It’s not every day high school singers get to ask a composer exactly what they meant by a specific note. During this year’s �㽶��Ƶ Honor Band and Choir Festival, that’s exactly what happened.

More than 100 of Nebraska’s top student musicians gathered Jan. 18-19 to rehearse and perform. While the Honor Band tackled a rigorous program, the Honor Choir spent its sessions bringing two brand-new pieces to life alongside the people who wrote them: �㽶��Ƶ alumni and local residents Hugo Madera ‘19 and Hannah Jensen ‘15.

“Hugo and Hannah have been incredible musical colleagues to me since I moved to Hastings, and I wanted to celebrate their artistic gifts given our shared ties with �㽶��Ƶ and the vibrant musical scene around Hastings,” said Raoul Carlo “Miggi” Angangco, assistant professor of music at �㽶��Ƶ, who led this year’s Honor Choir.

Note: This story originally appeared in the .

Championing living composers

Angangco said he wanted to challenge students to look beyond the sheet music, so he invited Madera and Jensen into the rehearsals. This allowed members of the choir to connect with the people behind the notes, Jensen’s “I Know…” and Madera’s “Alebrijes.”

Also featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Loch Lomond” and Ola Gjeilo’s “The Ground,” the Honor Choir program, titled “Of Creatures and Creation,” celebrated fantastical beings, natural wonders, self-determination, and the fullness of creation in harmony.

Angangco, who joined the �㽶��Ƶ faculty in 2025, holds his doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. A known advocate for championing the works of living composers, he sought to offer the participants of this year’s Honor Choir the opportunity to explore different languages, cultures and worldviews — all while creating something distinctly their own with the new works by Madera and Jensen.

Angangco said he believes that the chance to work directly with living composers is rare and should not be missed whenever available.

“There’s just so much more that they can impart in-person and in the moment, beyond what’s written on the physical score. It was also a great way for the students to be able to meet and interact with the wonderful human beings behind these new works,” Angangco said.

to read the rest of this story in the Hastings Tribune.

With a practiced rhythm, he guides the tree into a shaker that rattles loose needles and debris before he trims a one-inch puck from the trunk. He presses a small branding iron into the slice, stamping it with the Pine Patch logo to create a keepsake ornament. He wraps the tree in netting, and a worker hoists it onto the roof rack of the family’s gray SUV.

One more Christmas memory is heading home.

In the Pine Patch barn, where giant nutcracker soldiers stand guard, shelves and tables brim with Christmas decor for sale – wreaths, porch pots and table arrangements. Nikayla Kindig, Joe’s spouse, and their three-month-old son, Jax, greet customers and offer candy canes and Christmas coloring books while holiday music plays in the background. A few lucky kids even get to talk to Santa on a walkie-talkie.

“The tree farm during Christmas is never a transaction; it’s only tradition. I get so much joy,” said Kindig, who began working at the farm as a �㽶��Ƶ student and bought the place in 2021. “I’ve been taking photos of the same families since 2011 and watching their kids and grandkids grow, seeing families as they change. It’s a tradition that has far surpassed a price tag. It’s a lot of fun when you see people coming to Hastings from Salina, Kansas; Beatrice, Lincoln, Grand Island and Omaha, just because we’ve created a tradition.”

From the 1,000 evergreens Kindig cultivates on a one-acre plot, he sells about 100 each year and lets the others continue to mature. He sells another 500 large pre-cut Christmas trees shipped in from Michigan.

“Nikayla and I got engaged at the tree farm, and her dad built the barn,” Kindig said. “Everything I hate doing in a business, those are her strong suits. As a tandem effort, we are an entrepreneurial couple.”

At Pine Patch, Christmas trees make up 20 percent of the inventory, while the rest are landscape varieties such as oak, maple, birch and locust. Kindig grows 700 landscape trees each year and sells roughly 500 to area households and businesses. He offers his expertise to �㽶��Ƶ as a member of its Tree Campus USA Committee.

The barn, in addition to serving as a showroom during the Christmas season, doubles as an event venue for weddings, showers, graduation parties and other special occasions. Constructed from pine and douglas fir, the charming structure includes a kitchenette, buffet line, restrooms and even a bridal dressing area on the top level.

“We built the barn in 2022,” Kindig said. “From November to December, it’s a Christmas wonderland. From January to the end of October, Nikayla runs the venue portion. We can accommodate about 100 people.”

