 Outstanding Administrative Pro-fessional of the Year at Oakland University. As the Director for Student Success at Oakland University, she gets to come alongside students who have not done as well academically and see the potential with them to complete their degree and graduate. Krista says she works with an awesome team of success advocates, who are pictured here. She is a board member for her daughter’s school (Oakland Chris-tian School) and is really enjoying it! Her family also enjoys doing 5ks for good causes.

Sharon (Togstad Berry) Minton started her sixth year substitute teaching, K-12 in two school districts. She is also a senior mentor to Air Force spouses at Scott AFB, Illinois. Sharon volunteers at her children’s schools (middle and high school) and has served on a curriculum-building action team at their local school district. Her husband, Scott, is currently assigned to Al Dhafra AB, UAE for the next year and they are preparing to travel overseas next summer to meet up with him.Chuck Oxender stopped by the CSE recently to say hi.

Purple BlockErin (Haughey) Neumeyer’s family is doing very well! Her kids, Dylan-13 and Marleigh-10, are still small enough to want hugs and kisses, but definitely growing and becoming more independent. Dylan has really gotten into mountain biking and last year when they were visiting Marquette, he and her husband rode on the “new” trails that are well marked and draw mountain bikers from all over. They rode trails when she was at NMU, but it was nothing like what they’ve got mapped now. Both of her children work in the entertainment industry and had busy years. Dylan recent-ly filmed a TV show called, “Teachers,” played the Genie in Aladdin, and acted in several films and commercials. Marleigh was on the Gwen Stefani Christmas Special and filmed a scene with Jim Carrey for his new show. They also have furry family members. Their cat and dog love each other and are very entertaining and wonderful company. Although their dog does not like running with her, for a hus-ky, he isn’t very interested in exercising. He would never be a sled dog in the UP 200. Things are very busy, which Erin is grateful for. Her photography business is doing well and it is flexible enough that she can still audition for commer-cials and TV/film roles. Erin has been most successful doing voice overs, which she says is really fun! Erin is hoping that this year brings more acting opportunities. They have finally embraced social media and as a family, they’re writing/directing/acting/editing (they are pretty much every de-partment), a family web series called, “Your Neighbors, The Neumeyers.” The episodes air on Instagram first as one-minute episodes and then they repost them to You-Tube. They are cute little moments, family sitcom style, that are ripped from the headlines of their daily struggles. Erin said it has been a lot of fun writing with her kids. They have great ideas and are catching up to her on a technical shoot-ing and editing level, too! Erin has also been very active in a film festival called, “CONNECT.” It’s been in a volunteer capacity doing marketing and communications so far, but as the festival grows, it may become more of a part-time job. She loves it because of the incredible people she has

gotten to meet and the wonderful projects they put togeth-er. They have done pop-up film screenings in a few cities, so if you would be interested in driving one in your town, reach out to her. She is very involved with both of her kids’ schools and is in charge of the yearbook at both the ele-mentary and the middle school. Each book is around 200 pages and she donated more than 300 hours to each (over 600 hours!!). The exclamation points are because she was shocked that it was that many volunteer hours. Erin loves volunteering, but has vowed to make her life a little more balanced. Erin got her kids involved in volunteering for the homeless and at their schools, choreographed a musical performed by middle and high school kids, did fundraising for the JDRF (this helps people who have Type 1 Diabetes - her daughter was diagnosed about a year ago), donated photography to several organizations, spearheaded the National PTA Reflections Program at the middle school, and ran the AYSO picnic, which is Region 20’s largest fundrais-ing event. It was a busy year! Erin sends a shout out to her Skitting Outta Control crew and would love to connect and see what they’re all up to! She went to an improvised high school party - this is where the parents come and watch kids act out what parties are like these days to really open parents’ eyes to the dangers and provide ideas for talking with your kids. It was scary, but great/helpful and reminded her of the educational improv group.Karen Saari and her husband, Dave, have 2 kids, Max-7 and Ginny-5. Her playwriting career is progressing. This year, she will have four plays produced in four states! One of them, “Bad in Bed: A Fairy Tale,” takes place in Marquette, and received a developmental production with a theatre in Lafayette, Louisiana in February. She still has a rewarding day job as a Copywriter and Digital Marketing Specialist at Madison Area Technical College, where she has been since 2009. In her spare time, Karen likes to garden and write/co-ordinate their neighborhood’s community garden e-news-letter. She also volunteers at her church and kids’ school when time allows. She fondly remembers the SLFP and student activities staff during her time at NMU: Cara, Dave, J’Aimee and Bern...always there with a positive attitude and good humor.

Aqua BlockChad Coolman and his wife, Lisa, completed the Detroit Marathon, their first marathon together, last October.

Yel low Bloc kMichael Axford took a new job with Whirlpool Corporation as the Communications Manager for Sales Enablement in September 2016. He says it’s been an exciting new chal-lenge and is looking forward to growing within the organization. Michael recently bought a motorcycle and has been spending some time on the road enjoying West-ern Michigan and the Lake Michigan towns whenever he gets the chance. Sara (Schaedig) Johnson lives in Bennett, Colorado, which is a growing bedroom community of Denver. Sara and her

husband, Joe, have a son, Derek-8 and a daughter, Anna-6. Sara teaches Sunday school at her church.Kristina (Kraus) Reignier has been married to Brian Reignier since 2006. She is currently the Director of Com-munity Outreach and Language Services at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. She volunteers regularly for the National Railroad Museum and is a new member of the Brown County Community Garden Board. Kristina is passionate about local history and genealogy and recently became a member of the Bay Area Genealogical Society. She said there are so many great SLFP memories... the Fall Retreat; Dave’s class; spending time with her mentor, Dar-lene Inch; the workshops; and the internship. Like several SLFP grads, her internship location, the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum, became her employer after graduation!

