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Lifelong learning, for herself and the hundreds of “kids” who call her Mama B, is a hallmark of the life of alumna Beth Chaney, who now serves as director of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s ASAP (Associate Accelerated Program) in Kokomo and Logansport.

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Beth grew up in Miami County and graduated from Maconaquah High School. Her own post-high school educational journey began at ������Ƶ, where she earned a technical certificate in dental assisting in 2005. She went right to work in that field, but patient loads dwindled in 2009 as the recession deepened. She returned to ������Ƶ to complete the associate degree she had started in 2001. Beth completed her Associate of Arts degree in General Studies in May 2011. She transferred her credits to Indiana University Kokomo where she completed her bachelor’s degree in the fall of 2012. In the fall of 2018, Beth completed her master’s degree in Adult & Community Education at Ball State University.

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Her career at ������Ƶ grew along with her list of credentials.

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Starting as a switchboard operator when she returned to ������Ƶ in 2009, Beth has served the College in a variety of capacities since then, including Corporate College and Event Center support staff member, assistant to the dean of Nursing and associate director of Financial Aid before taking on the ASAP role. In 2015 when Kokomo was one of the final regions to launch ASAP, Beth was elated to be the person to do it. Since then, she and campus leadership have expanded their program to a second location and have each year increased their number of students enrolled.�� In September 2024, Beth celebrates 15 years of employment with ������Ƶ and hopes to spend her remaining working years at the College.

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“ASAP is my glass slipper. It fits me and I fit it,” Beth says. “There is nothing else I can even imagine myself doing. I feel the roles I’ve served since beginning my career with the College in 2009 have led me to my happy place. How blessed I am to have a career I love, and a life I love, too!”

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Since Kokomo’s ASAP launch in 2015 Beth has mentored and supported nearly 300 students. She calls those students her teenagers and they call her their Mama B, but Beth is the real-life mama to a very sassy 7-year-old Winslow Mae and the partner to a very supportive and easy-going Brandt Finley. Beth’s favorite place to spend her vacation hours is in northern Michigan. She is active in the Miami County community, completing the Miami County Leadership Program in 2022, and regularly speaks before school and community groups about ASAP.

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“I love that I have an ������Ƶ story and a transfer story to share with my students and my community,” she said. “I love my work at ������Ƶ Kokomo because there is always something good going on – a surprise around the corner. I have experienced growth beyond measure – educationally, professionally, and financially – since my first day of employment in September 2009. I ❤ ������Ƶ!”

Mallory Claypool, a 2012 graduate of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Education program who now serves as director of the Lewis Cass Polytechnic Academy in Galveston, is being honored with the ������Ƶ Distinguished Alumni Award for the College’s Kokomo Service Area.

Each year, ������Ƶ Kokomo Service honors a graduate who exemplifies an appreciation of lifelong learning, a dedication to work, and a commitment to community. Claypool will be honored Thursday, Sept. 29, at a ceremony in Indianapolis that will recognize award winners from ������Ƶ’s 19 campuses around the state. ��

“������Ƶ Kokomo is proud to call Mallory Claypool – teacher, husband, father, community volunteer, life-long learner – our 2022 Distinguished Alumnus, Through his efforts bringing together students, higher education and employers throughout north central Indiana, he is making tremendous contributions to our community.”��

Ethan Heicher, Chancellor of ������Ƶ Kokomo

Claypool is in his fourth year as the director of Lewis Cass Polytechnic, a part of the Lewis Cass School Corporation devoted to preparing high school students for jobs of the future focused on science, engineering and math. It’s a job he loves with a passion and one where he changes students’ lives for the better every day. But go back 10 years or so and it’s hardly a job that he ever anticipated filling.

In those 10 years or so, Claypool became a “poster child” for the value of an ������Ƶ education in reimagining one’s life. In 2002, after almost 20 years in the food service industry, jobs that took him all over the country, he and wife Lori settled in Walton to raise their five children. Mallory made what he now describes as “kind of a radical decision.” He decided to return to college to become a math teacher.

He chose ������Ƶ in Kokomo and, in 2012, the veteran restaurant manager graduated with his associate degree in Education. In 2015, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Mathematics Education from WGU and started teaching math and industrial technology classes at Lewis Cass High School before moving to the new Polytechnic Academy. In the meantime, he has completed a master’s degree and nearly all his coursework for a Ph.D. in Technology, both at Purdue University.

Claypool credits ������Ƶ with providing the basis for his new life. “Getting that two-year degree versuswaiting on a four-year reward probably made all the difference,” he said. “It was that milestone, a tangible result, that gave me the confidence to move on from there. ������Ƶ got me to a point I knew I could complete the next degree.”

He now partners with employers and schools across north central Indiana to expand the offerings of the Polytechnic Academy. This includes a partnership with ������Ƶ that allows students to complete a variety of dual credit classes that can move right into jobs or further education.

Claypool isn’t the only career-changing ������Ƶ alum in the family. His wife, Lori, also came back to ������Ƶ as an adult student, earning an associate degree in Early Childhood Education in 2011, the year before Mallory completed his first degree. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Trine University and completed her master’s degree in Social Work while Mallory completed his. She now is a family therapist working for Counseling Partners in Lafayette. Together, the Claypools have raised five children, all of whom have completed or are pursuing college degrees.

To learn more about the Education program

Jovanny Hernandez is a first-generation college student, the first in his family to go on to higher education. While he graduated from Logansport High School with a Core 40 diploma in 2018, he didn’t know how college worked and he was more than a bit apprehensive.

He had heard about ������Ƶ Kokomo’s ASAP program (ASsociate Accelerated Program) and decided to give it a try. At ������Ƶ Kokomo, he found the mentoring, advising, flexible scheduling and enrichment opportunities that translated into success.

“I thought getting an associate degree was worth investing in,” Jovanny told the Logansport Pharos-Tribune in a 2023 interview. He was interested in getting a degree quickly; he expected to go right into the workforce after graduation. ASAP offered the opportunity to earn an associate degree in just 11 months. With that milestone achieved, he figured out how he could afford to finish a four-year degree and transferred his credits to Indiana University in Indianapolis. The ASAP program was the key.

“Since ASAP is very fast-paced and somewhat strict, in a way that benefited me at IUPUI,” Jovanny said. “It helped me with time management. It helped me learn to challenge myself."

Jovanny completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in May 2022, also earning a Certificate in Business Foundations from the I.U. Kelley School of Business. Today, he’s back at ������Ƶ Kokomo as a College Connection Coach/Recruiter, helping students from Caston, Logansport, Pioneer, Rochester, and West Central high schools in their journeys into higher education.

“������Ƶ, as a community college, prepared me for my transition to a four-year university and ASAP was a big part of my growth”��

“Beth Chaney, the ASAP director, really helped me step by step to get from ������Ƶ to IUPUI. Now, as a full-time ������Ƶ employee, I can follow the steps of my mentor helping other students understand that they can start small and still go big.”

Explaining his love for ������Ƶ, Jovanny says he enjoys the opportunities the College offers to the residents of all the communities in the area – whether that is earning a certificate or getting an associate degree. “It is amazing the way ������Ƶ provides great education and builds a welcoming environment,” he said.

And what message does he have for the students he serves? “This world is full of opportunities and will always come with obstacles, but you can do this!” he said. “The faculty and staff are here for any support you may need and will help you get where you need to complete your education. If you believe, you can achieve!”

Community.

Whether it’s ������Ƶ, where she earned an associate degree, or community banking, where she has made a career …

Or her work as treasurer of the Carver Community Center board … or her leadership as executive director of Kokomo Table, a community dinner sponsored monthly to bring people of the Carver neighborhood together for fellowship.

Or her service as a mentor to an elementary school student for five years and counting through the Project 30 program sponsored by Bridges Outreach …

Or her active membership at Reach Church where she leads the K-5 Sunday School class once a month …

Or her leadership in the Northwestern Youth Organization board supporting recreational programs like cheerleading, soccer, softball and baseball at the schools where her 8-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son attend …

“Community” is what motivates Kokomo’s Taylor Mills.

Community service is a calling she found after graduating from Kokomo High School in 2009. She started work on an associate degree in Elementary Education at ������Ƶ, motivated to follow in her father’s footsteps as a teacher. She admits she “fiddled around,” taking a few classes each semester, marrying, starting a family, working at a tanning salon and a beverage kiosk to help pay bills. By the time she finally finished that teaching degree in 2015, a casual conversation with a teller at a bank changed the course of her career path.

The conversation led to Taylor becoming a bank teller herself and the rest is, as they say, history. She found banking – community banking – became her calling. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in General Studies at Indiana University Kokomo (that allowed most of her ������Ƶ credits to transfer), working in microeconomics and some other business and human resource management classes she would put to use in her new profession.

