When asked about his future goals in terms of his career, Kyle stated that he would eventually like to work his way up the professional ladder and become the Director of Tennis at a country club.  However, it seems as though he is very content with his current position and will stay where he is for a few years.

I was curious to know what Kyle thought about his experience at Catawba.  When I fired him a question about his overall experience, he commented on certain classes he took within his major and how they benefited him.  “My sport management classes, especially facility management and sports marketing, have definitely helped me in my current profession {since I am} managing a tennis facility and planning events.”

Off the court, Kyle enjoys playing a round of golf, camping, and tries to attend as many Panthers games as possible, claiming himself a “die hard fan.”  He is always up for watching Wedding Crashers and enjoys eating bacon cheeseburgers.  His advice to current seniors is to enjoy the college experience.  “Once you get in the working world, you can’t go back!” he exclaimed, saying all that one has of college once they have graduated are the memories they made as students.

Well seniors, it looks like we have about three months to live it up, according to Mr. Thortsen.  Let’s get it!

A 2010 Catawba graduate hailing from Seaford, New York, Jen came to Catawba to discover herself. She was looking for a college that would offer her the luxury of being far away from her home state to help achieve this goal, and felt that Catawba was the perfect fit. An opportunity to be a person, instead of just a number, and participate as a student-athlete solidified her decision to come to Salisbury.  “When I visited Catawba, I knew it was the perfect place for me. The people were so friendly and inviting, and I fell in love with all the activities to do on campus. Plus, I wanted to play field hockey, which I was so lucky to play at Catawba!”

Having known since the eighth grade that she wanted to be a reporter, Jen made the easy decision to become a communication major, while minoring in English.

Now, living in Farmington, Connecticut, Jen uses what she learned at Catawba and works as a graphics systems controller at ESPN. She expresses her gratitude towards the professors she encountered during her stay at Catawba. “Each [professor] has made a huge impact on me, and I really have to thank them for pushing me and helping me get to the place where I am now.”

A typical day for Jen begins around four o’clock in the afternoon and does not end until one or two in the morning. Working in the control room, she builds the graphics seen on ESPN shows ranging from SportsCenter to International Soccer. She then animates the graphics when cued by the director, creating the effects seen on televisions across America.

Next time you’re tuned in to ESPN, look for the handy work of one of Catawba’s own!

This year the music department of Catawba filled the weekend with music, intertwining the musical festivities with the planned events of Homecoming. With sound from choral composer such as Hrusovsky to the great of the 70s such as Kansas and Earth, Wind, and Fire, it was a can’t miss weekend.

Saturday afternoon featured a match up at Shufford Stadium between our Catawba Indians football team and the Wingate Bulldogs .

To kick off the game the Catawba Singers graced the crowd with a riveting rendition of the National Anthem and following the Singers came the Catawba Pride Marching Band, performing numbers such as Sway by Michael Buble. 

Then, immediately following the football game, the Vernacular All Stars rendered an unplugged performance for the alumni just moments before the basketball team delivered an energizing and fun game for spectators to see. Later in the night, the music continued on as the Vernacular All Stars made their full public debut and delivered a out of this world tribute to the 70s touching on classics such as Sweet Home Alabama, Horse with No Name, and I Want You Back. More music ensued as the Catawba Singers performed two moving compositions for the Sunday morning chapel service dedicated to the Catawba family. Wonderful music filled the air during the service centered around a a powerful sermon, led by Catawba’s Chaplin, Dr. Ken Clapp.

Lastly, the Board of Trustees along with President Oxendine held a dinner to honor the services of Linda Hamilton in her years spent at Catawba. The Vernacular All Stars were called on once again to deliver another unplugged performance, with Sophomore Olivia Albertson performing an original song of her own.

All together it was a weekend full of joy, remembrance, and love to which the Music Department of Catawba played the soundtrack.

Matt Patrick: Class of 2010, BA Musical Theatre

Living in: Brooklyn, NY

Work: Retail at J Crew and Coach

NY Projects:
Stage – Vampure: A Christams Spooktakular, and The Legend of Johnny15

Film: Doritos Superbowl half time commercial contest, and Halfway There; A story of young adults and their encounters with drugs/and the road to recovery.

Current Project: Just booked the National Tour of the Lincoln Center Version of South Pacific directed by Sarna Lapine and cast by Clemmons/Dewing Casting. Tour produced by NETworks.