Burgundy BlockDave Barrette stopped by the CSE this summer to say hi, and is back at NMU as the Coordinator of Apartment Services!

Stacy MacDonald-Miller and her family have moved back to the mainland and no longer live on Sugar Island. They are enjoying their new home and new swimming pool! Stacy is still employed by the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District as the Behavior Specialist. She enjoys watching her daughters figure skate, play softball, and flag football. Stacy volunteers at school functions and with the Hiawatha Figure Skating Club.Justin Marlowe has been happily married to Yellow Block, Jen Magyar, for 17 years! They live in Seattle with their nine-year old daughter, Kate. Jen is Deputy Associate Re-gional Administrator at the Seattle office of the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services and Justin is a professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Washington. In their spare time, they do lots of running to ballet! Their daughter was in the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker last year and keeps them busy. Justin says the SLFP is a great program and a unique opportunity!

Navy BlockNo alumni responses. We miss you and look forward to your response next year.

Orange BlockMeg (Schneider) Hartley will be starting her 16th season

as an Athletic Trainer for the Radio City Christmas Spec-tacular, starring the Rockettes. She is also entering her sixth season as the Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bulls Entertainment Team. Meg enjoys traveling and is especially excited for the World Cup, which she is attending in Russia.

Lime BlockJessica (DeBacker) Pearson’s newest addition, Daniel Alexander, was born in March. He joins Mary Claire-8, and Jonathan-2. Jessica loves being a full-time, stay-at-home mom. She is a volunteer for Totus Tuus, Parish Pro-Life Committee Chair, Kolaches and Rolls co-chair with her husband, David, for the parish fall festival, volunteers at her children’s Catholic school, and participates in moms’ Bible study. Jessica enjoys reading, making rosaries, cooking, cooking with her children, swimming, and walking. Her daughter has her SLFP graduation photo up in her room that was sent for the 25th anniversary of the SLFP. She loves it because Jessica is in it, as well as her Godmother, who are both Lime Blocks. Friendships from the SLFP can last a lifetime!

Sk y Bloc kCody Fleming teaches high school Social Studies and English in Oswego, Illinois, and has completed his Master’s Degree in Secondary Instruction. Cody is an Advisor for Unsolved!, a student organization at school focused on teambuilding through analyzing real-life mysteries and also playing mystery-inspired board and card games. He also serves on the Academic Committee on the school’s School Improvement Team. In his free time, Cody has been design-ing board game prototypes and hopes to have one pub-lished one day. Cody misses the excitement and energy of the college atmosphere. He hopes future blocks enjoy their retreats, camaraderie, and service projects and wishes them the best of luck! Carissa Waters Quinn got married, is now pregnant with twins and they’re thrilled! She’s working as an Advanced Practice Nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist, in Chicago, and has been in the new role for about one-and-a-half years and loves it. One of Carissa’s favorite memories of the SLFP was at the retreat one year, where they did leadership principle skits and she played the antagonist against an “assertive hero,” played by Layla Khoury-Hanold. Carissa said it was fun to step out of her normal persona, especially with a good friend!Erin (Larsen) Williams has 3 children: Joseph-11, James-8, and Jessica-5. She enjoyed the summer off with her kids, and has started a new career this fall. She was a nurse recruiter for the past 11 years. Erin enjoys Italian cooking classes.

Jade BlockMatthew Abel lives and works at YMCA Camp Pendalouan as the Camp Director. Matthew and his wife, Samantha, have two children, Zach and Lucy, two dogs, Rogue and

Vash, and two cats, Rose and Dorothy. Matthew taught for six years before working as a Camp Director at YMCA Camp Pendalouan. He runs their summer, conference and outdoor education programs. Camp is more than a full-time position (they are non-profit), so he counts work and community service as double. His other involvement is mainly donations.Katie Allen was promoted to a Senior Manager, HSM Brand Engagement for Hilton, where she will continue to support the relationship between Hilton Supply Manage-ment and Hilton’s brand teams. In this role, she will provide input into the development of new brand products, brand packages and ensure successful completion of associated procurement activities. She is celebrating her ninth year working for Hilton. Additionally, Katie continues to lead the McLean Community Committee in organizing and exe-cuting the McLean Office Global Week of Service. Travel should take you places, and this year, she is working on trips to Cabo with fellow Jade Blocker, Amanda Dinkel, and to the UK. Lucky for her, she gets a Hilton discount!Damien Barrett married his fiancé, Alise, recently in Gay-lord! His kids, Casey and Maggie, continue to grow into thoughtful, caring, delightful children. Casey loves reading and his PS4. Maggie loves drawing, sketching, and singing. Being widowed in 2014 at age 40, put him on a rough road, but his Michigan roots gave him the off-road skills need-ed to navigate this road. Damien sees a smooth highway ahead. He still is working as a technology leader at a large independent school in Northern New Jersey and recently completed his Master’s Degree in Instructional Technolo-gy. He continues to present regularly at Tech and EdTech Conferences every year on the unique and interesting challenges in integrating technology into the classroom. He continues to be a leader in their local Cub Scout pack and it is the most validating experience he has had in years. All those camp songs at the Fall Retreat have served him well in his years with the Cub Scouts. Alex the Camel has FIVE humps!Nancy (Starzyk) Bellaire has been married to Jeffrey Bellaire for over 10 years and has 3 sons: Jacob-9, Elijah-7, and Gabriel-2. Nancy has been a stay-at-home mom for the past nine-and-a-half years and is substitute teaching. Her kids all play hockey and the older two play soccer, so that takes up most of her time!Sara (Barclay), Camden and Gavin (Crimson Block) Telfer stopped by the CSE recently to say hi.

