The Alumni Association presented its first Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 1993. The award recognizes young alumni for their professional achievements, civic accomplishments, and/or service to Centre College, and is awarded to alumni who have graduated within the last fifteen years.
An Eagle Scout. A military Free Fall Jumpster. The recipient of the Combat Infantry Badge and four Bronze stars, including a Bronze star with a “V” for valor – denoting participation in acts of heroism. Our first honoree’s commitment to service—a distinguishing quality that was recognized even during his time at Centre—is certainly something to acknowledge and salute.
Major John Warren Robey, Class of 2005, is a United States Army Special Forces officer who began his military career in the infantry, completed Ranger School and deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division. He became a Green Beret in 2012 and was later assigned to command a 12-man Alpha Team as part of the 3rd Special Forces Group, returning to Afghanistan, this time to work with Afghan commandos.
Fairfax, VA
At the core of Centre College’s values is the mission to prepare students for lives of learning, leadership and service. Lessons – provided both in and out of the classroom – matter. They stimulate aspirations and goals, and inspire the determination for both academic and professional success.
A lesson learned out of the classroom is one that Karen refers to as a “Ronism” – one that she received from her father, Ron Trowbridge. “If you aren’t growing, you are dying. You always have to be thinking ahead and striving for growth.” Indeed, it is a lesson that Karen has quoted that she “lives and breathes,” and one that characterizes the motivation and entrepreneurial spirit behind her extraordinary success in business.
After graduating from Centre in 2004, Karen began her professional career at RS Information Systems, a top-ranked federal contractor where she participated in an executive development program and developed her skills and experience in business management, strategic planning, operations and development.
By 2008, and from her cultivated desire to “think ahead and strive for growth,” she founded Trowbridge and Trowbridge (based in McLean, VA), an award-winning provider of cloud, cyber and IT modernization solutions to defense, intelligence and federal civilian markets. Among Trowbridge and Trowbridge’s largest customer base are the Army, Air Force, Labor Department, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Washington, DC
In the fall of 1999, it did not take Ben long to make an impression in and out of the classroom. He was actively involved in almost every area of the campus community as a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, sports editor for the Cento, and as a Norton Center employee. Academically, Ben excelled. Throughout his time at Centre, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Summa Cum Laude, receiving the prestigious George Winston Welsh Valedictorian Prize.
After graduation Ben spent time working in the political arena including a stint as legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield. And in 2006, he pursued his JD at Columbia University School of Law, receiving the Alexander Hamilton Fellowship. Among his many academic honors at Columbia, Ben was awarded the James Kent Scholar designation, the school’s highest academic honor.
Lynchburg, VA
Over the years, Centre has become a place known for developing strong leaders who share a passion for their communities, schools, and most importantly, humankind. Few people exemplify the qualities of a leader more so than our Distinguished Young Alumnus inductee.
In 2002, as Student Congress President, Wes Fugate quoted Wallas – “The harder the journey, the more meaningful the destination.” Wes’s journey so far is nothing short of remarkable.
Raised in Prestonsburg, KY with his twin brother, Les, Wes quickly took the world by storm when he arrived on campus in the fall of 1998. Over the course of his four years at Centre, Wes served as a resident assistant, a member of the Cento Staff and CentrePlayers, and served as a senior gift campaign chair. He was the Norton Center House Manager, a Junior Marshall, and served as the student representative for the College’s Board of Trustees. Wes interned in the president’s office and also won more awards than we could count. Somewhere during that time, he managed to continually make the Dean’s List while earning degrees in dramatic arts and economics.
We all have a story. Kevin Chapman’s story is particularly inspiring. Raised in Louisville by a single mother who was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Kevin grew up in a neighborhood plagued by crime and drugs. When his mother was diagnosed and moved to Frankfort to receive treatment, Kevin made the difficult decision to remain in Louisville with his 80-year old grandmother. While many of those around him made other choices, Kevin focused on his studies and on athletics at Male High School and made his way to Centre in the fall of 1996. Kevin quickly became a standout at Centre in the classroom and as a member of the football and track teams. He was an all-conference performer in both sports and held three records in outdoor track when he graduated. Those have since been eclipsed, but he still holds two indoor records—with time of 6.48 seconds for the 55-meter dash and 23.03 seconds for the 200-meter dash.
Kevin was a Dean’s List student at Centre and a member of the Diversity Student Union. He was also a Brown Honor Scholar and a Heritage Scholar. Following his graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Kevin received his master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Eastern Kentucky University with a perfect 4.0 GPA, while his new bride, the former Jackie Shaw—also a member of Centre’s Class of 2000—did the same in her master’s program at the University of Kentucky. Kevin then enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Louisville. While working on his Ph.D., he received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association for his work in student advocacy in clinical psychology as state advocacy coordinator for Kentucky.
Washington D.C.
