Check out the ALA calendar for our complete athletic and concert schedule!
CLASS REUNION NEWS
We can help with your reunion!
> We are happy to help with your reunion planning by means of publicity and contact information. Please email us so we can assist you as you plan for a successful reunion!
ALUMNI IN ACTION
Recently, our alumni and alumni parents joined forces to tackle a few campus projects!
SCOREBOARDS AND SCIENCE ROOM REMODEL
The ALA Athletic Dept. is reaching out to our ALA alumni to help fund new scoreboards for the gym. The old scoreboards are nearing retirement.
Alumni and alumni parents have completely funded a remodeling project for Mr. Gray's science room. A volunteer architect has designed the plans and our own building and grounds staff, together with Mr. Gray, will complete the work this summer. What a blessing!
Thanks to all who've given a gift to one or both of these projects!
> Donate online here. (Choose "other" and note "scoreboards" in the comment section.)
ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS ARE AN ACTIVE GROUP!
You'd be amazed at the number of alumni who volunteer at ALA. Many thanks to the following ALA graduates and any others who've assisted this year or in previous years. We love seeing you!
Name
Assists with...
ALA Class of...
Dominic Aveni
Musical - videography
2012
Alysha Bergsma
Track
2005
Jana (Jaehnig) Berrelleza
Graphic Design
2003
Joel Buchholz
Football Statistician,
Gala - sound and lights
1987
Jeff English
Track
2012
Kallie Franzmeier
Track
2009
Sara Haag
JV girls basketball assistant.
2010
Jena Herrmann
Soccer Assistant
2010
DJ Hoskinson
Cross Country, Track
2012
Rene Koutia
Musical costumes
1981
Andrew Martz
Technology
2012
Luke Luchterhand
Freshman Basketball Coach
2012
Samantha McClurg
Musical - choreography
2007
Ken Mentzer
Softball Assistant Coach
1985
David Resler
Musical - backstage
2012
Maggie Schroeder
Musical - lighting and programing
2009
Harry Sexton
Musical
2011
Heidi Sprain
reading semester exams,
Soccer Assistant
2009
Steven Steinmetz
Soccer Assistant Coach
2003
Adrianna Trevizo
Girls Basketball Assistant Coach
2008
Lindsey Turner
Girls Basketball Assistant Coach
2008
Amy Unkefer
Adopt-a-Street Program
1985
Sarah Voss
Volleyball Assistant Coach
2009
Tom Weinstein
Photography
2000
Monte Yazzie
Boys Varsity Basketball Assistant Coach
2000
Amanda Zwick
Volleyball pre-season Assistant Coach
2007
Not included are the current parents/alumni who bring meals before games, etc. We're so thankful for all of you.
If your name should be on this list, please let us know! Contact Jen Bode at JBode@ALAcoyotes.org.
KEEP UP ON THE LATEST NEWS:
HELP US find our MISSING ALUMNI!
We no longer have current information for about 22% of our alumni. (The good news is that we've found 3% since our search began in February 2012!)
Ways to help:
1. Share your contact information or email address.
2. Contact friends on Facebook or via email, find out their info, and share,
3. Or, ask them to fill out an Alumni Update Form.
Jordan Burmeister, ALA class of 2008, and his band, The Middle Ground, an alternative pop rock band, are up and coming in Milwaukee, WI. They will play at SummerFest in Milwaukee on June 28, 2014.
Sarah (nee Bruce) Freni, ALA class of 2006, and husband, Rob, welcomed baby Charlie on Feb. 8, 2014. He was baptized at Calvary in Dallas, Texas on June 15, 2014. Congratulations!
Andrew Taylor, ALA class of 2012, is working for Oasis Construction as a video producer. He is a one man video team, thus responsible for all pre and post production videos to advertise the construction of a high performance home. He also has created a tv spot for a film that was shot in a local town. It released recently and was aired on charter cable. It's available on the official movie website at http://bellevillemovie.com.
Tiffany Walters, ALA class of 2013, will spend the fall semester at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England, the British Campus of the University of Evansville. While there, she will take courses in British Studies, Ancient Christianty, and psychology, plus enjoy travel, arranged by the school, to Scotland, Ireland, the Lake District, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cambridge and other European areas.
Rachel (nee Schuelein) Braun, ALA class of 2003, and Branches Band has just released Let the Children Come to Me, a collection of 15 original Christian songs for children and those young at heart! Learn more at BranchesBand.com.
Joshua Krohn, ALA class of 2000, designed the artwork for Branches Band's Let the Children Come to Me CD. www.joshuakrohn.com
Congratulations to Bryan Dude, ALA class of 2013, who received his appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point!
Three of our alumni are studying science at the University of Arizona.
Carl Buchholz, ALA class of 2011, is double majoring in Physiology and Molecular and Cellular biology at the University of Arizona and is a member of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program through which he will be performing primary research in biochemistry un
der the supervision of Dr. Indraneel Ghosh. In his research he is specifically investigating new ways to regulate the activity of protein kinases in a time-controlled fashion in order to facilitate further studies regarding specific protein kinase function and help understand and cure diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimer's. Through his research he has been selected as a Beckman Scholar, a program that awards a grant to 2 students yearly at the University of Arizona and which is given to roughly 20 students nationwide each year. He will continue his research supported by the Beckman foundation over the next 2 summers and academic year.
