On a moonless night, how do you decide which stars to count first? Likewise, So many Gonzaga alumni live out the Jesuit mission in remarkable ways. How to pick among them? Eventually, we simply chose one, then another and another. Read about them below:
Hilary Dittemore’s (’00) (née Thom) quiet, thoughtful demeanor belies a fiery passion for international aid work. “I wasn’t born a world traveler,” says the Idaho Falls native. “I never left the country until I was a junior at Gonzaga and spent that year as an exchange student in Chile.”
Read more about Hilary Dittemore
Kathy Manion (’92) has enriched the lives of many people. They have two traits to thank for that. One is her determination. The other is her compassion.Read more about Kathy Manion
Jok Nhial (’09) This resilient young man has come a long way. A long way from the farm on which he was born and raised in a tiny village in South Sudan. A long way from the “atrocity after atrocity” he experienced as a child in that war-ravaged region.Read more about Jok Nhial
Kristen Deasy (’07) In a dim back room of a Berlin restaurant, Kristen Deasy listened to a group of young Iranians. They huddled close, and their conversation was whispered, but with her limited Farsi and careful attention to their facial expressions, Deasy understood the general discussion.Read more about Kristen Deasy
Kenny Farrow (’96) As an engineer for Stress Engineering Services, Kenny Farrow expects the unexpected. The nature of his work is found right in the firm’s name. Stress handles the design and analysis of structures that are subject to powerful forces of nature like earthquakes and ocean currents.Read more about Kenny Farrow
Ivone Guillen (’09) As a child in Yakima, Wash., Ivone Guillen grew up in an immigrant family. Her mother raised five children alone. No one in her family had graduated from college. Watching her mother struggle, Guillen knew that she wanted something different.Read more about Ivone Guillen
John Barnhardt (’90) Good communication is central to John Barnhardt, both in his vocation and his avocation. He’s helping spearhead an $88 million project to bring broadband and cell service to 65 villages in his native Alaska for General Communications, Inc.Read more about John Barnhardt
Nick Senger (’88) First in his family to attend college, Nick Senger has built his profession around Catholic education. He is a celebrated teacher at All Saints Catholic School in Spokane, the author of a respected book on reading skills and editor of a blog on Catholic K-12 education.Read more about Nick Senger
Elaine Cullen (’72) This English major – who came back to Gonzaga to earn her M.B.A. in ’92 and her Ph.D. in leadership studies in 2004 – calls herself a “professional story listener.”Read more about Elaine Cullen
