Class of 1996 Profile: Beth Kormanik Hubbuch

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Beth is interviewed here by Sara Toering

After graduating from high school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, Beth pursued her dream of becoming a journalist by majoring in journalism and minoring in political science at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Upon graduation Beth worked as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In 2002 Beth moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where she covered politics, government and higher education for the Florida Times-Union, and where she won several state and regional awards, including the 2008 Freedom of Information award from the Florida Society of News Editors. Beth's reporting on the city council's violation of the Open Meetings Act led to systemic changes in the way that Jacksonville local government conducts its business. Beth and her husband Bart now live in Brooklyn, New York, where she works as the editor of Hotel Interactive and managing editor of Buyer Interactive, trade publications that cover the hospitality industry.

Beth's work as a journalist covering politics and local government has led her to ask significant questions the intersection of Christianity and politics, and to examine her own beliefs in juxtaposition to other Christians and other Catholics who may believe differently. She finds the way Christianity often has been equated with the Republican Party alienating, and the way politicians use religion has caused her to feel a sense of cynicism. Critical moments of potential change in the Catholic church – such as the election of Pope Benedict XVI – have felt like missed opportunities. In this Lenten season Beth is reflecting on the challenge of responding to these issues--what should that response look like? Engagement? Avoidance? Both at different times?

When asked to articulate the impact YTI had on her life, Beth stated that she deeply appreciated the YTI community and the lasting friendships she made there, and that YTI instilled in her a desire to seek community in other places in her life. She recalled the last day of YTI as one she will never forget. YTI also inspired Beth to become more of a leader as she headed toward college where she led a student-run fellowship group and was a leader in the campus Catholic organization. Finally, Beth shared that YTI taught her about expressing difference with compassion: She feels that YTI taught her to be a citizen of the wider world.

Beth has recently had several bylines published in the New York Times. Here are a few:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/nyregion/yeshiva-university-stunned-by-tale-of-a-tryst.html?ref=women

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/nyregion/marching-after-anti-semitic-vandalism-in-brooklyn.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion

Beth can be emailed at beth351@gmail.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Jermaine Freeman

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Jermaine is interviewed here by Sara Toering

After leaving YTI Jermaine spent half of his senior year in New York City in a program designed to study the city itself. He finished his senior year of high school back in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Jermaine went on to Morehouse College in Atlanta where he studied drama. While in Atlanta for college, Jermaine worked for fellow YTI 1996 alum Hannah Loring-Davis’s mom Murphy Davis at the Open Door Community. While he was at Morehouse he also had opportunity to do semester at sea and he traveled around world by ship during his junior year.

After graduating from Morehouse, Jermaine moved back to Chattanooga and worked in the airline industry for several years and then the U.S. postal Service. While working at the Postal Service, Jermaine and his brother Jarrod went into business together and started a web design company. As he and Jarrod worked on their upstart business, Jermaine continued his work with the U.S. Postal Service and then taught 6th grade world history. In April of 2010, Jermaine began working with the Obama campaign and he ultimately became a regional community organizer for the campaign in southeast Tennessee. Jermaine is currently in business with his brother, working for the Obama campaign, and in his last year of business school at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. When Jermaine finishes school his primary focus will be in business with his brother. Jermaine would also like to run for office in his local community.

When asked how YTI affected his life, Jermaine described how YTI taught him to always look for new and challenging experiences and to never stop dreaming. “We established a real community of people and to one extent or another, my life has always been in pursuit of community—I can do that if I am always opening myself up to new experiences and trying to make the world a better place.”

Jermaine described several questions that he is currently exploring regarding his vocation—in particular aspects of his business career. For example, Jermaine is exploring the balance of remaining humble and doing good for people in the world while also building a successful and profitable business. “How do I balance wanting to be financially secure with doing Gods will all at the same time?”

Jermaine asked to relay the following message to his YTI 1996 classmates: “Keep the faith. Life is tough and for any who have struggled with any aspect of life since 1996—keep the faith and try to be a lover!” Jermaine’s phone number is below and he invites anyone from 1996 to reconnect.

Jermaine Freeman: 423-785-6605

Class of 1996 Profile: Victor Acquaah-Harrison

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Victor is interviewed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch:

Since graduating from American University, Victor has worked in the financial services sector, first in London, then in New York and Chicago. He earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin and recently started a leadership program with GE Capital in Columbia, Missouri. Victor plays bass guitar and has accompanied several church choirs. It’s a way to practice his craft but also serve the church. He would have attended the the YTI reunion this summer but it coincided with a surprise 70th birthday party for his father.

