Centralight Non-Profi t Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Carlin Alumni House PERMIT NO. 16 Central Michigan University Midland, MI Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Executive Editor and Director of Alumni Relations Mary Lu Fleming, ’90 MSA ’92 Editor Barbara Sutherland Chovanec Photographers Robert Barclay Peggy Brisbane VOLUME 72 • NUMBER 3 • FALL 2002 Writers Patricia Housley, ’87 Janell Johnson, ’84 Dan Mazei, ’03 Nikita Murray On the cover Mike Silverthorn, ’79 Fred Stabley Jr. Ray Lawson, ’40, has taught for more than fi ve decades at Rochester High School, and Nicole Graphic Designers O’Karma, ’01, was Michigan’s 2001-2002 Amy Gouin Stacy Simmer Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year. Read their stories on pages 4 and 12. Alumni Board Communications Committee PHOTOS BY ROBERT BARCLAY Daniel Bodene, ’78 Thomas Olver, ’98 Michael Perry, ’84 4 Shirley Posk, ’60 Paknatchanit “Ling” Sirikururat, ’96 Judy Smith, ’65 16 Printer The McKay Press, Midland Features For Advertising Information call Cindy Jacobs, ’93 (800) 358-6903 3 Alumni profi les 9 Learning to teach Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations 16 Alumni support Special Olympics Michael Leto Homecoming 2002 Senior Offi cer 17 for Public Relations and Marketing Departments Rich Morrison 2 Commentary Alumni association president Stay Connected Thomas Lapka Send change of address information to: Alumni relations executive director Mary Lu Fleming Alumni relations Carlin Alumni House 22 Digest Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 24 Athletics Phone: (800) 358-6903 Fax: (989) 774-7159 26 Discovery E-mail: [email protected] 35 Philanthropy Web: www.cmich.edu/alumni-friends.htm 17 Maroon and gold Centalight is published three times each year by Central 50 Michigan University Offi ce of Development and Alumni Relations and is produced by the Offi ce of Public Alumni in action Relations and Marketing. It is entered at the Midland post 57 offi ce under nonprofi t mailing. CMU (an AA/EO institution) strongly and actively strives to increase diversity within its In memoriam community (see: www.cmich.edu/aaeo/). CMU provides 64 individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in the activities, programs and services announced in this publication. Individuals with disabilities requiring an accommodation to participate in a program should call the event sponsor. Fall 2002 Centralight 1 COMMENTARY This summer, once it started sometime in Even though CMU is picked by the media to June, was memorable in many ways. fi nish toward the bottom of the East division, I personally think that we will be much We enjoyed spending our weekends up better. I have to believe that Coach DeBord north or at Lake Michigan. And I need to is OK with the pre-season prognosis and hear from some fellow alumni from our “up is ready to get his team on the gridiron to north” area or the resort towns dotting the prove the “know-it-alls” don’t really know it Great Lakes coastline: How do you get any all. Hey, wouldn’t you love it if David really work done during the week when it seems does beat Goliath, the mouse catches the that everybody else is on vacation in your cat, or Anna Kornikova really can play tennis. town? A Saturday afternoon in Kelly/Shorts Summer vacations fade Stadium is a fun experience for your family By Thomas Lapka or just some friends taking in a football into fall school, Alumni association president game. Anyway, if Dennis Connor can call the football, homecoming sinking of the America’s Cup sailboat a “minor set-back,” then Coach DeBord can It used to be that my lawyer friends in the practicing for the winter America’s Cup Challenge. look forward to a successful season. Traverse City and Petoskey area said “a view He sank a $5-million-dollar boat when its rudder of the bay is worth half the pay.” However post broke. Luckily the water was only 55 feet In closing, please remember: with the growth in population and commerce deep, and the 110-foot mast stuck out. Connor’s • Homecoming is Oct. 12. Be here. The in those areas, I doubt that still holds true. quote: “It was only a small set-back.” alumni association has a number of fun Now, they have the best of both worlds. Even though we regret the end of summer, our events to attend prior to and after the I never tire of the beauty of sunsets over the nostalgia is tempered by the start of another game. Trust me, it will be more fun than lake, loons calling at night, or sailboats in wonderful season – fall. With the end of summer you could plan on. the bay. and start of fall, we look forward (as