Branching out in other ventures

As if running a tree farm didn’t keep them busy enough, the couple also owns Barista’s, another local business where Kindig worked during college. They bought the original location in north Hastings in 2020 and last spring added Barista’s Downtown.

“I graduated from �㽶��Ƶ and bought the two businesses where I used to be an employee, so here we are,” Kindig said.

Yet another venture — Hastings Complete Lawns, a mowing business he started after graduating from St. Cecilia High School — shares employees with the Pine Patch Tree Farm. In addition to mowing lawns for customers and for several rental properties Kindig owns in Hastings, the employees hang Christmas lights at local residences and commercial properties, even decorating Downtown Hastings for the annual Celebration of Lights festivities.

Kindig’s three local businesses employ more than 20 full- and part-time workers. He estimates that 75 percent are attending or have graduated from �㽶��Ƶ.

“My education at �㽶��Ƶ played a vital role in learning how to run a business,” Kindig said. “In addition to the courses in my business major, my major helped me be more relatable in dealing with customers and staff. I pride myself on the fact that my current and previous employees become friends for life. Without communication, you have no business.”

Kindig’s entrepreneurial mindset even extends to his eventual retirement plans 30-40 years down the road. He bought a home in Estes Park, Colorado, a beloved location where his grandparents owned property, and is renting it out as an Airbnb.

“We want to buy at least one Airbnb rental a year in other states we enjoy, like Arizona,” Kindig said. “That’s our retirement plan. We can go and visit each one.”

By Judee Konen ’85

“My diverse background in Latin American and, ultimately, American music provides a door to new music,” said Madera, director of choral activities at Adams Central Middle and High Schools in Hastings. “One of my goals is to make a dent in the choral canon, particularly since there’s not much choral music that reflects Latin American and Spanish-speaking influences.”

A �㽶��Ƶ graduate in music education and vocal performance, Madera composes distinctive works such as “In My Absence,” “Toma Mi Mano” (Take My Hand) and “Pastoral” (based on a 16th-century poem by Christopher Marlowe) that have been performed by ensembles from Texas to Nebraska to Minnesota.

In 2023, he was selected for the New Canon Project, which commissions new works by Black and Latine composers for choir and orchestra. Madera’s piece, “I Am Home,” a choral setting of a poem written by Hannah Jensen-Heitmann ’15, premiered at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas, Texas.

He won the Cantus Young & Emerging Composer competition in 2023 with his piece, “El Cenzontle,” which tells the story of the mockingbird according to Mexican folklore. The male a cappella ensemble Cantus, based in Minneapolis, premiered the song and will release it on an upcoming CD.

Selections of “Alebrijes” (fantastical creatures of Mexican folk art), a collection of choral works Madera wrote for his master’s degree in music education at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, will premiere at �㽶��Ƶ’s Nebraska High School Band and Honor Choir Concert in January 2026 under the direction of Dr. Raoul Carlo (Miggi) Angangco, director of choral activities.

In 2015, as a high school senior from Grand Island, Nebraska, Madera performed with the HC Honor Choir after being encouraged to audition by his choir director, �㽶��Ƶ graduate Jeff Vyhlidal ’08.

“It’s crazy that my association with �㽶��Ƶ began with the Honor Choir and, thanks to great people like Miggi, we’ve come full circle,” Madera said.

Discovering his passion for music

Madera lived in a small mountain village in Jalisco, a western Mexican state known as the capital of mariachi music, until he was 13. The family then moved to Grand Island, and Madera enrolled in ESL classes and even taught himself to play the piano.

“I think it was just intuition. Everything just clicked. I learned how to read music when I was a sophomore, and I just figured things out on my own,” he said.

Offered scholarships to larger universities, Madera chose Hastings instead because of his honor choir experiences with Dr. Fritz Mountford ’75 and his desire, as a first-generation student, for the personal mentoring that comes with a more intimate learning environment.

“I wouldn’t be here without �㽶��Ƶ, particularly the opportunities that come at such a small, homelike college,” he said. “The people here were so supportive. Teachers reached out and provided opportunities and guidance.”

Madera thrived at �㽶��Ƶ, performing with several vocal and instrumental ensembles; serving on the Student Senate, as vice president of the Student Association and as a resident assistant; and being selected by his peers as a Homecoming royalty candidate.