YTI's instilled in Victor a curiosity about other religions. His father has been a United Methodist minister for 42 years, and the Methodist tradition, as his parents learned in Ghana and passed onto him, was grounded in British imperialism. “Growing up,” he said, “I felt like if someone did something out of set boundary lines it meant they weren't serious about their Christianity.” Those beliefs have changed.

“When you grow up in that environment, you are pretty much given one thing and that's it," he said. "You never have an opportunity to experience anything else. It’s like you almost walk around with a puffy chest: ‘This is what I believe in and what I know.’ And then you meet other folks with other beliefs, and it makes you a little more open... Everyone else may not worship the same way I do, but it's like the same template. It's the same underlying factors and desires to lead to a better life.”

For awhile, Victor wasn’t leading that better life. The years he spent in New York were challenging socially and career-wise. He realized he had to change his attitude and his surroundings.

“You can't make excuses,” he said. “Now the thing I'm wrestling with is trying to be on point and be the best I can as Victor. In that whole process, when I think of how I got here, it definitely wasn't on my own. There's a higher power out there that has watched me and seen me struggle, and things have changed completely now. You have to really sit back and think about things. Is this situation really hell, or is it just a setback and I have to think through it and come up with a different way to address it? It's more of a personal thing that I have to get out of my own way. I've seen the changes that can be made if you hang in there. I feel like I have a positive attitude. There's a lot of stuff out there that sucks, but there's plenty out there that's good and great. For the past few years, I've been able to change my thought process and think about the things that are good and stop trying to change things you have no power over.”

Class of 1996 Profile: Laura Willard

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Laura is interviewed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch:

Laura is entering her second year of veterinary school at the University of Minnesota with the goal of eventually practicing large animal medicine or wildlife medicine. This summer she represented her school at the Veterinary Leadership Experience, a week-long program to develop leadership and communication skills. She also is also leading orientation for incoming vet students at Minnesota this fall.

“I think I've settled in the right place where I can balance my desire to do good in the world and use that with my scientific knowledge,” she said. “I see veterinary medicine as a ministry. I provide a voice for animals to make sure they are cared for, respected, and treated well. Additionally, I guide people through challenging decisions and support them through hard times or bad news. This career is my calling."

YTI’s lasting impact came through the lifelong friendships she developed. “That was the first place I didn't feel like I was the odd one out,” she said. “Being in a community of people I could relate to and were so genuine and caring helped influence the way my relationships formed after YTI.”

Laura’s first exposure to meditation was YTI, and today she attends a Vipassana meditation group. She does not identify as Buddhist but finds in the practice a place where she can think through issues and look for wisdom. “The silence is an easier place for me to connect to God, or whatever you want to call it. I've gotten to a place where I feel the organization of formal church service is impeding that connection. I find quiet and stillness is the way to best connect.” She also appreciates the community of a church organization. For awhile, she tried not going to church but missed the connection to a higher power. The meditation group meets on Sunday mornings and offers supplements such as pot luck meals and a book group.

“It's that supportive community environment of a Christian church," she said, "but it's more of an open space where you bring what you want to it and it can be whatever you need it to be, whether that's Christian or Jewish or Buddhist.”

Class of 1996 Profile: Jeff Jones

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Jeff is interview here by Sara Toering:

After graduating from high school Jeff Jones attended Macalester College in St. Paul -- in no small part because 1996 mentor David Colby recommended it so highly. Jeff focused on urban studies at Macalester — a rare small liberal arts school in the middle of a city — to learn about how cities work. After graduating from Macalester, Jeff had the incredible opportunity to intern with Jim Lehrer at the NewsHour in Washington, D.C. during PBS’s coverage of the events of September 11, 2001.

After his internship, Jeff came home to the Midwest — a place he described as feeling “a bit more honest and down to earth.” Jeff worked for a period with the Minnesota State House of Representatives, and was soon hired as a producer for Minnesota Public Radio where he has served for almost a decade. Jeff has produced call-in shows, breaking news events and the regional version of All Things Considered. When I asked him what it meant to “produce a show,” Jeff explained that his job is to come up with the content of the radio shows by considering what his audience wants to hear. “What does my audience want to hear tonight when they tune in to listen to All Things Considered? What stories do people need to know and how do we cover those stories? Do we send a reporter out? Book a guest on the phone?” Jeff and his team record interviews from 10-20 minutes long and then edit those interviews down to roughly 3.5 minutes for his audience because “people are busy and they honor you by giving you their attention and you have to respect that and give them as much information as is useful to them and then move on.” Jeff enjoys his work — he loves learning about multiple new things each day and approaching the challenge of boiling the stories down for folks so that they have the information they need to make decisions about important public issues.

