Marking the Journey

 

September 24, 2022 was a very special journey

 to Concordia University Chicago

 for the Maroon and Gold Event.

I was blessed to receive the 

2022 Distinguished Alumni - Graduate Award.

I graduated in Dec 2013 with a 

Masters in Church and Community Leadership.

Husband John made the trip with me.

                        Our walk on the campus brought back 

many memories of 3 daughters and 2 sons-in law

 who graduated from here.

My youngest sister, Teresa,

was able to travel with us for the special event.

It was very fun to share this day with her.

The room was beautifully set with

 Maroon and Gold for the evening.

Another Award went to Uichi Kajiyama, BA '98 

Distinguished Alumni, Undergraduate. 

He is a very remarkable musician 

with a world-wide influence.

It was a record-breaking fund-raising event

 as they raised $593, 094. 

The CUC Board of Regents surprised the audience

 with a gift of $150,000 to the 

Rosa Young Opportunity Scholarship. 

Senior Mackenzie Hean-Marcoux 

is the first recipient and was awarded by 

Rosa Young's great-niece, Mary Wise BA' 65.

We loved sitting with Mary and her grandson at our table.

A fun surprise was to have Dionne Lovstad-Jones

 join us for the evening.

She is a part of the 

Visual Faith® Ministry Leadership team. 

Dionne also works for the LCMS Foundation,

 so John and she are now teammates.

It is a humbling thing to be recognized for this honor.

I give thanks to God for His rich blessing

 in my life as I seek to live out 

my vocation and calling-

 To Make Him Known.

Here is the link to the video shared that evening.

CUC Alumni Video

A special thank you to Pat Maier, Deaconess Sally Hiller,

 Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies, Rev. Dr. Justin Rossow, 

and husband- Rev. Dr. John Denninger 

for their kind words for the Alumni video.