While at �㽶��Ƶ, RuAnn (Ulmer) Root ‘86 was skeptical about her classes in writing, public speaking and nonprofit accounting — requirements for her Human Service Administration degree.

“To be honest, I thought I would never use the information from those classes. However, have they ever come in handy,” said executive director of (CASA) in Hastings, a position she’s held for 22 years.

She’s used those skills to expand the agency’s programs into six counties, offer transitional living for youth aged 16-22 and mentor young professionals.

Root is one of many alumni for whom a �㽶��Ƶ education, rooted in the liberal arts and practical experiences, provides a foundation for serving others. They carry flames lit at �㽶��Ƶ into their current communities as nonprofit executives, employees, and board members.

A Life in Community

When Tim Moore ‘07 was earning his religion and media degree at �㽶��Ƶ, then-director of the Vocation and Values program and religion professor Dr. Trace Haythorn frequently assigned writings by Father Henri Nowen. Through Nowen, Moore learned about L’Arche, an organization of intentional communities throughout the world pairing people with and without intellectual disabilities.

Upon graduation, Moore took a position with L’Arche New Zealand and remains with the organization today as executive director of L’Arche Atlanta.

“The relationships have kept me in L’Arche,” said Moore. “Whether it was Victor in New Zealand, Mo in Washington DC or John in Atlanta, I have been given the gift of friendship with incredible people who have shaped me and made my life all the richer.”

On a daily basis, the core members — those with intellectual disabilities — go about work with the support they need from their assistants.

“Picture a big family doing daily life where each person has a different job, school, or set of activities/hobbies to engage,” said Moore. “Some of the members just happen to need a bit of extra support in very specific ways.”

Driven by ‘Lived Experience’

Eboni Nash’s work in the nonprofit sector is motivated by her father’s incarceration more than anything she learned in the classroom.

“His absence had a huge impact on my childhood development,” said Nash, a 2019 graduate. “I believe society could have created a safer place for me to live and learn than what was given to me initially.”

Equipped with the skills she honed as director of �㽶��Ƶ’s Food4Thought nonprofit and her master’s in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, Nash has returned to her native Colorado to build a better world.

Now, as vice president of development and communications for , Nash reports to Robert Andrews ‘07, the organization’s president and CEO, who is also an HC Trustee. Additionally,�� she serves as Diversity Equity and Inclusion Program recruitment manager for Metropolitan State University of Denver.

“At CommunityWorks, I help strategize and facilitate connection with the current workforce for a diverse population of job seekers,” she said. “At MSU Denver, I help advocate to Colorado employers on how they can create an equitable and accessible workplace for the incoming talent pipeline.”

Thanks to flexible work environments and complementary missions, she is well-positioned to facilitate collaboration within the Denver community. Additionally, these positions allow her to apply her “lived experience” as the child of an incarcerated parent, a first generation college graduate, and a person who has experienced food insecurity.

“Many times, the people making decisions have no context nor experience with the scenario in question,” said Nash.�� “If we were able to advocate for lived experience and how it might impact historically excluded voices, then we would be able to create a holistic and equitable system for all.”

Changing Lives in West Africa

Grant Nagaki ‘13 might just be 2022’s real-life version of Superman. During the day, he’s seeking to improve mental healthcare delivery systems. In his free time, he’s managing the nonprofit he co-founded in Ghana.

Traveling to Central America during �㽶��Ƶ’s former J-Term awoke Nagaki to a larger world in which he could help others.

“My experience at Hastings helped me experiment with volunteer work and with organizing such work. I was able to host a few fundraisers and start pitching ideas,” said Nagaki.

A port stop in Ghana as part of Semester at Sea inspired Nagaki and a fellow student to found the Senase Project and put his fundraising and organizational skills to use for a greater good. This poverty elimination organization has morphed into , a nonprofit with the mission to “empower children through the expansion of equitable access to quality education.”