Now Jeff works for Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Network -- a group of 120,000 people around the U.S. who have agreed to share their expertise and experience with journalists. Those journalists work for radio, TV, internet and newspaper newsrooms across the nation and they are always looking for new and interesting people to sign up. Jeff says every YTI alum should become part of the Public Insight Network. All you commit to is occasional e-mails from journalists when they think you may have useful insight to share about stories they’re working on. Go to www.pinsight.org to learn more. Or contact Jeff at jjones@mpr.org.


Jeff met his wife, Jessica, in college while they were both attending a seminar at the United Nations hosted by the Presbyterian Church. He and Jessica attend Central Presbyterian Church in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota — their pastor is none other than the Rev. David Colby.

When asked about the impact YTI had on his life, Jeff shared that while he did not realize it at the time, he later deeply appreciated having permission to ask questions at YTI. Jeff walked into YTI in 1996 not even knowing why he was there — he felt secure in his faith and Presbyterian church community and he recalls not being sure what YTI was intended to accomplish. And then he walked out of YTI having no idea what he believed. Yet, because of all of the questions raised at YTI, Jeff commented that his experience of faith and religion became much deeper. He had assumed that if he walked away with questions that would mean his faith was shaken — but instead “it was so much richer.”

At this point in his life in his work with MPR, Jeff spends all day asking questions and finding reasons to be skeptical — “but its ok to do that—not only is it ok but its imperative that we don’t take things at face value. We need to challenge those who are most influential in the world and dialogue and conversation are a part of it. “ Jeff recalled YTI conversations and commented that “we sat around at YTI for a month talking with people from other parts of the country about stuff we didn’t know much about and heard people’s stories and got into fights and it was wonderful to sit there in conversation with folks.” Jeff’s roommate was someone he often disagreed with both politically and religiously but with whom he had so much fun. Jeff sees how folks in the public sphere act as if you have to destroy and take down others, but “normal people disagree with people they love all the time.” Fifteen years later at his job on the radio, Jeff is trying to create a space where members of the audience can be listened to and have access to other points of view in a civil arena.

One of the issues Jeff is exploring in his life right now is the balance between work and family and self. Where does our identity come from? Who am I? Jeff articulated the ways in which he has been lucky enough to have a job that he loves and that is interesting to others. But now he has a beautiful five-month old daughter and a house and family — and his job is still cool but is no longer the thing that defines him. But what does? Is he just a father? Is there something about the outdoors and the natural world that gives him energy and recharges him in a way he didn’t realize before? Jeff asked “how do I get out of the office and the nursery and into the natural world and make that part of my life? How can I respect and honor the natural world?”

Another question Jeff is pondering is the importance of physical place in our lives. “We now find the same restaurants and stores everywhere and we all interact on the level playing field of Facebook and Twitter -- where we are becomes less evident and important.” Jeff has recently been reflecting on what we can do, both professionally and personally, to enhance our experience of place and get people to think about what is distinct and unique and wonderful about the places that we live, work and play. “What is the vocabulary around place and how can we remind each other that its interesting? I know what Facebook looks like and I know what Home Depot looks like. But what is the story of that river? What used to be on this place?”

You can get in touch with Jeff at: Jeff1863@aol.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Jenny Lo Thorsen

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Jenny is interveiwed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch

After finishing her degree in communication disorders at North Carolina State and a master’s degree in communication disorders at Northwestern University, Jenny became a speech language pathologist and now works at the Indian Prairie School District in suburban Chicago. She works with children from kindergarten through fifth grade, many of whom cannot accurately process the language being spoken to them or communicate their thoughts effectively. Other children may have articulation problems, stutter or have voice disorders. Jenny finds inspiration from her students when “suddenly a light bulb goes on and all of your hard work pays off.”

Jenny Lives in Saint Charles, Illinois, with her husband, Pierre Thorsen, and two daughters, ages 4 and 1. One of the many challenges of being a parent is trying to find the line between nurturing her daughters while pushing them to achieve, Jenny said, and that’s why she found herself interested in the debate surrounding the recent book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua.

“I had to laugh when I saw that,” Jenny said. "I didn’t just grow up with a Tiger Mom. I grew up with a Tiger Mom and Tiger Dad. I want to do that in a more nurturing way. It’s hard to break through that cycle. How do I raise my children to be proud of themselves and know that I love them, but still do what I can to help my children reach their potential?”

Jenny attends a Baptist church, although she doesn’t necessarily consider herself a Baptist. “My husband and I share the belief that God is the one that sets doctrine, not man,” she says. Jenny served as the music director for nearly two years and still fills in from time to time. She also taught children’s church and worked in its nursery.