In 2019, he was named Outstanding Senior in Music and to Who’s Who for his exemplary contributions to the campus community.

Composing the next chapters

Now Madera is serving as an alumni representative on �㽶��Ƶ’s Music Program Strategic Planning Committee, which is helping shape the direction of the program’s curriculum and facilities over the next several years. Madera is a member of a subcommittee offering suggestions on recruitment and retention.

“It’s an honor to be a part of it and give back,” he said. “It’s also a way to influence and solidify the future of music at �㽶��Ƶ.”

Madera’s own future as a composer and educator offers several paths forward. He’d like to pursue a doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting and, perhaps, teach at the college level.

“I didn’t grow up with a standard approach to concert music or the Western music tradition, and I want to provide that and other opportunities for people who have lived a similar life story, whether that’s composing works or continuing my education and providing new resources within the field,” he said.

“Whatever it looks like, I want to continue moving forward and being one of the people who say, ‘Hey, this is a possibility. Here is my culture, here is some repertoire in Spanish, here is Latin American music, here is something out of the ordinary.’”

By Judee Konen ’85

Rosalie Koepp ‘15, director of christian education at First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, reimagined the Nativity from the perspective of those shepherds into a children’s book, “While By Their Flocks.” The book, which was released on Amazon November 11 this year, follows three young shepherds on a transformational journey to meet the newborn Jesus, blending biblical imagination with themes of wonder, curiosity and childlike faith.

The idea for a book came from a musical written by Koepp and Hannah Jensen-Heitmann ‘15 for the church’s Christmas program in 2024, which you can . Koepp and Jensen-Heitmann were education majors at �㽶��Ƶ.

After the musical performance, Rev. Greg Allen-Pickett, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church and a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, suggested the story would make a great children’s book. He put Koepp in touch with a friend who helped Koepp get the story on paper.

In the musical, three teenage girls played the shepherds, which she carried through to the book. Each of the three shepherds has a critical personality flaw: the not humble shepherd, the tired shepherd and the rude shepherd.

“When writing the book, I really tried to pull out those personality traits because in the musical, the shepherdesses go on a transformational journey,” Koepp said. “They have these flaws, but when they encounter the Christ-child, those flaws soften, and it shows how an encounter with Christ changes us in some way.”

She said what really excited her was when she got the first illustrations back from her illustrator Oshadi Sandareka.

“The first one I opened was just a black and white drawing of the three shepherd girls and two sheep, and I just gasped because they were so cute,” she said, noting that it was that moment the story in storybook form came to life.

While writing, Koepp reflected on her time at �㽶��Ƶ as an elementary education and K-12 special education major, specifically her children’s literature class.

“We read hundreds of children’s books and it really helped teach me how to condense a story to put it in a way that children understand,” said Koepp.

Koepp said that class taught her to love children’s books because they are fun to read, look at and try to tell a story in a condensed way.

“I think that was a challenge I was really looking forward to conquering,” said Koepp. “I thought to myself, let’s see if I can do this.”

She said her time at �㽶��Ƶ taught her to ask lots of questions and then use her imagination to find the answers — which was helpful when writing the musical and then the book.

“Rosalie and Hannah’s work demonstrates the powerful impact that creative educators can have on children and families,” said Allen-Pickett. “Their �㽶��Ƶ roots are evident in their thoughtful approach to storytelling, collaboration and faith formation.”

Koepp said the way the book came together with the words and the illustrations is one of her favorite things about the process.

“I hope people will be able to see the sparkle on every page because when I look at the pictures, they just dance in front of me,” said Koepp. “And while there’s not singing coming through the book, it’s almost like you can feel the music.”

By Carissa Barwick, communications specialist

In the South Gallery — a space for rotating exhibits of artifacts and fine art — she points out the diverse and vibrant watercolors of Omaha artist Telagio Baptista, an exhibit she facilitated and designed.

“We try to give visitors both historical and artistic exhibits,” said Christenson, a Cairo, Nebraska, native who graduated from �㽶��Ƶ with a major in history and minor in art. “We like to give people a taste of everything.”

The museum’s director of exhibits and assistant curator since 2023, Christenson is both storyteller and interpreter, someone who brings the past to life in creative, engaging ways.