Equipping students in villages with tuition, uniforms, books, supplies, and food hasn’t been easy as of late.

“We were unable to travel to Ghana during the pandemic, but the work still remained active through our field officer in Ghana,” he said.

Nagaki, who currently lives in New York City, specializes in all things financial, legal and operational for Aya. He credits �㽶��Ƶ experiences with preparing this vocation.

“I believe the close-knit community at Hastings gave me the comfort and opportunity to [lead a nonprofit organization],” he said. “It is intimidating work, but when you have a community who supports you, it allows you to be so much more confident and not fear failure.

Lives (Mostly) Balanced

Burnout in the nonprofit sector can run high. To maintain their drive to serve, Moore and Root prioritize the demands on their time.

“Two things that I’ve found that are important for me: I need to invest in friendships that are friend-first relationships,” said Moore.

The second for Moore is therapy.

“Leading a service provision organization through a pandemic was brutal and I’ve found that my leadership is more grounded when I’m living from a place of wellness and integration,” said Moore.�� “Therapy has played an important role in helping me live from that place more often.”

Root prioritizes presence based on where she is at the given moment.

“When I leave work — I LEAVE WORK — I do not check emails, talk about what I did at work with friends or family to nurture what I value and refill ‘my bucket,’” Root said. “I have a passion for the work I do, and consider it a privilege every day to work in this field. I hopefully make just a small difference in the lives of families.”

On Monday mornings at 5:00 a.m. most people are fast asleep, getting their last few hours of rest before starting another week of work. Human Performance coaches, however, are not most people. Also referred to under the title of “Strength & Conditioning,” Human Performance coaches most days are the first ones into the building and the last to leave — sometimes by choice, but most of the time because of facility limitations and scheduling conflicts.

It is a young, energetic profession traditionally fueled by meat-heads and macho-men alike. Oftentimes, the Human Performance coach takes on various roles that stretch far beyond the scope of the weight room, such as being a motivational speaker, mentor and therapist for athletes.

On any given day, if someone had the opportunity to visit every collegiate weight room in the state of Nebraska, the athletic weight room in �㽶��Ƶ’s Lynn Farrell Arena would stand out — not because of its equipment or the athletes that lift there, but because of the Broncos’ Human Performance staff.

Currently in the state of Nebraska there are only five female collegiate Human Performance coaches — and three coach at �㽶��Ƶ. Their names are Shandra Farmer ’20, Ally Ginkens ’20 and Cassidy Dyhrkopp, and all second-year graduate assistants with the Broncos working with Brett Wells, the director of Human Performance and 2019 NSCA Nebraska Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year.

A fourth female Strength & Conditioning coach in Nebraska, Laura Buttermore, is an assistant coach with the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Before UNO, Buttermore coached from 2012 to 2018 in the weight room at �㽶��Ƶ. This means 80 percent of the female collegiate strength coaches in the state of Nebraska have coached at �㽶��Ƶ in the last three years.

Hooked on Human Performance

Ginkens, who majored in Exercise Science and Recreation & Sport Management, played volleyball at �㽶��Ƶ and was a member of the 2016 National Championship squad. The former team captain became interested in Human Performance when she first started working out in the Broncos’ weight room and began to see improvements in the performance of her teammates and herself.

“When I came to Hastings it was very obvious which freshmen had experience in the weight room and came from a high school that had a strength coach because they were progressing so much faster than players like me who had to start our progress from the ground up due to our technique being wrong from never having anybody to coach us on that before college,” Ginkens explained. “I was watching all my teammates making huge strides forward, while I was moving backward. So when I adjusted to the technique and began to see huge improvements I got hooked on human performance and what it could do for myself and others.”

Ginkens made the weight room her home when right before her senior season she received the news that former Broncos head volleyball coach Matt Buttermore was moving on to become the head volleyball coach at UNO.