Centre prides itself on providing the kind of educational experiences that can take promising young people as far as they want to go. So far, Terena Bell has gone from Sinking Fork, Kentucky to Washington, D.C. as the CEO of the translation services company she founded and is an internationally-recognized leader in her industry. We can’t wait to see what the next 15 years has in store for her. After graduating from Centre in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in French, Terena got a job in television news in Hopkinsville and then with the NBC affiliate in Paducah, where her assignments included returning to Centre as a field producer for the 2000 Vice Presidential Debate. While in Paducah she served as a stringer for NBC NewsChannel on 9/11. For her work in Paducah, Terena received an ADDY Citation of Excellence Award. She moved to the CBS affiliate in Louisville as a producer, before leaving television to begin an MFA in creative writing at Murray State. Terena also received a Governor’s School for the Arts alumni grant from Toyota to write a novel. Her poetry and short fiction works were published in several literary magazines and in Tobacco, a Kentucky Writers’ Coalition anthology.
I should warn everyone to take a deep breath before we begin to note even a few of the extraordinary young woman’s accomplishments. Just reading this is going to leave me tired. But she does it all with an ease that makes her achievements all the more admirable.
She came to Centre from just up the road in Georgetown, but her world goes far beyond the rolling hills of Central Kentucky. While a student, she explored every corner of the Centre Experience. She was a varsity athlete in tennis, volleyball, and soccer, recognized as Centre’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2001. She also participated in a variety of campus and volunteer activities—Kappa Alpha Theta, co-founder of the social justice student group CentrePeace, Big Brothers/Big Sisters volunteer, tutor for autistic children. An outstanding student, she was a two-time winner of the Kentucky Science Association’s prize for best undergraduate paper. Her academic excellence culminated in her winning the Gavin Eastman Wiseman Valedictory Prize. And while at Centre, she took on her biggest project, a young man named Ben, who is now her husband and definitely the slacker in the relationship.
Louisville, KY
Centre has long prided itself on preparing students for lives of learning, leadership, and service. Our Young Alumna Award recipient for 2012 exemplifies those ideals.
She came to Centre from her hometown of Hazard, Kentucky, the recipient of one of Centre’s most prestigious scholarships. As a student, she was active in Centre Singers and Centre Brass, and served as president of the Black Student Union and the Pre-Law Society. Our honoree also was named a John C. Young Scholar, which provides support for independent research during the senior year, and which is one of Centre’s highest academic honors. She was also a lay minister in a local church, a calling that she has continued to pursue in her current home community of Louisville.
Some years back, the College’s Career Services Office printed a brochure advertising a new program called “Centre Futures.” The brochure’s cover depicted a beaming young man, a globe and Centre pennant in one hand and a briefcase in the other, striding over Old Centre. The cover was, of course, photoshopped, but those of us who know this year’s Young Alumnus Award recipient don’t doubt that he could step over Old Centre—or, at least, would be willing to try. Our honoree came to Centre, with his identical twin brother Wes, from Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and both quickly began to leave big footprints across the campus.
Our honoree was an outstanding student in economics, and was selected to conduct a year-long research project as a John C. Young Scholar. He served as house manager for the Norton Center for the Arts and as an active volunteer during the 2000 Vice Presidential Debate. He was a leader in the Delta chapter of Phi Kappa Tau, including serving as public relations chairman. He also served as a student member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Alvaton, Kentucky
As every alumnus knows, Centre is all about connections. Connections with friends. Connections with faculty and staff members. If you are lucky, connections with that person who becomes your partner in life. Our Young Alumnus Award winner for this year has certainly made all of these connections. Indeed, the idea of connection has become his life’s work.
A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, he came to Centre in the fall of 1991 and involved himself in all aspects of campus life. He was an excellent student—a fact to which I can attest first hand; his only failing was that he majored in economics rather than history. He was an athlete, a student worker in the admission office, a leader in Greek life as a member of Phi Delta Theta, and a leader in Centre’s community service organization CARE. As an alumnus, he has served Centre in a variety of ways—as an admission and fundraising volunteer, and as a member of the Alumni Board, just to name a few.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Centre has long sought to break down the artificial categories into which the teaching and learning process is often divided. Of course, different disciplines have their particular bodies of knowledge, their own methods and perspectives, and these all have value. But an educational institution or program that fails to help its students and teachers bring that knowledge and those methods together fails to understand the ultimate unity of the human experience. Achieving such an understanding is one of the fundamental purposes of an education in the liberal arts and sciences. Our Young Alumnus honoree this year is an outstanding example of Centre’s success in fulfilling that purpose.