Having finished her bachelor’s degree in 2018, Taylor was hired in early 2019 at First Farmers Bank & Trust.�� “I was specific about what kind of a company I wanted to work for,” she says. “First Farmers was a great fit, a company with a culture and values like mine, a company with leaders who really believe in ‘community.’” Hired as an assistant branch manager, within a year, she was promoted to branch manager. Today she manages the bank’s downtown Kokomo branch and serves as a mortgage loan originator.

While she sports the title of “assistant vice president,” she says, “I just say I work here. I’m just part of the team and I couldn’t do it without my team.

Taylor looks back on her time at ������Ƶ Kokomo with gratitude.

“������Ƶ gave me the courage to step out of my comfort zone,” she says. “I am so thankful for my professors and peers who believed in me and encouraged me to grow into the professional I am today.”

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Taylor says she would recommend ������Ƶ “because of the family atmosphere, the relationships you build with your professors and your peers, the networking you can develop.”

“I loved that camaraderie,” that feeling of community that she says makes the Kokomo community “the best community.” It’s because of the people, she added, people who rally around and help each other, people who genuinely care and show up for each other – in crises like tornadoes or in volunteering for non-profits that help others in need.

Talking about her higher education journey, Taylor said, “It took me 10 years, from starting at ������Ƶ in 2009 to graduating from IUK in 2018, but I’m glad I did it. Even if some years she only took two classes, she made her goal. And she was joined in the journey by husband Jordan, who, while working full time at Subaru, finished a bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana State University.

“It does feel good to have accomplished this despite so many hurdles,” Taylor says. “It was perseverance. We knew we were going to finish what we started.” Now Taylor is thinking about pursuing a graduate program that specializes in community banking.

“I try to make a difference anywhere I can. That’s what I do,” Taylor said, offering her thoughts on encouraging other women. “One thing I’ve learned, you need to know what you bring to the table. Show up and give what you have to give. Don’t doubt yourself. Be confident that what you have to say is valuable. Your ideas need to be heard.”

Going to college may have been somewhere on Fredy Santamaria’s wish list in June of 2015, but it wasn’t anywhere near the top when he and two younger brothers left their home in El Salvador. It was the beginning of what would be a month-long trek from their Central American homeland to seek asylum in the United States.

And, when he arrived in Logansport, Ind., where their family sponsor lived, in July of 2015, he certainly never could have predicted that nine years later he would be a high school graduate who has earned two associate degrees, with honors, and a bachelor’s degree, and is pursuing a master’s degree, all while working fulltime.

Fredy was still 17, his brothers 16 and 14, when the three left their parents and two younger siblings in El Salvador. Tired of living in fear of gangs that prevented them from attending high school, they hit the road for a better life in the United States. Once at the border, they filed for asylum and were allowed to travel on to Logansport, more than 3,000 miles from home.

Fredy left El Salvador six months short of completing high school. With minimal English, he started over at Logansport High School, mastered the new language, and earned a Core 40 diploma in three years. (An honors diploma would have taken another year; while he would have preferred that, Fredy says, he was ready to move on.) Work permit in hand, next would be a job.

“Honestly, I was not even going to college,” Fredy says. Tuition, books, time – college just didn’t seem a realistic destination for the young immigrant. But Beth Chaney, director of the ASAP program for ������Ƶ, had other ideas.

Beth was busy recruiting Logansport High School seniors for the College’s Associate Accelerated Program that offers motivated recent high school graduates the opportunity to earn a “two-year” associate degree in just 11 months. After meeting Fredy, hearing his story, and learning he had already earned 20 hours of college credit through the dual credit program, she went to work. She engaged other faculty and staff in helping to encourage him and putting together the financial resources that would allow him to join the new ASAP cohort at ������Ƶ’s Logansport site.

“It was because of Beth,” Fredy said. “She’s like my second mom. She has helped me a lot ever since I met her. ASAP was a really good experience.”

Fredy made the most of every opportunity, going to school full-time and finishing requirements for an associate degree in Liberal Studies in 11 months, with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He earned Dean’s Award recognition as the 2019 outstanding graduate in Liberal Arts and membership in Phi Theta Kappa national academic honor society

“Fredy is what everybody wants in a student -- kind, reliable, responsible, with an unbelievable work ethic,” Beth said. “He is a tremendous role model for other students.”

With a lifelong interest in computers, and training in computer maintenance and website design that began when he was just 12, Fredy decided his next step would be a computer-related degree. Ready to get into the digital workforce as quickly as possible, he began work on a second associate degree – this one in cyber security – that prepared him for a high-quality, high-wage job when he graduated in May 2020. He collected numerous computer industry certifications attesting to his proficiency in the fields of computer science and cyber security and was one of 17 students statewide honored by the State of Indiana with the 2020 Indiana Award for Excellence for Outstanding Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Student.

Fredy’s ������Ƶ accomplishments are even more admirable considering they were achieved while he continued to work full-time. While in the ASAP program, he worked 12-hour shifts, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., alternating three days one week and four days the next, as a quality technician for HTI, a Logansport business that heat-treats metal parts for manufacturers. Later he worked part-time at La Fiesta, a Hispanic grocery and restaurant in Logansport owned by the family of one of his fellow ASAP students and he served as a student ambassador to recruit Hispanic students within Cass County to enroll at ������Ƶ through the Cole Scholarship Program.

Since his second ������Ƶ graduation in 2020, Fredy has worked first as an IT support technician and now as a software engineer, working on programming and automation for Berry-It, a utility service company based in Kokomo that was founded and is owned by ������Ƶ Kokomo alumnus James Berry. Kevin Bostic, then site lead for ������Ƶ’s Logansport campus, had shared Fredy’s resume with James Berry.

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While working at Berry-It, Fredy has gone on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Data Analytics, both from Western Governors University. Robyn Schmidt, one of his IT instructors at ������Ƶ Kokomo, had recommended WGU.

With ������Ƶ mentors like Beth Chaney, Kevin Bostic, and Robyn Schmidt, Fredy recognizes the value of his community college experience and the importance of networking. He’s busy now expanding his network as a member of the Axis Leadership Program’s Class of 2024 in Indianapolis. Sponsored by the Indiana Latino Expo and the City of Indianapolis, Axis is an eight-month leadership initiative tailored for Latinx professionals between the ages of 21 and 28. It aims to foster personal and professional growth and to equip graduates for civic and community leadership roles. Class participants are carefully selected through a competitive process that considers their community engagement, personal aspirations, and accomplishments.

Fredy and some fellow students are already working on plans for a new group for young Latinx professionals in technology jobs.

The future looks bright. According to Julie Byrd, chair of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Software Development program, Fredy has a great future ahead, citing his work ethic, his dedication to learning, his teamwork, his time management skills, and his contribution to his classes.

“Fredy wants to be technically strong for the future of his career in the information technology industry,” Julie said. “He proves it every day.”

Sometimes life takes a lot of turns before you finally get to that long, straight road to success. That was the case for ������Ƶ alumnus James Berry.

James is the president of Berry It and owner of BerryComm, both Kokomo-based businesses. Combined, their offices have 150 employees and a subcontractor base of another 250 or so. But it wasn’t always that way.

After graduating from Logansport High School in 1995, James took off for a year and worked different jobs. Then came a couple of years working with his dad at Jim’s Auto Sales, where his love for sales was brought to light. In time, he found himself back at square one in the game of life.

A former co-worker told James about good jobs in the “drop bury” business, burying cables and fiber optic connections underground between houses and the street. James bounced around, working for several different companies as a subcontractor. In the meantime, he and his wife, Jamie, had decided to go back to ������Ƶ Kokomo – James in Industrial Technology and Jamie in the Licensed Practical Nursing program. Both graduated in 2002.

For James, he said, the return to school came after the realization that he really needed to do something with his life.

“I’ve always used my hands a lot so the ������Ƶ tool-and-die program was fun for me,” he said. “I was very proud of my degree. I got straight As; I was in Phi Theta Kappa (the national academic honor society for community colleges).”

James decided he wanted to take his skilled trade degree to Caterpillar in Lafayette. He got hired but the week he was to start began with a big layoff and the job disappeared.

“That ended up being a good thing. I started buckling down,” he said.

“I thought – I can go out and make my own pay with what I was doing as a subcontractor. I’m a ditchdigger and what’s wrong with that? There is really good money in dirt,” he added with a laugh. “I was groomed to go to college, but I believe you need to understand there are other opportunities out there to make your own future.”