Mango BlockLindsey (Pepin) Butorac and her husband, Tyson, have 2 children: Mitchell-5 and Amelia-1. Lindsey is the Assistant Director of Human Resources-Payroll/HRIS at NMU. She also owns her own business where she educates families to help them find wellness on a budget and financial freedom. She says it is an incredibly rewarding experience and allows

her to truly change lives. She is a board member at Great Lakes Recovery Center and helps plan the annual Run for Recovery. She volunteers at TruNorth Federal Credit Union, serving on their Asset/Liability Investment Management Committee. Lindsey was recently chosen to serve as the treasurer of the U.P. Human Resources Association and is a member of the 40-Below Young Professionals Group. She has mentored seven SLFP student fellows. Her busy sched-ule leaves little free time, but Lindsey and her husband are enjoying these favorite years of their lives with their little kids and their activities. She communicates with her mentor regularly and cannot believe it’s been 15 years since they first met and when she began her SLFP journey.Julie (Braun) Cook and her husband, Dave, were elected to serve the Grand Rapids, Michi-gan area as Natural Family Plan-ning (NFP) Coordinators. Having taught NFP through the Couple to Couple League for nine years, they’re incredibly excited to be working with a local coalition of over 30 teachers and promoters. As this year marks the 50th An-niversary of Humanae Vitae (the Catholic encyclical affirming the intrinsic value of human life), they’re busier than ever with NFP promotion. They were recently featured in an hour-long interview on Holy Family Radio, and an article of Julie’s was published in Faith Magazine, a diocese-wide publica-tion with over 40,000 subscribers. In June, they presented a 30-minute witness talk at the Diocesan Catholic Information Center, which was streamed live and recorded for future use. Their efforts to unify what was previously a fragmented NFP network, are going well. They host quarterly meetings to discuss promotional opportunities within religious and secular settings, collaborating with local physicians and pro-fessionals to boost their message. As a result, a multi-media campaign for this year’s NFP Awareness Week reached over 20 area parishes with bulletin flyers, posters, and 6-foot-tall banner stands. Their goals for next year extend even further: composing a quarterly newsletter, exhibiting at the Grand Rapids Women’s Expo, and developing their new website, www.grnfp.org. When they’re not busy with NFP projects, she sings as a cantor at church, and they enjoy tak-ing walks with their one-and-a-half-year-old son, who was already three feet tall at age one. They are sure they’ll need to invest in a basketball hoop in the near future!Mark Henrion lives in the Philadelphia suburbs where peo-ple are crazy about the Eagles’ Super Bowl win. He and his wife, Cali, celebrated eight years of marriage this summer. She is a registered nurse from Phoenix, Arizona. Mark is a qualified reactor inspector for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They preserve public health and safety by regulating and inspecting the civilian use of nuclear materi-al. He and his wife love to lift, do yoga, read, and hike with their dog. Mark’s favorite SLFP memory is sharing good times with good people at Bay Cliff. Chera LaForge has been tenured and promoted to Associ-ate Professor of Political Science at Indiana University East. She also began a position as Adjunct Development Leader,

where she is responsible for creating professional develop-ment opportunities for their part-time faculty. She continues to serve on the Richmond Advisory Plan Commission.

Crimson BlockKatie (Racine) Berger and her husband, Aaron, welcomed their first child, Ada, last October! She is entering her fifth year as Director, Teacher Education Student Services at NMU and loves building lasting relationships with their education students.Kathy (Stenlund) Varda has a new addition to her fami-ly. Abraham (Abe) joined their family on June 13 and big brother, Henry, is excited about the addition. Kathy works as a Spanish teacher at Beloit Turner High School and Middle School in Beloit, Wisconsin teaching eighth grade, Spanish 3-AP. Right now, her life is centered around her babies, but she and her husband play sand volleyball with friends once a week in the summer and are active in their church community.Tyler Weber is the Program Director of CatalyticDevelopment at a small community-based non-profit organization called Walnut Way Conservation Corporation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mission of the organization is to sustain economically diverse and abundant communities through civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and community development. Walnut Way works in Milwaukee’s central city, in a neighborhood encompassing over 2,700 families. The neighborhood is abundant with assets, but also faces numerous challenges regarding both individual and community health and economic well-being. Utilizing his Master of Public Health degree and experience in work-ing hand-in-hand with those in the neighborhood, his work focuses on implementing community-organizing frame-works to improve the built environment and community wealth to ultimately improve life expectancy and quality of life. Tyler enjoys surfing on Lake Michigan, growing vegeta-bles, taking care of his houseplants, and trail running. Tyler mentioned the SLFP provided a foundation for him to build confidence in being a leader and said he doesn’t remember what he learned, but the building blocks from the SLFP will always be there.

Fuchsia BlockMelissa Natter is leaving her position with the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in Seoul, South Korea and making her way back to the United States. She is teaching in a K-5 self-contained, special education class-room at LaVergne Lake Elementary School in Rutherford County, Tennessee, just southeast of Nashville, for this school year.