moms and • Visit CMU in the fall, remember the dads) to the start of school and all the activities On the national scene, the most incredulous awesome colors, the smell of fall, and for our kids or grandkids. It also brings us to the summer story happened off the coast of those last few days you could walk to start of CMU football, tailgating, and homecoming Long Beach California. Dennis Connor, a class without gloves and a hat. on Oct. 12. four-time winner of the America’s Cup, was You may realize that the real fantasy is that Feel the Greetings from the Carlin Alumni House! There enrollments, our higher academic standards, and are many outstanding traditions associated with our excellence in research, we have maintained CMU, and just as many points of pride. As I our tradition as a friendly campus – a place to pride travel to events I meet many alumni who proudly belong and call home. proclaim their allegiance to CMU and make a I invite you to return to your educational roots. tradition of returning to campus at homecoming Renew friendships, tour the campus, and to renew their connection with the university. participate in the homecoming activities of Oct. As we talk about CMU, my thoughts focus on the 12 when Central plays Bowling Green. tradition of pride in our alma mater. I share with Many returned last year and enjoyed the alumni other alumni a common bond that surpasses age, gathering at the stadium. We will again have race, gender, and geography. In all the years I a centrally located area for tailgating, an area have been associated with CMU as a student and where all the disciplines will join together for food administrator, I have never been prouder of the and reminiscing. university than now. You only have to look around campus to recognize the growth in student Feel the pride! Fire up Chips! • By Mary Lu Fleming population and buildings. Executive director of alumni relations But not only are we proud of our increased 2 Centralight Fall 2002 ALUMNI PROFILES An academic, athletic James Hines, ’85, always mission for wanted to be a math teacher and a coach. So when he built the Lily Missions Center, a youth center in Jackson, he included spaces for sports and academics. Hines had been pastor of the Lily Baptist youthsBy Barbara Sutherland Chovanec “My mother always told me ‘readers shall be Missionary Church for more than a decade when he says he felt God telling him to build a youth leaders,’” Hines says. “I try to combine athletics churches, and some are friends of friends who and academics.” center. don’t have any church affi liation. Hines invites young people to the missions center “There was never a youth center in Jackson, and It doesn’t matter to Hines how the young people kids complained there was nothing to do,” he following high school basketball and football fi nd their way to the center. He’s just happy to games. says. “I was led by the inspiration of God.” help them. So Hines set out to raise $4 million to build the “Before we had the center, so many kids would The youth center features a reading and math just hang around and get into trouble after center, which opened last year and is funded area for children in second grade through eighth by foundations, the church, local businesses, the games,” Hines says. “We bring them here grade. And an investment room encourages and feed them and play music, and they play the Jackson community, and Hines’ own young people to learn about stocks and bonds. contributions. basketball and play games.” Hines signs up youths for a summer reading Nearly 1,000 young people a month visit the Hines also shows a special interest in a group program and pays them 25 cents for every book of 18 teens he signed up for his Sophomore to missions center. Some are from the Lily Baptist they read. Missionary Church, others are from other Sophomore Program to help young people from their sophomore year in high school through their sophomore year in college. The students get prepared for the ACT and SAT college entrance exams, and they are required to spend time in the investment room tracking stocks and bonds. They are paid for work they do at the center, such as cleaning and tutoring young children. And they do community service work such as raking yards and cleaning homes. “They also have to do a fund raiser once a week and give the money to a community charity,” Hines says. “I encourage them to give back to the community. That’s the best way to lead a productive life and to develop the spirit of giving. “I really try to spend a lot of time with these kids at a turning point in their lives,” says Hines, who grew up in a family of 12.