YTI’s impact on Jenny’s life was to open her horizons to how other people saw the world. “It made me question, what do I believe in and why do I believe it? Is it because I was raised this way? Have I thought about what I believe? It’s one of those events in my life that planted a seed in my head. I didn’t do anything about it until later, but it started the process.”

Jenny can be reached at: jennifer_thorsen@ipsd.org

Class of 1996 Profile: Sheila McCarthy

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Sheila is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

Since YTI, Sheila has spent lots of time in South Bend, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Sheila attended Notre Dame, where she studied theology and started a chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace group. (She remembers her first visit to Notre Dame well because it included a delightful weekend with fellow YTI ‘96ers Sara Toering, Becca Rich, and Christian Petersen at a lake house in western Michigan.) After graduating from Notre Dame, Sheila lived in several Catholic Worker communities—in Los Angeles, New York City, and upstate New York. She then completed an M.T.S. at Duke before returning to Notre Dame where she is currently working on a Ph.D. in Theology in the area of Liturgical Studies. Her dissertation is titled “Healing the Body of Christ: Liturgy, Trauma, and the Works of Mercy.” She is a member of the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker community in South Bend, teaches yoga, and goes to daily mass.

Sheila reports that YTI changed just about everything for her and that the rest of her life since YTI has been an attempt to recapture, and in fact go beyond, the community she experienced there. For example, her interest in the Catholic Worker movement grew out of her YTI experience of living simply and close to the land, with the poor in a faith community. Sheila says that YTI made her want to study theology instead of medicine, made her interested in living in community, made her connect environmental issues to poverty issues, began a life long interest in Buddhism, and made her glad to be Catholic. Even today, Sheila meets people that she wishes would have gone to YTI because they could have used it—or, because YTI could have used them. Sheila believes that one of the great gifts of YTI is that it treats teenagers like people who have a contribution to make, and she found that to be empowering.

Sheila is currently grappling with a variety of questions. In her dissertation, for example, Sheila is exploring how movement, not just words, can be healing of trauma. She also thinks about community a lot, and about fallibility and brokenness in the context of living in community. Sheila has lately been amazed by God’s love in the world.

Class of 1996 Profile: Scott Pryor

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Scott is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

Scott spent his senior year of high school being home schooled. Along with several other YTI 1996 alum, he also attended EPU for two summers in Washington, D.C., a program designed to examine common threads among Jewish, Catholic and Protestant traditions regarding religious teachings that encourage work toward the common good. After graduating high school, Scott spent a fall playing the open mic circuit in Boston, MA and then moved to Guatemala for several months where he learned Spanish and volunteered at a Methodist orphanage. In the fall of 1998 Scott entered Guilford college where he majored in religious studies and sociology and spent a semester abroad in Mexico studying Paulo Freire’s thinking and community development. Scott graduated in 2002 and summed up his Guilford experience in the following way: “If YTI was my introduction to activism, then Guilford was the place where I started putting it into practice in stronger ways.” In college Scott got involved in trying to keep a bookstore from being outsourced, did prison justice work, spent a summer with fellow 1996 alum Hannah Loring-Davis at the Center for Non-Violence in California and another summer working with migrant farmworkers in western North Carolina. After a brief jaunt to Missouri upon graduation from college, Scott returned to Greensboro, NC where he worked for three years as an organizer for the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. Since 2005 Scott has been primarily teaching high school Spanish and history and playing and recording music full time—his third album, “If We Set Out Now” is available at www.scottpryormusic.com. Scott currently resides in Austin, TX where he is playing lots of music and pursuing a masters in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

YTI definitely affected Scott’s life. Scott described how YTI functioned as a rite of passage for him—an entrance into adulthood in the sense that he associates YTI with his whole worldview being opened up and reconfigured. He learned to question things he had taken for granted in the past, for example, he learned to question institutional racism. “Simply put-YTI is a marker for when I was introduced to themes and issues and passions and interests that have continued to preoccupy me since then.” Scott also described the friendships that YTI created in his life, friendships that are “like family at this point and lord willing will continue to be for many years to come.”