“I’m very excited about everything I’ve been doing up here from auditioning, to selling purses. It’s been very fun and I’ll continue to update you all when I have more ideas of all the tour dates and such!!”

We look forward to seeing what great things life has in store for such a talented Catawba College Alumni! Break Legs, Matt!

Amanda will spend the year promoting her platform “Making a Difference Around the Corner and Around the World,” to encourage others to do what they can to help those in need, not only in their own community but around the world.

In June, Amanda will compete for the title of Miss North Carolina in hopes of gaining the opportunity to compete in Miss America.  The competition will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina and will consist of five portions; private interview, swimsuit, onstage interview, talent, and evening gown.

The Miss America Organization, which originated in 1921, started out as a beauty pageant but has since become an organization that strongly advocates scholarship, service, and intellect.  The Miss America scholarship program has become the largest scholarship provider in the world for young women.  While the competition originated in Atlantic City, New Jersey, it moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006 and is held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

While at Catawba, Amanda was a communications major and actively involved in student government, wigwam, cheerleading, and the Pioneer.  Amanda is already preparing for her June competition that will hopefully take her all the way to Miss America which would fulfill a lifelong dream of hers.

Soon after graduation, Aly acquired a position as a manager of Tortugas Tiki Bar & Grill.  However, looking to move on to pursue her passions, Halter found an opportunity to apply to a communications position on Craigslist.  Acting fast, Aly then took swift measures to send a cover letter and resume to her future boss. After a review of past work, references, an interview, and a lengthy example video project, Halter had secured the job.

In her new position, Aly is in charge of creating a semi-annual publication at the school, entitled Soundings. Along with these duties come video cases, promotional videos, weekly news videos, and club videos.

She talks excitedly about her new job.  “I contribute to the school database of photos, graphic design on assorted publications, and monitor the electronic sign outside the school as well.  It’s so funny walking the halls and hearing, ‘Miss Halter, you didn’t take MY picture yet!’”

Aly Halter takes the time, however, to pay homage to those who helped her achieve what she has become today.

“I think my personal relationships at Catawba were the most important in getting me this position,” she divulges. “Cyndi Wittum wrote the most touching recommendation I have ever read, and Dr. Peevy contributed wonderfully as well.  Jan Gillean, my advisor from Wigwam, was also a huge help in contacting potential employers to endorse me.  I used my old posters from Wigwam and Pioneer advertisements to show I am capable in graphic design, and I showed my old articles from when I was editor of The Pioneer.  Finally, the PR internship with Roush Fenway Racing gave me some Communications office experience.”

Busy with her new career, Aly still takes the time to mold a hobby of hers into a new business. The business is called bLYSS designs, which is a collection of hand painted and personalized wine glasses. Aly endearingly speaks of the business and the origin of its name.  “The business name is supposed to be fashioned after a nickname my grandmother always used to call me – “Lyss.”  Hence, bLYSS Designs!”

To top it all off, Ms. Halter has also accomplished her second half marathon at the Virginia Beach Rock n’ Roll Half.

What a year for Ms. Halter!

Janssen is from New Jersey, but is currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He began playing golf with friends at the age of ten, and was a member of the Catawba College golf team while attending Catawba.

Along with being an alumnus from Catawba, Janssen has been sharpening up his golf swing and preparing to play in the Remax World Long Drive Competition which takes place in Mesquite Nevada November 2^nd through November 5^th. Janssen was one of the 144 people that qualified to play from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Janssen worked his way up to the World Competition by qualifying in other events. The first event he participated in was in South Carolina back in May where he placed 3^rd overall. He then played a regional qualifier in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania. In this event, 100 people played for 8 spots in the World Long Drive Competition. Janssen placed 5^th overall. His diligence and dedication to practicing also gained him a sponsor. He is sponsored by Bang Golf, who provides him with all of his equipment and pay for his travel to events.

Right now Janssen is practicing and preparing for the competition. The top 8 players out of the 144 will make it to the finals which will be shown on ESPN 2 sometime in December. The winner of the World Long Drive Competition will receive $150,000.

Janssen is very excited to be able to compete in such a prestigious event. When asked about his feelings on the competition he said, “It’s an honor to go out there, I just started and it is an honor to be out there already.”

Janssen also claims that being on the Catawba College golf team helped him with his professional golf career.

He said’ “Playing on the Catawba golf team helped me out with pressure circumstances. When I got into professional events, it made it easier because I already had experience with pressure from playing in college.”

