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Dear Carroll College Students, Faculty, Staff, Trustees, Alumni, and Friends:
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Today marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Carroll College led the way in Montana and likely our region by providing a thoughtful and incisive panel discussion on Wednesday evening to a packed auditorium of over 150 students and community members. The discussion was led by Carroll’s history and political science professors DJ Cash, Jeremy Johnson, and Dean Pavlakis where they discussed Russia's war against Ukraine - its origins, its impacts, its implications for US domestic and foreign policy, and its potential consequences for Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the world. Guest speakers included Ukrainian students Anzhela Stoliar, Mariia Savchenko, Veronika Fomishyna. The moderator noted that the Ukrainians referred to the date of the panel as February 364th noting February has never ended for them.
The three Ukrainian students spoke passionately about the impact of the war on their lives, communities, and families, and there was a robust hour-long question and answer session that included speculation on multiple possible outcomes of the conflict and the role of other global players. You can view a recording of the lecture here.
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Mariia Savchenko, Anzhela Stoliar and Veronika Fomishyna
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Last fall, Carroll College announced the establishment of its new Global Student Refugee/Asylee Initiative. This new initiative supports current college students who have become displaced due to conflicts in their home countries and allows them to continue their studies at Carroll College.
Through the philanthropic support of private donors and foundations, Carroll College currently has three Ukrainian and four Ethiopian students enrolled through the initiative.
Ray Kuntz ’77, a long-time benefactor of Carroll, and his wife Susie Alt-Kuntz, have been the catalysts behind this initiative. In addition to the Kuntz’s significant contributions, support for our Ukrainian students has been provided through a grant from the Gianforte Family Foundation.
I would like to thank the donors and sponsors of our Ukrainian students including Ray and Susie, the Gianforte Family Foundation, David Hunter, and the many people in the Helena community and beyond who have stepped up to support the college’s refugee students including our four Ethiopian students. (Here is a link to a previous IR story about our Ethiopian students.)
Through the GSRI program, tuition expenses for the refugee and asylee students are covered through a combination of institutional and philanthropic support. Donations to the program also support additional costs such as travel and books and supplies. Housing is provided by host families in the community.
The financial objectives of the Global Student Refugee Initiative are twofold: to secure sufficient financial assistance for current students to complete their education and to establish ongoing funding for the initiative which will enable new eligible students to enroll at Carroll.
There are multiple ways to provide assistance for the program. Donations can be made online through carroll.edu/give and click the "GIVE NOW" box, then select “Global Student Refugee Initiative.” Interested parties can also email giving@carroll.edu or call 1-406-447-4406. Checks can be made payable to Carroll College with a memo notation “Global Student Refugee Initiative,” and the address to send them to is Carroll College Office of Institutional Advancement c/o Global Student Refugee Initiative, 1601 N. Benton Avenue, Helena, MT 59625. To volunteer as a host family for a displaced student, email HostFamilyHelena@gmail.com.
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John and Victoria Cech and host families greet Mariia Savchenko and Anzhela Stoliar upon their arrival to the Helena Regional Airport on Jan. 15.
Photo courtesy of Tatiana Lukenbill
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Reflections from Honduras
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Last week, I shared a video of class of 2022 nursing graduate Kenna Sandblast as part of our “My Adventure” series. Kenna graduated last May and is now serving a mission in Honduras working as both a teacher and nurse. Our nursing department reached out to Kenna to see how her “adventure” is progressing and she sent this lovely reflection below which she agreed to share with all of you:
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Hi, That was very nice of you to reach out! It sure is quite the adventure! I have been here in Honduras serving at Farm of the Child (a Children’s home for abused/maltreated children) since October of 2022. I have grown so much and had so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences. There are about 20 kids that live here in houses based off of age and gender and we also have a clinic (which is open 2 days a week to the neighboring communities) and a school (which our kids and over 100 kids from the community attend). I am working part-time as a nurse and also teaching kindergarten in the school among many other small tasks every day. It has been such an eye-opening, challenging, and thought-provoking experience to be immersed in the world of medicine in a developing country. I feel like my nursing role encapsulates a little bit of all the different fields of nursing in one role: case management, clinic nursing, emergency nursing, school nursing, and camp nursing. But I have received so much more than just experience as a nurse. I am learning how to live more simply, joyfully, and humbly. I am so thankful to the Lord for all He has given me so far and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year here unfolds. If any student ever voices their interest in service after their time at Carroll or during a summer break please feel free to give them my information, I would love to share more with them about Farm of the Child. I hope all is well at Carroll! I miss you all and think about/pray for you often.