And make his own future he has. In 2004, he incorporated Berry It, a play on his last name and one that aptly describes the company’s main business. With his last name, he joked, “It was either that or make jelly,” Little by little the company grew, weathering economic slowdowns and employment decisions by big companies they worked for, and expanded into waterline installation, aerial construction, fiber splicing, engineering design, vacuum excavation, and geothermal loops. Today, there are Berry It offices in Kokomo, Lafayette, and Indianapolis and a fourth is opening soon in Fort Wayne.

At various times, his four brothers have worked with the company. Wife Jamie left nursing to raise their four children and then joined the company as well, credited with putting together the policy structure and running the Human Resources side of the business. James said the Berry It team, which now includes the executive directors, is the secret to success, “by finding the right people and putting them in the right seats and allowing them to do their jobs.” He added, “Great employees are the heartbeat of the company.”

Since 2015, sister company BerryComm has been in the business of providing internet services along with the fiber optic networks constructed by Berry It. BerryComm now provides fiber optic internet services to the communities of Walton, Royal Center, Lincoln and Galveston, as well as Lewis Cass Schools, and has expanded into Cicero and Howard County. The company was recently awarded a contract to build a 55-mile fiber ring around Howard County that will provide fiber optic internet to residential and business customers as well as Howard County schools.

“Rural internet service was my heart’s passion before it became the big issue it is now. We are transforming lives one community at a time.”�� James Berry

And that includes getting involved in local charities that have the same goal.

If it sounds like a mission, that’s because it is. “I had been trying to find that kingdom-minded purpose,” James said, describing putting his faith into action. “I have been blessed in life and I want to support anything that is good in helping people.”

He says that even though he didn’t pursue the career path promised by his ������Ƶ degree, he has continued to use the knowledge gained at the community college, whether it’s creating an Excel spreadsheet or outlining a business plan.

“My accomplishments at ������Ƶ were more a question of self-worth,” he said. “It boosted my confidence. It wasn’t the industry I ended up working in life, but it helped me learn it’s important to like what you do, and I love what I do.” And today his businesses employ a number of fellow ������Ƶ graduates.

James and Jamie’s family has grown to include Adrean, husband Cash and their 2-year-old son and new baby; 20-year-old Kyen, a student at Indiana University Kokomo; 17-year-old Koen, a senior at Northwestern High School where he plays basketball and baseball; and 15-year-old Kolten, a sophomore at Northwestern High School where he plays baseball. In his spare time, James says, he’s always ready for a round of golf.

Learn more about the Industrial Technology program

Jared Boone of Wabash, who earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Advanced Automation and Robotics Technology (AART), was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence.

Boone was selected from those students honored with the Dean’s Award in each program who have a 3.5 GPA or higher. Other considerations for this award include leadership, community service, and school involvement.

In nominating Boone for the top student academic honor, Deborah Ku, department chair of the AART program for the ������Ƶ Kokomo Service area, cited his accomplishments in and out of the classroom.

“In his two years at ������Ƶ, Jared earned several certificates and technical certificates on his way to his associate degree and his academic achievements were matched with extracurricular activities that have helped him grow in many ways.”

Deborah Ku, Assistant Professor, School of Advanced Manufacturing

While at ������Ƶ, Boone served as president of the Alpha Phi Pi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa international honor society and was named to the National Society for Leadership and Success. As president of the Student Government Association, he represented Kokomo students as a student member of the ������Ƶ State Board of Trustees, bringing a focus on manufacturing. He also is an emergency medical responder, a certified firefighter and lieutenant in a volunteer fire department.

After an internship through ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Ivy+ Career Link office, Boone has been hired full-time at Mid-State Engineering in Tipton. He has already been promoted to the position of controls engineer, a job that he says would not have been possible without the help he received from faculty and staff. Boone is configuring hardware parameters in robotic systems to effectively manage manufacturing processes in a way that is safe and efficient, a role one faculty member said is usually handled by bachelor-degreed engineers.

To learn more about our Advanced Automation and Robotics program

Bodie Kitchel can’t say enough about the value of his ������Ƶ degree, and neither can his dad, but it wasn’t always that way.

Bodie comes from a family big on education – more specifically Purdue University education. His grandfather, Bob Kitchel, and father, Jon Kitchel, both were known for their basketball skills as students there; his uncle, Kelly Kitchel, played football there and continued as a Purdue sports commentator. The black-and-gold runs deep in these Boilermakers.

But, Bodie says, “I kinda hated school” and when he graduated from Lewis Cass High School in 2009, he announced he wasn’t going to the big school in West Lafayette right away. He convinced his dad the ������Ƶ Pathway to Purdue Agriculture program would be his best option. Bodie was going to pursue a two-year degree in Agriculture at ������Ƶ with plans to transfer later to prepare to join the family’s farming operation on 1,200 acres in Cass County. ��

Bodie did go straight into classes at ������Ƶ Kokomo. He was taking a fulltime load of 15 credit hours a semester and working fulltime at what was then Brodbeck Seeds in Wabash. In February of 2011, just before completing that two-year degree, he married his high school sweetheart, Natalie. Fulltime classes, fulltime job, new marriage… He announced he was done with school.

His father was sure Bodie was limiting his options in life, that he’d never achieve his life’s goals. At the time, who would have predicted that in less than 10 years, his son would be the national director of agronomy for BW Fusion, the premier distributor of Biodyne biological products, and part of the cutting-edge technology team that is applying their understanding of plant physiology, soil chemistry and crop nutrition responses to help farmers across the nation set new production records.

Bodie’s experience at ������Ƶ changed his father’s mind.

“Bodie received several scholarships at ������Ƶ, making his associate degree very affordable,” Jon Kitchel said. “While at ������Ƶ, he successfully completed an internship, and, at graduation, he had several offers for employment.”

And then Bodie ran that ������Ƶ associate degree. He says the key was taking advantage of opportunities to advance his career as they came along, each stop helping him figure out his passions as he went. Through a quick succession of employers in the agricultural industry, he says, “every change I made was an advancement in my career, the next logical step, which led me to where I am today.” And every “next step” in jobs selling seeds, chemicals, and fertilizers helped him realize agronomy was where he could make his mark.

“Looking back,” his father says, “I know success is based on your passion and Agriculture and Agronomy have always been Bodie’s passion. Today Bodie is very successful and works for a company that is changing agriculture.”

As national director of agronomy for BW Fusion, Bodie is involved in research into new nutrient management products for a wide variety of crops – from corn and soybeans to peanuts and cherry trees – on farms across the United States and into Canada. He finds himself working with people in comparable roles at other companies who have master’s degrees and doctorates.

“I came out of ������Ƶ with a two-year degree and two years of fulltime working experience,” Bodie says. “People gave me a chance based on that. It’s easy to place so much emphasis on the ‘paper’ but they looked past that and gave me the opportunity.”

Bodie Kitchel

Bodie believes the industry is seeing a paradigm shift in what employers value in an employee.

“In the last generation, it was the degree – and where it was from a benefit,” Bodie says. “Now employers are looking for traits in people rather than a piece of paper.”

Now, Bodie says, his father is ������Ƶ greatest cheerleader.

“Bodie’s experience was my introduction to ������Ƶ and it changed my opinion about higher education, Jon says. “Due to his success, my daughter Laramie followed his path and got her Ag degree from ������Ƶ too.

“I share the value of ������Ƶ any time I get a chance,” he continued. “Annually I invite Denver Muhs, an adjunct faculty member in ������Ƶ’s Ag program, to bring his students out to our family farm and I share with those students the success they can have with an ������Ƶ degree.”

Bodie’s job takes him around the country – in person and via BW Fusion’s “Digging In” video series on YouTube, where he shares crop production insights with a broad audience. But his heart remains in Cass County – on the family farm where he can occasionally jump on a tractor and do some work and with Natalie and their three children, 5-year-old Oaklyn, 3-year-old Beckham, and 1-year-old Mila Jade.

“I’m doing what I love, walking the fields and doing agronomy,” Bodie says. His advice for students today? “Find something you’re passionate about and then don’t make the mistake of racking up thousands of dollars in debt at a four-year school. ������Ƶ offers an affordable degree that allows you to mature as an individual and figure out what you want to do and where you want to be.”

To learn more about our Agriculture program

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Chris Armstrong is the embodiment of an ������Ƶ alumnus who carries into her professional life the college’s mission of changing lives. Building on 14 years of non-profit leadership roles and four years as community development director for the City of Logansport, she works to make Logansport a better community every day.

Since graduating from ������Ƶ in 2009 with an Associate of Science in Business Administration, Chris has continued a career of service within the community and she’s always looking for ways to help others. She is recognized as a driving force in Logansport by executives, city government officials, leaders of professional and civic organizations, and local businesses.

