January 2012 | North Central College

Stacey Schiel Garrity '95

Stacey Schiel Garrity is a senior manufacturing process development scientist for Epicentre, based in Madison, WI, which manufactures and sells kits for DNA sequencing, transcription and ribosomal RNA removal, among other products. Her role in the manufacturing group is to take incoming new products from the research and design group and “scale them up” to large-scale production, taking processes from a lab bench scale to a production scale.

Kristine Book '06

Kristine Book is teaching elementary schoolchildren in South Korea. Students in grades one through three learn grammar, speaking and drama, while older students are formulating their own conversations and arguments with a debate class. After earning her bachelor’s degree in organizational communication, she pursued a master’s degree in teaching from National-Louis University. In her free time, she has traveled throughout South Korea, to the 38th parallel that separates North and South Korea, and to Jeju, an island known as the Hawaii of Korea.

Phillip Burke '85

Phillip Burke was elected to a fifth term as chairman of the board of Sycamore Hills, MO. He also was reelected as secretary for the Mayors of Small Cities and serves on the nomination committee for the St. Louis County Municipal League. An occasional political science lecturer for a local college, he enjoys traveling in his free time and has visited 50 states, seven continents and more than 50 countries. He continues to play trumpet for the Ambassadors of Swing and the After Hours Community Band.

Darrick Druce '10

Darrick Druce joins the Sauk Valley Predators minor league basketball team as its strength and conditioning coach. Druce completed an internship with the Chicago Bulls/White Sox Academy in 2008 and became the assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2009 for the Bulls where he trained players such as Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Ben Gordon. He implemented off-season and spring training strength programs for the White Sox in 2009.

Carley Wrobel Born '96

Carley Wrobel Born is an academic technologist at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, where she supports curricular development in teaching foreign languages. She’s currently designing a custom open-source, Web-based program to facilitate oral exercises for foreign language classes. On the side, she provides technical consultation and English-Japanese translation for a small martial arts equipment vendor in Japan.

Helen MacGregor Baker '48

Helen MacGregor Baker holds an administrative assistant position at Neighborhood Counseling Associates in Montgomery, IL. She recently wrote she was printing “a gazillion” envelopes, mailing statements, answering the phone and scheduling appointments and meetings. Baker also continues to volunteer as a parish nurse at Oswego Presbyterian Church.

Lindsey Howard '07

Lindsey Howard is operations manager for WorldFinds, a wholesale fair-trade women’s accessories company based in Westmont, IL. She manages the preparation and shipping of orders, quality and inventory control, tradeshow participation, website management and photography of the products for Web and catalog sales. She was involved with Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) as a student and continues to be active as a business advisory board member.

Leanne Fanning Pankuch '90

Leanne Fanning Pankuch wrote two stories, titled “What We’ll Do for Hockey” and “Fish ‘n Fries,” that were featured in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada.” For more information visit leannepankuch.com. She lives in Aurora, IL, and may be reached at leannepankuch@comcast.net.

North Central Now Winter 2012

Memories of North Central continue to shape First Lady’s university life

Jane Schade ’71 Kopp remembers visiting the home of College President Arlo Schilling when she was a freshman. Today, as First Lady of Marshall University, she extends the same hospitality to students. “I know students appreciate coming to our home for a reception or dinner, because I remember how special it was for me,” she says.

North Central College is active partner in serving its student veterans

As the number of veterans on campus has continued to grow, North Central College has established a formal program to welcome and serve this population.

Since 2009 when North Central College joined the Yellow Ribbon program, the number of veterans on campus has nearly tripled. Currently, North Central serves 23 student veterans—most are transfer students—and expects this population to increase as more troops make their way home and the College’s commitment to serve this population continues to grow.