Mint BlockDavid Hedberg and his beautiful wife of 9 years, Bethany, have 3 children: Claire-6, Caleb-5, and Cadence-3. David works for Gentex Corporation in Zeeland, Michigan, as

an Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) Test Engineer. He enjoys spending time with his family especially going on walks, bike rides, or hanging out together at parks and playgrounds and camping. He and his wife are involved in volunteering for various responsibilities in their church and enjoy singing in the choir.Laura (Rueden) LaPean moved from Madison (2008-2016) back home to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, to build a house next to her parents. She and her husband, Mike, have 4 children: Ben and Joey-4 and Matthew and Grace-2. Yes, she has two sets of twins! In 2014, she retired as a Kinder-garten teacher to become a stay-at-home mom. She enjoys lots of family and friend time, concerts, sporting events, boating and day trips. Her favorite SLFP memory is the retreat.Alexandra Marshall started as the Associate Director of Residential Life at Michigan Tech in June. She volunteers for UPAWS by fostering kittens and the occasional dog. She has had almost 30 fosters come through her house in the past 2 years!

Cerulean BlockRichard Andersons got married back in September 2017, and is getting back into higher education. He is a part-time advisor/counselor for Brazosport Community College. Zach Bartel recently married, Patty Lawrence, in Mar-quette! He currently works in the microbiology lab at Am-way World Headquarters. Zach and Patty completely ren-ovated their house and have been there for a little over a year. The home projects continue with fencing, a patio and some landscaping features. That, in addition to work and wedding planning, has kept them busy! Zach remembers a workshop at the yearly SLFP Fall Retreat with Dave Bonsall that had to do with life goals and priorities. He remembers it being a great exercise for reflection and recently found his notes from that activity while going through old papers and it was fun to read.Jessica Elbe, Master of Social Work, (MSW), Licensed Clin-ical Social Worker (LCSW), is working toward her Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor, (CADC), Certified Electronic Discovery Specialist (CEDS), Trauma, and Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) certifications. She is the Chief Operating Officer at Seven Hills Hospital in Henderson, Nevada, and is opening a pri-vate practice. She moved to Vegas a little over a year ago and is looking to volunteer and join a board. Megan (Meeuwsen) Guindon has been married to her husband, Brian, for 5 years and they have a son, Cedric-4 and daughter, Veda-2. Megan is a stay-at-home mom and is involved with her church.Tom Rich has been an instructional designer at Michigan Medicine for five years, and an English instructor at Washtenaw Community College for four years.Danielle (Brandreth) Smith is living in Marquette for the next year while her husband, Isaac, finishes medical school through the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Upper Peninsula Region Program. They are ex-pecting their second child in October. Their beloved Basset Hound, Ranger, will be turning 10 this year and they look

forward to celebrating both occasions. Danielle is currently in her second year as a stay-at-home mom, which is the hardest, most rewarding job she has done thus far. Dan-ielle and her daughter, Emma, enjoy attending local parent-and-me events. Their family enjoys hiking all of the wonderful trails near Marquette and eating Rice Paddy and Third Street Bagel whenever they can.

Kiwi BlockRebecca (Rasmussen) Foster lives in Winneconne, Wis-consin, with her husband of five years, Mitch (’11 NMU alum). He is the city administrator and they love living on the water in their beautiful community. Rebecca works at a long-term care facility in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as a physical therapist. She is studying to become a licensed nursing home administrator. Rebecca is a member of the Winneconne Professionals Association, participates in golf leagues and is an Honor Flight volunteer. Rebecca said she has good memories working in the office as an SLFP Coordinator and is still good friends with Kiwi and Cerulean Block members. Some favorite memories she has include: Skill Builders! at retreats, hot chocolate in the Academic Mall, and recruiting new SLFP members constantly.Andrew Kandell has a daughter, Mia, who turned two in June. His wife accepted a position at the College of William and Mary, so they moved from South Dakota to Virginia! Andrew is looking for jobs in the higher education field and in Academic Advising/Housing. He said they are still learn-ing the many things around the Williamsburg area, as they have only been there a short time! Andrew’s favorite SLFP memories are the retreat and the name tag game trying to find out the meaning of the name tags.Sarah Santiago and her husband, Josh, recently celebrat-ed their third wedding anniversary. They have a Chow Chow, Chewie, who they adore. Sarah will soon become a Licensed Professional Counselor through the State of Michigan, and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. She has worked for three years at NMU as the Counselor for Stu-dent Support Services and absolutely loves being back at NMU and getting to give back to a school that had such a positive impact on her own life. She currently volunteers as a coach for Marquette’s Girls on the Run team, the Yooper-ettes, and Camp Star, a children’s bereavement camp at Bay Cliff. Sarah recently taught herself to knit, and ran her first half marathon, something she never imagined she would ever do! Her favorite memories were always the fun SLFP socials, like going to Al Quaal for snow tubing. She now takes her students out there because she thinks it’s so much fun and so beautiful!