Chris has served as executive director of the United Way of Cass County for more than eight years. Prior to that, her service to the community included four years as the community development director for the City of Logansport under Mayor Ted Franklin and nearly seven years as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cass County.�� According to Mayor Franklin, “Chris has an outstanding reputation of being a good servant of the community, and she is the kind of person who represents the city well.”

Chris and her family are very active in the Logansport/Cass County community. She has served as president of the Logansport Noon Kiwanis, vice president of the Logansport Cass County Chamber board of directors, and vice president of the Cass County Tourism and Visitors Bureau board. She has volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way and served as a chamber ambassador.

Along the way, Chris earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Trine University in 2014.

Chris’s active engagement in the community has been recognized with various awards. In 2009, she was named the Chamber Ambassador of the Year; in 2010, she was honored as the Chamber Business Woman of the Year; and in 2011, she graduated from the Cass County Community Leadership Academy. In 2012, she was honored with ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Distinguished Alumni Award. She considers ������Ƶ an important part of her journey and a great asset to the people of Cass County.

“������Ƶ provided me the opportunity to earn my associate degree while working full-time and being a mother of two,” Chris said. “The class schedules and online classes were a great fit for me. While this was more than 10 years ago, ������Ƶ still plays a great role in our community with a beautiful campus and many ways to earn a degree!”

She has supported the College and its students as a member of the Circle of Ivy women’s philanthropic organization since 2016.

Chris and Gary, her husband of 36 years, have two grown children – Brock, a graduate of Manchester University, served five years in the United States Air Force, and is now a pilot. Karli, a graduate of Purdue University with a degree in Psychology, is currently getting her MBA at Purdue University and works for United Way of Cass County.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

“Awesome.” “Fantastic.” “Super-responsive.” “Creative.” “Talented.” “Beyond organized.” “A team player.”

And winner of the “2022 Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence” as the outstanding member of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Class of 2022.

All these descriptions from ������Ƶ faculty and staff fit Allison Salkie of Greentown, who received her Associate of Applied Science degree in the Business Operations, Applications, and Technology (BOAT)program. But another interesting descriptor is 2020 recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film/Video & Theatre Production from Purdue University.

Perhaps it was the time of her Purdue graduation – December 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. Perhaps it was the pull of her “servant’s heart” described by her program chair. Perhaps it was her love of family and home. Perhaps all of it.

By her own account, she’s still “super passionate” about film and theater. (She remains an active and award-winning part of Marion CSA Civic Theater and is a video editing consultant for the VIP Center for Business Women in Indianapolis.) But she knew she didn’t want to move to California to pursue those interests as a career. With her bachelor’s degree earned and an interest in business, she decided to go back to school, to pick up a few classes. It grew into so much more.

Allison admits she was surprised by what she found at ������Ƶ – the quality, caring teachers like BOAT Chair Barb McFarland, all the opportunities for activities and learning more about herself. A graduate of Eastern High School who grew up in Greentown, she realized she felt she had come back to her roots with the small class sizes and a family feel. “There’s always this idea to move to bigger cities, to do the next big thing,” Allison says. “Everyone’s life looks different. This is where I want to be.”

Once at ������Ƶ, she jumped in with both feet. First, of course, were her academics. In her two years at ������Ƶ, she completed her degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA and racked up a lengthy list of certifications topped by the achievement of Microsoft Office Specialist – Expert. Armed with her knowledge and a desire to help others, she served as a tutor to fellow students in the BOAT program, holding regular office hours in the Learning Resource Center. Then, there were her activities. As Campus Activity Board assistant to Student Life Director Dani McQuaide, she worked on both the regular student and Wellness Wednesday newsletters, created virtual programming such as “mystery trips,” developed a Days of Service project, and was active with Campus Christian Outreach. She also graduated from ������Ƶ’s Student Leadership Academy.

“Coming to ������Ƶ was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. You take creativity and business, put them together, and you can do a lot of amazing things,” Allison says. “I think, looking back, I would have started with community college. I think there are big benefits in starting with community college.”

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And now she shares her experiences and her expertise with today’s ������Ƶ students as academic advisor for the School of Arts, Sciences, Education. She’s a great advocate for the College.

“������Ƶ Kokomo offers students the flexibility needed to continue their education,” she said. “Whether you join the ASAP program and complete your degree in a year or take one class at a time, ������Ƶ Kokomo supports students and helps them achieve their degree.”

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And, as an employee, Allison continues to share her talents and creativity. When the Student Services staff decided to recreate “The Wizard of Oz” as part of ������Ƶ Day 2024, who but Allison was able to figure out how to wrap herself in a quantity of gray tulle to create a whirling Midwestern tornado.

Transformation. It’s more than a word at ������Ƶ. It’s a goal, a commitment … and for students like Lyndsey Stewart, a life-changing reality.

Stewart will graduate from ������Ƶ Kokomo on May 12 and by her own account, “������Ƶ has been the largest transformation I have ever had.” Along with an Associate of Science in Business Administration degree, she’s leaving with experience, confidence, accomplishment and prospects she could never have imagined when she began her ������Ƶ journey two years ago.

A native of Logansport who now lives in Walton, Stewart is a 2015 graduate of Pioneer Junior-Senior High School in Royal Center. After high school, she joined the United States Navy, serving on the maintenance crew on the U.S.S. Nimitz, an aircraft carrier and one of the largest warships in the world, then stationed at Bremerton, Wash. Then came a stint in maintenance at the Tyson plant in Logansport. When she came to ������Ƶ, although she had never worked in a professional environment, she was interested in learning more about business careers. Looking for part-time employment on campus, she was encouraged to apply for an internship with ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Resource Development office. She was surprised when she was accepted, but it has meant the world to her future.

Looking at her today two years later, you see a confident young member of the Resource Development team, one who eagerly communicates with donors; who can step in front of any crowd and share her thoughts; who helps plan and execute events; who has helped the Student Government Association create a new scholarship; and who, on her own initiative, has created a partnership with Valvoline that offers a 15 percent discount on services to ������Ƶ students, faculty and staff. Hard to imagine the shy, anxious woman she was, the one who broke out in hives when it was time to stand in front of her Public Speaking class and present.

Without the Resource Development team of Kelly Karickhoff, Miriam Thomas and Patti Moore, Lyndsey says, “I wouldn’t be where I am today. They definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, in a positive way.” She also credits Kim King, her Public Speaking instructor, for “the new Lyndsey.”

Kelly Karickhoff, executive director of Resource Development for ������Ƶ’s Kokomo Service Area, is excited to talk about Stewart’s transformation.

“Every year, Resource Development selects one student to serve as a ‘student fundraising associate,’ a paid internship opportunity to work 10 hours a week with the Resource Development team to thank donors,” Karickhoff said.

“Our donors love to hear from our students and Lyndsey has written hundreds of thank you notes sharing the impact of their giving from a student’s perspective. She has watched the generosity of so many donors who believe and invest in our students and will pay it forward in the future. “

Kelly Karickhoff, Executive Director of Resource Development

“My internship at ������Ƶ has truly inspired me for my future,” Stewart said, “and I loved raising money to help my fellow students afford a quality education.”

While at ������Ƶ Kokomo, Stewart has racked up the accomplishments – selection for Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, which she served as vice president of communication, and National Society of Leadership and Success��(NSLS). She also has served as secretary of the Student Government Association (SGA).

“Lyndsey has become an important part of our team,” Karickhoff noted. “We have watched her grow professionally in this role and we believe she is ready to transfer on to finish her bachelor’s degree, enter the workforce and have great success. “

With her associate degree in hand, Stewart is looking at options in four-year schools where she can pursue a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resources.

“I wanted to pursue my degree to show that anyone is capable of anything regardless of their background,” she has said. “If you want something bad enough, you will push to get where you want to be in life.”

She also credits her parents, Jimmy and Donna Stewart, who “never let me quit anything in life,” and sister Cami Stewart, “because I know I have always been a role model to her,” for pushing her to continue her education, along with her grandparents and “bonus family” inside and outside of ������Ƶ.

“I give a lot of my success here to those around me,” she said. “I am forever humble for all that I have accomplished because I was never alone. People were always supporting me.”

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On May 12, Stewart will share her story as a student commencement speaker.

“Without ������Ƶ, I know I would not have the steppingstones that I will need after graduation,” she says. “I had barriers that became accomplishments, and I am forever thankful for ������Ƶ.”

To learn more about our Business Administration program

Kokomo native Desmon Williams comes from a “factory family.” And following his father before him and three of his four siblings, his first stop after graduating from Kokomo High School in 1999 was the manufacturing floor of a Chrysler plant.