She manages the museum’s exhibit calendar, balancing rotating and semi-permanent displays that shape the visitor experience. Planning now stretches through 2028, including solo artist exhibits, historical features and “Wings Over the Platte,” a 2026 art exhibit celebrating the Platte River and the migration of 1.25 million Sandhill Cranes.

At times, Christenson works on events and exhibits in Stuhr’s Railroad Town, a collection of 1890s-era homes and businesses. Guests can buy a cone at the general store, see prairie town newspaper and post offices and watch tradesmen in the blacksmith and tinsmith shops. Many of the buildings are original artifacts relocated from sites in Grand Island.

“Stuhr has 140,000 artifacts. That includes all of the houses and buildings in Railroad Town,” she said.

Storytelling through exhibits

Christenson’s first independently planned exhibit, “Weathering the Storm: The Weather Events that Shaped Central Nebraska,” remains her favorite. On display in Spring 2025, it explored three defining weather events — tornadoes, blizzards and floods — through artifacts, photographs and narrative storytelling.

One section focused on the 1980 tornado outbreak in Grand Island, when a single supercell produced seven twisters, leaving five people dead and causing $300 million in damage. The display featured objects ravaged by the storm — a mangled teapot with the handle torn off, a twisted grounding stake and a bowling ball from Meves Bowl, destroyed that night. Longtime meteorologist Kent Boughton shared his memories of the disaster.

“That tornado destroyed all of South Locust Street,” Christenson said. “Looking at it today, you’d never know that. To me, it was important to bring that into the light again and show how the community stepped up to support each other, overcome and rebuild.”

She has worked on other popular exhibits, including “World War II on the Homefront,” and is planning future projects that blend art, history and community reflection.

“Museums today are trying to engage visitors more — with videos, tactile displays and interactive elements,” she said. “It can be as simple as asking visitors to share their thoughts on paper, so they can be part of the exhibit too.”

A path shaped by �㽶��Ƶ

Christenson didn’t begin college hoping to work in museums. “Initially, I was dead set on archaeology,” she said.

Encouraged by history professor Dr. Rob Babcock to test the field before investing her time and money in graduate studies, she joined a summer dig in Mississippi at a Paleolithic Indian site.

“We were in the woods all day — bugs, snakes, no shoes — and I spent hours in a one-by-one-meter hole,” she said. “It was meticulous, tedious work, and I had scars from the bugs for months.”

When she returned, Babcock asked how it went. Her answer was simple: “You were right. I didn’t like it.”

Then he asked, “Have you ever thought about museum work? You get the cleaned-up version of what you were doing out there.”

That advice changed her direction. Christenson interned at the Stuhr Museum in collections and archives, where she learned about cataloging systems and exhibit preparation. She later interned at the .

“Museums often have a lot of items in storage that no one gets to see,” she said. “I liked getting behind the scenes.”

After graduating, Christenson earned a master of public administration degree from Northern Arizona University. “The MPA helped me understand the administrative side of how nonprofits operate, which has been invaluable here. At the core, we’re small, and we’re all doing a lot of different things,” she said.

When she finished her degree, Stuhr hired her. Her husband, Ryan Christenson ’19, teaches social-emotional creative arts at Howard Elementary in Grand Island.

Asked what an exhibit about her �㽶��Ƶ experience might look like, she paused thoughtfully.

“I feel like it should be a tribute to the orange room in McCormick,” she said, referring to the anteroom in the history department where students connect with professors and one another. “The history department was so supportive — Dr. Babcock, Dr. (Glenn) Avent, Dr. (Catherine) Biba. History isn’t just mundane, boring things like dingy books. It can be bright and can spark something in you.”

By Judee Konen ’85

As a public history consultant living in Dunstable, Massachusetts, Whetstone preserves and advocates for our collective connections to the past.

“A public historian does historical work beyond the academy,” Whetstone said. “That includes things like working in museums, working for the National Park Service, working for preservation organizations. It encompasses the ways people interact with history that aren’t exclusive to the classroom. When you frame it that way, you realize that we interact with history in many ways every day.”

Whetstone, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s doctoral program in history and received a graduate certificate in public history, recently published an article in The Public Historian, the preeminent academic journal in the field of public history. Titled “Renting History: Housing and Labor on Public History’s Front Lines,” the article traces the practice of renting and exchanging labor for housing at museums and historic sites as they evolved over the 20th century.

Whetstone’s idea for the article took root several years earlier during a part-time job in his hometown of Kearney, Nebraska.