The question that Scott is struggling with now—one he described as “pervasive and ever present”—is his ongoing discernment process about vocation and balancing his artistic practice with making a living. Although he is open to the possibility that discernment may never be done, he is wrestling with what balance looks like, and whether balance is worth shooting for or even cultivating an expectation about. How do we balance our passions/gifts with being 31 and having to make a living and put roof over our heads? Scott shared his reflections on the rampant growth and disparity of wealth in the world at large, and the ways in which we often have a disproportionate sense that incredible wealth is actually the norm rather than the exception because most of us do not encounter the 90-95% of the world that is not experiencing wealth. At the same time, Scott shared that he, like many of his peers, is realizing that he desires certain comforts/aspects of having money. He is wrestling with that reality and how he is leading his life in a way that is not financially self-sustaining. What function does money or should money serve in our lives? What kind of energy does our money generate? How is our money used?



After a long discussion about the various issues and questions that Scott raised about the world, he asked me to share a very specific message with all of our 1996 alumni: “We should all get together in Cannon Chapel for a hoedown!”

Class of 1996 Profile: Colleen Wessel-McCoy

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Colleen is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

After graduating from Agnes Scott in 2001 where she studied religion and social justice, Colleen moved to Chicago and lived in the Interfaith Service House that grew out of the E Pluribus Unum Project, an interfaith leadership development summer institute Colleen and several other YTI 96ers attended in Washington, DC in 1997 and 1998. Colleen worked as a community organizer in Chicago for three years before heading to New York where she obtained her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. While at Union, Colleen helped form the Poverty Initiative (www.povertyinitiative.org) that seeks to develop religious and community leaders to build a movement to end poverty led by the poor. In addition to working with religious communities and seminarians, the cornerstone project is the Poverty Scholars Program, which brings together leaders from poor-led grassroots organizations for intellectually rigorous, human rights based leadership development towards building a movement to end poverty. Colleen has now been working in and with the Poverty Initiative for over seven years, and it is that work that animates the ethics and New Testament PhD studies she is currently pursuing at Union Theological Seminary.

When asked how YTI affected her life, Colleen immediately commented that YTI, the program, staff, and scholars, took her seriously as a learner and a thinker. That dynamic inspired and encouraged her to continue in what she understands as her call to be an educator and to work with pedagogy and leadership development. YTI also introduced Colleen to feminist theology and the ways in which theology and the Bible can be liberating. In many ways YTI led Colleen to her particular course of study (religion/justice) in college and ultimately to seminary and to the work she does with the Poverty Initiative. Colleen shared her strong belief that any of her peers could have benefited from the educational experiences we had at YTI, and part of her vocational focus is asking the question-what if everyone were educated in a YTI-like fashion?

When I asked her to share some of the questions she is exploring at this stage in her life, Colleen identified several issues that demonstrate a great deal about the shape of her life and its commitments. Colleen is asking what it means to be a person of faith in a world in economic crisis. She believes that Christians are called to work toward solving the problem of suffering--and she is asking how do we best go about solving suffering at its root by exploring the notion of leadership, scholarship, and vision in response to suffering. Who should put forth the ideas, analysis and solutions to suffering? Those most affected by a given problem have both the ability and impetus to take the lead in providing solutions that eliminate rather than mediate the injustice Finally, as a partner to John and a parent to Myles, Colleen's commitment to solving problems in inequality has taken on a particularly personal character. Colleen described working to raise her son in a low-income household and shared that she sees his future bound up with the lives of others. Inequities and uncertainty regarding health care, education, and jobs will directly shape Myle's life--and this reality has provided an urgency to Colleen's fire to end poverty and inequality in this generation

Class of 1996 Profile: Aaron Klink

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Aaron is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

After finishing high school, Aaron went back to Atlanta and majored in political science and religion at Emory University. He then obtained a master of divinity degree at Yale Divinity School. There, Aaron worked with a team that evaluated pastoral care for cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The resulting report was so controversial that it ended up on CNN. After graduating from Yale, Aaron worked as a chaplain at Yale New Haven Hospital, then at a church in New York, before moving to Durham, North Carolina to do a Th.M. in Ethics at Duke. There, he focused on the relationship between faith and health care practices. Aaron stayed in Durham after finishing his Duke degree and worked with veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan as the inpatient psychiatric ward chaplain at the Veterans Hospital. Aaron now works as a hospice chaplain and is a member of Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham. While he has some frustrations with institutional Lutheranism, Aaron remains committed to the power and distinctive witness of Lutheran theology, especially in the American South.

Aaron reports that YTI impacted his life by making him aware of the links between religion and larger social questions. Indeed, those links have shaped all of his thinking and work since YTI. For example, Aaron is currently working on a book with his advisor from Duke on ways Christians deal with pain and illness from both a medical and theological perspective. Aaron is also working on a book with people at the Veterans Hospital in Durham about ways congregations can help veterans returning from war readjust to life.