“I graduated on Friday and started at Chrysler on Monday,” Williams says. He figured he’d make it a career, heading for the “30 and out” early retirement plan that made the United Autoworkers job so attractive. That wasn’t to be. He had worked there for about seven years when the Great Recession loomed. With his wife LaShaya happy in her job as a schoolteacher in Kokomo, he took a buyout and left Chrysler rather than relocating to a plant in another city.

After a couple of “odds and ends” jobs, in 2010, Williams was hired by Haynes International for another factory floor position.

“When I started at Chrysler, I was 19. I didn’t know much,” he says. Over the next seven years, he had learned about working in a UAW plant and now had to learn the ways of the United Steelworkers union. It didn’t take long for the vocal new employee to get involved; he soon became a shift committeeman. He got elected to the union local’s executive board and was tapped to be on the negotiating team.

“That experience really opened my eyes,” Williams remembers. “There were a lot of aha moments as we negotiated employment policies. I felt I wanted to know more.

“I decided I never wanted to leave my destiny in someone else’s hands,” he continues. “I decided I wanted a degree so I will never be in the position where I didn’t have something to fall back on.”

LaShaya started filling out his ������Ƶ application as Williams wrapped up negotiations that summer. Once admitted, Williams met with ������Ƶ adviser Chad Lewis; together they determined Williams’s interest would lead to a Business Administration degree.

“I was nervous,” he says about starting classes in the fall of 2018. “I was 38 years old and hadn’t been in school for 20 years.”

But business professor James Fitzgerald, who became a mentor to Williams, says he never saw a hint of nerves. “Desmon walked in and he commanded the room,” Fitzgerald says. “He was the person who made sure group projects got done.

“Desmon was a very smart, determined reliable and goal-oriented student who demonstrated leadership qualities. Determination, consistency, and focus are keys to his educational success.”

James Fitgerald, Professor

Williams was known for always being on time, taking seat at the front of the classroom, sharing his 20 years of experience in the workforce. “Sometimes I talked too much,” Williams says with a laugh. “I didn’t want to be the teacher’s pet, but I was interested. I enjoyed it.”

Williams appreciated ������Ƶ’s small class sizes, the support of faculty and staff, and having teachers like James Fitzgerald who brought years of experience in the business world into his classes. Williams became comfortable discussing where the lessons from his textbooks diverged from his real-world experience.

When Heather Bartrum was a student at ������Ƶ Kokomo, the professor leading the Surgical Technology program knew she had a lot of potential.

“Heather was a great student,” says program chair Jia Hardimon-Eddington. “She jumped right in. She worked hard. She helped other students and she contributed to everyone’s success. I knew she would be a great ‘surg tech’ and I’m so proud of all she is doing.”

Today, nearly 11 years after graduation and certification, Bartrum does work full-time as a surgical technologist, serving as “private scrub” for Dr. Thomas Reilly, an orthopedic surgeon in Kokomo who specializes in the care of patients with spinal and nerve disorders of the neck and back, and working at the Indiana Spine Group in Carmel. It’s a job she loves … but not one she ever thought about before a life-changing mid-life accident and a spiritual “battle” that led her to ������Ƶ.

Bartrum was born and raised in Howard County. After graduating from Western High School in 1992, she attended Indiana University Kokomo for a year before going to work, first as an “eye tech” at New Vision Optical and then as a teller at First National Bank. Marriage came in 1996; a daughter arrived in 1997 and a son followed in 2000. She was a full-time mom, later working part-time at Northwestern Schools when the youngest went to kindergarten.

Then, in 2008, came that life-changing accident. While washing her dad’s pick-up truck, she fell from the back and shattered her leg. “Surgery … and three months, no weight bearing. It was a humbling experience,” Heather remembers. “That’s when God first spoke to me. He told me to go into surgery. I was called to help other people going into surgery.”

Bartrum says she fought the idea for months, but, she adds with a smile, God eventually won and her faith took her forward. She had been out of high school for more than 15 years; she says she didn’t think she was smart enough. She knew nothing about surgical technology or what it entailed, but she came to ������Ƶ to see what was available and was soon enrolled in the pre-requisite courses for the program.

“The professors were all phenomenal,” she said, remembering among others a great math teacher and her English professor, Ethan Heicher, who is now ������Ƶ Kokomo’s chancellor. “I wasn’t just a number in the class. The professors helped me. I got into some great study groups.”

With her pre-reqs achieved, Bartrum was admitted into the surg tech program, then located in one room in the Inventrek building on East Firmin Street. She recently visited ������Ƶ’s new Surgical Technology laboratory in the Health Professions Center on the transformed campus at 1815 E. Morgan St. and talked about her very different experience.

“Oh, my gosh, it would be awesome to go through the program as a student in this new facility,” Bartrum said. “They get so much more hands-on experience. We had a big classroom but the lab was very small, just one bed to practice on …” The new Surg Tech lab includes four surgical suites fully outfitted in current technology that offer training opportunities to the same number of students that were in Heather’s class.

“Jia helped me a lot,” Bartrum said. “When I started, I didn’t do very well testing. Jia would go over the tests with me afterwards. I could answer the questions when talking to her and she helped me figure out what I needed to do to capture the correct answers on the tests.” She also credits the partnerships ������Ƶ has with local medical facilities to offer clinical rotations and internships, particularly citing Joyce Hughes, now retired, who, as Heather’s preceptor at Dukes Memorial Hospital, provided great experience.

Bartrum graduated from the program in 2012, 20 years after graduating from high school, earning an Associate of Applied Science degree in Surgical Technology and passing her certification exam on the first try. She was hired as a certified surgical technologist at St. Joseph Hospital and within six weeks was working with Dr. Reilly.

Bartrum offers two pieces of advice to those who follow her. First, always verify the sizes and dates of equipment and material used in the operating room; don’t rely on others. Second, “if you ever mess up, don’t beat yourself up. Write it up, think about how you can do it better and then don’t ever do that again.”

She encourages others to follow their dreams. “By the grace of God, a lot of studying and determination, and pushing yourself, you can do it,” she says. In addition to her “day job,” Bartrum works with her father raising cattle and has been involved with 4-H in Howard and Carroll counties.

“I just love my job. I feel like I’m doing something not just for the person going into surgery but also for my community. As I’ve told my kids, a job is something you get and have to go to. A career is something you don’t mind getting up and going to every day, something you enjoy and that is fulfilling to you. I love my job and I don’t regret anything. There are days that are hard, that you’re tired and worn out and your body hurts. But I am blessed.”

Heather Bartrum

Find out more about our Surgical Technology program

Lavell Brown used to mow grass and drive garbage trucks through the city of Kokomo.

Today, he assists surgeons in the operating rooms at Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo and Community Howard hospitals.

This remarkable transformation shows how a determined individual can reassess his position in life, create a new career goal, and then use ������Ƶ to help make a dream a reality.

Like many adults who change course mid-career, helping in surgery is a different world from Lavell’s original dream of fielding ground balls.

“I worked for the City of Kokomo for 18 years driving a garbage truck before deciding to continue my education,” Lavell says. “Now I assist some of the most talented and gifted surgeons in the state of Indiana for a living. Today I have the opportunity to help people through surgical interventions, to do what I love on a daily basis. The relationships I have built with my colleagues and mentors along the way will last a lifetime. I believe this is the definition of success and ������Ƶ Helped me to define it – and achieve it.”

“After graduating from Kokomo High School, I attended Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., on a sports scholarship with aspirations of playing professional baseball,” Lavell says. “After two years of study though, I realized it was not in my future to play baseball for a living.”

Lavell attributes this realization to a combination of factors, including life circumstances and his own maturity level at the time. Changing course brought him back to Indiana and he went to work as a heavy equipment/refuse operator for the City of Kokomo.

“I was employed there for 18 years,” Lavell says. “I did everything from mowing the grass in the city parks to picking up trash in city alleyways. It was a great job that provided for me and my family, but I knew I wanted more.”

He’d never lost an early interest to work in the medical field. Although neither tuition assistance or any sort of reimbursement was available through his work at that time, having a full-time day job did provide him with options in terms of re-starting his education. He decided to go back to school; the opportunity as a part-time student at ������Ƶ with evening classes was just what he needed. “I needed the flexibility and convenience at that time in my life because I still needed to work and provide a living for my family while continuing my education,” he says.

At ������Ƶ, Lavell found a strong support systems for adult students like him. He credits faculty and staff alike for helping him navigate the college roadmap and for taking time to be available when he needed their guidance. He says he was “very fortunate” to have had access to such a quality education.

“All of my classmates were great and the instructors were second to none,” he says. “The pinnacle of my educational experience was being accepted into the Surgical Technology program, receiving an academic scholarship, and graduating with a degree in Surgical Technology. Needless to say, the program was awesome and prepared me to succeed in the challenging, innovative world of surgery.”

