The Ceremony - University of La Verne

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2011 for a four-year term. Dr. Henderson
relocated from Pasadena, Calif., to Montgomery,
Ala., in 2003 and served as an assistant
professor at Auburn University, Auburn,
Ala., from 2003 until her retirement
in 2007. She has an educational consulting
enterprise: C & J Enterprises, LLC.
Tony Velebil ’91 founded the start-up
company Symbuyosis. Symbuyosis brings
local businesses, customers and nonprofits
together. When customers purchase from
merchant partners, those merchants make a
donation of the same good or service to a local
charity.
Susan Zytnik-Kunzler ’91 is Campaign
Chairperson for a candidate seeking a position
on the School Board of Hacienda La
Puente School District.
Michelle L. (Brune) Collins BA ’93 married
Patrick Collins in a beautiful ceremony
conducted by a friend on their property in
Glade Park, Colo., which is above Colorado
National Monument. Michelle teaches high
school English in Basalt, Colo., and is adviser
for the school newspaper. She recently earned
a master’s degree in Education in Curriculum
and Development.
Lou DeVita, ’93 was inducted into the
St. Francis High School Athletic Hall of
Fame. Selections for the Athletic Hall of
Fame were made by a panel of alumni and
school administrators based on nominations
submitted by our alumni. He graduated
from Loyola Marymount University in
1987 with a degree in finance. He went on
to earn a MBA from La Verne in 1993. He
has held executive level positions for most of
his career and is currently a Vice President
with Bank of America. For the past 17 years,
Lou has lived in the Seattle area with Tami,
his wife of 23 years, and their three children
John, Bryn and Bret.
Dawn Del Vechio ’94 earned an MBA
at Cal State Los Angeles in 1999 and a certificate
in community college teaching at Cal
State Dominguez Hills in 2003. While working
full-time in retail management and later
in advertising, she also worked part-time as
a classroom math teacher and a private tutor
in math and test prep. Most recently, she
accepted a position in November 2010 as an
adjunct faculty member at Le Cordon Bleu
College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, Calif.,
teaching applied math to the student-chefs.
20 VOICE Summer/Fall 2011
ALUMNI
Leo Sayles ’89 was recently hired as the
head volleyball coach at NCAA Division
I Gardner-Webb University. Gardner-Webb,
located in Boiling Springs,
N.C., competes in the Big South Conference.
Leo served as the head volleyball
coach at Bryan College from
2004-2010, compiling a record of 153-
11. After going 22-44 his first seasons,
the 2006 AAC Coach of the year went
131-67 overall with a 70-14 record in
conference play. His teams achieved 5
consecutive 20+ win seasons, reached
the NCCAA national championship
Final Four in 2009, advanced to the
NCCAA national tournament in 2007,
twice reached the conference championships
and once advanced to the
NAIA Regional championships. Leo
and his wife, Tanya (Hirsch) Sayles, are
settling into their new area with their
five children.
Dr. Jennifer (Osko) Summers ’94 received
a Doctor of Psychology degree in
Clinical Psychology in June 2011. She
moved to Hawaii and works at the University
of Hawaii Counseling and Student Development
Center.
Raymond Cota ’95 is police chief for the
Sedona, Ariz., Police Department. Raymond
has more than 30 years of law enforcement
experience, and his career includes supervising,
managing and commanding all functions
of a police department. Raymond’s last
assignment was as Police Captain in Corona,
Calif. He earned a bachelor’s degree in public
administration from the University of La
Verne and completed public administration
graduate studies at California State University,
San Bernardino. He is also a graduate of
the FBI National Academy, the Department
of Justice Drug Unit Commanders Academy
and the Los Angeles Police Department West
Point Leadership Program.
Col. Leon M. (Mike) Bridges ’96 was recently
inducted into the U.S. Army’s Officer
Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Benning,
Georgia. He is a 31-year Veteran of the
Army National Guard, including a combat
tour in Iraq leading an Embedded Provincial
Reconstruction Team during the Surge period
of the Campaign. He resides in Anchorage,
Alaska, and is Director of Logistics/J4/
G4 for the Alaska National Guard.
Lydia Ortega ’97 was honored by California
State Assemblyman Mike Morrell at the
63rd District’s 2011 Women of Distinction
Luncheon in Ontario. Lydia is recently retired,
but served as director of records, registration
and evaluation at Cal State San Bernardino.
Lydia also served as acting director of housing
and residential life, acting associate vice president
of enrollment services and director of
admissions and records. Ortega has a master’s
degree from the University of La Verne.
Russ Douglas was recently named general
manager of Devcon® Security’s San Diego
branch. His primary focus is hiring and
training sales people and technicians in the
San Diego area. In his spare time, Russ is
heavily involved within his church community
as a drummer for the church band, and
is an assistant coach for the Laguna Niguel
Little League. Russ studied media communications
and broadcast journalism at the University
of La Verne.
2000s
Joni Moody ’00 moved in 2010 from a
town near Boston, where she practiced appellate
criminal defense, to Evanston, Ill. She
is a LL.M. degree candidate in International
Law, with the added focus in Comparative
Law and Rule of Law, at DePaul University
College of Law in Chicago.
Scott Francis ’00 was recently hired at
The Port of Tacoma as real estate manager.
He will be responsible for real estate sales and
marketing, contract negotiations, property
management and new business development.
He received a master’s degree in Business Organization
from La Verne in 2000.