“As a senior the last thing you want to do is start over and it felt like everything we knew had been erased,” Ginkens said. “It was a new culture, new lifestyle, new everything with a new coach and I just really found a home in the weight room where that culture remained the same despite everything in my world that was changing. It held everyone to a high standard and that was really what I clung to. It was a great place for me to exemplify leadership and hard work because it was something that I knew. It was familiar in a time where everything was changing.”

This sense of belonging and drive to become better inspired Ginkens to become a graduate assistant of Human Performance at �㽶��Ƶ where she now coaches women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, shotgun sports and football in the weight room.

Finding another path

Farmer is also a Bronco alumni and decorated graduate of the �㽶��Ƶ women’s basketball team. As an athlete, Farmer received many honors on the court, including being named First-Team All-Conference her junior and senior years, and as a senior she was named First-Team All-American, the Great Plains Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the Omaha World Herald’s Midland Co-Female Athlete of the Year in addition to being a team captain.

Farmer, who studied business administration and human resource management as an undergrad, never considered the possibility of coaching until questions about her future in athletics became a consistent theme during her senior season.

“I had planned to earn a Masters of Business Administration somewhere else, get a business job and use my degree,” Farmer said. “But my senior year, after having a really successful season, I had been approached by multiple people about the possibility of coaching. So it got me thinking that if other people are seeing me as a good leader and having a way of being able to speak to people and help them out, maybe I do need to stay around sports. So this opportunity came up with coach Wells and the Human Performance staff and I took it right away.”

In order to receive the foundational knowledge needed to coach Human Performance, Farmer set out to preparing for the Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), and got enrolled in the United States of America Weightlifting (USAW) Level 1 coaching course with Ginkens and Dyhrkopp.

She now coaches the Broncos’ softball, men’s basketball and football teams in the weight room while attending University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) to earn an MBA with an emphasis in Human Resources. Her dream is to utilize the combination of her coaching experience and business background to become an athletic director or other form of administrator within an athletic department so she can make the most of her education and stay around sports.

Unlike Ginkens and Farmer, Dyhrkopp did not attend �㽶��Ƶ as an undergraduate, but joined the Broncos’ Human Performance staff after coming highly recommended by her strength and conditioning coaches at UNK, where she ran track as a sprinter and competed in the long jump and triple jump events.

Dyhrkopp became highly involved in the Lopers’ weight room after seeing the positive results that strength and conditioning had on her performance as an athlete.

“In high school, I never really had a strength program. We just had the football coach who taught weights class,” Dyhrkopp said. “So when I got to college I had the best strength coaches I’ve ever had and actually saw myself improve in my sport and just life in general. That’s when it really clicked for me mentally about how much that relationship with the strength coach makes a difference and how much you can accomplish when you buy-in to what they’re doing.”

Dyhrkopp currently coaches the Broncos’ volleyball, men’s and women’s wrestling and football teams in the weight room. Her goal is to be a Human Performance coach, either at the collegiate level or in the private sector working with athletes. She has even entertained the idea of owning her own performance center one day.

Building relationships, growing confidence

When asked about what their favorite part of coaching is, Ginkens, Farmer and Dyhrkopp immediately came to a consensus: relationships.

“One of my favorite things is creating relationships, not just with my athletes but all the athletes in general and just getting to know them more than just as a player or as an athlete,” Dyhrkopp said. “Getting to build those relationships and watch them progress is so meaningful.”

Farmer added, “I just love having the connections and interactions every single day with other people. Being able to see the athletes and be around people who love playing their sport and want to be there; it’s amazing.”

But as great of a profession as coaching is, these grad assistants still experience plenty of struggle in their day-to-day coaching activities.

Ginkens pointed out that confidence is one of the most important attributes of being a coach, but it’s a trait that doesn’t come easy.

“Just as a young coach, you get questioned a lot,” Ginkens said. “Like, if I was five years older people would not even question things, but since I’m a young coach I feel questioned a lot about what I’m doing. So that can have an effect on developing confidence, because if you’re always being questioned about what you’re doing, you start to question yourself.”

