Lester and his teammates fought hard through a lingering double-digit deficit against Linfield College. The Lutes never took the lead that night, and eventually fell to the Wildcats 80-72.

But, despite the score and the frustrations that accompanied it, Lester proved to be the kind of player head coach Steve Dickerson expects first and foremost, basketball game or not.

When an opposing player took a hard fall late in the second half, Lester offered a hand up without hesitation.

That’s the culture Dickerson has built at PLU. Lester’s basketball career might be over, but the positive lessons he learned on the team have “prepared me for the rest of my life,” he said.

“He’s been supportive of me both on and off the court,” said junior Dylan Foreman, who says Dickerson helped him build confidence.

“He’s really kind of helped shape my life,” said sophomore Zac Webb.

And senior Erik Swartout says Dickerson’s team-first mentality has been ever-present throughout his five years as a student athlete at PLU. “He’s made a tremendous impact on me,” Swartout said.

One way Dickerson has taken his mentorship beyond the paint is through Real Life Wednesday, a program that brings professionals to campus to talk with his team about vocation and keys to success after graduation.

Dickerson acknowledges it’s not original (coaches at Ohio State and the University of Washington, to name a couple, have similar programs). But the focus is to give his players a glimpse into the lives of professionals who practice what PLU preaches. “The key is to bring in successful people and reinforce what we do,” Dickerson said.

Despite their success after moving on from college, Dickerson says many of them stay in touch. He attends alumni weddings and sends hand-written letters to acknowledge their major milestones.

After the Lutes’ last game Feb. 17, basketball alumni from all over gathered to honor their coach. Former players traveled from San Francisco, Portland, the Tri-Cities and elsewhere to send him off right. Some purchased T-shirts bearing Dickerson’s likeness, with one of several team mottos on the back: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Cause Haun ’93, pretending to be CEO of a shoe company in a business class at Pacific Lutheran University, was tasked with critically analyzing what would set her brand apart. Quality is key, she determined: better materials and better pay for her imaginary employees.

Two decades later — sitting in the headquarters of the actual shoe company she created, surrounded by its very real employees and adorable, tiny shoes — Haun says her initial business philosophy remains.

“Quality always wins the day,” she said.

Quality is what Haun searched for when she dreamed up the idea to sell children’s shoes, upon realizing the market didn’t cater to moms like her who wanted trendy, healthy footwear for their babies.

And quality is what swiftly landed See Kai Run shoes, named after Haun’s son, on Nordstrom’s shelves not long after the company launched in 2004. “I’ll never forget that moment,” she said of getting the phone call from the luxury retailer, known in part for its shoe selection.

Pete Nordstrom, president of merchandising, had spotted the shoes on the feet of one of the pint- sized guests at a dinner party, Haun said.

That word-of-mouth success is indicative of See Kai Run’s history. The company unexpectedly started with a leisurely trip to China and a frustrated mom.

Then, Haun stumbled upon well-crafted, flexible, rubber-soled shoes that fit the bill during a China trip to visit her husband’s family. So, the couple filled a suitcase full of shoes and brought them home to test the market.

“I remind him every night that it was my idea,” Haun quipped.

Once the shoes started flying off the shelves of consignment shops, they quickly realized the product’s potential.

They developed a partnership with a mom-and-pop manufacturer in China to produce the shoes, the result of a cold-call to a number on a shoe box. They got permission to build upon the original shoe design and incorporate See Kai Run’s first logo — their son’s footprint from the hospital flanked by the company’s name he inspired.

“It was a very small financial investment,” Haun said. “I’m very risk averse.”

“Then, it took off like nobody’s business,” she said.

Well, it took off like Haun’s business. She couldn’t keep up with the fax machine tracking new orders at her home; eventually, the orders no longer fit in the basement.

“We had to make the leap of faith and get an actual warehouse,” she said. “Our house smelled of leather for months after the shoes left.”

The process of building the business was all learn-as-you-go. “People along the way were super friendly,” she said. “It’s a very helpful industry.”

That’s when the call from Nordstrom came, months after Haun’s messages to them went unanswered. She admits that her excitement about the opportunity was immediately followed by fear.

A retired Tacoma resident crafts high-end chef’s knives and fishing poles.

A group of college students venture into a world of virtual reality.

A pair of aspiring entrepreneurs designs a prototype for a new product they’re launching.