Dr. Maryam Davodi-Far ’01, an assistant
professor at National University, has been appointed
to serve as the Director of the Center
for Cultural and Ethnic Studies at National
University.
Manny Escalante ’01 ran the Long Beach
Marathon barefoot in October to raise aware-
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ness for the charity, Soles4Souls, and about
a new physical challenge. “I frequently get
asked why I run barefoot and it gives me a
chance to talk to people about the great work
being done by Soles4Souls. We often forget
that for many people shoes are a welcomed
luxury.” Manny, who since 2001 has lost 50
pounds, completed 3 Ironman Triathlons
and other races, trained for a year to run the
race barefoot.
Danielle Pashone ’02 married Ryan Frisco
and is excited to announce the birth of
their first child, Haley.
Nick Lemas ’02, ’05 a native of Hayward,
Calif., met the girl of his dreams when he attended
the University of La Verne. On July 16,
2011, at a beautiful ceremony at the La Cañada
Flintridge Country Club, he married Ali Scherer.
Nick and Ali honeymooned in the Dominican
Republic and make their home and their
new life together in Southern California.
Christine Boucher ’03 obtained a master’s
degree in Criminal Justice from Boston
University and is now a second-year law student
at Concord Law School.
Johnnya Center Burruss ’03 is Post Production
Coordinator for The Talk on CBS
starring Julie Chen, Holly Robinson Peete,
Sharon Osbourne, Sara Gilbert and Leah
Remini. She is also the Creator/Editor in
Chief of SalsaSouthBay.com. She recently
married Fernando Burruss, who is the Technical
Operations Supervisor at KCBS-TV
and KCAL-TV in Los Angeles. They have a
beautiful, 3-year-old daughter who recently
filmed a Target commercial and has appeared
in a GAP clothing store brand ad.
Ayana Moultrie ’03 is a mom of a 6-yearold
who is full of wonder and humor. She
works in post production on several different
reality TV shows for Atlas Digital, a sub
company under Pilotware. Every year since
graduation from La Verne she has attended
the Homecoming street fair and football
game.
Sandi Willis ’05 graduated from San Jose
State University with a master’s degree in Library
and Information Science.
Shirden Prince ’06 is the new Vice Principal
at Jacobsen Middle School in Tehachapi,
Calif.
Robert Hastings ’06 says he has given up
on healthcare after more years than he cares
to remember and is writing and illustrating
ALUMNI
Sara (Kirk) Mertaban ’04 and Amir
Mertaban were married on Jan. 1,
2011, and celebrated with a reception
on March 13. Sara and Amir met at
Fairplex and both work there in the
Sales department.
children’s books. He recently had his first two
books published through Createspace and
Amazon, the first, “The Blue Kangaroo (It’s
Nice to be Different),” and the second, “The
Spirit Wolf (Life is a Never-Ending Lesson).”
The second book is going to be a series. Robert
is finishing the second book and reports
at least a third will follow. Robert says it has
been fulfilling writing and illustrating the
books. Life throws us lots of curves and he is
very happy for this one, he says.
Adam Carranza ’08 traveled to Washington,
D.C. and met with members of the
Obama administration and attended an intimate
reception with the President. Adam was
part of a small group of members of the People
For the American Way Foundation’s Young
Elected Officials Network. Adam is a clerk at
the Mountain View Board of Education, and
graduated from La Verne with a bachelor of
arts degree in Speech Communication.
Leslie Elrod ’08 is the new service manager
at 24 Hour Fitness in City of Industry,
Calif. Leslie was a member of the Women’s
Basketball Team in 2007 and 2008.
Erin Konrad ’09 earned a master of fine
arts degree in creative writing from Goddard
College in July.
Bobby Olgin ’09 and Rieschelle Roberts
’09 moved to Ismir, Turkey, to teach English
as a second language (ESL) at ISTEK University
in Bursa, Turkey.
Jenny Genovese ’10 is furthering her education
by taking courses at University of La
Verne in order to obtain a multiple subject
teaching credential as well as a master’s de-
Reinel Campa ’05 graduated in August
2011 from Antioch University Los
Angeles with a master of arts degree in
Organizational Management.
gree in Special Emphasis. Additionally, she
works as a substitute teacher for Claremont
Unified School District.
Little Leos
Steven Dugan ’89 and his wife, Kimberly,
are proud to announce the birth of their
first grandchild, a girl, named Gracie Skye
Dugan. She was born 5/7/11 at 12:07 a.m.
She weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz. and was 20 inches
long.
Erin D. Lopez ’92 and Art Cadena are
pleased to announce the birth of their first
child, Maximilian Blessing Cadena, born
Jan. 25, 2011.
Marissa Espinoza ’94 and Ira Kruskol
welcomed their son, Max Andrew Espinoza-
Kruskol born on November 5, 2010. Max
weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21-1/2
inches. Marissa and Ira are thrilled with this
little addition to their family!
Misha (Kellogg) Drapalik ’95 welcomed
Whitney Lee Drapalik, born September 15,
2010, 5 lbs., 15 oz., 19 inches. Big sister Vivian
turns 3 in January.
Sandra Perez (Gonzalez) ’95 Little sister
Amelia Marin joined big sister Lucilla on
September 9, 2010. Born at Arcadia Methodist,
Amelia was 7 lbs., 1 oz., and 20 inches
long. She was welcomed by Sandra Perez and
her husband, Zachary Gonzalez, to their new
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Summer/Fall 2011 VOICE 21