Teal BlockMegan Forrest is at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) going into her fifth year Ph.D. Program in

Genetics and Genome Sciences. She is hoping to graduate sometime next year with the goal of entering a Laboratory Genetics and Genomics postdoctoral fellowship program in 2020. As a “senior” graduate student, she’s been taking advantage of the many professional development activities offered at Case, including a graduate student coaching program focused on resonant leadership to build off of her skills from the SLFP.Morton Harwood lives in Marquette with his girlfriend, Stacy, and his 2 kids, Kayla-5 and Kyle-3. He is a cardiac device specialist with U.P. Health System in Marquette and works on pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. Morty volunteers with the Boy Scouts, enjoys bird watching, music and golf. His favorite SLFP memory was his CSI with the Haunted Bog Walk at Moosewood Nature Center. He said this is still something he thinks about!Melissa LaPointe and her husband, Dan Kallio, also an NMU alum, got engaged July 2017 and were married on August 11 in Marquette. Melissa is an associate attorney at Dutton Casey & Mesoloras, P.C. in Chicago, Illinois. She focuses her practice in elder law, which involves estate plan-ning, probate, guardianship, and public benefits planning. She currently sits on the board of the Veterans Legal Aid Society, which is a non-profit providing legal assistance to veterans. She is also involved with a volunteer multidisci-plinary team through the State of Illinois Adult Protective Services Program, designed to help combat elder abuse and neglect on the north side of Chicago. Melissa has gotten more involved with professional groups, including committee involvement with the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. The retreat is something she genuinely misses going to before the start of the first semester. There’s nothing like time at Bay Cliff and the memories, friendships, and experiences. She truly enjoyed her service project helping elementary-aged girls understand the benefits of health and wellness. Melissa is sure the SLFP is keeping up the great work!George Peterman is a Human Resource/Training and Development Specialist at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and is also responsible for programming for his 300 employees. They do events and participate in sustainable initiatives in the park. He also enjoys language studies. One of his favorite SLFP memories was folding 1,000 paper cranes.Lexi (Wagner) Pulling is currently living in Kalamazoo with her husband, two dogs and tortoise. She is working as a Speech-Language Pathologist in skilled nursing facilities providing care to patients. She works on treating deficits influencing cognition, swallowing, voice and language. She has been working in this field for four years. She enjoys working in her flowerbeds and continues to upgrade the landscaping at her house. She enjoys meeting with friends in a writing group as they each work on various writing projects. Lexi’s favorite SLFP memory is completing a yoga Skill Builder! at her first retreat, and along with several oth-ers, laughing and having fun in the back attempting yoga moves that they could not complete at that time.Erin Sikkema married Darryn Adams on July 14. Erin was promoted to the Manager of the Tax Department at Make-la, Toutant, Hill, Nardi and Katona, P.C. (a public accounting firm in Marquette). She is a SLFP mentor and a member of

40-Below Young Professionals Group. Erin enjoys anything outdoors - hiking, fishing, camping, gardening, and also enjoys cooking. Erin really enjoyed the Fall Retreats and misses the group of Girl Scouts that she worked with during her CSI.

Gold Bloc kKevin Corkin married Jessica Coullard in June 2017 in the Eastern U.P. He got promoted to District Director with the Boy Scouts of America in November of 2017, so they moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Kevin is a member of the Oshkosh Rotary Southwest and does community service with the club. He enjoys hiking, biking, and camping. He has a puppy that is active outdoors. Kevin loved the retreats at Bay Cliff and had a lot of fun building his resume with his project and mentor. He received the outstanding service award for his project.Brendan Franklin married his wife, Sara, on September 30, 2017. Brendan received his Master of Science in Nursing Leadership Administration from Chamberlain University. He is currently working as a Charge Nurse in the Emergency Department at Munson Medical Center. He is looking for management opportunities at this time and is anticipating a soon to come job title! He is on the NMU Alumni Association Board of Directors and enjoys traveling, camp-ing, hiking, and drinking good craft beer with his wife. Brendan absolutely loved the Fall Retreat and looked forward to it every year. He really enjoyed the leadership class and Skill Builder! Workshops, which have significantly impacted his leadership style.Sarah (Muellerleile) Lannon married her husband, Robbie, on September 24, 2016. Sarah is a Doctor of Physical Ther-apy and has worked the past two years at Madelia Commu-nity Hospital and Clinic, which is a critical access hospital in rural Minnesota. Sarah said she is adjusting to life without her mother, who passed away less than a year ago and is spending a lot of time helping her dad. She realizes how crucial the leadership skills she learned through SLFP are and that the experiences she had are rare. She is finding people who are in leadership with poor leadership skills and wishes they were exposed to what she learned about being a leader via the SLFP.Lydia Stuef married Brett Barterian on March 23, 2018. She is in her second year teaching middle school math in Water-ford, Michigan.

Banana Bloc kRonald Allen has been with Audi of America and Volkswa-gen Group of America for the past two-and-a-half years. He currently is filling the role of Procurement Analyst for VW/Audi accessory products. Ronnie trained for the Wish-A-Mile Bicycle Tour. This 3-day, 300 mile, tour is the largest fundraiser for the Michigan Make-A-Wish Foundation. The training required a lot of time on the road (biking, of course), but according to Ronnie, was worth every minute. He was excited to meet the child they sponsored at the end of the tour. If anyone would like to support his efforts

in raising $1,200 for this ride, please visit his page at: http://wam.kintera.org/2018/ronnierideswam. Ronnie says the SLFP was a good time and it is hard to believe it has been four-and-a-half years since his last day at NMU, but luckily, the memories live on. Charlotte Cialek has an Aussie mix named Little Man, and he’s an adorable bundle of joy. She continues to work on a Biochemistry Graduate Degree at Colorado State Uni-versity. Her thesis project is on gene expression regulation that’s caused by a small molecule called microRNA and a protein Argonaute. She’s done several STEM outreach events to a variety of groups, from an elementary class to the Girl Scouts to an old folks group. In her spare time, she enjoys skiing/camping/rock climbing/gardening. Charlotte said the SLFP graduation ceremony was bittersweet: bitter because she couldn’t imagine all the cool SLFPers in the same room ever again, and sweet because it really hit her how awesome everyone’s projects were, and how impactful the group was in the Marquette community!Brook (Derusha) Dake and her husband, Derek (Gold Block), recently bought a house in Newberry and are ex-cited to be back in the U.P. Brook completed her Master of Science in the Nursing/Family Nurse Practitioner Program in July and starts a job as a Family Nurse Practitioner this month in her hometown of Newberry. Derek graduated from optometry school in May and started this summer as an Optometrist in the U.P. Melissa Esser stopped by the CSE with her fiancé, Kevin Sundt.