Everyone at the Pioneer would like to wish Janssen good luck when he goes to play in this competition in November. He is very talented and we know he will be a winner no matter how he places. Who knows, he might even conquer the world.

Jen is from Seaford, New York. According to her, it is like the Salisbury of Long Island. She attended a small high school with about 900 students. While at Catawba she was a member of the field hockey team, president of the Delphinian Society, a Catawba College Ambassador, a member of Wigwam, a writer for The Arrowhead,  a baseball concession stand worker and a writer for the Pioneer. Jen was the type of person that could always brighten your day. If you saw her on campus, she was always smiling and chatting with someone. Graduation day was a sad day because many of us were not ready to see Trout head into the “real world.” Fortunately, she seems to be doing very well for herself.

This past summer Trout interned for News 12 Long Island. The station is owned by Cablevision, which is similar to Time Warner. The internship began May 25^th and ended August 13^th. She worked Tuesdays and Fridays from 12:30 pm until 8:30 pm. Her job title was Production Assistant for the late night talk show called Long Island Talks (or LIT for short.) She was in charge of creating and gathering clips that would air during the show.  For example, if the show that night was going to be about the BP oil spill, she would find clips of wildlife for them to show.

Trout described this process to us saying, “Throughout the show when the host Lea Terrell talks to her guest or guests and they get on the topic of the wildlife, I have to find clips of the wildlife for them to show. So I would find about a minute of old video from other segments of oily birds or turtles etc… We have a library of DVDs and tapes that have everything and anything that has ever been aired on News 12. It was my job to search through the tapes and look for clips that would be used throughout the show.”

Trout also helped with Man on the Street interviews. She went out with the camera man and interviewed people, asking their opinions on certain issues. After getting the interviews, they would go back to the station to edit the footage and pick the best people to use in the story.

When the show started at 7:00pm, Trout had many responsibilities. She would welcome the guests that were going to be on the show that night and help them get set up in the green room. She had to print off cue cards and scripts just in case the monitors stopped working. Then she would bring the guest to the studio and hook them up with a microphone. After these tasks were completed, Trout would go back to a room filled with phones and computers and take viewers phone calls.

Trout said’ “I had to screen the calls and write a little bit of what they were talking about and then pass the caller on to my producer if I thought they were a useable person. We screen because sometimes we have politicians on the show and people can get a little angry and crazy. We don’t want anybody causing problems for the show.”

Through this internship, Jen fell in love with interviewing and being on camera. She went out with the sports anchor, Jamie Stuart, to interview the General Manager of the New York Islanders, which is a NHL team. She also went out with another reporter named Ken Grimball. They went to a beach where people were taking children with disabilities out on sailboats. This was Jen’s first heartfelt feature story. With this story, Trout got to do a stand up and a package. A stand up is the portion of the story where a reporter is seen on camera. A package is the entire story, which has to be under 2:30 minutes. She got to make up her own script and do the voiceovers. The next time Trout went out with some reporters she interviewed a man whose mailbox kept getting knocked down. For this story she got to interview the man, do a stand up, and do the voiceovers.

Right now, Trout is applying for jobs. She has applied to ESPN, Disney, NBC, ABC, CNN, CBS, Bravo, Discovery and the SYFY Network. She has also applied to some local newspapers. Trout is still in contact with her bosses at News 12 and still goes out with the camera men who are helping her make a reel. A reel is like a portfolio of the stand up and reporting she has done. Trout has also applied for a few jobs in North Carolina.

“I love New York but would love to move back to North Carolina. But to tell you the truth, I’ll take whatever I can get right now so if that means Mississippi, then so be it!”

Trout says that the best part of her internship was that she was able to experience all the aspects of the news station; the interactive media part and the reporting part. The internship opened her eyes to what she really wants to do in the future. Her ultimate goal is to become a sports reporter or a feature reporter.

“I love sports and I love heartfelt stories. I think it’s a good fit for me. It’s a hard business to get into, but it’s definitely one that I want to do. This is my dream now and I’m putting both feet forward to achieve it. Keep your fingers crossed and look for me on TV!”

Now they have graduated they have now made dreams become a reality. After working hard on the basketball court for the past four years for Rob and five for Donald, they have put themselves in a situation where they can now say they are officially professional basketball players.

Both have signed one year contracts in Denmark for the upcoming 10/11 season. Rob has signed with Espergærde Basketball Club in Helsingør and Donald has signed with SISU. After achieving the hardest target which is attaining that rookie contract the sky is the limit for these two players as there is nothing stopping them from making some big moves in the professional game and progressing as high as possible.

