Homecoming 2023 honors alums, celebrates Class of 1973

It is among the poignant memories Serns, a former academy teacher, principal and a public school district superintendent, holds of his alma mater as a member of La Sierra University’s Class of 1973. He recently recounted the story and others during Homecoming 2023, La Sierra’s alumni weekend held April 13 - 15.  His college graduating class was this year’s 50-year class, honored with medallions during the April 14 Recognition Banquet and with a special luncheon on April 15 at the university’s alumni center.Alumni weekend activities began a day earlier than in prior years, and with two events new to the weekend offered on Thursday, April 13 – the Zapara School of Business Young Alumni Mixer, which attracted more than 200 attendees, and the university’s long-standing Paul J. Landa Memorial Lecture which featured Carmen Lau, president of Adventist Forum which publishes Spectrum magazine. She delivered a talk titled “Living Shalom in a Culture of Steeped Emotional Contagion.”

Events on Friday, April 14 included a dedication ceremony of the artistic sculpture titled “Let it Shine” which is situated near Humanities Hall. The piece, created and contributed by Riverside artist and philanthropist Frank Heyming, consists of luminous silver metal bands swooped into a heart shape atop a stylized red lampstand. The work is inspired by scriptural references to the light of God’s goodness and love. Heyming’s sculptures can also be found on the campuses of California Baptist University and Riverside Community College as well as the Norco Veteran’s Resource Center.

Friday also offered La Sierra University Honors student presentations, a university centennial history lecture, and the weekend’s capstone Recognition Banquet which attracted nearly 175 people and honored eight alumni, two each from the university’s three schools and its college as well as the alumnus of the year award.

Saturday activities included Sabbath services at La Sierra University Church where La Sierra alumnus and speaker Dick Duerksen riveted the audience with his masterful story-telling. Various campus departments, the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology and the World Museum of Natural History held open houses during the afternoon. The weekend concluded that evening with a well-attended Art & Alumni event at Brandstater Gallery highlighting student art awards and the popular Concerto Concert at Hole Memorial Auditorium showcasing the recipient of the annual Marcia Specht-Guy Prize – this year’s cash prize went to oboist Nestor Pardo.

The following alumni received special recognition during Friday’s banquet and accepted their awards via recorded video responses:

• College of Arts and Sciences
  • Rising Star Alumnus: Lana Abasi, account director at Fenton Communications.
  • Honored Alumnus: Kristel Tonstad, policy director at the Norwegian Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
• H.M.S. Richards Divinity School
  • Rising Star Alumnus: Manuel Arteaga, lead pastor of Kalēo Adventist Church, Glendale.
  • Honored Alumnus: Jon V. Ciccarelli, ministerial director for the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
• Zapara School of Business
  • Rising Star Alumnus: Amanda Kukich, director of finance for AdventHealth.
  • Honored Alumnus: Roger Rustad, Jr., systems engineer with Fortinet cybersecurity firm.
• School of Education
  • Rising Star Alumnus: Amy Cornwall, junior high principal of Loma Linda Academy.
  • Honored Alumnus: Patricio Vargas, superintendent of Morongo Unified School District.

Berit von Pohle, vice president of education for the Pacific Union Conference was named Alumnus of the Year. La Sierra University President Joy Fehr noted in introductory remarks, “Berit is the living embodiment of La Sierra’s legacy of living God’s grace … Dr. Berit von Pohle has acted on a call to ministry and to a vision  of Christ-centered educational excellence that comes from her deep, deep La Sierra roots.”

Von Pohle began her formal education at La Sierra elementary school and went on to earn four La Sierra University degrees in education, most recently completing an Ed.D. in Educational Administration in 2013. She earned a commissioned minister license earlier in her career which encompassed principal and superintendent positions, and was ordained to the gospel ministry in summer 2021. She entered her current position with the union office in 2011.

“We are deeply pleased to recognize through this award both Dr. von Pohle’s acceptance of the torch that was passed to her and the remarkable ways she continues to pass the torch on to others,” said Fehr.Throughout the weekend, alumni reconnected and remembered their college days.

“It seems like La Sierra is still keeping a good footprint in the area.” -- Kristina Batchelor, Class of 2011, graphic designer and artist.

“It's always good to be a part of the school where you kind of grew and developed,” commented Donavan Childs, a 2003, 2018 and 2020 graduate respectively of the university’s communication program and its graduate theological studies and divinity programs. He is pastor with the Southern California Conference. Childs attended the inaugural Zapara School of Business Young Alumni Mixer on Thursday.