Blessings,
Kenna Sandblast
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Carroll has been hitting the road to meet with prospective students and families through our information sessions coupled with fun, food, and fellowship. We have two great Montana opportunities coming up to learn more about Carroll.
Helena, March 1, 5-7:30, Flying Giant Adventure Park
We will have free passes to the trampoline park along with pizza and drinks! Join us from 5:00-6:30 for airtime and fun and then 6:45-7:30 for pizza and an information session with the Carroll team—parents are highly encouraged to attend! Register here.
Billings, March 12, 2-4:30, Yellowstone Country Club
Join us for the afternoon and hear from several of our Carroll College alumni members and learn what Carroll has meant to them. Register here.
As always, there is still time to apply for fall 2023. And, if you've already applied and been accepted, no time like the present to submit your deposit!
And, we are also still accepting applications for our two post-baccalaureate programs: Accelerated Nursing and Master of Social Work.
Want to learn more about Carroll's online MSW program? There are a few ways you can do that. You can email the director, Dr. James Petrovich at mswcarroll@carroll.edu. You can complete the inquiry form found on our website. You can also attend a weekly virtual info session - for more information email Dr. Petrovich. And for those who are members of the social media platform Reddit, Dr. Petrovich is hosting an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) next week on February 28th in the r/socialwork subreddit. This is the first MSW program to do an AMA in this subreddit, so please join the fun!
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LAST CHANCE!
Five more days to take part in our Refer-A-Saint campaign! Refer a new prospective student to our admissions team through this form found here, and you will be entered into a drawing to receive gift certificates to the Saints Shoppe courtesy of the President's Office – the first-place winner will receive a $300 Saints Shoppe gift certificate, second place is a $200 gift certificate, and third place is a $100 gift certificate. Drawing will be March 1. Send us your prospective Saints!
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Earlier this week, I was pleased to join Head Coach Troy Purcell, AD Charlie Gross, and our football student-athletes to present Governor Gianforte with a custom Fighting Saints helmet to display in his office. Go Saints!
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Men’s Basketball:
The Carroll College men's basketball team (13-13, 7-8) capped off their regular season last Saturday with an 89-82 win over Providence. The win locked the Saints into the No. 4 seed for this weekend's Frontier Conference Tournament. The game was also the final home game for a pair of outstanding seniors, Brendan Temple (Castle Rock, CO) and Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, ID). Carroll will play No. 5 Rocky Mountain College this Sunday at 5 pm at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls in a quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference Basketball Championship.
Women’s Basketball:
The No. 11 Carroll College women's basketball team remained steady in their spot in the final NAIA Coaches' Top-25 poll of the season. The Saints (23-5, 14-1) finished the season with a win over Providence last Saturday, and won the outright Frontier Conference Championship. It was a bittersweet day as the Saints sent off a record-shattering group of seven seniors. Rakiah Grende (Kalispell, MT), Erica Nessan (Spokane, WA.), Genesis Wilkinson (Moses Lake, WA), Sienna Swannack (Nine Mile Falls, WA, Maddie Geritz (Boise, ID), Jamie Pickens (Helena, MT.) and Kamden Hilborn (Clancy, MT) all played their final regular season games. The Saints are the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Frontier Conference Championship, and will play the lowest remaining seed, at a time yet-to-be determined on Monday in Great Falls.
For additional information and full details on this weekend's Men's and Women's Frontier Conference Basketball Championships, please click HERE.
Five Carroll basketball players were recently named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honorees. Garrett Long (Wenatchee, WA / SO), Brendan Temple, Jonny Hillman, Jamie Pickens, and Kamden Hilborn. The students must carry a 3.5 cumulative GPA, and have played in at least 50 percent of their teams' games while making key contributions on the court. The five are now in the running for Academic All-American.
Carroll College has been chosen as a host site for the 2022-23 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds, announced by the NAIA national office on Thursday morning. The Fighting Saints will host a four-team grouping March 7-8 in the Carroll College PE Center in Helena.