After Both averaging 15 points a game in the 09/10 season they have proven they can perform on the collegiate level and now they get to do it for a living. We wish them the best of luck with their new careers and hope to hear about their success this season.

Rogers let his talent shine here at Catawba. Rogers performed in 7 mainstage shows during his career at this college including: The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sweeney Todd, and the Blue Masque show The Wild Party: A World Premiere Musical by Matthew Kiedrowski. Rogers performed and directed in the 10 minute scenes that the theatre department presents each semester. He participated in Danceworks for 5 semesters, choreographing 4 out of the 5 dance presentations. Rogers shared with me his thoughts on Danceworks saying, “My favorite piece of choreography would have to be the one I did last year to the song Fix You by Coldplay. It was inspired by the movie What Dreams May Come and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.”  Rogers also participated in two specialty concerts; one was a benefit for Broadway Cares, and the other was a Senior Legacy Concert to raise funds for the Music Department Library.

Along with his participation in theatre activities, Rogers was also a member of many other clubs and extracurricular activities on campus. These include:

Catawba Singers

Catawba Madrigals

The Order of the Blue and White

Dead Athenian Society (Historian ’06-’07, Vice President ’07-’08)

The Blue Masque (Senator ’07-’08)

Lilly Center Retreat Leadership Corps

Co-Editor of the 2008-2009 Sayakini

Elected Mr. Catawba for the 2007-2008 academic year

After all this hard work, what more could this talented guy find to do? Maybe become an Acting Apprentice? Rogers is currently finishing up a year-long contract in Lanesboro, Minnesota where he works as an Acting Apprentice for the Commonweal Theatre Company. Rogers has been working in the theatre of this town since May 20. The town has a population of 800 people, but the theatre saw over 21,000 patrons in its 2009-2010 season. Rogers has a very high opinion of this little town, claiming, “It’s amazing to see so many people travel to this location, in the middle of nowhere, in search of a genuine theatrical experience. We have over 1,000 season pass holders. That’s a huge accomplishment, considering we’re 2 hours from the 2nd largest theatre city in the nation (Minneapolis/St.Paul.)”

As an Acting Apprentice, Rogers has been seen on stage as Vinnie in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, George Graham et al in A Midnight Dreary, and Neal Tilden in The 1940′s Radio Hour, which he also choreographed. Rogers spoke to me about the shows. “I’d have to say my favorite show was A Midnight Dreary, a world premiere written by one of our company members. It was a kind of surrealist look at the last night of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. It was great to have another chance to create an original character for a brand new show. It also set the record for highest average show attendance ever at the Commonweal.”

The Apprentice program is more than just stage credits for Rogers. It is a 10-month intensive that provides education in every facet of running a theatre company. So, the apprentices did get to be on stage, but they also learned how to create advertising materials, do media appearances, write grants, and run the box office. They worked for 3 months each on the marketing, production, and development teams and were part of all the staff meetings. The apprentice’s contract concludes with the Apprentice Capstone Project. This project involves the apprentices self-producing their own mainstage production. It is a fully apprentice-run show. They pick it, design it, market it, and perform in it with very little outside involvement from the rest of the company. This year they have chosen Death and the Ploughman. The project is like their final exam; a time for them to put all the things they have learned to the test. Rogers gave us some insight into his feelings on the apprenticeship experience saying, “It’s been an amazing ride. Probably the best work I’ve done on stage in a long time. We’ve made a blog to document the whole process. Each apprentice contributes to the blog. My last day here is April 1 and I will truly miss it.”

So what’s next for this amazingly talented Catawba alumnus? He has big plans to continue using his talents.  After Rogers completes his apprenticeship, he says he will be taking some well-earned downtime in North Carolina until May 7. He will then move to Pennsylvania to perform in a Hershey Theme Park show until Labor Day. After the summer, he plans on following in the footsteps of many Catawba Theatre Alums and making the move to The Big Apple.

Things People Might Not Know About Sheldon Rogers:

• I am really into photography. I have a hard drive specifically for my pictures and it currently holds about 15,000 photos that I’ve taken over the last 2 years.
• If I wasn’t an actor, I’d probably pursue a career in freelance photography or graphic design. But I did want to be a vet for a really long time.
• I’ve also started writing some original songs, and I’m planning on compiling enough to record an EP, or even a full-length album by the end of this year.