Alumni

• Submit a Class Note

What It's Like To...

We often hear from Lake Forest College alumni who follow their passions into careers, live in the most fascinating places, have life-changing experiences, and accomplish tremendous feats.

These inspirational stories usually find a home in our popular Class Notes section, where friends and classmates catch each other up on their lives. In the following pages you will read a little more about five of these Foresters. And if you have a story to tell about yourself, we invite you to share it with us at spectrum@lakeforest.edu.

As told to Cara Jepsen '86

Harvey Cain '52, a retired physician, dipped his front bicycle wheel into Owen Sound, Canada, to commemorate the end of a 2,285-mile ride from the Gulf of Mexico along an Underground Railroad route. (Photo by Bill Henry/Owen Sound Sun Times)

My parents were Lake Forest College alumni, and I was born on campus at Alice Home Hospital.
 
At age nine, we moved to Southwest Iowa where my mother showed me a hexagonal stone home that was part of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). She lectured that slavery was a dreadful blot on our nation's reputation. I always remembered that; it certainly is.
 
Early last year I read about an Adventure Cycling Association unsupported bicycle-camping ride to commemorate the opening of the UGRR Bicycle Route from Mobile, Alabama, to Owen Sound, Ontario. I thought, "I want to learn more about that - and experience it."
 
I've been doing long-distance cycling since 1987. A week before I started the trip I was helping unload a truck and had a sudden pain in my right hip and leg, but I was quite determined to go on this bike ride. It got somewhat worse as the trip progressed.
 
There were 17 other bicyclists and we each had to lug about 40 pounds of our own camping and personal gear. In the first three weeks we climbed 79,000 feet of steep hills.
 
Since this was the first trip respecting the people, communities, and concept of the UGGR, we were feted in many places. The preponderance of the groups were African-American, and it was very moving. The University of Pittsburg Center for Minority Health co-sponsored the ride, and health promotion was one of the trip's missions.
 
We stopped at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and the slavery pens/quarters and slave market in Old Washington, Kentucky, where some of the events that prompted Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin took place. Stowe and her family were part of the Cincinnati UGRR, and we toured their home. We went to Ripley, Ohio, where the real Eliza and her two-year-old child came across the icy, treacherous Ohio River to escape the pursuing slave masters and their dogs. We also climbed Liberty Hill to Reverend John Rankin's home. From the early 1820s until the Civil War, Rankin and his family were pioneers of the UGRR movement.  
 
The people we met on the trip were most gracious and intriguing. The companionship was marvelous, and there was no shortage of beautiful scenery.
 
But the dogs in Tennessee and Kentucky were awful. I personally was greeted and harassed by at least 100 dogs. One of them was about four inches from my heel, with teeth bared. Then I heard this very satisfying thump. My trailer must have knocked him out, although I didn't stop to look.
 
I was riding along a bike path on Lake Ontario when a little kid bolted away from his mother and ran right in front of me. I stopped and missed him by about an eighth of an inch. I went over the handlebars and broke a rib and cracked two others.
 
This was about four days before the end of the ride. I kept going.
 
At the finish, descendents of slaves who had escaped to Canada made a presentation, although it should be noted both blacks and whites were prominent conductors and station masters of the UGRR movement. There were approximately 150 people present when we dipped our wheels in Lake Huron.
 
My next adventure is a supported coast-to-coast ride with my wife, Marsha, from San Diego, to Brunswick, Georgia, from March to May.
 
I feel I'm a bit too young to be considered an ancient wonder. There are lots of people considerably older than I am who are doing fantastic things. I have a saying, "Exercise: it's never too late to start - and always too early to stop."

Kay-Kay Saunders '92 and her daughter Kate, 7, wave flags at a rally for Hillary Clinton. Her family listened to and met several candidates before deciding to caucus for Barack Obama.

My husband, Kevin, and I were living on the Drake University campus in 1999 when we first started experiencing presidential politics in Iowa. I'd walk across campus and see Bill Bradley, Elizabeth Dole, and Lamar Alexander, and realized, "This is an incredible opportunity to really get to know the candidates."
 
We volunteered and drove in the motorcade for Al Gore when he would visit Iowa. It was wild being "behind the rope line" and hanging out with the national press corps, Secret Service, and the vice president's staff. We heard how they changed his message throughout a day to address different audiences. 
 
You can see the candidates in multiple forums, which allows you to get a sense for what they really believe. I view it as a big responsibility since Iowa is still first in the nation. We try to see as many candidates as we can. 
 
Last spring we saw John Edwards at the high school across the street. Over Thanksgiving he came back with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. Great music and a good rally.
 
We took the kids to Hillary Clinton's big rally at the state fairgrounds in early July when she first brought the former president with her. Kate, 7, shook hands with both of them. We told her, "We need you to listen to what these people say, so you can help us decide who to vote for."  
 
