Alumni Association Winds Up Fruitful Year With 5k

May 14th, 2010

Pictures by Ardee Coolidge

CONTACT:

David Halbrook
Patrick Henry College
(540) 441-8722
OfficeOfCommunications@phc.edu

Jensen Near ('10) and Katie Teubl ('07) check runners in for the Alumni Association's Spring 5k

Like with most college students, it is unusual to find many Patrick Henry College students up and about on a Saturday morning. By 8:30am on May 1, however, a day already promising unusual heat, several dozen members of the PHC and local community stretched and talked in excited knots. Senior Jensen Near and alumna Katie Teubl (’07) checked people in on a neatly-organized list, while alumna Sarah Pride (’07), PHC Alumni Association Secretary, waited nearby to arrange tables with baked goods made and donated by other alumni and church friends. An official outreach of the PHC Alumni Association, this Spring 5k and Bake Sale was one of many efforts the Alumni Association has initiated this school year to connect with students and raise money for their alma mater.

“We believe that the purpose of our organization is tri-fold,” said Pride. “Our mission to impact the world for Christ and for liberty only begins at the end of our college careers. To actually have influence, we have to stay connected with each other and with students. That’s networking. We have to stay up-to-date with College developments. That’s news. And last, we have to recall the best times that bound us together as students. That’s nostalgia.”

Runners await the winning times and awards after the 5k

At the start of the Fall 2009 semester, the Association’s first 5k raised more than $5000 for Barbara Hodel Center gym equipment. The Spring 5k raised over $1200, but, even more than that, it expanded connections with the local community. One person outside of PHC ran the Fall 5k; this May, over half a dozen joined in. One of these community members, Joan Hunter, won first place for women and second place overall, with a time of 19:30. In addition, organizer Katie Teubl succeeded in gaining sponsorships and prizes from five sponsors—three local restaurants, and two businesses managed by PHC alumni Tim Doozan and Nick Timpe. PHC freshman Joe Pisacreta won first place for the men, with a time of 18:37.

Alumni also arranged an ice cream social the weekend before, in late April. Meredith Schultz (’09) beautifully decorated tables in the Grand Lobby of the Hodel Center, and over 50 students gathered to enjoy ice cream and each other while talking with a dozen alumni about life after college. Association Vice President John Vinci (’06) collected information from students interested in further mentoring, via the growing “Step Up” initiative.

Further programs the Alumni Association has initiated include a yearly scholarship and an alumni chapel once each semester, when an alum volunteer presents a special message to the student body. The Association Board received over a dozen essay entries for the scholarship this year, on the topic of how a PHC professor has affected a student’s life. Junior Anna Accomazzo won the $2000 scholarship with her account of how multiple professors trained her to be a “witness for” something, as Whittaker Chambers advocated in his book, Witness.

Winner, freshman Joe Pisacreta, as he nears the finish line

“This is a calling that I believe I share with all my fellow Patrick Henry College students,” wrote Accomazzo. “No matter what our chosen career, we all long to be witnesses to an intellectually dark world, not simply against its errors, but for the saving truth of God’s Word.”

The PHC Alumni Association is eager to involve this year’s graduating seniors in this volunteer-run organization. The Association’s governing body, the Alumni Board, runs elections at the end of each year, after official nominations for empty spots at the Association-wide meeting during Homecoming, in the fall.

Top 20 Finishers:

18:37 - Joe Pisacreta (#1 man)
19:30 - Joan Hunter (#1 woman)
19:55 - Adam Fisher (#2 man)
20:42 - Jeremy Smith (#3 man)
21:51 - Brady Kauk
22:08 - Suzannah Comfort (#2 woman)
22:23 - Atticus Freeland
22:23 - Colin Black
22:35 - J.C. Cartee
22:50 - Daniel Davies
22:54 - Andrew Lonon
23:27 - Royal Magnell
23:31 - Jared McKinney
23:40 - Andrew Ferguson
23:40 - Tom Kotnik
23:52 - Andrew Hull
24:02 - Paul Janzen
24:04 - Jensen Near
24:06 - Katie Teubl (#3 woman)
25:16 - Joseph Gallop