For Dyhrkopp, her biggest struggle has been coming face to face with the realization that coaching is a lot more than just X’s and O’s and having lots of sports knowledge.

“When I first became a coach I thought the hardest part would be programming workouts and those other things that I didn’t have any experience doing, which of course was difficult at first,” Dyhrkopp said. “But what I didn’t expect was having to coach more than just technique; things like effort, body language and culture. When you become a college coach, nobody tells you that you’re going to spend most of your time coaching and managing attitude and effort. I assumed college athletes already had those things taken care of, but I learned differently very quickly.”

Dealing with stereotypes

On top of developing their identities as coaches, these women have also dealt with facing the stereotypes and assumptions that come with being females working in a male-dominated industry.

“It’s a struggle dealing with the social media influencer stereotype,” Ginkens said. “People think females in the fitness industry are only there to teach people how to develop their glutes and come up with all these 10-minute band workouts and things like that. People just don’t see females actually coaching athletic teams.”

Farmer said personal trainers and social media influencers have their place and do a lot of good. “But when that is the majority of what people see from females in the industry it just becomes much harder to be taken seriously when coaching with the goal of athletic performance,” she said.

They attribute these stereotypes to a large-scale issue in the realm of Human Performance by sharing: part of the problem is that the field is just over-saturated with unqualified people who are portrayed as personal trainers or specialists.

“That’s a huge reason why we’re seen as different in this setting,” Dyhrkopp said. “Because us as females have also portrayed ourselves this way. We have to get people to see that we can be the smart, sport scientist style of coach as well, not just the model or social media influencer.”

Despite the challenges, these coaches have taken an active role in battling biases and assumptions by proving their merit through their own coaching demonstrations and personal workouts.

“People can doubt our weight room abilities because we’re female, but it’s always funny when the athletes see us doing advanced weightlifting movements and get surprised at how good we are at them,” said Ginkens.

“I always think it’s funny when our athletes or other coaches walk by the weight room and see us working out and lifting heavy, then all of a sudden we get a lot more credibility,” Farmer said. “We are no longer seen as girls who are just there to clean up the weight room after sessions. But, it’s not until they see that we know what we’re doing when we finally get that response and respect.”

They’ve also seen these biases and assumptions leave the weight room and leak into professional interactions.

“One struggle I’ve specifically had is male coaches being nervous about working around a female every day. I’ve had guys feel that they don’t want me around because of ideas like ‘you shouldn’t cuss around a female’,” Farmer said. “People are raised to respect women and that is a great thing. However, when the ideology that men need to act or talk differently around females creates more barriers for women in the workplace, it becomes an issue that should be discussed. That’s just how it’s been for so long and if we don’t talk about it, it becomes this systemic cycle.”

On the opposite end of things, Gingens said she’s struggled with coaches specifically hiring someone because they are female.

“It’s like — no — I want to be the absolute best candidate you have, not the best female candidate you have,” Gingens said. “I don’t want to be hired because I’m a female. It’s just something I’ve struggled with. When I apply for jobs I’m starting to question: are you hiring me because you actually like my work ethic and what I have to offer as a coach? Or is it because I’m a female and I have some good qualities, but mainly it’s because you need to hire a female? I just want to be the best for the position.”

Building a better profession

Despite the struggle, these women are working through it, hoping to create a better coaching profession and advance the field of Human Performance through their efforts.

“People always talk about how this industry is male-dominated and you never really see females in it,” said Farmer. “The phrase I always come back to is ‘if not us, then who?’ If females don’t start doing this job, then we won’t progress or get anywhere in it. We are starting to see more females get into the industry. The change is starting to be made and it’s pretty cool that we get to be a part of it.”

Dyhrkopp said she fully embraces her role as a Human Performance coach and has complete pride in what she’s doing.