Rachel Gruler lives in Petoskey, Michigan, and recently purchased her grandmother’s home, which she and her husband are renovating. She married Stratt Zervou-dakis on July 21. Her and Stratt met her freshman year at NMU. Rachel is currently a circulating nurse in the Operat-ing Room at McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital. She is on the open heart team and is team leader in the evening.Cassandra Hastings has had a lot of exciting things happen in her career world! She graduated from medical school on May 11 and is now moving to Tucson, Arizona, where she will be completing her pediatric residency at the University of Arizona for the next three years. She said it has been an incredible, challenging four years, and is excit-ed for the next step in the journey! Most of medical school was filled with many hours at the hospital, but she had a bit more flexibility with her schedule since this was her last year. In February, she spent one month in Northern India doing a tra-ditional medicine elective and said it was incredible getting to experience mul-tiple aspects of Indian cul-

ture through the lens of medicine. In March, she had the opportunity to visit fellow Banana Block member, Katie Miller, in her hometown of Homer, Alaska! In April, she had the opportunity to do an intensive three-week wilderness medicine course in Utah. She also had the opportunity to present her research at the 2018 American Society of Pediatric Hema-tology/Oncology National Conference in May. Following graduation, she came back up to Marquette one last time before the move, doing hikes and hanging out with friends and said it was a wonderful trip! On the community service side of things, she has been wrapping up volunteer efforts near Detroit. The past four years she has volunteered with Make-A-Wish Michigan and had the opportunity to help grant wishes to two beautiful children and is excited to still continue working with this organization out in Arizona. She volunteers with the children’s ministry at her church as well! As she was head-ing up to her camping trip to the U.P., she wondered if she would see the Northern Lights and thought back to her first retreat at Bay Cliff as part of the SLFP, and how they were so lucky to catch glimpses of the Northern Lights! She remem-bers that moment fondly, as it’s still the only time she has ever seen them.Alycia Heckathorn is in her second year as a public school dance teacher in Brooklyn and is a member of The Com-plete Theatre Company that performs showcases, improv comedy and plays.Tina (LaValley) Pap is married to Andrew Pap and they have their first little one named Owen Roy Pap, who was born February 13, 2017. They are moving to Madi-son, Wisconsin, where she will be starting a career at the University of Wisconsin. Tina is running a half marathon this month and hoping to volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association in Madison. Some of her favorite memories of the SLFP are the ones working with elementary students with a no-bullying campaign, and of course, welcome week-end at Bay Cliff!Rachel (Williams) Scoby married Steven Scoby lastSeptember. She is a Speech and Language Pathologist at Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids,Emily Stulz moved to Mount Pleasant to work as the Assistant Director of Social Media and Communications at Central Michigan University. She has been looking for ways to get involved and was able to volunteer at the Special Olympics, Michigan State Summer Games on campus!

Emerald BlockKara Jacoboni recently stopped by the CSE to say hi. She is pictured with Ann Parent, Jon Barch and Rachel Harris from the CSE.

Chelsea Koziel just completed two years serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Moldova. She spent two years teaching basic health education to fifth through seventh grade in her village school with two Mol-dovan counterparts. She will be moving to Shanghai to start teaching English there. Soon she’ll be coming back to the states after two years abroad, to catch up with family and friends before she’s off on her next international adventure!Meghan Marquardt works at KARE 11, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, in studio operations.Troy Morris is wonderfully employed with Snap-on Tools going on his third year, and last year was a subject matter expert and product specialist, reaching number one in North America during his time. Recently, Troy has been pro-moted to a business development role, one of the youngest in company history. He serves on the Board of Directors for Wilmot Mountain Ski Patrol, where he volunteers as a med-ical first responder with his family and fellow alumni. The fellowship, energy, and hope for the future on the banks of Lake Superior during the Fall Retreat are always with Troy and those memories from Bay Cliff stay with him no matter the state or season he’s in. The SLFP is part of what keeps Troy connected to Marquette as his home, no matter how far or long he has been away.Danielle Knight Morrison was awarded a Ph.D. in Social Psych from Glasgow University in Glasgow, Scotland. She has a new job in Los Angeles as a Research Manager at Fuel Cycle. She continues with Irish Dance, which she has done since she was five years old.Sarah Morrison was engaged on January 6 to Michael Evans, and they are now happily engaged to be married on June 22, 2019. They met as members of the Alexandria Citizens Band in March of 2015. She has been promoted to Marketing and Social Media Brand Specialist at The Wash-ington Times. Sarah enjoys cycling, swimming, and playing in the Alexandria Citizens Band. One of her favorite SLFP memories was the deep relaxation Skill Builder! She said it has come in handy between DMV traffic and wedding planning! Vince Mottes is in his third year as head Athletic Train-er at Homer High School in Grass Lake, Michigan. Vince duck hunts and explores the world with his Boykin Spaniel, Moose. In Vince’s spare time, he enjoys paddle boarding, hunting, fishing, coaching and living life.Trent Podskalan started his second year as a Hall Director at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He plans to be there one more year before focusing full-time on being a motivational speaker, though it’s something he can concur-rently work on. Trent thinks about the Program often and how much fun he had while learning so much. He’ll forever cherish the friendships/relationships that were built.