Lavell received his ������Ƶ degree in Surgical Technology, magna cum laude, in 2014. A fully qualified Certified Surgical Technologist, he has a successful professional career and works in three surgery departments at the two Kokomo hospitals. He is a proud ������Ƶ alumnus and encourages prospective students to consider ������Ƶ as a great place to start – or even start over! Today, Lavell is back on campus as an adjunct instructor, sharing his knowledge and experience with students aspiring to be surg techs.

Catherine Hightower Valcke, a member of the ������Ƶ Kokomo Class of 1981 and a long-time leader in higher education in the Kokomo area, is being honored this year with the ������Ƶ Distinguished Alumni Award for the College’s Kokomo Service Area. The awards will be presented Nov. 10 at a gala event at the J.W. Marriott in Indianapolis celebrating the College’s 60^th��anniversary.

The awards are presented annually by each of ������Ƶ’s 19 service areas to honor a graduate who exemplifies an appreciation of lifelong learning, a dedication to work, and a commitment to community.

“We are proud to honor Cathy Valcke as she truly has exemplified these values throughout her career. In her 25 years on the staff at Indiana University, she has distinguished herself in service to higher education and to the community.”

Dr. Ethan Heicher, chancellor of the ������Ƶ Kokomo Service Area.

As director of External Relations & Public Affairs at IU Kokomo since 2014 until her recent retirement, Valcke has been a vital figure in advancing the community through the State of Indiana’s READI grant process and other work on economic development boards, Heicher noted. She has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, including a recent effort focused on food insecurity in the Kokomo community. She is, he said, a great ambassador for higher education and a great partner to ������Ƶ, joining in many of the College’s community events.

������Ƶ played a pivotal role in Valcke’s long journey in higher education.

As a child, Valcke’s family moved often, but she returned to Kokomo, the city of her birth, after graduating from high school in Mount Morris, Ill., in 1976 and completing a year of college in Chicago. She soon started taking classes at IU Kokomo.

Among her goals was to earn her bachelor’s degree without student loans. So, while attending IUK, she also enrolled at ������Ƶ; she figured if she needed to work, she might as well get the skills she needed for a��good��job through a short-term program at the community college. In May 1981, she earned a technical certificate as a medical assistant and moved directly into working fulltime for the doctor’s office where she served her externship.

For the next 13 years, she worked for Kokomo podiatrist Dr. Ted Clarke, who encouraged Valcke’s educational goals. While working for Dr. Clarke, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from IU Kokomo in 1989, 11 years after she began … and with no student debt. She later earned a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration & Student Affairs from IU Bloomington.

Valcke began her career in higher education as director of placement at Indiana Business College from 1996 to 1998. She joined IU Kokomo as director of alumni relations and public affairs in April 1998, a position she held for 13 years, and served as the campus’s human resources director for three years. She has been honored with IU Kokomo’s Distinguished Service Award, IU’s Bicentennial Medal, and the IU Alumni Association President’s Award for her many contributions to the university and its students.

Jennifer Hindman, a 1997 graduate of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s EMT program who now serves as vice president and chief operating officer of Community Howard Regional Health, has been honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award by ������Ƶ.

Each year, the ������Ƶ Kokomo Service Area honors a single alumnus or alumna who exemplifies an appreciation of lifelong learning, a dedication to work, and a commitment to community. Hindman was honored Dec. 2 at a����that recognized award winners from ������Ƶ’s 19 campuses around the state and at a luncheon in Kokomo Monday, Dec. 6.

“These individuals are examples of how ������Ƶ can change lives,” said ������Ƶ President Sue Ellspermann during the statewide recognition. “Whether they went on to pursue additional education or went straight to the workforce, our distinguished alumni make a difference in our communities every day. We are proud and honored to be part of their stories.”

Asked to summarize in one word the impact ������Ƶ has had on her life, Hindman said, “For me, ������Ƶ was a catalyst. My degree was the accelerant that I needed to continue to further my education and complete my bachelor and master’s degrees.

“Without the completion of my degree, I simply would not have had the professional growth opportunities in my healthcare career. And what I found was that ������Ƶ can be fuel for your personal change. And that they will partner with you to help you find a path to success that works with and for your future goals.”��

Jennifer Hindman

As vice president and chief operating officer, Hindman helps lead the hospital where she started as a paramedic in 1997. While working there, she returned to ������Ƶ Kokomo at the urging of her late aunt Peggy Hanes, who at the time was director of student success at the College, and completed an associate degree in Paramedic Science in 2006.

Hindman went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Kokomo and then a dual-major master’s degree in Adult and Community Education and Executive Leadership for Public Service from Ball State University.

As she earned degrees and gained experience, she continued to move up at Community Howard, holding the positions of EMS coordinator and director of professional and organizational development, then business operations, and then human resources before taking the role of vice president and chief operating officer. She served as an adjunct faculty member for the College of Business at Manchester University and is a 2019 alumna of the prestigious Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series.

As chief operating officer, her main responsibilities have included providing for and supporting a unified culture and infrastructure; coordinating between personnel, structure, and the organization’s strategic plan; providing necessary support for all operations; providing guidance to deliver on the vision for Community Health Network; and ensuring organizational business outcomes and accountability.

The list of the community organizations Hindman serves includes the Howard County Chamber of Commerce Council, the Howard County Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Business Council and Turning Point Systems of Care Board of Directors. Hindman has been connected to the ������Ƶ Kokomo Campus Transformation Project through her role at the hospital. In recognition of her contributions to the community and the hospital, she has been honored with the Kokomo Chamber Women’s Business Council Excellence in Leadership and the Community Howard Regional Health Leader of the Year awards.

In nominating her for this award, ������Ƶ Kokomo Trustee and 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award winner Karen McLean described Hindman as “a remarkable woman who is an excellent representative of Community Howard Regional Health and all organizations where she serves as a volunteer,” with many talents and skill sets that she willingly shares.

A native of Grant County, Hindman now lives in Tipton County with her husband, Cameron. They are the parents of Conner Hindman and the late Cale Hindman.

To learn more about our Paramedic Science program...

Kokomo native Mike Dukes has two lifelong hobbies – comic books (Spiderman is his favorite super hero) and tabletop role-playing games (think Dungeons and Dragons) – but it wasn’t until he came to ������Ƶ Kokomo that he found a way to turn those passions into a career.

Now the “digital media specialist” for the City of Kokomo, Mike spends his work days taking photographs for use in print and web publications, videoing events and programs, designing motion and print graphics, creating video programs for both the web and broadcast, and maintaining all the city’s video equipment and related technology. It’s a long way from nearly 10 years working quality assurance for Tyson Foods and Delphi.

Industrial work had seemed the thing to do after graduating from Kokomo High School. It was monotonous to the amateur artist but it paid the bills. It was a layoff from the factory that opened the doors to two years of college paid for through the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program and Mike ran with the opportunity.

Enrolling in ������Ƶ, Mike first thought he’d major in industrial technology but after he learned about the College’s Visual Communications program – and the chance to study graphic design – he was hooked on a new direction. “Both comics and role-playing games heavily involve graphic design,” Mike said. “I asked if I could change my major and it was approved. ������Ƶ offered the chance to learn the software that would allow me to create.”

Mike said he loved being at ������Ƶ and took the advice of his TAA counselor at the unemployment office. “We had monthly check-ins. He told me to sit in the front row, always do the best I could do,” he said. “I took that to heart.” More than a dozen years out of high school, Mike ended up at the top of his class, earning Phi Theta Kappa honor society membership and the Outstanding Student Award when he graduated in 2010.

He took advantage of opportunities for independent study, getting real-world experience that applied toward his degree and built his resume. In his first semester, he designed a 328-page book in support of a role-playing game developed by a friend. Mike served as a lab assistant as a student and as an adjunct instructor after his graduation. And, at the recommendation of program chair Kyle Wiley, Mike had his first official “visual communications” job as a prepress graphic designer at Humphrey Printing by the time he transferred to Indiana University Kokomo. There he completed a bachelor’s degree in New Media (where he also was named the program’s outstanding student) in 2013.

Degrees in hand, Mike has been able to create a new career with every opportunity to exercise his imagination and creativity, becoming a one-person production crew. Among the credits on his resume: Creative director or art director for several design studios, photographer/videographer for the Kokomo Herald, and owner of his own production company that creates “Gaming on Geek Street,” live-action shows of people playing role-playing games shared on YouTube. His work is featured weekly in the city’s “Pet of the Week” project for the Kokomo Humane Society and his drone skills have resulted in valuable footage of the Seiberling Mansion and ������Ƶ’s Kokomo Campus transformation project.