“We’re just out here making moves for everyone else,” Dyhrkopp said. “Now that I’ve taken the step to be a female Human Performance coach, whenever I’m looking at jobs or internship opportunities I always look to see if they have female coaches. That’s something that is just so awesome. And if you look around, you do start to see more and more females in coaching and that is just so cool.

“The positives we get are the same positives as any other coach who is benefiting their athletes. We’re here to do the same thing as them. But the added positive of it is that we’re helping to pave the way for other females in the future. However, we strive for the same things as any other strength coach.”

Ginkens said she believes the whole industry itself is making a big change.

“A strength coach in 10 years is no longer going to be portrayed as this huge meat-head, screaming and yelling at athletes,” she said. “And I think part of this change is females making their way into the industry. And I’m glad we’re going to be a part of it. If we keep going in the right direction it’s just a matter of time before having a female strength coach isn’t special, it’s just normal.”

When asked what advice she would give to other females who dream about working in Human Performance, Ginkens said “Go for it. It’s not going to be easy and you’re going to have to be tough. But just go for it.”

Farmer’s advice is to trust yourself.

“Know who you are and what you want to do, and don’t let people who don’t agree with it or don’t like you make you doubt yourself,” she said. “Do qualified work by growing through critique and disagreement, but don’t let it break you completely. Take the opportunity to put yourself in positions that you normally wouldn’t, so when your opportunity does come you’re ready for it.”

Farmer, Dyhrkopp and Ginkens have elevated the �㽶��Ƶ Human Performance program above any previous level. They bring intelligent work, accountability, vulnerability and goodwill to an athletic department that consistently reaps the benefits of their intentional efforts. Every day these women are working toward building a better world of athletics, and hope to spark the minds of others who wish to do the same.

By graduate assistant Cole Fisher ‘19

“I might want to apply for graduate school or go straight into the job force, so I really wanted an internship that could give me real-world experience as an undergraduate,” said Hermann, a Juniata, Nebraska, native who is double majoring in psychology and human resources management with a minor in communication studies.

Hermann met with Director of Career Services Kim Graviette, who shared possible internship opportunities for J-Term. She ultimately reached out to Mary Lanning Healthcare to see if they’d be willing to take Herman as a human resource intern. The staff Mary Lanning did so with open arms.

“The staff were so welcoming and great people to work with,” Hermann said.

Hermann interned with Mary Lanning Healthcare everyday, where he did several projects with five different specialists in the human resources department, working in compensation, benefits and employment.

His duties ranged from sending ��recruitment emails for open positions, which helped boost applicants from 40 to more than 100 over a single weekend. Hermann also worked with Affirmative Action data, which allowed him the opportunity to see what criteria the government agency uses to analyze the demographics of an organization. He also conducted research to inform Mary Lanning’s HR department of how they may improve overall employee engagement, and onboarding process for new hires.

“I conducted a brief research project regarding rehiring previous employees.” Hermann said, ��“More specifically, I pulled other organizations’ policies on the matter, found a peer-reviewed article regarding the pros and cons of rehiring and found an article discussing what can be deemed ‘just termination of an employee.’”

The opportunity gave Hermann the experience he needed to verify the career he is pursuing in the classroom is something he what he wanted to do after college.

“My human resources management major has not only inspired me to pursue human resources in the long run, but the courses and my advisors here at �㽶��Ƶ have helped prepare me for my future career,” Hermann said.

By Dany Cook, a junior from Fairfield, California, majoring in journalism and broadcasting

Abraham Catering started in 1951 by George Abraham Sr., who expanded his business by contracting with dinner theaters at the Old Market in Omaha. In 1996, George’s daughter Jennifer Kobs ’95 and her husband Brian Kobs ’96 came to work for the company helping make Abraham Catering became the largest catering company in Nebraska, catering as many as 25 events in a weekend.