A full schedule of the matchups will be released after completion of conference tournaments, and a tournament page through the NAIA will be available once teams are announced. Qualifying teams will be announced March 2 at 5 pm MST on the NAIA Youtube page and social media outlets.
Track & Field:
Saints track & field closed the indoor season strong at the Big Sky Tuner last weekend in Bozeman.
Two additional national qualifiers highlighted the day. Paige Baxstresser won the 400m and ran a personal record in the event to hit the NAIA A Standard. Van Gottwals achieved the A Standard in the 800m with his fastest time of the season.
Despite the stiff competition, Carroll had multiple other top 3 finishers besides Baxstresser. Brett Glaser placed 2nd in the 60m Hurdles with a personal record, Tate Kauffman placed 2nd in the Triple Jump, Reghan Worley placed 2nd in the 3000m with her fastest mark this year, and Garrett Kocab placed 3rd in the Shot Put.
The Fighting Saints will now take their seven qualifiers to Brookings, SD, next week for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. Reghan Worley (Evanston, Wyo.), Natalie Yocum (Frenchtown, MT), Van Gottwals (Billings, MT / SR), Tate Kauffman (Kalispell, MT / FR), Josh Smalley (Missoula, MT/ SO), Garrett Kocab (Phelan, CA / R-SR), Paige Baxstresser (San Luis Obispo, CA) will all compete for their chance at being named national champion in their respective events.
Softball:
The Carroll College softball team (3-4) wrapped up non-conference play last weekend at the second Bubble Invite in Minot SD. The weekend was highlighted by a 15-4 win over NCAA Division II opponent MSU Billings on Saturday. In that 15-4 win, Amber Brewer (Phoenix, AZ/ SR) made Saints history, becoming the first in program history to hit for the cycle (single, double, triple, home run in the same game).
The Saints were originally scheduled to begin their Cascade Collegiate Conference season with an opening weekend series in Helena against the College of Idaho. However, temperatures in the negatives and snow forced the season opener to be relocated to Caldwell, ID. Carroll will play a double-header against the Yotes on both Friday (1 pm and 3 pm) and Saturday (11 am and 1 pm). Both a stream and live stats for those games can be found HERE.
Dueling Pianos:
Tonight is the Dueling Pianos fundraiser, where the Saints Athletic Association will be going head-to-head with the Rural Fire Department trying to raise the most money for their respective organizations through song requests. The event is sold out, BUT you can still make an impact. All donations made HERE will go towards the SAA song request fund, and the money raised directly impacts scholarship opportunities for Carroll's over-300 student-athletes! Help us make sure Sweet Caroline is played to end the night as the SAA is named dueling piano champion!
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I share the sad news that we recently lost a beloved Carroll employee. Jay Sheldon, a custodian in Simperman Hall for the past five years, lost his three-year battle with liver cancer on Saturday, February 11. A celebration of Jay's life will be held this afternoon, Friday, February 24, at 3:00 pm at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 400 S Oaks, Helena, with a reception and inurnment to follow.
Dan Byrd ‘10, Assistant Director of Facilities, shared the following about Jay:
He came to Carroll shortly after his retirement from the Helena School District and immediately got to work in Simperman Hall alongside his good friend, Bernie. He took great care and pride in keeping the building in good order and loved getting to know the faculty and staff in the building. During his time here, Jay took a special shine to the Nursing floor where he felt especially loved! His kindness and genuine care for those around him was felt deeply by those who met him. Jay will be missed dearly by our facilities team and by everyone else who had the honor of getting to know him.
Please join me in offering prayers to Jay's family and friends. May his soul rest in peace.
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Feb. 28, 12:30-2, Simperman Hall/Wiegand Auditorium, Carroll College
Carroll College is pleased to be hosting a special viewing of the Montana PBS documentary, Best Last Place, followed by a question and answer session with the filmmaker, Jim Jenner and Carroll Board Chair Father Patrick Beretta.
You can learn more about the documentary here. We hope you can join us. All are welcome.
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In addition, opening night for Carroll’s theatre production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is Thursday, March 2. The show is running March 2-5 and 9-11. Click here for more details.
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Last Saturday evening, Victoria and I had the pleasure of attending the annual ROTC “Dining Out” event at the Delta Hotel. It was a wonderful evening celebrating our ROTC cadets.
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In closing, on this inauspicious anniversary, please keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers.
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Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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