Aaron can be reached at: aaron.klink@duke.edu

Class of 1996 Profile: Hannah Loring Davis

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Hannah is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

After graduating from Guilford College in 2001 where, as a student activist and newspaper editor, she focused on African studies and peace and conflict resolution, Hannah worked in editing and organizing for the Other Side Magazine (Philadelphia). Inspired, in part, by the Harriet Tubman Foot Care and Medical Clinic, where she served the homeless community in Atlanta, Georgia, Hannah went on to obtain her nursing degree. In 2008, Hannah moved to Baltimore, Maryland where she lives with her partner Jason Buc and their coonhound, Bubba. She works in an intensive care unit and is pursuing her masters in nursing with a specialty in palliative care at Johns Hopkins University. She also serves as a deacon at Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).

When I asked her to sum up in a few words how YTI shaped her life, Hannah shared that YTI created a venue for making a wonderful group of friends. Hannah began to feel a sense of connectedness in her life that she had never felt before - she learned new lessons about building a community to spiritually sustain her life. Through the years, the friendships Hannah made at YTI taught her a lot about building and maintaining deep and meaningful friendships. For Hannah, the most crucial part of her spirituality is the people with whom she experiences and practices that spirituality. To this day, the first people on her list are friends from YTI.

In her various academic pursuits and church and vocational commitments, Hannah seeks to find opportunities to blend her spirituality with her nursing practice. She is committed to learning to care for those with chronic and terminal illness in a manner that is culturally and personally sensitive to each individual’s needs within the greater context of family and the wider community. Hannah’s current nursing practice, paired with her study of palliative care, offers her an arena for the daily practice of her spiritual commitment.

Class of 1996 Profile: Amy Bucher

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Amy is interviewed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch

Amy attended Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., and graduated with degrees in English and Education. While in college she had the chance to travel to Indonesia to see her birthplace and study for a semester. After college, Amy taught English to elementary school children in Japan through the JET program. Afterward, she moved to New York and then to California where she continued her work with children by running an after-school program for children at a small private school. She now runs a school-based program for the Boys & Girls Club that was recently visited by Vice President Biden. The program has grown under Amy’s leadership, from 100 students to 200 students – and there’s discussion about adding 70 more students. Amy described her job as being “the principal of the afternoon.” The job is demanding, and, not surprisingly, educational issues occupy most of Amy’s time and energy. One issue is disparity: the high school graduation rate in the community where she works, East Palo Alto, is 30 percent; in nearby Palo Alto it’s 90 percent. With programs like Amy’s, there’s hope for change.

The most significant impact YTI had on Amy’s life happened just after the program. “It was my first time to hang out with people for that long and create relationships and bonds,” she said. “It brought me out of my shell socially.” YTI also gave Amy the confidence to question organized religion: “I had always been curious about exploring other religions and a wider range of beliefs and it gave me a space to do that. I moved away from the idea that God was present only within a certain structure. I gained confidence in questioning and feeling like that was okay.”

Amy is engaged to David Ghandehari, a software engineer for TiVo.

Class of 1996 Profile: Rebecca Rich

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Becca is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

Becca Rich finished up her senior year of high school by winning a national writing competition with an essay about land mines in Laos. She used the prize money to travel to Paris with fellow 1996 YTI alum Christian Petersen. Becca went on to attend Goshen College where she majored in English and religion, and spent a semester studying abroad in Ivory Coast. In August 2001 Becca married Eric Hochstetler and moved to Philadelphia where she worked in the publishing business. Becca went on to graduate from Duke Law School in 2006, and then she clerked on the North Carolina Supreme Court for Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson. After practicing commercial litigation at a boutique firm in Raleigh, NC, Becca became a lecturing fellow at Duke Law School where she teaches upper-level writing courses. Becca’s daughter Grace was born in December of 2008.

YTI had an immediate impact on Becca’s life. Becca grew up in small town and by the end of high school she felt discouraged with what she felt was a void of like-minded people in her community. YTI introduced Becca to amazing like-minded folks, and made her feel confident and hopeful about all the potential in the world. Becca loved developing friendships with YTI scholars who were interested in talking about religion and God and the Bible as teens. She shared that she “thinks of YTI folks fondly—it is truly a comfort to think about all of us out in the world doing great and important work.”