On the Fourth of July we heard Obama at a local park. Four-year-old Elizabeth's perspective was, "Senator Obama has face painting and stuff for kids." Kate's was, "Hillary said everyone should go to school and everyone should be able to go to the doctor, but Senator Obama said everyone should get a really good education." She heard a difference.
 
At the Republican straw poll, Kevin was walking by the Mitt Romney stage with Elizabeth in his arms. She said, "Dad, that man's talking about Hillary Clinton. We should listen to what he's saying. I haven't yet made up my mind who I will choose." She was really listening and taking this seriously.
 
When I was at the College I'd see The Oprah Winfrey Show, so seeing her with Barack Obama was really cool. When Kate knew Obama was getting ready to come out, she put her coloring books away so she could listen. That was neat - to see your kids want to listen because they know it's important.
 
In the fall Kate told Kevin she disagreed with Mitt Romney based on a television commercial. At a holiday party, the girls were sitting around eating pizza discussing the candidates in between Disney's High School Musical.
 
We caucused across the street in the high school cafeteria with all sorts of media outlets covering it live. It is very different voting with your feet in public - literally with the world watching. We supported Obama. During the realignment period, we mingled to share our views with neighbors, who were initially supporting "unviable" candidates.
 
We put up the candidates' Christmas cards on the wall next to those of our friends. They became a part of our lives this year, and it was amazing to involve our kids. All the exposure created an incredible classroom for our family. 
 
We still enjoy the lighter side by tracking media exposure. Kate and Elizabeth were in the newspaper repeatedly. I was on the New York Times Web site. C-SPAN filmed us at our caucus. Some friends were profiled for Good Morning America. It's all part of living in Iowa.
 
Afterwards it's oddly depressing and quiet. We don't get as much mail and the phone doesn't ring nearly as much. Now the advertisements on television are back to normal - they're for erectile dysfunction and Roundup Ready seed corn.

Jason Neal '98 poses with a group of kids in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan. His regiment built a new base there after fighting the Taliban in Zabul province.

Both of my grandfathers served in the military, and my father served in Vietnam. My uncle, First Lieutenant Joseph E. R. Neal, died in Vietnam; there's a place named after him at Fort Gillem, Georgia. One of my uncles was in the Marines, and another in the Air Force. When I was a boy, I imagined I would become a general.
 
As a teenager I joined Civil Air Patrol, or the United States Air Force Auxiliary. I eventually became the cadet commander of a 120-member squadron. I was awarded a Marine Corps-option Naval ROTC scholarship, which would have allowed me to attend college for free. Instead I chose Lake Forest College.
 
I joined the U.S. Army in January 2004. I had a lot of reasons, but the bottom line is that I wanted to help make the world a safer place.
 
I was deployed to Afghanistan from March through December of 2005, and earned my Combat Infantryman's Badge (CIB) in action along the Afghanistan/Pakistan Border. My unit is the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, and we are called the Warriors. An infantryman is a foot soldier trained to find and destroy the enemy by maneuver and fire. A mortarman is an infantryman who is also skilled at high-angle indirect fire using mortar weapon systems.
 
Afghanistan was a desolate desert place. The villages were mud huts in the desert or carved into mountainsides. There was only one paved road in the eastern part of the country. The people were destitute and desperate for some kind of hope. They don't know what to make of Americans. We throw away more food in one day than they eat in a week.
 
For most of that deployment, I was in the mortar platoon, but in the latter part I was moved into the headquarters section, where I still work.  
 
I deployed to Iraq on my birthday, November 27, 2007. We are expected to be here for 15 months. Because of oil, Iraq is better off economically than Afghanistan and more developed. There is more technology. Cell phones and satellites are common. Lots of people have automobiles, unlike Afghanistan where most people walk long distances from one village to the next.
 
My job title is Training NCO, which old soldiers would call a company clerk. I am responsible for administration and personnel for over 220 soldiers. I also assist with intelligence analysis, target development, and interpreter management. And I am the unofficial company photographer.
 
I'm in much less danger than when I was going out on missions all the time in Afghanistan. In a war zone there is always risk, but I'm not doing patrols at this point. I'm just supporting the commander and the platoons with timely and accurate intelligence, taking care of their personnel needs, making sure they get their mail, and ensuring that they have the necessary communications capabilities to accomplish their mission.
 
The most mundane aspect is walking through all the mud to get to the other side of the base to make a phone call or mail something home. I miss my family and my friends. I try to e-mail them whenever I can.
 
After the deployment, I will have three months left on my army contract. I plan to get out so I can have a normal life. A canoe trip along the Hudson River with a friend is at the top of my list. My fiance, Blessing, and I are planning a wedding for the summer of 2009, followed by a trip to Nigeria later that year, so I can meet the rest of her family.