Brittany Ridge works as an RN in the Emergency Depart-ment at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She volunteers at the Columbus Dream Center serving meals to homeless and doing outreach and works locally with Teeny Tears.Taylor Tomei and fellow Emerald Block graduate, Peter Darga, were engaged Janu-ary 28, 2017, and are set to be married on October 6! Taylor graduated from NMU in May 2016 with a degree in education and is now an Associate Teach-er for a preschool program in Center Line, Michigan. She is taking online courses through NMU to earn her Early Childhood Endorsement to hopeful-ly become a lead preschool teacher. These courses will then transition into a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Educa-tion. She will always remember her time with the SLFP when she did her internship through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Marquette, working on the Lunch Buddies Program - a Program where she learned skills with children that she still applies to this day. Amber (Froberg) Wilson married her husband, Richard, in 2015. She is a Registered Nurse in the Cardiac Cath Lab in Green Bay at Aurora BayCare. She previously worked at the Marshfield Clinic in the same role. She has three dogs and a cat that keep her busy. Since they just moved to the Green Bay area, they haven’t quite found their community of peo-ple yet, but it’s a very diverse and exciting city so they are looking forward to exploring and getting active.Although it wasn’t exclusively an SLFP event, the trip to India (where Jon and Rachel inspired her to join SLFP), has always been and will be one of her fondest memories. The SLFP was a great community of people to be around and it’s nice that she can keep in contact with some members via social media.

Onyx BlockElizabeth (Owens) Arnquist is teaching Special Education and started her Masters this fall. Elizabeth is volunteering with SheJumps, Mountain Chicks, and Outdoors for All.Jenna Krawze graduated with her MBA from St. Norbert College.Amelia Richards returned to Marquette as a customer service and sales employee at Gander Outdoors. Prior to this, she worked at Bill & Paul’s Sporthaus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Now that she’s settled in the Marquette area, she would like to find a privately-owned outdoor retailer to work for again (or begin a new career path beyond outdoor retail). Amelia is not enjoying the corporate scene as much as she thought she would. Amelia likes to do a lot of hiking, fishing, running, and cooking in her free time and is trying to get more involved with a local church (she has been testing out various church communities) and will be volun-teering with Superior Land Pet Partners as a therapy dog team with her pup. Amelia says she thinks back often to the wonderful relationships she made throughout her experi-ence with the SLFP, in particular, the Fall Retreat.

Cassandra Ross graduated from Central Michigan Univer-sity with her Master’s in Public Health. Cassie continues to play ice hockey and recently became an official. She was even able to travel to Massachusetts to officiate the Wom-en’s National Tournament and continues to volunteer at the Women’s Aid Service. Cassie always loved traveling to Bay Cliff for the annual retreat. This experience exposed her to the camp and she later worked a summer as a unit leader.Josh Swedlund lives in Beloit, Wisconsin, which is a grow-ing community in need of youth leaders. He and his wife, Katie, have 3 pets, Remie-7 (cat), Shoop-5 (cat) and Togo-4 months (dog). He is working as a groundskeeper at the local college and coaching at a local intermediate school. Josh says he is family-focused right now, puppy training and volunteer coaching. His favorite SLFP memory was putting on ‘Party for the Pets,’ and now seeing his wife work for the Humane Society makes him see that an event like that could be put on there.

Ice BlockJamie Alberta is in her second year with Teach for America in Memphis, Tennessee.Liz Dow is working at Superior Watershed Partnership as their Conservation Educator.Sara (Bliesener) Gray recently stopped by the CSE to say hi. She is pictured here with former CSE employee, Andrea Knudsen and her fiance’ Jimmy.

Janice Hamachek is going back to school for her MBA.Megan McCormick accepted a position at Cardinal Heights Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, to teach eighth grade mathematics. She is a tutor during the week and was director of a summer camp this summer.Mike Schneck splits his time between Southern California and Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. He teaches Environ-mental Education at an Outdoor Center in the Sanjackto Mountain Range, where he spends half his time as the on-site medic. This summer he lead a 45-day backpacking trip in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Northern Alaska. Mike has been climbing and backpacking, and joined a creative writing club. His favorite memory of the SLFP was leading team challenge initiatives with fellow Ice Block, Amber Barnes, at Black River Falls with kids from the Great Lakes Youth Recovery Center.Ashley Short is a Healthy Schools Volunteer in Peace Corps Guatemala and lives in a rural community in the Depart-ment of Quetzaltenango. She works with local organiza-tions, teachers, and school directors, to build capacity within the Guatemalan National Healthy Schools Program. Her daily activities can include giving charlas (lessons) on health topics such as nutrition, hygiene, water sanitation, and physical activity, teaching groups of women healthy recipes, making school gardens, and trying to learn how to make the perfect Guatemalan tortilla. She is taking classes

in Mam, the local Mayan language spoke in her community.