“In high school, I was a tour guide at the GW Frank Museum of History and Culture at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. That museum once had staff who lived on the second floor and gave tours of the first floor,” he said.

During graduate school, Whetstone began to “dig in earnest” on the topic when he was involved with a project to expand the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, a historic house museum in Hadley, Massachusetts, that has three apartments on site.

Now, Whetstone is under contract with the University of Massachusetts Press to expand his research into a book called “Renting History: Housing, Labor, and America’s Heritage Infrastructure.” The expected publication date is 2027.

Honing his skills at �㽶��Ƶ

From an early age, Whetstone has been intrigued by history.

“Part of my childhood was in an older home in Kearney. I have very visceral memories of that old house. There was something special about it,” he said. “Working at the Frank Museum in high school helped articulate why and how a place could matter to our communities and sense of identity.”

After a new director at the Frank Museum introduced the young scholar to the field of public history, Whetstone discovered �㽶��Ƶ as an ideal place to pursue his passions.

“When you pair the work of historians with the work of service learning that Hastings was doing, you get public history — thinking about how history can take shape outside the classroom in our communities,” he said.

Whetstone was selected for an Architectural History Field School experience with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the College of William and Mary in Virginia the summer before his junior year. After he returned to campus, the �㽶��Ƶ Board of Trustees asked him to pursue a historic designation for Weyer Hall. The project expanded when the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office suggested he seek a designation for a broader portion of campus.

Following months of research, architectural documentation and presentations to the state office, the National Park Service added 12 campus buildings significant in the College’s post-World War II growth to the National Register of Historic Places as a local historic district. A historic marker next to the Daugherty Center recognizes the designation.

Finding early success in his field

At only 29, Whetstone has already distinguished himself as a public historian.

After graduate school, he was one of only eight scholars selected as a Princeton-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow for the Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities at Princeton University. He coordinated research and technical documentation projects as a historian for the National Park Service’s History, Architecture, Conservation and Engineering Center. He was a research fellow for the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites.

While intelligence and enthusiasm have driven his success, Whetstone is quick to credit his mentors at �㽶��Ƶ.

“The history department always asked how we could make history useful and relevant to the wider world beyond a class or a reading. That’s the underlying question in the field of public history. Hastings trained me to think that way, and it has made me a better historian,” he said.

By Judee Konen ’85

Landing one research experience for undergraduates (REU) is an accomplishment for a student in the sciences. Milly McClure, a senior from Liberal, Kansas, landed four.

The physics and mathematics major spent summer 2024 in Texas A&M’s Cyclotron Institute. She helped faculty learn to use a new thermal evaporator—a machine integral to the institute’s research into using the radioactive element astatine to fight cancer.

But that’s not all.

The university sent her to a five day, expense paid workshop at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois.

“I was the youngest person there and the only undergraduate student,” Milly said. She took advantage of exposure to graduate students, postdoc fellows and professors from other institutions to get advice on selecting a graduate program.

A year earlier, she had no idea these opportunities existed, let alone would be open to her.

This story originally appeared in the 2024 HC Today.

An Unclear Path

By the end of McClure’s sophomore year, she hit a crossroads. She had quit playing softball and picked up a second major in mathematics.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I could do with my degrees,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go grad school. I just didn’t know what for.”

Seeking insights from others who had graduated from the College’s physics department, she signed up for the �㽶��Ƶ Alumni Mentoring Program and participated during the first block of her junior year.

Her mentor: Dr. Jordan Borrell ‘13, assistant professor of occupational therapy education at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

As an undergraduate at HC completing his senior capstone project in physics, Borrell constructed a robotic hand in the same labs where McClure was working and learning. His next stops included the University of Kansas for a master’s and doctorate and the University of Nebraska Omaha for postdoctoral work in clinical applications of assistive and prosthetic devices.

Along the way, he benefited from mentors’ guidance. When Kim Graviette ‘83, director of Career Services, asked him to serve as McClure’s mentor he said “yes.” It was also a wakeup call.

“Now I can actively say I have about 10 years of experience under my belt for research,” Borrell said. “I can provide that knowledge I wish I had.”

Getting Answers…and More

McClure entered the alumni mentoring program seeking answers.

What graduate programs are available? How can one pay for grad school? What does it take to get into grad school?

What she did not know to ask: how do I land a REU?