Currently Becca is exploring questions related to her career and vocation. Her Duke legal education provides Becca with opportunities to work on amazing cases and there are established career paths laid out for her to simply follow. Yet the work Becca is doing right now as a writing lecturer and professor provides her with flexibility and freedom and much-needed time for her family. Becca wonders about her potential and what responsibility, if any, comes with that “potential.” She posed the question “what do I owe to potential versus what I choose to do?”

rebeccamrich@yahoo.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Laura Healy

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Laura is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

Laura graduated from Samford University with a nursing degree in 2001 and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. There, she worked as a nurse for one year, then enrolled at the University of Virginia in a nurse practitioner and public health master’s program. After completing the program, Laura stayed in Charlottesville and worked at UVA with kidney and liver transplant recipients for six years. She recently moved to Richmond, Virginia to do the kind of work that she’s always wanted to do at a community health center that serves Richmond’s homeless population. In fact, it was YTI’s focus on faith in action that prompted Laura’s realization that she wanted to go into a service profession.

YTI was also the first place Laura felt comfortable asking questions about faith and learning about other faith traditions. Now, Laura considers herself to be an evangelical Christian and currently attends a diverse, inner-city church in the transitional neighborhood where she lives in Richmond. She finds that being in community with people who have serious life struggles deepens her faith and helps her maintain perspective about her own life.

Laura is currently exploring questions that are rooted in both her vocation and her faith. In her work at the clinic, she is often overwhelmed by all of the confounding factors that go into a person’s health and has lately been thinking about how to address the breakdown of the family unit as a public health issue. Laura is also committed to being a good steward of her resources and thinks often about what that commitment means for how she lives her life.


Laura can be reached at: laurahealy@yahoo.com

Class of 1996 Profile: David Homan

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

David is interviewed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch.

David Homan is executive director of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, which is Israel's largest private funder of the arts. Since 2006, under David’s tenure, AICF has raised more than $12 million and funded dozens of innovative programs and thousands of young artists.


David is also an active composer and pianist, and his work has been performed by the American Symphony Orchestra, University of Florida Orchestra, the Colorado String Quartet, at Carnegie Hall/Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, CAMI Hall, the Harmione Club, and Symphony Space. His music often involves societal context, including works focusing on Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, and other topical issues. His newest project features a classical/rock band called Eva that incorporates classic and modern poetry. He plans to release an album this year. He is a graduate of Bard College and received his master’s from New York University. He married Ariel Grossman in 2010.


In YTI, David found a place where he could talk with others about religion. It gave teens access to a wider world when typically they are limited to their hometown. “It cemented my interest in learning where different people come from,” he said. It also provided him a solid introduction to urban life, which “was pivotal to my path to New York.” While YTI was a positive experience, David is disappointed that YTI reverted to accepting only Christian scholars. To know Christianity, he said, you should know about the world’s religions, and YTI was a more enriching experience with people from different faiths.


David remains passionate about studying the world’s religions and how they intersect with politics. “The balance between politics and religion was why I was interested in YTI in the first place,” he said. “I hate how religion is used for political gain and power.” While David has never been religiously observant, he said he shows his beliefs in action, not by attending temple every week: “One’s temperament, where one grows up and what one chooses to do is more informing that what religion they are.”


Contact: homanmusic.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Richard Gurley

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Richard is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

After graduating in 2001 from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's degree in public policy, Richard worked for several years in the Tennessee state government where he researched and shaped policy in the areas of health care and education, resulting in multi-million dollars savings for the state. Richard was promoted three times in three years in Tennessee government and was the youngest person ever to achieve the position of senior legislative research analysis. In 2004 Richard headed to Duke University's Fuqua School of Business where he earned a Masters in Business, and in 2006 he went to work for McKinsey & Company where he serves as an engagement manager. Richard's work at McKinsey allows him to gain content knowledge, build a network of industry, government and nonprofit leaders, and develop his own leadership skills while living out two personal passions—working to reduce the 800 billion dollars of waste in our country's health care system and helping people to develop connections with others. Richard loves his job.

Richard described the impact that YTI has had on his life in two ways. First, Richard shared with me that YTI showed him a picture of what healthy communities should and could be. YTI brought together people from wildly different walks of life and diverse perspectives. It provided an arena where each person's voice and uniqueness were not just accepted but celebrated. Richard's experience was that scholars and staff operated from the mindset that other members of the YTI community held their perspectives for good reasons. Moreover, Richard shared, "it was incumbent on me to listen to others in a way that would help me understand why they think differently than me." This particular aspect of the YTI experience was especially helpful to Richard when he was working in Tennessee state government. Richard found that most legislators indeed want to do what's best for the state. In most cases legislators tended to share the same values but had different assumptions about the ways the world works. Richard found that if he could help align leaders based on their values, rather than assumptions, then sometimes those leaders could end up on the same side of the table advocating together for a cause or program, rather than sitting across the table negotiating. YTI confirmed for Richard that often people who appear different are actually a lot alike at their core.