“It's good to see that La Sierra always has a lot of energy. It seems like especially through Enactus and the School of Business, you're always seeing students doing new, innovative things,” he said. “That's one of the main things that the university tries to put out, to have these leaders that make the world a better place, so I'm always encouraged to see stuff like that.”

Graphic designer and artist Kristina Batchelor, a 2011 La Sierra marketing graduate concurred and noted her impressions with the business school building which opened in 2013. “It's been a few years since I've been here besides a graduation or something, … it's really encouraging, you know, as an alumni to know that where you graduated from is still thriving,” she said. “It seems like La Sierra is still keeping a good footprint in the area.”

Juanita Franklin, formerly Comstock and a member of the Class of 1970 gazed at stunning photographs on Saturday afternoon of celestial bodies in deep space, red desert canyons, pristine European mountains and other nature scenes displayed in the lobby of La Sierra Hall. The divinity school offered alumni views of its Creation Wall, a montage of large-scale photographs taken by school dean Friedbert Ninow. It was the first time since the mid 1990s that Franklin had visited the campus.

“It’s changed immensely,” she said, noting that the greatest transformation was the expansion of the city of Riverside and the development of surrounding neighborhoods and businesses on what was previously agricultural and open land. “And the university is twice as big,” said Franklin.

She recounted how she took 18 units as a busy pre-med chemistry and religion major while working full time in nursing at Loma Linda Hospital. Free time was at a minimum, but her years at La Sierra were good ones, she said. “I got a good education here, but it was hard,” Franklin said. “But I enjoyed it.”

Several members of the 50-year honor class which graduated in 1973 recalled memories of life on a college campus that differed significantly from its current form.Paul Beach, who graduated with a degree in music, moved with his family in 1957 to live a couple of blocks from La Sierra’s campus where his parents, Jim and Marilyn Beach taught and worked. As a youth, rode his bike around campus and spent a lot of time around its buildings and grounds  -- “I know every nook and cranny of this place,” he said.

"I thank La Sierra very much. I loved every minute.” -- Thelda Roberts Goodlitt, Class of 1973, retired nursing supervisor

Beach’s arrival for his 50-year class reunion this alumni weekend was his first time back on campus since graduating. “A lot of memories come flooding back of what it used to be,” he said. “This was a beautiful place back then. It was all agriculture and country and it’s still a nice little haven away from everything. A lot of good changes have been made.”

Thelda Roberts Goodlitt studied nursing through Loma Linda University on its La Sierra campus during the early 1970s. She lived in Gladwyn Hall for one year and then relocated to a dorm near White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles where she worked and trained. It is now called Adventist Health White Memorial. She later held a 40-year nursing and utilization review supervisory career at the USC medical center.

“This whole area of the commons used to be lined with cherry trees,” Goodlitt recalled Saturday afternoon as she walked along the campus pedestrian mall called the Path of the Just. She remembered the fun of Saturday night grinders provided to students in the lower level of the Dining Commons,  “and Tyler mall, Farell’s Ice Cream Parlour, that was our get-away.”

Goodlitt at age 18 funded her college tuition with scholarships and 16 hours a week of campus work while taking more than 16 units of classes, she said. “But I persevered. I completed it. And 50 years later I’m here. I don’t regret it,” Goodlitt said. “And I thank La Sierra very much. I loved every minute.”

Class of ’73 alumnus Kelly Bock, a former education director for the Pacific Union Conference reminisced along with former classmate Serns about their college days. Both men served in the U.S. military where they first met each other before completing their education at La Sierra.

Bock recalled that when he arrived at campus following his service in the Army and a prior year at Walla Walla, he wasn’t quite old enough to qualify for living in his own housing, so he moved into Calkins Hall under a resident dean who was his junior. After marrying following his sophomore year and moving off campus, Bock became involved in student government as treasurer. He started at La Sierra on academic probation due to lower grades during his first year of college at Walla Walla, but earned As to increase his GPA, took education classes, and eventually landed a job at Milo Academy just before graduating. After a year, he returned to his alma mater to work as dean with his former Calkins Hall dean and earned a master’s degree in education while working for the university.

These first jobs were the beginnings of a lengthy career in the Adventist education system that included serving as principal of Columbia Adventist Academy, a position that was also held at various times by Stearn and La Sierra alumni Ed Boyatt and von Pohle who eventually replaced Bock at the union office.

“I just really enjoyed the atmosphere here during those years,” Bock said of his days at La Sierra. “I very much enjoyed both the time as a student and the time working here. It’s a good place for me. It kind of rescued me after having a bad start.”