Ryan Burkhard
Cedarville College
Cedarville, Ohio
1998 Grad
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Career: As Equipment Design Engineer for Procter and Gamble's Baby Care Division, Ryan designs machines that are often the size of a two-story house. He also manages his department's budget (he volunteered for that job) and just started a master's degree in business at the University of Cincinnati. If that weren't enough, Ryan was voted "Most Respected" new engineer by all the incoming Procter and Gamble engineers—people from top schools like Princeton, Cornell and M.I.T.
"The engineering program at Cedarville is awesome. In class, our projects were very hands-on; That prepared me well for my job. But my professors weren't just concerned with pushing me to be a better engineer. They primarily wanted me to grow closer to Christ. I think that's true of Cedarville in general. The school has such a strong focus on the Lord that it permeates everything."
Beverly Ryskamp
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, Michigan
2000 Grad
Majors: French & English
Career: Beverly is a coder for a legal research agency Compulit, which does litigation support service for large trials. She's responsible for reading through trial documents and recording important information. Ultimately, she dreams of practicing public service law, dealing with domestic abuse and foster child situations.
"Majoring in English at Calvin really helped me decide to pursue law. I had to write papers, which forced me to analyze written material, then organize and articulate my own thoughts and ideas. For law, you need those skills of analysis and argumentation. I also got to read a lot of books, where I met different characters and learned about humanity. When I go to law school, I plan to get a joint degree in law and social work. I want to use my talents to make real-life changes."
Lynette Leong
Eastern College
St. Davids, Pennsylvania
1998 Grad
Major: Chemistry
Career: After working in drug discovery at the pharmaceutical giant Smith Cline Beachamp, Lynette enrolled at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. She currently instructs a college sophomore lab section and conducts research for a professor. A native of Singapore, Lynette hopes to gain permanent residency in the U.S. and return to the pharmaceutical industry, helping to create an effective drug against killers like H.I.V. and cancer.
"Believe it or not, the movie Medicine Man influenced me to go into chemistry. I'd always been interested in helping people, but I had no desire to go into a field related to medicine. I used to fail chemistry in high school. But when I saw what Sean Connery and his chemist colleague were doing in the rain forest, I really wanted to do something like that. At Eastern, I had such encouraging and supportive professors who challenged me, people I could go to directly when I had any sort of problem, chemistry or otherwise."
Shereen Way
Nyack College
Nyack, New York
1999 Grad
Major: Music Education
Career: Shereen teaches music classes to fifth, sixth and seventh graders at Haverstraw Middle School in Garnerville, New York, near New York City. Although Shereen loves teaching (she's worked with elementary and high school students, as well) and plays just about every musical instrument around, her first love is opera. Shereen sings in the New Jersey State Opera Chorus and hopes to explore more operatic opportunities soon.
"I can't say enough about the music faculty at Nyack. They were so personal with me, inviting me over for dinner at their homes. My voice teacher, Professor Marian Howe, is someone all the students look up to. She's been at Nyack for 50 years, and she treats everyone like her children. When I'd have a bad day, she'd smile and give me a Bible verse printed up on a little piece of paper, like out of a fortune cookie. And twice, she helped me stay in school by arranging for my finances. I don't know how she did it. But because professors like her cared so much about my success, I was always inspired to do my best."
Luke Schelhaas
Dordt College
Sioux Center, Iowa
1996 Grad
Major: English
Career: Luke works in Salt Lake City, Utah, as Writer's Assistant for the popular CBS drama Touched by an Angel. His responsibilities include proofing each episode's scripts and distributing those scripts and any needed re-writes to actors, actresses, producers and crew. Long-term, Luke plans to pursue screenwriting, and has already seen one of his scripts turn into a 15-minute "short" film.
"I got interested in film during high school, when I started visualizing books as movies, imagining everything from the music to the camera angles. Then at Dordt, I heard about the Los Angeles Film Studies Program, where students from various Christian colleges could go to L.A. for a semester and learn about the film industry. That program had a lot to do with establishing connections that led to this job. But I owe a debt of gratitude to Dordt as well, especially to my English professors, who helped me really focus my skills as a writer."
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