Danville, Kentucky
As many Danville natives do, Mary Quinn first went away from home for college, but quickly realized the error of her ways and returned to Centre, where she completed a double major in history and French. She involved herself in many aspects of campus life, including the Student Congress, the Student Judiciary, the volunteer service organization CARE, Tri-Delta sorority, and as a student worker in the Alumni House. She was also an exceptional student, winning several honors and prizes, including being named to Phi Beta Kappa. Mary Quinn has remained involved in the life of the College since her graduation in 1998. She has worked with career counseling, the Young Alumnus Advisory Council, as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, and as a member of the Alumni Association Board.
Louisville, Kentucky
Centre has achieved great success in providing study-abroad opportunities for its students; as part of its current strategic planning process, the College is looking to broaden and deepen that global experience, with the goal of making Centre the premier undergraduate experience in America in preparing young people for lives as global citizens. As the College moves toward this goal, it can have no better model of a global citizen than our Young Alumna Award winner for 2007 – Elizabeth
Painter.A native of Greenville, KY, she came to Centre in the fall of 1990, and her varied talents soon made themselves evident. She was an exceptional student, being named to honorary societies in government, foreign languages, and economics, as well as Omicron Delta Kappa, the prestigious leadership honorary. She was also an active citizen of the campus—an outstanding soccer player, a Tri-Delt, a volunteer for admission, the Norton Center for the Arts, and the College’s outreach program to local elementary and middle school children. She began to scratch her travel itch by participating in study-abroad programs in Mexico, London, and Budapest.
Arlington, Virginia
In sports we refer to the “triple threat player.” In theatre, it’s the “one-woman show.” But among Centre alumni, Laura Boswell is a great example of the ability to excel in everything she does. Laura’s wide range of interests and talents were evident during her days as a student. Named to the Dean’s List and the holder of a prestigious Trustee Scholarship, Laura was an outstanding student. She also provided leadership to the residential life of the College as a Resident Assistant, a Peer Counselor, and member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Laura served as sports editor of the CENTO and as a volunteer for LIFT, a mentoring program for at-risk elementary and middle school students in the Danville area. Laura was also an extraordinary athlete. Her combination of talents led to her being named the NCAA Woman of the Year for Kentucky in 1994.
The Plains, Virginia
The theme of Homecoming 2005 was “Bringing Together,” commemorating not only the dedication of The College Centre, but more important, how Centre alumni bring together the insights, skills, and characteristics that they develop here on problems and opportunities in the wider world. Chandler Van Voorhis has, in his short career, been an extraordinary example of this attribute of Centre alumni.
A native Virginian, Chandler graduated from Centre in 1994 with a degree in government and history and immediately devoted his energies to environmental issues. In 1994, he became President of the Allicance for Environmental Education, a coalition of some 300 organizations committed to advancing environmental education around the world. He also founded Virginia First, which led the successful fight to halt construction of a Disney t hem park adjacent to the Manassas battlefield, sparing the world the spectacle of Mickey and Goofy re-enacting the Civil War.
Hartford, Connecticut
One of the words most often used to describe the Centre Experience is “transformative.” All of us who are Centre alumni know the powerful changes that our four years as students, and our continued association with the College, made and make in our lives. David Greer powerfully demonstrates this fact.
A native of Oakland, Kentucky, David arrived at Centre in the fall of 1988, a shy young man assigned to a work-study job at the Alumni House. Over time the nurturing environment at that workplace and the challenges and opportunities presented to him by the Centre faculty and staff brought his own inner strength and drive to the surface. Before long that shy kid had become a dynamo on campus. A dean’s list student, a contributor to the literary magazine, a coordinator of Habitat for Humanity projects, a John C. Young Scholar, president of the Black Student Union, winner of the Creative Writing Prize and the Leslie Boyd Civic Service Award, elected to Omicron Delta Kappa (the leadership honorary society)…this list could go on and on.
Brook Forrest White, Jr. once staged an exhibit of his work entitled “A Marriage of Fire and Earth – Kentucky Glass.” The idea of the marriage of elements provides a theme for his life and work as well.
A native of Owensboro, KY, Brook came to Centre intending to become an attorney. He established a solid record as a student, majoring in government and being named a James Graham Brown Honor Scholar. But he wedded his academic strength with leadership in athletics – serving as captain of the men’s soccer team – and in his fraternity.
Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Throughout its history, one of the goals of Centre College has been to cultivate responsibility, leadership, and high moral character among its students. Centre provides the ideal atmosphere for students to foster their own leadership potential and educates students for socially responsible action within their chosen fields and communities. Geoffrey Paul Buhlig embodies the College’s emphasis on leadership, scholarship, and dedication to compassionate service.
After an impressive record of leadership in his years at Centre, including working as a resident assistant, peer counselor, president of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and a member of University of Kentucky’s ROTC program (which honored him as a Distinguished Military Graduate), he began what is already a highly successful career in the United States Army.
New York, New York
One of the long-time goals of a Centre education has been to expose its students and alumni to the world. We’ve done this through the study of great ideas and intriguing people, through travel to exotic locations and work in internships and jobs across the spectrum of occupations.