Anne Haas '07 hugs Kela, a 26-year-old beluga whale. She trained Kela to swim through a hoop at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

I grew up on the ocean in South Berwick, Maine, and went out on a whale watch when I was young. I remember seeing baleen whales and a humpback whale. I knew then that I wanted to work with whales, but I wasn't sure in what capacity.
 
During college I was a frequent visitor to the Shedd Aquarium. I was fascinated by beluga whales and looked for internships where I could work with them.
 
I found one with The Blue Ocean Society in New Hampshire, where I'd go on whale-watching boats and collect data on whale populations and conduct public presentations.
 
The following summer I worked with Assistant Professor of Biology Caleb Gordon at his Shaw Woods Avian Monitoring Project. SWAMP is an ongoing research project that moniters bird population trends and studies the stopover ecology of migrating birds. That got me interested in doing scientific research and became my senior thesis, "An Examination of Spring Migration Timing in Songbirds."  
 
After graduating in 2007, I began working as the beluga whale husbandry intern at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. It's known for being very hands-on.
 
I learned a lot about the psychological aspects of training, and what I really loved about the field is that it combined the two subjects that really interested me - biology and psychology.    
 
Training my first behavior was one of my most exciting moments. You have to build a trusting relationship between you and the animals. You also have to break down the behavior into small steps, and see it from their perspective. 
 
I was training a whale named Kela to do a hoop swim - to swim out to a hoop, go through it, and bring it back to me. It was going really well. But one day I came out and it was almost like she'd completely forgotten everything we'd done.
 
I had to take a step back and talk to the other trainers and rework it. It was almost more exciting to bounce back from that than it was to see her do the behavior correctly. It's exciting when you really see it click for the animal, when you see them make that jump to understanding. Kela would get very excited and vocal when she got a behavior right.
 
One of the whales' favorite forms of play was a tongue rub. To do it, you stick your hand out, reach into their mouth, and give it a firm pat on the tongue, which is soft and slimy. It was nice in the winter, because our hands would be freezing cold and the inside of a beluga whale's mouth is nice and warm.
 
Now I work with sea lions, seals, and snow monkeys at the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, New York. Our focus is on husbandry training that allows our animals to take part in their own health care. We also educate visitors about how we train them, and try to inspire them to take a more protective role in caring for the environment and keeping wild populations healthy.
 
I'd love the chance to work with other species, and I wouldn't rule out going back to school to study marine biology or zoology. My ideal job would be training and conducting research at same time.

Ron Pownall '69 photographs a Boston concert in 1977.

SMOKEY ROBINSON 
This Smokey Robinson shot was taken in April 1968 during my junior year at Evanston High School. A bunch of us went down to the show. I went into the dressing room, which was the boys' locker room, and took shots of them getting ready. Back then bands loved to have their photo taken; you could often just walk into dressing rooms. By then I was working for Ellen Mosey in the College's publicity office. My first music work on campus was of Nina Simone, The Turtles, and The Association.

JIMI HENDRIX
In 1968 Bob Verdi '67 got me an interview at the Chicago Tribune. They needed an extra photographer to help cover the Democratic National Convention that August. I also volunteered to cover all the music. My first three assignments were Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.

THE ROLLING STONES
After moving to Boston, I shot for several magazines, including Rolling Stone, and did photography for bands like Queen, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and The Rolling Stones. In 1981 The Stones were playing a tiny club outside Boston as a tune-up for a big tour. They gave me the only photo access to that gig. There had been no images of the Rolling Stones for three years. My shots went out on the AP wire, sending those images all over the world. My phone didn't stop ringing for 48 hours.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
I'd been shooting Bruce Springsteen for a decade in 1984 when he was playing two nights in Worcester, Massachusetts. I had a photo pass for the second night, but only got tickets for the first night. I couldn't go and not shoot, so I had to sneak in a camera. Instead of being in the pit and shooting up, I was standing on my seat shooting at eye level. He saw me, and I got this image.

RON POWNALL
The shot of me was taken while I was on tour with the band Boston in Seattle, Washington, in 1977. After shooting rock and roll for 20 years, the business changed in the late 80s. The corporatization of the industry started to take the fun out of shooting live gigs, and the grab for image copyright ownership made it impossible to make a living shooting editorially. Thankfully I never gave away the rights to my images. (www.rockrollphoto.com and www.fineartrockroll.com)

Today I sell the reproduction rights for books, magazines, and television through a stock photo agency. I also sell collectors prints through art galleries in Boston, Denver, and L.A. Nonetheless, the biggest thrill is still shooting live concerts. There is nothing as rewarding as capturing a split second of high energy, be it Springsteen, Tina, Mick, or a local club band. I was lucky to have had the full access I did in the early "golden days" of rock photography, when the music was the bottom line. 

Cara Jepsen '86 is a Chicago-based freelance writer.