The COVID-19 pandemic offered even more opportunities. In his city job, Mike helped develop the technological capabilities that allowed city and county officials to share community-wide updates via live-streaming. “With everything shut down, we had to find new ways to get information out,” he said. “It involved a lot of IT (information technology) work, with computers and cameras and lights and microphones, to make that work.”

Another product of the pandemic resulted in Mike’s credits as camera operator and producer for a an episode of the Amazon Prime series “A Toy Store Near You.” What became Episode 4 of Season 2 focused on Kokomo Toys, a mecca for toy lovers from all over the world found on East Sycamore Street in downtown Kokomo. When the professional film crew was blocked from travel, Mike was recruited to handle filming, lighting, drone piloting, capturing audio and arranging talent for the episode.

“What do I like best about my job with the city?” Mike repeated the question and answered with glee: “I get paid to create.” Speaking about the impact of his experience at ������Ƶ, he said, “Every time I look back, I know I’m just barely scratching the surface of what I know I want to do.” And as he looks forward to advances in technology, to the promises and challenges of artificial intelligence, he sees a future with exciting possibilities.

To learn more about the Communications program

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Today, Kokomo native – and ������Ƶ Kokomo alumna – Karen McLean serves as public affairs and economic development manager for Northern Indiana Public Service Company. In that role, she manages NIPSCO’s external public affairs and leads charitable giving in a 10-county region that includes most of ������Ƶ’s Kokomo Service Area. She also works with local communities and economic development organizations to support new business investments and job creation in the area on behalf of what is the largest natural gas distribution company, and the second largest electric distribution company, in the state.

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The position builds on a career that started when Karen was a small-business entrepreneur, owner of The Gallery, a studio in Kokomo that specialized in art, framing, and interior design. Recognizing the need to expand her knowledge if the business was to grow and prosper, Karen enrolled in ������Ƶ, earning an Associate of Applied Science degree in computer programming technology in 1989. She put that degree to good use, increasing revenue by 40 percent and developing and implementing a computer inventory system that enhanced the business’s profitability.

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Committed to the value of lifelong education, Karen went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, with summa cum laude honors, from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2011. She also is a 2014 graduate of the ������Ƶ co-sponsored Leadership Kokomo program, where she enthusiastically supported the program’s focus on business professionals giving back to the community.

Karen has a long career in business development, operations management, and community relations. After several different jobs, including as a project supervisor for a home construction firm, she put all her talents and experience to work as the events and operations manager of the Greater Greenwood (Ind.) Chamber of Commerce. In 2013, she returned to Kokomo to serve as Alliance and Chamber operations manager of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance (GKEDA) and the Greater Kokomo Chamber of Commerce. This role offered the opportunity to be professionally involved in virtually every business, industry and non-profit entity in the community, including ������Ƶ.

Dedicated to the community-building mission of the Alliance and Chamber, she worked to add new Chamber members, reengage others, and add programming that supported growth and progress in the Kokomo and Howard County. She built on her understanding of the importance of person-to-person connections and relationship-building as cornerstones for economic development.

When Karen was honored with the ������Ƶ Kokomo Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, then-campus president Michelle Simmons said, “With her history of personal business success and her service to her community through her leadership of the Chamber of Commerce, Karen embodies both the spirit of ������Ƶ and the excellence to which we want our graduates to aspire.”

Karen’s connections to ������Ƶ Kokomo have only grown since she joined NIPSCO in 2016.

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In 2018, she took the lead role as chair of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s ambitious #THETIMEISNOW capital campaign. Under her leadership, a committee of dedicated volunteers worked to raise $3 million to complete a $43 million transformation of ������Ƶ’s Kokomo Campus. In 2021, she was named to the ������Ƶ Kokomo Campus Board of Trustees.

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“I think of the word ‘passion’ whenever I talk about ������Ƶ,” Karen said. “It’s why I was part of the capital campaign. I have great passion for ������Ƶ because of my background. I came to ������Ƶ as a returning adult student and my life changed. My ������Ƶ associate degree became the foundation for the many opportunities and great career that have followed.”

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She noted the critical role ������Ƶ fills in Indiana’s workforce development. The power of the College, she says, is in developing the workforce needed to power Indiana’s economy into the future.

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“People are excited about the opportunities this new campus is bringing to their businesses, to ������Ƶ students, to the community,” Karen said. “It’s so much more than brick and mortar. It’s a way to show all that ������Ƶ is doing and can do … to support workforce development and improve life in the Hoosier State.”

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Rachel Richter has discovered all the similarities between two very different careers, courtesy of a life-changing visit to ������Ƶ’s Peru office.

Richter now is a surgical nurse, a “circulator” in the operating rooms at Parkview Hospital in Wabash. As one of her nursing preceptors told her, the job would be the hardest thing she’d ever done – and, as Richter says, “He’s right … and I love it.”

As circulator, Richter stays outside the sterile field of the operating table where the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and the surgical technologists are plying their trades on behalf of the patient lying there. As circulator, Richter is there to handle any problems that arise.

“Let’s say you have a surgeon and an open patient, and something isn’t working right with the equipment,” she said. “The circulator, the one outside the sterile field, is the one who assesses the problem, finds it, and fixes it quickly.” It’s a vital job that’s ever changing – and requires rapid problem-solving as if a life depends on it, because it does.

Richter had spent 23 years working with the family business, Victoria’s Favorites Flowers and Gifts located in “a cool French mansard mansion on Third Street” in Peru, an unlikely place to gain experience she’s found helpful in the operating room.

“At the flower shop, I wore all the hats. With a small family business, you handle customer service, ordering, delivering …,” she said. “I can remember many days where I’d start with something like putting a bouquet of roses together for a husband’s anniversary gift. Next up might be a baby’s casket spray, and then a wedding.

“That flipping of the service that you provide, that switching up what becomes your ‘nurse face’ as you deal with people and where they are coming from, not only prepares you for nursing, it prepares you for life,” she continued, with a smile. “I think everyone should work at a flower shop to get that experience.”

Then came the time the family decided to close the flower shop. After a year as a “housewife,” boredom set in and Richter decided to take a stroll down Main Street to talk to Cynde Lees, then an academic adviser at ������Ƶ’s Peru instruction center, who had been a Victoria’s Favorites customer for years.

Then came the time the family decided to close the flower shop. After a year as a “housewife,” boredom set in and Richter decided to take a stroll down Main Street to talk to Cynde Lees, then an academic adviser at ������Ƶ’s Peru instruction center, who had been a Victoria’s Favorites customer for years.

“I wanted to take some classes but had no idea of what I wanted to do,” she remembers. “I talked to Cynde about getting a certification in medical billing. You know, maybe something I could do at home.”

Lees suggested Richter start with some science classes and, well, as they say, one thing led to another. While she was wracked with doubt about her abilities, Richter began building a 4.0 GPA, straight As. Lees’s next bit of guidance? “Rachel, you should be a nurse.”

“I told Cynde she was crazy,” Richter said. “I was in my mid-40s. No one wants a new nurse that old.” The answer came back: “No, the nursing profession needs some older wiser nurses. Know now, we absolutely do.”

Lees was just the first in a series of ������Ƶ advisers, instructors and mentors who helped Richter overcome “a constant state of denial.” Despite her doubts and fears at every step of the process, Richter passed the entry “TEAS” test, she was admitted into ������Ƶ’s highly selective Nursing program, she aced her classes, she passed the national NCLEX licensure examination. From that first conversation with Cynde Lees in 2017, Richter had completed an Associate of Science degree in Nursing in December 2019 and earned her designation as a Registered Nurse in January 2020.

” There’s not a day go by that I am not drawing on the knowledge I gained at ������Ƶ or taking one of my professors from ������Ƶ with me.” ��

Rachel Richter

• There’s Dr. John Miles, her podiatrist when she was a child and her anatomy instructor at ������Ƶ in Peru? “That man … I hope I have just a few drops of the knowledge he has.”��
• There’s Marian Henry, recently retired dean of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s School of Nursing. “Such a force! As an older student, I was the only person that got her joke about nursing being the second oldest profession for women.”
• There’s part-time instructor Jill McCarty who, as a nurse at Parkview, presented the value and pride she found in working for the rural hospital system that helped Richter set another goal she has achieved.
• There’s then-instructor Kelly Williams and Marian’s successor as dean. “The professionalism Kelly taught us … Nurses are part of the most highly esteemed profession in the world because of our advocacy for our patients.”

By her own account, Richter now works in a job she really loves, a job that’s challenging, that allows her to pull all the information she learned at ������Ƶ together and apply it to achieve the best outcomes for her patients. “If you don’t have critical thinking, if you don’t know how to apply the skill set you have, you won’t be successful,” she said. “������Ƶ’s instructors hone those skills as you go through the program. That’s what you’re going to pull on when you’re on the job.”

