High School Graduates:
Meghan Murphy graduated from Lamar High School and will attend Texas Tech University to study Elementary Education. She participated in the National Charity League, swim team, Lamar Bike Club, Key Club and other service organizations. She was an active member of Young Life.
Galen Kragas graduated from Stratford High School this May. He graduated Cum Laude after completing a schedule including Advanced Placement courses in Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, History, and English. Throughout high school Galen enjoyed a wide variety of pursuits and belonged to organizations such as the school newspaper, the Oracle, JETS, and National Honor Society. Galen was a member of the Stratford Varsity soccer team and received All District Team honors in his junior and senior years. Throughout high school he also played Division I soccer for Texas Premier Futbol Club. For fun Galen enjoys hanging out with friends and loves tennis, skiing, beach volleyball, computer games, and watching English soccer. Galen will be attending the University of Texas at Austin this fall and will be studying Engineering.
Amanda Waddell graduated from The Kinkaid School where she was involved in many creative, athletic, and political activities. She was a part of the crew, acted in, or directed many school plays, was a member of the Select Choir Ensemble and served on the Fine Arts Board. She participated in several art exhibits and served as class vice president for two years and as Governing Council Vice President this past year. She was an honor student and also participated in cross country, winter track, tennis and karate. During summers, she served as a camp counselor at Rocky River Ranch in Wimberley, Texas and at the Kinkaid Summer Camp. In July 2005, Amanda was a participant in an experiment in international living and spent the summer in Komatsu, Japan. She will attend the University of Southern California’s School of Theatre in the fall.
Jim Walker graduated from Lamar High School on May 28. He
plans to attend Texas State Technical College in Waco where he will pursue an
Associate of Science degree in Welding. He enjoys movies, music and metal-working.
Kiersten Lea Thompson graduated from Pearland High School where she was a member
of the Honor Society. She played Varsity Volleyball the last 3 years and also
Club Volleyball in the off season. Kiersten will attend the U.S. Air Force Academy
in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Landon Schaefer graduated from St. Thomas High School where he was an accomplished violinst with the school’s Orchestra, an Eagle Ambassador, a member of the Varsity Lacrosse Team, an officer of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and was listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students Honor Society. Landon is an Eagle Scout with an impressive list of community service activities including working two years on the Arteaga Mission trip, volunteering at Camp for All, the Houston Food Bank, the Danish Heritage Museum, and Tourette’s Camp. He received a scholarship to attend Texas A&M University next year where he will study meteorology.
Other high school graduates include Nathaniel Winston, Kimberley Healing, Christina Baran, and Rami Ollikkala. Congratulations to all our high school graduates and their families!
Other Graduates:
Cheri Bouldin received her Masters in Business Administration from UT Austin on May 20. Cheri says, “The MBA is very important for me because my undergraduate degree from Rice is in biochemistry, which doesn’t apply at all to the types of job I want! For almost 30 years I have worked in the financial/accounting/tax field, but I wanted a much broader educational background in business.” After spending 3 and a half years commuting to Austin to get through what is normally a 2 year executive MBA program (slowed down by brain cancer, diagnosed after the first year),Cheri received her MBA. She wants everyone to know, “I am very, very grateful to all who supported me throughout this endeavor!”
Eleanora Wendt received her Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Houston. She wrote her graduate thesis on teachers at a low income school and since they were all so inspiring, she decided to give teaching a try. She will be teaching high school biology at Alief Hastings High School this fall.
Alyce Shields graduated from the CIA—Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California with a certificate in baking and pastry. For the next few months she will be a pastry chef at The Model Bakery in St. Helena.
Denise von der Osten graduated from the University of St. Thomas on Saturday, May 20, with the degree Bachelor of Liberal Arts in International Relations with a Minor in French.
Jody Winston graduated in May from Luther Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. He has been assigned to the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod and is waiting his first call.
Allison Johnson received her Bachelor of Science in Teaching from the University of Houston. She hopes to teach in the Houston area this fall.