Creators can see it all within the walls of FabLab Tacoma, a makerspace about 7 miles from Pacific Lutheran University’s campus. And a Lute is one of the masterminds behind the innovative workshop that invites community members to learn, build and innovate.

“We’re a creative space for artists, tinkerers and entrepreneurs,” said William Davis, a FabLab co-founder who graduated from PLU with a degree in business management and marketing in 2006. “We provide the tools, we provide the knowledge, and we provide some of the resources to get ideas up and off the ground.”

Makerspaces aren’t new to the do-it- yourself landscape. But the for-profit approach employed by FabLab is young, Davis says.

Typically, makerspaces have been affiliated with universities and libraries. FabLab is membership-based. Users pay a monthly fee to use the equipment, which includes 3-D printers, a laser cutter, AutoCAD software, computer-controlled sewing machines, woodworking and welding tools, virtual reality modules and more.

One recent evening, students from the University of Washington Tacoma had the opportunity to test some of the tools. The title of the beginning engineering course was fitting: “How to Make Almost Anything.”

Davis says that’s just what FabLab offers, the ability to let your imagination and creativity run wild (safely, of course). Every time makers come into the space, he says, their minds explode with ideas.

“We have an awesome community here,” he said. “This is a magnet for interesting people.”

Davis says the idea for FabLab came together after a lifetime of tinkering with his godfather, Steve Tibbitts.

“Steve is a serial entrepreneur,” Davis said.

Tibbitts, another FabLab co-founder and an electrical engineer, attended a conference in Silicon Valley, California, several years ago. During his downtime, he visited a massive commercial makerspace and immediately thought something similar would thrive in Tacoma, a do-it-yourself community full of creative minds.

He wasn’t wrong. Since it opened in 2012, FabLab has grown to serve roughly 100 members who sell products on Etsy and at public markets, among other venues. And then there are members who graduated to top-selling status with retailers such as Amazon.

Dustin Smith, a founder of the Tacoma-based company C4 Labs, says his business started as an idea and a prototype in FabLab’s workspace.

“We developed our product with their tools,” Smith said. That product is one of the best-selling cases for the Raspberry Pi, a popular series of single-board computers that promote computer-programming use and education. “I was in there quite a few hours.”

As far as Davis is concerned, “a few hours” is an understatement. “They practically camped out here,” he said of Smith and his business partner.

Smith says FabLab and other makerspaces are vital to the fabric of an innovative community.

Davis said FabLab has community partnerships with organizations such as Tacoma Art Museum and UWT. He hopes to expand those partnerships, including to PLU.

“As we get more and more urbanized, it’s tough for people to get the space they need,” Davis said, especially for creating. He said even folks with the most basic skill set can benefit from the tools available at FabLab.

“I knew nothing,” he said. “When people start to realize how these tools work together, it’s really amazing.”

For example, someone with a passion for remote-controlled cars could come to FabLab and build one. The 4,000-square-foot space has the AutoCAD software to create the model, a 3-D printer to build a prototype based on that model and all the other necessary tools to bring the concept to life.

FabLab also is in good company outside Tacoma. The Obama administration launched an initiative called A Nation of Makers to promote making culture, Davis said. He and Tibbitts were invited to the White House as part of the effort, along with representatives from other makerspaces around the country, to collaborate and discuss the future of the maker movement.

Davis said the future of the initiative is unclear, given the newly elected president. But he said the experience showed him that FabLab isn’t alone in its innovative journey.

“It was huge to know we weren’t a single voice screaming in the wind,” he said.

PLU Professor Leon Reisberg has brought his education students to FabLab. He says many schools are embracing making culture in K-12 education, and aspiring teachers benefit from seeing the educational components at work in the makerspace.

“It opens my students’ eyes to possibilities,” Reisberg said. “It fits really well with project-based learning. Children can learn so many different skills.”

Seeing the cutting-edge infusion of technology in education helps PLU students think about new ways to incorporate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) into learning, he added.

Additionally, Reisberg said makerspaces such as FabLab help address the digital divide that often exists between socioeconomic groups.

“There are people who have access to all kinds of technology, and there are other people who don’t see technology modeled as a tool,” he said. “FabLab opens the door so this kind of opportunity is more available, readily, to all people.”

Mark Mulder, assistant professor of business, also brought PLU students to work with FabLab in 2013. They helped explore marketing opportunities for the makerspace.