She may be working the schedule of a full-time surgical nurse (five days a week plus 24-hour calls 10 days a month) but Richter isn’t done at ������Ƶ. After getting a call from Kelly Williams just two days after starting work at Parkview, Richter now spends off -duty time as a popular tutor for current students in ������Ƶ’s Nursing program.

“Rachel was an outstanding student. During her time in the Nursing program, she demonstrated the attributes that make an excellent nurse, including caring, compassion, integrity and professionalism,” Kelly said. “These traits have served her well in her nursing career, so we were glad when she accepted the invitation to share her knowledge and skills with our current students.”

And for Richter, it’s more than wanting to be “just a tutor.”

��“I want to be a mentor,” she says. “When students come to me and say, ‘This is so hard. Do you know how hard this is?’, I can say, ‘Yes, I went through it.’ As I am an advocate for my patients, I am an advocate for my students. I can remember what it’s like to be a student and when you never forget where you came from, you’re relatable.”

Richter says her message to others about ������Ƶ is “Enroll in some classes. Try it!”

“When I told my family I was in college in my mid-40s, they were surprised,” she said. “As I got going and ended up in Nursing, you could have knocked Mom and Dad down with a feather. How did I get from ‘taking some classes’ to becoming a surgical nurse?

“Every person within this College wants you to succeed and they’ll do anything and everything they can to help you succeed. Is it easy? No. Will they do it for you? No. But they will give you all the resources you need to make it happen.”

Learn more about our Nursing program

Kokomo native Tashawnda Brown-Weston has shared her contagious smile around ������Ƶ Kokomo since her days as a student here – and now shares it as the College’s director of Admissions. In that role, she oversees a staff that includes college connection coaches in area high schools, the campus visit coordinator, Enrollment Center receptionists and student ambassadors – all aimed at sharing the opportunities ������Ƶ offers and bringing in new students.

Tashawnda earned a certificate in Substance Abuse and an associate degree in Human Services from ������Ƶ in 2012 before completing her bachelor’s degree in General Studies, with a concentration in Human and Behavioral Sciences, at Indiana University Kokomo in 2015. She honed her customer service skills as a catering supervisor/manager for Aramark Food Service at IUK and Delphi before joining ������Ƶ as a business office clerk in 2005. Since then, as she completed her educational credentials and gained experience, she’s served as an information center receptionist, a student services professional, and a college connection coach before her promotion to director of Admissions in 2023.

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“As an alumna and an employee of ������Ƶ, I have had occasions to grow in leadership, serve on various committees, and also use my creativity here at work,” Tashawnda says. “I’ve had an exciting journey at ������Ƶ Kokomo with opportunities to develop as an individual as well as in my professional career.”

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As a college connection coach, Tashawnda spent the majority of her time working with the students at Kokomo High School and the Kokomo Area Career Center. As a 1992 KHS grad herself, she loves sharing her commitment to higher education with the students there – and, now, throughout the six counties of the ������Ƶ Kokomo Service Area.

“I have always had a passion to help others and to work with youth,” she says. “Working as a College Connection Coach allowed me to assist and make sure the students are on the right track to success. Now I work to help the whole staff achieve those goals.” Her message to students: “There is nothing wrong with asking for help; it is actually one of the smartest things you can do. I am here to assist you.”

An active member of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Doing the Dream Committee, she has earned a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.

Off campus, Tashawnda quips, she is a wife and mother of three daughters (“Two by birth,” she says, “and one K-9.”) and her favorite food is popcorn. She’s an active member of Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church where she teaches second- to fifth-grade Bible study, serves as a youth advisor, and shares her vocal talents on the Praise Team and in the choir.

“As an ������Ƶ alumna, I love that the College is growing and we are still student focused, she said. As a long-term staff member, I love the hometown atmosphere on campus.”

“I walked through the doors of ������Ƶ with a chip on my shoulder because I did NOT want to be here,” she told a group of recent ������Ƶ Kokomo graduates. “������Ƶ was never in my plans. I wanted to go away to a four-year school like all my friends. I wanted to stay in a dorm and go to parties and have the traditional college experience.”

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Her mother had laid down the disappointing news. Jhordan needed to stay in Kokomo for the first two years of college so she could continue receiving support she needed (for lingering mental health issues that had begun in eighth grade) and get an affordable education. While Jhordan wasn’t happy, what she had dreaded ended up being a blessing in disguise.

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In the middle of her first semester, Jhordan applied and was hired for a work-study position to earn some money to cover costs (she’d flipped enough burgers at McDonald’s). In her first assignment, she was sent to learn how to be the backup switchboard operator. She was introduced to a fellow student who soon became a friend who encouraged Jhordan to get involved on campus and make connections. (That fellow student – and ������Ƶ Kokomo alumna – was Beth Chaney who, as director of ������Ƶ Kokomo’s ASAP program, is still a friend and now a fellow ������Ƶ employee.)

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Get involved and make connections she did. Jhordan worked in the bookstore; had work-study assignments in Records, Financial Aid and Marketing; became vice president of the Diversity Club; made some lifelong friends. With the ������Ƶ associate degree in Criminal Justice she earned in 2012, she headed off to IUPUI and that “four-year college experience.” After changing majors, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Media and Public Affairs in 2015.

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The jobs that followed left her wanting more and she found herself returning to a dream of coming back to ������Ƶ as a staff member. That door opened in November 2019 when she joined the staff as a student services professional in the Enrollment Center. Fast-forward to 2024 and Jhordan has moved up into the role of Talent Connection Manager with the Ivy+ Career Link Team. In that role, she focuses on building partnerships with Indiana employers to help them connect with talented ������Ƶ students for internship and career opportunities.��

“I am so fulfilled,” she says. “I never would have imaged that the angry young lady who walked through these doors 15 years ago would be SO impacted by this place.”

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Now Jhordan has nothing but thanks for her mother’s decisions.

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“When I started my college journey, I allowed myself to think my story was one of failure, missed opportunity, and regret,” Jhordan told the graduates. “During my time here, I have been empowered to explore, learn, and be curious and also given space to fail and dust myself off to try again. I learned dhow important it is to be open to the experiences life throws at you. If I had remained closed-minded about ������Ƶ and my journey after, my story would have been a lot different.”

Before he came to ������Ƶ Kokomo as a student a dozen years ago, Ryan Wolf had served in the United States Air Force. He’d completed three tours of duty in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and worked as an independent contractor in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. With the help of ������Ƶ Kokomo, Ryan turned a wartime military background into a career aimed at alleviating the pain and trauma of violence of all kinds.

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Coming back to college as a military veteran, Ryan earned an Associate of Science degree in Human Services, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from ������Ƶ Kokomo in 2014. Just five years later, he was being honored with ������Ƶ Kokomo’s Distinguished Alumni Award, recognized for his work as a tireless advocate for at-risk youth, military veterans, and many other marginalized members of the Kokomo community.

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In nominating Ryan for the award in 2019, Professor Michael Holsapple noted that the number of men, women and children whose lives Ryan had positively impacted is “simply incalculable. “

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“Ryan’s tireless and devoted work ethic is an inspiration to current and prospective practitioners in all social services throughout the greater Kokomo-metro area,” he said.

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Professor Holsapple worked with Ryan in a non-violence education program, serving men and women criminal offenders. “The beneficiaries of this program are the offenders, but also their partners and their children,” he said. “So many people have come up to me over the years to tell me the impact it made on their lives and their families’ lives. Ryan is genuinely a servant-leader, a giving soul.”

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Ryan worked a number of years as a victim advocate within Howard County’s criminal justice system. Today, he serves as a sexual assault prevention and response victim advocate (SAPR-VA), working for the Air Force at the Grissom Air Reserve Base. He continues to serve as part-time facilitator of the non-violence education program and remains actively committed to the students of ������Ƶ as a mentor and member of the Human Services Advisory Board.

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“When I think of my experience at ������Ƶ, I think it of it as lifechanging,” Ryan says. “This is where I first pursued my higher education. I was very intimidated. I didn’t know if higher education was for me and here at ������Ƶ, I felt comfortable. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. It helped me continue my educational journey all the way to a master’s degree.”

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In accepting the Distinguished Alumni Award, Ryan said, “If I got to use one word to describe my thoughts about ������Ƶ, I have to use the word thankful. I’m thankful for the professors, the staff that ������Ƶ provides. They made it an easy transition from the military into the college.

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“I’m thankful for being prepared for employment. The instruction I got in dealing with problems and crisis intervention was absolutely amazing,” he continued. “I’m just blessed and it was an honor to go to ������Ƶ.”