For college students from smaller colleges and universities like �㽶��Ƶ, REUs provide summer opportunities to work in large research laboratories, network in their career fields of interest and explore graduate programs.

Once Borrell explained how crucial REUs can be for clarifying career goals and securing graduate school slots, he and McClure began focusing their weekly meetings on completing REU applications.

The goal: to land one REU

McClure landed REUs from the University of Arkansas, University of Kansas, University of Colorado and Texas A&M.

“The REU programs were emailing me all at the same time so I had to make pros and cons lists for which ones I really wanted to go to, what would help me in my career and what would help me get the best experience for grad school,” McClure said.

Many of those lists she compiled at 2:00 a.m. while traveling in France because the programs required responses within a week.

Borrell said he was extremely proud of McClure’s success. His advice?

“‘You’re in a lucky position where you get to choose that opportunity because you got multiple offers. So now look at the potential projects, we have the opportunity to leverage which project you get into.’ Not all students have that,” he said.

Ultimately, McClure selected the REU at Texas A&M based on the research she could do there and its location.

“I had already lived in Kansas and Colorado. I’ve never lived in a town as big as College Station,” she said.

When not in the lab, McClure enjoyed the camaraderie with undergraduates from across the country who share her interests as well as trips to see NASA’s facilities in Houston.

‘A clear path of what I want to do.’

McClure and Borrell continue to meet. As she applies to graduate programs in medical engineering or bioengineering, Borrell is reviewing her papers and applications.

“I can’t thank [Dr. Borrell] enough because he has really helped me,” she said. “And I really appreciate the mentoring program because the REU wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met him. The REU helped me get out of my comfort zone. Now I have a clear path of what I want to do.”

Borrell credits McClure’s strong work ethic, intelligence and willingness to listen with her success thus far.

“She has a bright future ahead of her. I’m really excited to see what she accomplishes and where she goes,” said Borrell.

About the Alumni Mentoring Program

The program connects current students with alumni in their career field of interest to get career advice and insights. The pairs meet for about an hour a week for a minimum of five weeks during an eight week block. If you have questions about the program and may be interested in participating as a mentor, contact Carissa Uhrmacher ‘96 in Career Services at carissa.uhrmacher@hastings.edu or Alicia O’Donnell ‘96 in the Alumni and Foundation Office at aodonnell@hastings.edu.

By Alicia O’Donnell ‘96

Recently, though, his degree brought him back to Nebraska for something a little more domestic: veterinary medicine.

This fall, Manglitz started his second year of the Professional Program of Veterinary Medicine, a partnership between Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The “2+2 program” sends students to study two years at UNL, then two years at ISU. They graduate with a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. Manglitz’s ultimate goal is to open his own veterinary practice—one that ties in some of his more adventurous animal experiences.

“I really enjoy dogs and cats, and I love working with them, but it can get a little boring if that’s all you see,” he said. “I’m focused on mixed practice, so I could also help exotic pets. And I’d really like to get to the point where I’d feel comfortable looking at any animal someone wants me to look at.”

This story originally appeared in the 2024 HC Today.

Cultivating interest in medicine

Manglitz said he never envisioned himself entering the medical field, be it animal or human. He studied wildlife biology as an undergrad because he liked ecology and biology, and wildlife biology combined those two topics well.

“The medical field was not on my radar. I don’t fully know what, but I just never thought it would be that interesting to me,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got more real-life experience working in Florida that I realized I might actually enjoy it.”

Manglitz moved to the Sunshine State in 2018 for a one-year internship with the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center. He cared for the center’s “resident birds,” or those that were unable to be released back into the wild. Later, he was hired full-time as a hospital technician who helped care for sick or injured birds.

“I got to experience doing wing wraps for broken wings, and there was a lot of feeding baby birds that had been abandoned,” Manglitz said. “It’s really satisfying to see an injured bird that can’t walk slowly improve based on what you’re doing to it. It’s also rewarding to get to see it fly away once it’s fully recovered.”

Pelicans were some of the hospital’s most common patients. Oftentimes, the birds will get fish hooks caught in their throats. The hospital tech’s job involved finding injured pelicans and bringing them into the hospital, so the vets could remove the hooks. In one rare case, Manglitz helped capture a pelican that had swallowed a cellphone.

“I actually really miss catching pelicans,” Manglitz said. “I failed a lot of times to start, but eventually I got really good at it.”