Mulder said Davis is a great example of a Lute with a true sense of vocation.

“He has sought different professional positions with major corporations, while serving the community through FabLab and sharing his passion for a space that is so important to this community,” he said.

Davis, standing among the scattered materials of past and ongoing projects, said he now spends much of his time working his day job at Costco. But his work at FabLab, which still includes teaching some classes, energizes his creativity.

He says outdoor adventure means grabbing the minimum amount of gear possible and trying something new.

“It’s for the view, it’s for the feeling,” said de Mars, who says he has a religious moment every time he’s in nature. “This is my church.”

The mountain isn’t just where de Mars plays — it’s also where he works. It’s where he spent a lot of time developing the latest product for his hot sauce company, de Mars’s LLC, which he’s built from the ground up over the past several years — with help, in part, from a business competition at Pacific Lutheran University.

Expedition Sauce packs a strong punch of flavor. It’s unlike any of the name brands favored by spicy-food connoisseurs: the concentrated spice lingers long after tasting even the smallest portion and, as suggested by the list of ingredients on the back of the bottle, the flavor leads with fresh hot peppers.
“It’s great on staple foods,” de Mars said, such as eggs, burritos or sandwiches.

It also livens bland foods often used by climbers and others braving the elements.

So, he tabled law school and started researching. He stumbled across an article about the fastest growing industries, and hot sauce reigned supreme in the world of condiments.

He developed a recipe — after about a half dozen test runs, and multiple rounds of taste testing with friends — and built a business model.

The recipe sticks to its roots as the company continues to expand. “Even as we’ve grown batch sizes, it’s remained stable,” de Mars said.

His products are available through campus restaurants — at Old Main Market and 208 Garfield — bringing his journey full circle, to the place where he learned to embrace his passions and learned his limits as a leader.

“That’s been really valuable,” de Mars said. “It’s been a huge learning process with each country that’s a potential buyer.”

The ultimate goal for de Mars is to create a business that will self-sustain and subsidize his adventures outside of work.

“It’s a lifestyle company,” he said.

His lifestyle is a perfect match for the product he sells. In addition to summiting Mount Rainier six times and climbing peaks around the world, de Mars has participated in the Seattle to Portland bike ride and RAMROD — Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day. He’s also a painter and active in martial arts.

Additionally, de Mars speaks Chinese conversationally, and co-authored a bilingual children’s book series titled “Ping Pong Panda.” The first book in the series came out two years ago; the second was released this year.

Thankfully, her fixation didn’t get too carried away. After moving on with her project using a less-than-perfect alternative, she stumbled upon the piece she longed for.

“Of course, it was too small after all that,” she quipped. “It’s either patience and endurance or we are crazy. I’m still not sure.”

Thousands of keystrokes on a laptop fall short of capturing the essence of the Thorniley Collection of Antique Type, which arrived at its new home on Pacific Lutheran University’s campus earlier this year in the form of a massive donation from WCP Solutions, formerly West Coast Paper.

The collection of typefaces, printing presses and more — which appraised at $311,330 — has elevated PLU’s printing collection to the largest in the Pacific Northwest.

Robinson vividly recalls the first time she saw the Thorniley Collection at its previous home at WCP Solutions in Kent.

She stepped into the room, sunlight glistening off the cabinets, and was struck speechless.

“People had known it was out there, but nobody knew how big it was,” Robinson said. “We absolutely stopped in our tracks. I just gasped.”

Spring invited Robinson that day in 2016, and neither of them anticipated at the time that roughly 90 percent of what they saw would eventually sit in the Wekell Gallery in the back of the PLU arts building.

But Teresa Russell knew for some time the collection needed a new home.

During its time with the paper company, the Thorniley Collection was used sporadically by locals of all ages. Students from elementary schools, Highline Community College and the University of Washington worked with the antique typefaces and equipment.

But Russell said use was infrequent. “It was treated more like a museum,” she said.

Now, PLU is expected to use the equipment regularly — more than it’s been used since Thorniley’s time.

“This is very intentional,” Russell stressed. Otherwise, she noted, pieces could rust or presses could freeze up.

“We should be a magnet for more,” Robinson said. “The more you have, the more you draw.”

In the meantime, PLU students in PPA and graphic design classes have already started using the collection for printing projects. Robinson says she’s excited that students who are interested in the history of the book can see and work with type and presses described in their textbooks.