Richard also described some of the ways YTI shaped his spiritual life. YTI certainly solidified Richard's perspective that spiritual issues are complicated and answers are not easy--YTI created a safe place to ask those questions and discuss various answers. However, Richard pointed out that while he was comfortable asking the questions that he brought to YTI as a teen, he has found that the questions he heard from some of the other scholars and staff at YTI have created a safe space for the questions he has asked over the next fifteen years. Richard's questions about spirituality and faith have evolved--and occasionally he has found himself asking a question that someone else posed at YTI. Richard currently is exploring some of those questions and developing his spiritual practice as a member of Washington Community Fellowship—a non-denominational evangelical church in the Mennonite tradition—a church that he introduced to his fellow 96er and dear friend Lyndsay Moseley. One question in particular that Richard is asking is simply, "how should I live my life?" Richard commented that while this question might sound generic, it is a real and all-pervasive query in his life. Moreover, Richard has found there are so many routes that he could take to try and answer that question—choosing which route to take on a day to day basis is a key part of the question. In this context, Richard is very appreciative for the relationships he formed at YTI, and for the opportunity to be connected with one another again through the 2011 Facebook!

Richard can be reached at rkgurley@gmail.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Meg Smothers Robinson

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Meg is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

After high school, Meg joined five other YTI ’96ers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (In fact, Meg, Laura Willard, and Jamie DeMent were suitemates in their first year at UNC.) Meg majored in public policy and was short only a few credits for a minor in religious studies.

After graduating in 2001, Meg moved to Atlanta and has lived there ever since. Her first job after college was a fellowship doing environmental policy and advocacy work, and in 2003, Meg became the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Georgia.

She then went to law school at Georgia State and became an Assistant District Attorney in DeKalb County Juvenile Court. She returned to policy work in November 2010 and is working currently as Chief of Staff and General Counsel to Georgia State Senator Jason Carter. Meg and her husband Jonathan have been married since 2006 and live in Decatur, where they continue to renovate their really old house (across the street from where Emily Saliers lives!).

For Meg, YTI impacted what she studied in college, and prompted her to think about spirituality and justice together. Since returning to the world of Georgia politics, she struggles with the role religion plays in politics and the way faith is used (and abused) in political discourse. She also cherishes being a part of the YTI world, full of people who are doing interesting and amazing things.

Meg can reached at: mrob22@gmail.com

Class of 1996 Profile: Lisa Taylor

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Lisa is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

Inspired by her experience at YTI, Lisa Taylor took on increased leadership in her home church as a high school senior--including instituting a children's sabboth based on a similar service that occurred at YTI. After graduating from high school, Lisa attended Boston College where she majored in elementary education and theology. She went on to attend Garrett Evangelical Seminary in Chicago where she obtained her masters in divinity, and upon graduation she accepted a call in Illinois. Lisa's initial "yoked-call" required her to serve as both associate pastor at Mattoon Presbyterian Church, and also lead pastor at Neoga Presbyterian. After serving these churches for several years, Lisa accepted a call to serve as senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Baraboo, Wisconsin in the fall of 2010. She is currently working with other clergy leaders to address bullying in the community, and is working with her congregation to build a program that provides opportunities for mission where participants are both able to serve in various communities in the world, and to be transformed by those communities. Lisa and her baby boy Paul live in Baraboo where they enjoy animals at the zoo, snacks, and all the art and culture that Baraboo has to offer.

When asked how YTI affected her life, Lisa described how YTI opened her eyes to "the next level of church." Lisa had long loved being an active part of the church, but at YTI she learned to read and study theology, and learned about the direct connection between the church and mission. Lisa shared that she often finds herself drawing on her YTI experience, including the exposure to so many issues in the world via the YTI presenters and speakers. For example, when attending a recent Habitat for Humanity meeting, Lisa recalled a YTI speaker who worked for an organization that provided voice mail services for homeless folks to give to potential employers. Lisa was able to suggest a similar voicemail program to the Habitat for Humanity group in Baraboo fifteen years later. She loved hearing and learning at YTI about how people organized and committed to mission in different ways in their lives, and appreciated learning about the debates going on in the world about various spiritual issues. Lisa reflected that she finds it encouraging to think back on our YTI summer in 1996 and remember that "there is a whole group of us out there doing great work in the world."

Lisa continues to explore her calling in the world, in both her professional and personal life. She is also committed to exploring what it means to be a good mother and how to raise a son that is happy and moral and aware--a son who cares for himself and for others. In that vein, Lisa and Paul are currently reading "Curious George Goes Green" together.

Lisa can be reached at lmtayl@gmail.com