But John Ellison Conlee has taken this idea of exposure to the nth degree.
John came to Centre in 1986 from his home in suburban Atlanta, where he had demonstrated his flair for performance at an early age. His mother recalled that by the age of three he could hear a song on the radio and mimic it almost perfectly. During his days at Atlanta’s Westminster School, he starred in school productions of “The Music Man,” “Amadeus,” and “Oliver,” among others. He came to Centre to continue his studies in drama, starring in 12 productions and winning the West T. Hill Dramatic Arts Prize upon his graduation in 1990. He then went on for additional study at the New York University School of Drama.
Lexington, Kentucky
You can get an idea of the slightly skewed view of the world that Rhonda Reeves has by reading her responses to a questionnaire sent out prior to her fifth reunion in 1992. “Hobbies: Collecting Pez dispensers.” “Travel: I hate to travel. To quote a favorite actor: ‘I know I sound unbelievably provincial but there’re so many millions of people who love to travel, someone has to stay at home.’” “Interesting Events in Your Life since Centre”: “I recently started doing some freelance work for ACE, an alternative magazine in Lexington. And, five years after graduation, my hair is finally all one length.”
Rhonda came to Centre from Corbin – a town that was probably glad to foist her off on Danville – in 1983. She took on the distinguished double major of English and History, immersing herself in the Southern literary tradition. Seeking to pursue her dream of being a perpetual student, she tried every scratch-and-win game the Kentucky Lottery could devise at the finest convenience stores in Central Kentucky. Failing that, she turned her skills to jobs with the Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation and the Council of State Governments.
Kevin Taylor is a person of quiet demeanor and gentle spirit, but his professional achievements and service to Centre speak loudly and forcefully.
While at Centre, this Indiana native served as Student Congress treasurer and held numerous honor scholarships. After graduating from Centre in 1985 with a degree in government and economics, Kevin earned a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University.
Kevin soon joined Standard and Poor’s Corporation in New York as a municipal bonds analyst. His talent led to his eventually becoming Associate Director of the Municipal Finance Department. He has also served as Vice President of Prudential Securities, Inc., Vice President of American International Group, Inc., and he currently serves as Executive Director of the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank.
Memphis, Tennessee
Thomas Cowens has distinguished himself in many ways. At Centre he was a student leader in the classroom, on the basketball court, and in student government. He exemplified student leadership as vice president of Omicron Delta Kappa and as a Junior Marshal. He was a Dean’s List student, winner of the Owsley Rochester Award, and recipient of a number of honors scholarships. He graduated from Centre in 1985 with a degree in economics and psychology.
In the midst of all this, Tom was one of the most outstanding basketball players in Centre history – he is still Centre’s seventh leading all-time scorer; he won MVP awards at Centre, and was name to All-American teams in his junior and senior years. His combination of athletic and academic performance won him the prestigious NCAA Scholarship for Post-Graduate Study.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Those of us who help with recruiting students often speak about Centre as an investment. We tell students and their families that putting in the effort, discipline, and money that a Centre education requires will benefit them for the rest of their lives. We also know that our investment in these young people will pay dividends to Centre and to communities across the nation for years to come. H. Bradley Eden exemplifies this investment metaphor in all aspects of his life.
A native of Wyoming, Ohio, Brad came to Centre in the fall of 1977 and quickly established himself as a leader. A government major, he was repeatedly named to the Dean’s List. Brad was also an outstanding baseball player, a member of Student Congress, and a member of Sigma Chi. Brad was also fortunate enough to meet his wife, Joan Ryan Eden, Class of 1982.
On every questionnaire in his alumni file, Brian Gardner listed running as one of his hobbies. No one who knows him will be surprised by this, for Brian has been a young man in a hurry since he arrived at Centre.
Brian came to Centre from his hometown of Lexington in the fall of 1977 and immediately began to make his mark on the College. He served as treasurer, vice president, and president of the Student Congress and lettered in football for two years. Brian was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and was named a Junior Marshall, signifying that he was among the highest ranking students in his class. Brian also won the Fred M. Vinson Award, given to the senior considered by the faculty to be the most outstanding in scholastic, athletic, and extracurricular activities.
Washington, D.C.
The greatest asset of any society is its children. But today it is tough, complicated, and sometimes confusing to care for children – or to be a child. Mary Hall Surface has used her art to help us remember just how precious our children and their childhood are.
Mary Hall, a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, made her mark on Centre as a strong student, as an exceptional actor and singer, as editor of the literary magazine, and as the director of two theatre productions for children. Upon her graduation in 1980, she was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which supported a year-long program of independent study abroad. Through this fellowship, Mary Hall sharpened her interest in theatre for young people, spending the year examining professional children’s theatre in eleven European countries.