The trick is to use fish to draw the bird toward the boardwalk, then quickly scoop it up with a net before it realizes what’s happening. Then, you secure it by holding both wings in one hand, and the mouth in the other.

“Certain species have the ability to hurt you, so you want to be careful,” Manglitz said. “For example, when working with raptors, the first thing you want to grab and get secured is their talons. A pelican’s beak can be dangerous, so that’s why you want to make sure it’s secure.”

The more birds he helped, the more his interest in animal medicine grew. He said it was gratifying to diagnose a sick bird, then nurse it back to health.

“I also found it really interesting to watch the veterinarian perform surgeries. It made me want to pursue more veterinary medicine,” Manglitz said. “I decided to apply for jobs at vet clinics to see if I liked working with domestic animals, as well.”

Developing more skills

In 2021, he returned to Nebraska and started working for  the Veterinary Eye Specialists of Nebraska in Omaha, a specialty clinic that focuses on pet eye issues. His job as a vet assistant included monitoring pets under anesthesia, assisting with surgery, drawing blood and putting in catheters.

“A lot of people consider their pets as family members, so it can be scary and stressful when their animal needs to go to the vet,” Manglitz said. “It can be very gratifying to see an owner’s reaction to how you treat and help their pets.”

After building up some experience at the clinic, Manglitz decided to apply for vet school. The Professional Program of Veterinary Medicine is a highly competitive program open to Nebraska residents only, with spots for 25-30 students each year. It’s not uncommon for a student to apply two or three times before getting accepted, Manglitz said.

His first application earned him a spot as a “first alternate,” but no students dropped from the cohort to open a spot for him. His second application got him accepted in full.

“I tell the undergrads I’m working with not to get discouraged for not getting in. A lot of my classmates didn’t get in on their first try either,” Manglitz said. “Some people say getting accepted is actually harder than school itself.”

When he received his acceptance letter for vet school, the doctor at the eye clinic let him take on more skilled tasks, like intubating pets who were about to undergo surgery.

“I really enjoyed being able to do all that, and I am excited to continue to develop more skills at school,” Manglitz said.

His first year of classes concluded with a multi-day field trip to the Great Plains Veterinary Education Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. The trip, fondly known as “Cow Camp,” teaches the students about examining and treating large animals, like cattle or swine. It also showed Manglitz that even domestic veterinary medicine can involve exotic experiences.

“At the end, we did a full exam on a heifer that required a rectal palpation, meaning you stick your hand in to feel for its uterus and ovaries as a pregnancy test,” he said. “It was kind of weird to be elbow deep in a cow, but a really unique experience.”

By Mallory Gruben ’18

After Kerr graduated from �㽶��Ƶ with a bachelor of music degree in classical voice and performance, he went to the New York Film Academy for a one year intensive program studying musical theater. He landed a job in the city as an executive assistant for a theater producer, but he kept auditioning and looking for performance jobs. Luckily enough, Kerr was searching audition websites and found the position that would help his life set sail.

“The guy I was working for was really open because he knew I was a performer,” Kerr said. “So if he didn’t need me and I wanted to go somewhere, he just wanted to know and would try to work around my schedule.”

Kerr’s audition went well and he was called back twice. At the end of the audition process, he was offered a job with the Belinda King Creative Productions company in England. They work with cruise lines to put singers and dancers on board. Years later, Kerr has worked with multiple cruise lines and seen more of the world then he ever imagined he would.

To get ready for a tour on a cruise ship, five to six weeks of rehearsals are held in England so everyone can learn their preset shows. “We do seven preset shows and then dance parties that we can pretty much do an unlimited number of,” Kerr explained.

After rehearsals, Kerr and other members of the group fly to the boarding location — and could be on board anywhere from five to eight months at a time.

Kerr explains that being on a cruise ship for such a long time can be hard, but being able to compartmentalize is key.

“You work, live and play in the exact same space. So you have to know when you’re in the crew area and can relax and when you’re in the guest area and have to get back to work,” Kerr said.

Being on a cruise ship for so long also means that there are unique hardships that Kerr and the entertainment crew have to deal with from connectivity issues to obtaining materials. Kerr is able to rely on the expertise of his crew to help solve these issues.

“I’m working with people who know what they’re doing,” Kerr said. “With the right mindset and the right people even when we don’t have what we need sometimes, we still figure it out.”

