May 2024 Alumni 955 Newsletter

Meet Wallace or Wally

The Westmont mascot has a new name! In the late 1950s, Westmont named its Warrior mascot “Willie.” This spring, the Westmont College Student Association (WCSA) created a campaign with the student body to rename the Warrior. Students submitted a variety of names, and students selected Wallace or Wally at Spring Sing. 

Upcoming Alumni Events

Let There Be Light: Tuesday, December 3
Each year, alums gather at Kerrwood for winter festivities. Children take pictures with Santa, all enjoy hot cocoa and cookies, and the crowd sings Christmas carols while holding electronic candles, counting down to the lighting of Kerrwood Hall and trees. 

Movie on the Lawn Spring 2025; Saturday, April 26, 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Westmont alums gather on Kerrwood Lawn for an eventful evening. Westmont Activities Council (WAC) provides free pizza, sodas, popcorn, cotton candy and a snow-cone truck before the movie This past April, alums enjoyed “The Lorax.”

Creation Care: Done in a Day Service Project Spring 2025; Saturday, April 26 9:00 a.m. -11:00 a.m.

This past April, alums gathered at the Westmont Garden for the first service project harvesting the crops and planting new seeds. Participants enjoyed donuts and coffee while listening to biology professor Jeff Schloss talk about the importance of caring for creation. Annelise Henderson ’21 led children in painting rocks. painting craft. Paul Willis, professor emeritus of English, closed the morning with nature-themed poetry.

Summer Lodging in Santa Barbara (June 10- August 5)

Looking to get away this summer? Located in the heart of campus, the Global Leadership Center (GLC) offers excellent accommodations. All GLC rooms have private bathrooms and air-conditioning. The rate includes linens, bath amenities, daily breakfast in the Dining Commons, and free parking. Click HERE to make your reservation. If you have kids, you might want to explore enrolling them in Westmont Summer Camps while you’re in town. If you want to get away for a date night and need a sitter, post a babysitting job HERE. If you have high schoolers, you might want to explore enrolling them in Trailhead, where they can explore God’s call to a meaningful life. You can also reach out to admissions@westmont.edu to set up a tour. 

Commencement 2024

This year another 300 Westmont students graduated and joined the Westmont Alumni Association. Rick Pointer, professor emeritus

 of history, delivered the address. Golden Warriors celebrated their 50th reunion and marched in the procession with the class of 2024. The Alumni Relations Office added a Legacy Pinning Commencement morning on the President’s Patio, where parents who are alums placed a commemorative pin on the stole of their graduates, welcoming them into the community of more than 25,000 living alums. 

How to Find a Career That’s a Good Fit

The decisions we make about what career to pursue are monumental. Mark Twain said, “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why.” According to a 2023 Business Insider article, the average person spends more than 90,000 hours of their life working. Statistics like these can make career decisions seem overwhelming. But every step you take will help you gain new skills and serve others in various ways.

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Niche Review

The website Niche leads the market in connecting colleges and schools with students and families. With in-depth profiles on every U.S. school and college, more than 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search and data tools, Niche helps millions of students and families find and enroll in the right school for them. Niche’s reviews include comments from students, alums and school employees. Click HERE to write a review of Westmont. A significant portion of Niche’s rankings come from student and alumni reviews. Positive and accurate reviews drive their rankings and reflect well on the college.

The Crucibles That Shape Us

Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe shares in his newest book the power of life’s crucibles — those pivotal moments of trial and triumph — that have defined his personal and professional life and leadership. Beebe has responded to several crucibles forged by natural disaster: The Tea Fire, Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow, challenges unforeseen in the idyllic seaside Santa Barbara setting in California. He explores and reflects on defining crucibles that confronted and challenged him in “The Crucibles That Shape Us: Navigating the Defining Challenges of Leadership.”

Engrave Your Westmont Brick

In April, Westmont installed its first engraved brick path, replacing asphalt in the formal gardens. More than 375 alums, families and friends have submitted messages, and the college will add more bricks for years to come. As students make their first and last processions through the gardens — at Orientation and Commencement — they’ll see this testament to the generosity and commitment of the Westmont community. Click HERE if you would like to purchase a brick and leave your mark. 

Select Brick and Compose Message 

Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts Helps Pastors and Churches to Thrive in Their Ministry

Church ministry continues to be an essential activity that presents special challenges today. Fulfilling God’s call in a changing world requires churches and pastors to be creative and often do more with less. That can be both exciting and exhausting. Westmont’s Gaede Institute offers two free programs that help pastors and churches step back, reconsider the big picture and be refreshed. If you’re connected to churches or pastors who might benefit, we hope you’ll be in touch. 

New Frontiers is a free, yearlong program that helps pastors cultivate relationships and vision that can sustain them in their work. Through three four-day retreats in California and ongoing peer and senior mentoring, pastors connect to friends who can share the journey, gain access to rich sources of professional wisdom, and find genuine wellness and rest. New Frontiers might be especially helpful to pastors in their first seasons of ministry, but congregational-ministry professionals at every stage in their careers are welcome to apply. New Frontiers is open to current or aspiring pastors anywhere in the United States, and the program covers all expenses, including travel.