Adele Koutia, ALA class of 2011 and current student at Uof A writes: "I am a Neuroscience Cognitive Science major, Physiology Major, and Music minor. I am currently working as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Carol Barnes, an award winning researcher in the field of Neuroscience. In my lab we study how the normal brain ages and how we can apply this knowledge to a pathologically aging brain such as in Alzheimers. The current project I am working on involves spatial memory and how the ability to navigate in space is impaired in the elderly. In the lab I work with rats in mazes and histology which involves cutting and staining very thin slices of brains and mounting them on microscope slides. Right now I am also creating a digital 3D atlas of a rat brain which will replace the commonly used spiral-bound book version and make animal brain models more easily accessible to neuroscientists. This summer I will be conducting further research in the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP) which is a summer research program that ALA alumni, Carl, Megan, and I have all been accepted to."
Megan Neeb, ALA class of 2011 and current student at Uof A writes: "I've been accepted into the UBRP program, and I am also a finalist for the Translational Genomics Institute's summer Helios Scholars Internship program. If I end up working with UBRP I will be working with Drs. Felder and Kris at the small start-up company Nuvogen. The project's focus would be developing technologies that will help screen for cancer. If I end up working with TGen, the focus will also be on cancer research.
For the last year, I've been working in the lab of Dr. Laurence Hurley, which has been my favorite learning experience so far. The focus of my project is the discovery of a drug that targets specific cancers by regulating expression of a gene, essentially targeting cancer via DNA secondary structures called G-quadruplexes and i-Motifs. It's been fascinating, and has really inspired me to go to grad school in the hopes of becoming an independent researcher."
Sam Gray, ALA class of 2012, won the Outstanding Student award at Drake University's College of Business and Public Administration. Sam also landed a summer internship with Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee.
Christmas Alumni Gathering
About 25 ALA alums gathered on Dec. 21 for a day of 3 on 3 basketball and sharing memories of their time at ALA. Grads from 1984 up through 2013 joined the fun and a few parents even showed up to just enjoy the atmosphere. Thanks to Jeff Weinstein for organizing the event. Almost $400 was raised for the scoreboard project and we look forward to more alumni joining us next year. View pictures.
Kristen Schulz, ALA class of 2010, is a returning starter for the Wisconsin Lutheran College women’s basketball team. She was chosen as the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warrior of the Week a number of times during the 2013-14 basketball season. Watch the video.
Congratulations to Kris Naber, ALA Class of 1986!
Grand Canyon University women's volleyball coach Kris Naber won her 300th career match in 3-1 WAC win over Texas-Pan American
Airman Joel Burger & Rachel (Stec) Burger, high school sweethearts, ALA class of 2011, will be stationed in Misawa, Japan for 3 years, leaving Phoenix on October 12, 2013. Thank you for your service, Joel and Rachel. May God bless you richly!
Congratulations to Jacob Morrison, ALAClass of 2005, and wife Anna, who welcomed a baby girl on September 10, 2013.
William Unkefer, ALA Class of 2009, graduated with B.A. in Music from Point Loma Nazarene University in May 2013 and then went on to tour and sing in Dublin and various places in England with Pointless, the all male a capella group from PLNU.
Congratulations to James (Jim) Brooks, ALA class of 1991, who married Christy in 2012. They had their first child on Dec 18, 2012, and are pictured here at Easter 2013.
Ian Meshay, ALA Class of 2011, and a group of pre-medical and other pre-professional healthcare students from Arizona State University’s Alpha Epsilon Delta Club traveled to Peru on a Healthcare Quest. Read more.
Bradley Rubin, ALA Class of 2005, was recently awarded the "Outstanding Senior" award for Materials Science and Engineering in the University of Arizona College of Engineering.
Bradley is graduating in May 2013 with Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering (dual-major). He'll be resuming his internship with Intel this summer, but as a graduate internship. Then he'll be moving to the Bay Area to begin graduate school at UC Berkeley. There he will pursue a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, with research focused in Computational Materials Science and electronic materials (photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, etc).
J.D. Uhlhorn, ALA class of 2012, and David Becker, ALA class of 2011, singing in the Martin Luther College Mannerchor.
David Becker teaching for his Early Field Experience at MLC.
Angelica Burk, ALA class of 2010, along with several of her Martin Luther College classmates, traveled to Provo, Utah in the summer of 2012 to share Jesus with Mormon students at BYU as a part of a Truth In Love Ministry outreach and media campaign. Angelica is featured about 6:25 into the video.
Nathan Caulk,ALA class of 2004, serves as a registered nurse in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He currently holds the position of Assistant Regulatory Management Officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He is pictured with RADM Boris Lushniak, Deputy Surgeon General, at the 2012 FDA Commissioned Corps Promotion Ceremony. The “junior most” officer, LTJG Caulk, and the “senior most” officer, RADM Lushniak, share the knife in the time-honored cake cutting tradition.
Nathan also recently published an article in the Arizona Nurse (see page 8) regarding public health nursing.
Jason Hanson, ALA class of 2004, obtained his airplane private pilot certificate, airplane instrument rating, airplane-commercial, airplane multi-engine, and airplane flight instructor ratings out of Chandler-Gilbert Community College at Williams Gateway Airport in Arizona.
Jason then moved to North Dakota to continue flight training through the University of North Dakota, and completed instrument-instructor rating (CFII), multi-engine instructor rating (MEI), tailwheel training, sea-plane rating, helicopter commercial pilot rating, helicopter flight instructor rating, helicopter instrument rating, and helicopter instrument-flight instructor rating. Jason also has obtained his first 3 skydive licenses and has started flying wing-suits.