Fire BlockSamantha Black accepted her first nursing job at U of M in Ann Arbor.Anna Buhl started grad school this fall at the University of Minnesota for Speech-Language Pathology and hopes to participate in the Multicultural Emphasis Program in grad school.Breah Carter accepted a GA position at Grand Valley State University, where she will be pursuing her MS in biostatistics. She will continue to work for Thales Consulting (a company that provides software for governmental report-ing based out of Marquette) while she pursues her degree. Breah enjoyed her last two months living in Marquette! She said she has made some life-long friends because of this Program!Maggie Hartman is engaged to Scott Dietrich, also an NMU alum class of 2013, and they are expecting their first child this month! This summer, Maggie worked a field job in North Dakota for North Dakota State University, where they count pollinators, butterflies, bees, and vegetation throughout the state. In January, she will be attending graduate school at the University of Maryland. Maggie says she doesn’t have a lot of leisure time right now, but she assures us, she will get back to her hobbies and volunteer-ing as soon as she possibly can. Maggie said the SLFP was all great and still remembers taking the MBTI, which was interesting. She recently saw her mentor, Gerri Daniels, and always has a great time with her.Meghan Hohenstein is applying for nurse residency pro-grams and new jobs! She plans to spend lots of time with family and friends, study for her license exam (NCLEX), and spend time on the lake. Meghan said she misses attending the Fall Retreat.Adam Kall is starting his own business. He is still in the ear-ly stages, but making progress. Adam has been applying to graduate school at Elmhurst College. One of his SLFP memories is running the city in the SLFP class. He is look-ing into applying to create an LLC and says it feels like the unnecessary red tape the government in class made.Lexi Negro is working at a nursing home to gain patient care experience because she is applying to PA schools. She played in adult league soccer through the summer, along with a beach volleyball league. In her free time, she likes to kayak, fish, watch movies or read. She misses seeing all her fellow Fire Blocks, but is so happy to see and hear about everything they are accomplishing!Sarah Ponzer is attending the American University of the Caribbean, School of Medicine, St. Maarten. Page Queener was engaged May 31 to Devon Rosseau

(fellow NMU alum). Page is attending pharmacy school at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Superior Blue BlockNicholas Beattie is still going to school, worked at the Iron County Youth Camp this summer and the CSE’s Superior Edge/Volunteer Center during the rest of the year! He is involved with student organizations and enjoys recreational activities. His favorite SLFP memory is spending time with his mentor. He said having his mentor at the graduation really showed how important he was to Nicholas and his growth as an individual!Georgia Harrison graduated from NMU and started her Master’s in Biology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. She will be presenting at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), about EcoReps (her CSI) in Boston with other SLFP members. Georgia enjoys camping, rock climb-ing and traveling!Sarah Madalinski is now a fourth grade teacher at Jones Elementary in Gladstone, Michigan.Angela Robertson has been accepted into the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and will be starting in January 2019 to pursue her M.D.Tristan Ruiz is applying to medical schools for fall of 2019. He went to the Advanced Camp for ROTC in July and is a Community Advisor in the Lincoln Singles at NMU. Tristan went on a trip to Vietnam with his dad, where they spent a week in Southern Vietnam and then two weeks in South Korea. His favorite memories of SLFP are the UN 250 class community service project committee work and the final product... actually planning an event like that and seeing it happen was amazing!Dan Saubert completed an internship in Denver, Colorado, at Jeppesen, an aerospace company.Teressa Savastano will be finishing up her last year at NMU and is starting to look for jobs as graduation in May 2019 approaches! Tera is Drum Major of the Wildcat Marching Band this marching season and could not be more excit-ed! She worked as a summer orientation staff assistant and loved talking with the incoming students about the SLFP. Tera says the retreats were so much fun, especially her second retreat, as she had built a love and foundation in the Program. Camping on the beach with new friends at the retreat and seeing the Northern Lights is something she won’t ever forget. McKenzie Shores continues to be an RA at NMU.Seton Trost did an internship at the Detroit Zoo.Ryan Watling studied abroad in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, Chile last semester. He completed his CSI and the SLFP a semester early to go to Chile. He is now in Mar-quette working at the Center for Student Enrichment while completing his final year at NMU. Ryan is adding a second major of Spanish because of his study abroad experience. When he graduates in May of 2019, he will have completed a double-major in Spanish and Neuroscience with a minor in Integrative Science. After he graduates, he plans to apply to graduate schools, join the Peace Corps and/or search

for other opportunities abroad as he looks to continue his education. In his spare time, Ryan trained to complete two ultramarathons this year. He ran the Marquette 50K and the Marji Gesick 50 mile race. Ryan took first place and beat the Marji Gesick course record by over an hour, completing the race in under 12 hours. In Chile, he participated in the Service-Learning Program during his study abroad pro-gram. He worked at a local school named Centro Bellavista, where he helped facilitate activities for students with special needs. He also fulfilled an observant role in understanding cultural differences/practices in occupational therapy in the U.S. and Chile and completed 90 hours of volunteer service. In addition to these activities, Ryan still maintains involve-ment with a project called Great Lakes Great Stories. In May 2017, he completed a 1,400-mile bicycle tour around Lake Superior with two friends, Olivia Walcott and Dylan Gonda, where they recorded stories about the people who live on Lake Superior’s shores. He maintains their social media and outreach in order to further their mission and interest in the project. Ryan is very passionate about community and lead-ership and the SLFP helped him experience new meanings to those, which he said was indescribably incredible. He is thankful for his CSI and mentorship that helped him create the NMU Trailhead on NMU’s campus. The project is meant to connect the north and south trails systems of the Noque-manon Trail Network (NTN) in and around Marquette. The trailhead for this project was constructed this summer and is now open for use. Ryan is excited to see this project contin-ue, even though his CSI is finished. This trail will eventually develop into an on-campus trail network, the first of its kind in the nation. He is enthusiastic about this project because it supports sustainable transportation on campus and in Marquette. It also provides new opportunities for students and community members to explore themselves and our environment. Ryan was glad to serve a community need while developing his leadership.