The Westmont Center for Thriving Communities convenes groups of Christian congregations on the Central Coast for new conversations about ministry, exploring how churches can respond to their changing contexts, discover their deeply held values and grow in the midst of conflict. Participating teams gather on Westmont’s campus for three daylong discussions throughout the academic year, drawing inspiration and support from diverse area churches. We also offer participating congregations small seed grants and coaching to help them begin new experiments in ministry.

Generous funding from the Lilly Endowment enables Westmont to offer both New Frontiers and Thriving Communities completely free of cost. We're grateful for their partnership, and for yours, in extending the resources of the college to churches. If you or someone you know might be interested, please contact us at libarts@westmont.edu or 805-565-6230.

Westmont Launches New Certificate in Theological Leadership

This spring, Westmont launched a new Certificate of Theological Leadership that offers an extended course of study, which participants can complete as a standalone certificate or apply credit to several leading seminaries throughout the country. The program is designed for ministry professionals, laypeople eager to grow spiritually, and recent college graduates considering seminary. 

Courses are taught in a hybrid format, beginning with a few days of retreat and study in person in Santa Barbara. Our beloved religious studies faculty teach the remainder of each semester online, providing flexibility for those with busy schedules and in various locations. If you’re interested in this program, you can email theoleadership@westmont.edu.

Recent Lectures for our Thoughtful Scholars

The Westmont Foundation sponsors Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter. 

Aging and Mobility: Fundamentals and Frontiers by kinesiology professor Adam Goodworth and alumnus Maury Hayashida ’95 who owns Hayashida & Associates Physical Therapy. This lecture examined how aging affects balance and mobility and provided practical tips, key research data, and information about the latest technology and future directions. Click HERE to watch the April 2024 talk.

The Transformative Power of Storytelling by theater arts professor Wendy Eley Jackson . This lecture resonated with every demographic as it explored the importance of harnessing the influence of storytelling to make a positive impact in communities. Jackson serves as the CEO of Auburn Avenue Films, a production company specializing in entertainment that brings social awareness and engages audiences to participate in social change. At Westmont, she teaches documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, and creative writing. Click HERE to watch the February 2024 talk.
 
The Changing Geopolitical Landscape and Role of Foreign Aid by political science professor Katherine Bryant . Foreign aid is one of the most commonly used tools of foreign policy, but the landscape in which states are operating is rapidly changing. This talk explored how these major shifts in the geopolitical landscape affect foreign aid spending, particularly in the United States. Click HERE to watch the November 2023 talk.

Asteroids and Exoplanets: How Scientists Are Exploring Our Universe by physics professor Jennifer Ito . Scientists are actively studying our own solar system through recent asteroid missions as well as distant planets with data from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Fascinating results from these studies continue to develop our understanding of our complex universe. Click HERE to watch October 2023 talk.

Heinmiller Lectures on Spiritual Formation by Steve Porter , senior research associate and executive director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture. Established in 2011, the Martin Institute assists Christian individuals and organizations in deeply understanding, intelligently communicating, and effectively implementing reliable and psychologically realistic pathways of becoming more like Jesus for the sake of the world. Click HERE to watch the February 2024 talk.

The Spiritual Life in the Secular World: The Alternative Augustine by Stan Rosenberg . The Martin Institute sponsored this event. Rosenberg founded and directs Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford (SCIO). He is an academic member of Wycliffe Hall and a member of the faculty of theology and religion at the University of Oxford, teaching early Christian history and doctrine and science and religion. Click HERE to watch the March 2024 talk.

Attend a Game and Cheer on your Warriors, San Diego, Orange County, LA, Bay Area and Hawaii Alums!

Fall Volleyball Schedule
Fall Women’s Soccer Schedule
Fall Men’s Soccer Schedule
Fall Men and Women Cross Country Schedule

Alumni Regional Events

The Alumni Office seeks to relaunch regional events, and we’re working with alumni representatives in Orange County, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Honolulu, Austin, Boise and Santa Barbara to plan events for alums in your area. 

You have an opportunity to help us plan events in Pasadena, the Inland Empire, Fresno, San Francisco, East Bay, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis. Email alumni@westmont.edu if you’d like to join the planning team in your town.

Alumni Connections:

• Click HERE to update your contact info
• Expecting a baby? We’d love to send you a Westmont onesie. Please email alumni@westmont.edu.
• Prayer requests. Interested in a Prayer Chain? email alumni@westmont.edu.
• Do you have a high schooler? Send us their name. We’d love to connect them with our admissions office. alumni@westmont.edu.
• Are you interested in posting jobs or internships for our students or attending an upcoming career fair? Please email careerdev@westmont.edu.
• Are you interested in participating in a virtual Westmont Book Club? We are considering bringing this resource back for our alumni. Email alumni@westmont.edu if you would like to participate.

Thank you for being thoughtful scholars, grateful servants, and faithful leaders in the world.  
May the strength of God sustain you;
May the power of God preserve you;
May the hands of God protect you;
May the way of God direct you;
May the love of God go with you always
May the will of God give you a peace that transcends understanding as you trust in His providence.

Janay Marshall '01, M.A. 
Director of Alumni Relations