Kerr said that he felt prepared for his role because of his time at �㽶��Ƶ, especially his training in classical music, which helps with choral arranging and frequently working out different voice parts.

Despite the hardships, Kerr said he loves being able to travel the world.

“The two most beautiful places I’ve ever been are a little island called Moorea that is just off the coast of Tahiti, and South Africa is a very close second,” Kerr said.

Without taking a chance on an audition that he wasn’t expecting, Kerr would have never been doing what he loves now.

“I feel really lucky to be doing something I love so much. Just because you’re somewhere at the moment, doesn’t mean that you can’t be on the other side of the world in a matter of days,” Kerr said.

By Ally Banks, senior English major from Shawnee, Kansas

That’s what Eboni Nash ‘19 entered into her browser in March 2020. Like other students, her spring break trip home to see family was…extended. A Harvard Divinity School student at the time, she was feeling “helpless…almost useless” in Eads, Colorado.

Yet what the search produced changed Nash’s life—and saved the life of a young girl.

This story originally appeared in .

Search Results: Be the Match

According to its website, Be the Match is a nonprofit organization connecting leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancer patients with peripheral blood stem cells and bone marrow transplants. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue in some bones that produces blood cells.

When Be the Match appeared in Nash’s search results, she had much to learn.

“In fact, I thought we had to be deceased to be able to do that,” she said. “Although it wasn’t immediately impactful, I was eased by the idea that there was a chance I could save a life.”

As a woman who is Black and Native American (Muscogee Creek), she possesses a unique human leukocyte antigens (HLA) Type among others on the donor registry.

HLA Type comprises protein markers that “tell your body which cells belong in your body and which do not” according to the Be the Match website. The closer the HLA Type match, the more likely the transplant is to be successful.

Timing Isn’t on Her Side

In 2022, Nash’s phone blew up with messages from unfamiliar numbers.

She and a teenage girl battling cancer were a perfect match. But was the timing?

“I just started my professional career, was in between permanent housing, and had no idea what I was meant to do with my life, personally or professionally,” Nash said. “How could I ask my new employer for a day off when it was among my first weeks on the job?”

She asked.

Her boss at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado, said yes. Twenty days later, Nash and her mom flew to Washington, D.C., for a bone marrow extraction. Be the Match covered their expenses.

Nash’s workplace, where she’s the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program recruitment manager, didn’t question whether she had the leave.

After her experience, Nash began advocating on behalf of bone marrow donors. While still in her hospital bed, she made a Tik Tok about her experience. It went viral.

“The power of story-sharing is real. Individuals are moved by others’ experiences. It raises awareness, it educates the majority and provides guidance for others thinking about following your steps,” she said.

Soon, her advocacy expanded to in-person lobbying, including a trip back to Washington, to advocate for donor leave. That’s an allowance for employees to take up to 40 hours of nonconsecutive, unpaid leave to become a donor. Nash describes the policy as similar to jury duty.

“Many individuals have trouble requesting the day off to ensure they can travel to the donation site and have appropriate time to recover, all while ensuring they are able to still pay their bills and have a job to come back to,” she said.

Nash, who is once again on Be the Match’s donor registry, has been named co-advisor for the Midwest Region of the Be The Match Advocacy Ambassador Team.

Meeting Her Match

As HC Today went to press, Nash was expected to meet the recipient of her donation. They had already exchanged texts and spoken. Nash said she thinks about her often.

“She has dreams, ambitions, desires and even fears. Her goals were at one point, day by day; but because of our match, she can now think farther into college, parenthood and beyond. Giving a small portion of my body, that replaced itself in a mere 30 days, was worth it to give a life for this precious little girl,” Nash said. “When we have the opportunity to love our neighbor, in whatever way that may come to you, it is up to us to answer the call.”

Donating Bone Marrow

In a Be the Match video, Dr. Rayne Rouce with Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Childrens’ Hospital describes the bone marrow extraction process.

1. The donor’s health is assessed for this outpatient procedure.
2. The donor is administered anesthesia.
3. The doctor makes a quarter-inch incision in the back of the donor’s hip bone.
4. Using a small, hollow needle, the doctor extracts the liquid bone marrow.

The process takes 30-60 minutes. Recovery pains are described as minor. Donors leave the hospital that day.

To register to be a donor with Be the Match, go to .

By Alicia O’Donnell ‘96