“Abraham Catering is a great company that treats everyone like they are a part of one big family,” Knott said. “ I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to intern here over the summer.” Knott has spent the last two months as an event managing intern where she corresponded with customers, prepared for weekly events and set up and took down equipment at venues. “There is always something new going on each day, so no two days are ever the same. It’s a very fun job, and the people I get to work with are great!” Knott said.

The �㽶��Ƶ connection

Presidents of Abraham Catering, Jennifer and Brian Kobs, began working at the company ��immediately after graduating from �㽶��Ƶ. As the business began to expand, they began to hire interns. Knott was the first �㽶��Ƶ student hired as an intern.

“Brian was very excited to hear that Natalie was from Hastings.” said Chad Morford, president of sales and Knott’s immediate supervisor. “We interviewed a handful of summer intern applicants, and being from Hastings gave her a definite advantage. I know Brian enjoyed his time at Hastings, and he has a feel for the quality of the students and education.”

For Knott, the Thrive Leadership Program at �㽶��Ƶ her freshman year was invaluable. ��Thrive, a competitive program for first-year students, focuses on developing leadership philosophies, skills and networking opportunities.

“In my internship, I work with adults and business professionals on a daily basis, and with my experience this past year at �㽶��Ƶ I feel more comfortable meeting people and conducting myself in a professional manner,” Knott said.

This year, Knott said she plans to be involved in the Artist Lecture Series committee, Professional Business Leaders, the Talent Pool internship program, Student Alumni Association and other groups. ��She said her internship at Abraham Catering opened her eyes to new opportunities after graduation and has solidified her desire to work with and help people.

For students looking for their own internships, Knott offers this advice: “Use any connection you have because you never know what that connection is able to do for you. Make sure that you take advantage of all the resources that �㽶��Ƶ has available, and go see Kim (Graviette) in Career Services because she is amazing! But most important, don’t be afraid to try something different, because you never know if you like it until you try it!”

By Ryan Smolko, a senior from Phoenix, Arizona, majoring in history

��

The genesis of my Fulbright grant began in a J-Term Cold War History class where I heard about an opportunity to travel to the Balkans the following year. In January 2014, I traveled to Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Croatia to explore the political environment in those countries after the fall of communism and conflicts of the 1990s. The experiential learning outside of the classroom provided enough background to feel comfortable choosing Kosovo as the destination required to select when applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award.

Understanding the political environment in Kosovo continues to be useful while I live and work in Kosovo, which remains Europe’s newest country, having only declared its independence from Serbia in 2008.

Country-building is not easy, and Kosovo’s path to garner international respect is ongoing with only 112 diplomatic recognitions as an independent state. It is in this political landscape where education of future generations becomes important. Having English language skills remains an avenue for students in Kosovo to further their education as well as raising their chances for a job prospects in a country where unemployment is rampant.

My day teaching begins at 7:00 a.m. at Gjimnazi Frang Bardhi in Mitrovica, Kosovo. I assist eight teachers who between them have 160 classes a week with more than 2,000 students who attend the school. I have opportunities to lead classes, discussions and share mutual understanding of culture through English language learning. While working at Gjimnazi Frang Bardhi, I have gained greater appreciation for the liberal arts background that �㽶��Ƶ provided me.

I know of no place else where one minute you will be talking about English grammar and, to achieve that “aha” moment, you have to provide an example found in pop music, fashion or technology to relate to the topic.

So why does this matter? The answer is found in a quote from the late Senator J. William Fulbright: “The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.”

The program was founded in 1946, and now I am a part of a group of men and women from all over the world who have been honored with 78 Pulitzer Prizes and won 53 Nobel Prizes, but most importantly we have been honored to serve as representatives of our countries to share and learn about our commonalities rather than differences in an ever polarizing world. Those ideals, to me, also sound similar to what students past and present are trying to uphold at �㽶��Ƶ.

By Grant Hunter, a 2014 �㽶��Ƶ graduate who majored in human resource management and business administration.