Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Brice Johnson ’99 finds vocation in Red Cross leadership. Two neighborhoods in St. Paul, Minnesota share streets and a zip code. Interstate 94 runs down the middle, and since the freeway’s construction in the 1950s, the life expectancy between Summit Hill and the historically Black…
Committed to Kuleana
Cheri Souza’s philanthropy leadership is motivated by the responsibility she feels to serve her Hawaiian community. When Cheri Souza ’01, MBA ’03 first stepped onto campus at Pacific Lutheran University, the undergraduate from Hawai‘i could not have imagined her future would include redefining philanthropic efforts…
Parkland’s Advocate
Jani Hitchen ’96 has lived in Parkland for more than 30 years. “I moved here to go to PLU and never left,” she says with a chuckle. Hitchen majored in education and enjoyed a long career teaching in Lakewood’s Clover Park School District and Spanaway…
Parkland’s University: PLU and Parkland share history, common bonds and a vibrant future
PLU President Allan Belton is a morning person. He’s frequently among the first employees to arrive at the Hauge Administration Building, but not before his morning cup of joe. His favorite coffee stand is on South Tacoma Way, the seven-mile arterial that is the economic…
From Eastvold to Broadway: Justin Huertas ’09 and Kiki deLohr ’10 debut on musical theater’s biggest stage
It’s 11 a.m. in Harlem. Justin Huertas ’09 and Kiki deLohr ’10 are feeling loose, relaxed — even a bit silly — as they sip coffee outside Sugar Hill Café. In a few short hours they will make their off-Broadway debuts in a musical written…
The People’s Librarian: Brian Bannon’s passion for democratizing information led him to the New York Public Library
In 1997, Brian Bannon was a PLU senior. An exemplary student, he wrote for The Mast, and was a double major researching social justice through the lens of queer rights movements. One afternoon, Bannon found himself in the office of history professor Beth Kraig, discussing…
Saving the World with a Starship
On day one of PLU Professor of Mathematics Daniel Heath’s Designing a Starship class, students have no idea what they have signed up for — and that’s exactly how Heath wants it. The course is part of PLU’s International Honors Program (IHON), which means it…
Camp Songs: PLU music majors produce free music camp for Parkland students
It’s a warm summer morning and the scent of scrambled eggs drifts from the kitchen at Trinity Lutheran Church into an adjoining room where more than a dozen campers busily make beaded jewelry. Ranging from second to sixth grade, the kids are participants in the…
Questioning Barriers: Angela Pierce-Ngo ’12 understands post-secondary success requires questions
While at PLU, Angela Pierce-Ngo ’12 was worried by a troubling pattern. After the first year of college, many peers and friends — especially classmates of color — left school or took an extremely long break. Even as she worked as a diversity advocate and…
Music and Medicine: Elizabeth Larios ’21 returns to Namibia to research infections and teach marimba
Elizabeth Larios ’21 decided she was going to be a neurosurgeon in the fourth grade. That’s when her class took a field trip to a science museum and Larios saw an exhibit about the human brain. Returning home that day, she told her mom: “I’m…
Simulating for Success
A pair of nursing students in grey scrubs knock on the door, wash their hands, and greet little Jillian, who rests in a bed connected to beeping monitors. The child opens her eyes and whimpers, then coughs. As the students listen to Jillian’s lung sounds,…
No Mud, No Lotus
Social work major April Reyes ’21 loves to talk about her tattoos. She has 13 total, nine of which she received while studying at PLU. She struggles to choose a favorite but says she loves to flaunt the lotus flower on the back of her…