Megan (Stock) Pickell loves a challenge and embraces change. So when a great career opportunity with a company named Baxalta presented itself this summer, she leapt.

Pickell graduated from Lakeland with a double major (business management and marketing) in 2008, then worked as a graduate assistant in Lakeland’s marketing department while earning her master of business administration degree in 2010. Life has been a whirlwind of late. In addition to joining Baxalta, a bio-pharmaceutical company based near Chicago, just two weeks ago, she also recently bought a house in her hometown of Libertyville, Ill., and got married.

“Yes, I’ve been pretty busy,” she says with a chuckle.

Prior to starting her new position as Baxalta’s senior program manager for the business transformation office, Pickell had worked for Motorola for five years and Kraft Foods for about seven months. At Motorola, she worked in the industry-leading public safety and enterprise mobility sectors, known for their radio equipment that connects fire and policemen throughout cities. At Kraft, she learned all about the food giant’s products and pipelines. At both companies, she was in procurement, which meant she helped negotiate contracts, analyze company expenditures and foster partner relationships.

At Baxalta, which earlier this summer split off from parent company Baxter International to focus on the biopharmaceutical side of the medical industry; Pickell deals with the complex logistics of guiding divisions globally through the conversion from Baxter to Baxalta.

“The dynamic of a liberal arts education helped me become adaptable, proactive and dependable, traits that have helped me in my career so far,” she says. “I was exposed to areas completely outside my comfort zone at Lakeland, and that helped shape me into who I am today.”

Pickell was initially drawn to Lakeland by the soccer program, and she immediately loved the business division during her visit. She treasured her Lakeland experience because of the genuine friendships she leaned on during a tragic time. After Pickell’s sophomore year, her older sister committed suicide. Devastated, Pickell couldn’t imagine going back to Lakeland for her junior year.

“I thought I needed to stay with my family, but my professors, my teammates and friends all encouraged me to come back to school,” she says. “I will forever be grateful for that support. My biggest mistake would have been not going back. Lakeland had become a second home, and I had such a solid foundation there. The Lakeland community helped me navigate that extremely difficult time.”

Pickell is now passionately involved in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and helps plan the annual “Chicagoland Out of the Darkness Walk” in an effort to help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide.

As she looks back on her Lakeland experience, she appreciates all it meant to her. Driven and smart, she acknowledges she likely would have thrived at the biggest of universities. But there was something special about Lakeland.

“I still keep in contact with a lot of my soccer teammates, who are some of my best friends,” she says. “I had a great relationship with (Charlotte and Walter Kohler Charitable Trust, Associate Professor of Business Administration and Director of the MBA Program) Scott Niederjohn, who was my advisor, and established many other personal relationships with staff and of course, other peers through classes and organizations.”

When Ryan Condon was named Appleton Police Department Officer of the Year for 2014, he was “a little bit shocked.”

“It is definitely the greatest honor I’ve received in my life,” says the 2008 Lakeland College graduate.

This has been a busy year for Condon, who last week was named school resource officer after previously joining the SWAT Team as a negotiator. He was honored as Officer of the Year in May.

A press release from the APD said, “Officer Ryan Condon consistently goes above and beyond his regular patrol duties and responsibilities. Other officers go to him for assistance on complex investigations due to his excellent investigative skills. Supervisors regularly have asked him to take over sensitive investigations, which he enthusiastically does.”

During the awards banquet, Condon recounted how, as a young boy in Madison, he told his dad he’d like to be a police officer someday – if his first choice, pro athlete, didn’t work out. Condon never became a pro athlete, but his love for sports and law enforcement merged nicely when he chose Lakeland College to play soccer and major in criminal justice with a minor in sociology.

“I really liked the small campus, and though I love Madison, I wanted to experience something different,” Condon says. “My Lakeland experience was the greatest of my life. Most of my best friends today are my soccer teammates at Lakeland.

“I’ve always loved big cities and always considered myself a big-city guy, so it was an adjustment for me. But it was really nice being in a quieter setting and getting to know such a large portion of the student body on such a personal level.”

Condon excelled in the classroom, and a rewarding internship with the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, during which he helped with drug and homicide cases, gave him an edge over most other aspiring police officers even before he graduated from Lakeland.

“My four-year degree and that internship were what separated me from the pack,” he says. “I was actually walking between finals that last semester when (the APD) called and offered me the job.”

Condon’s career goal is to become a full-time detective. His skillful detective work has already been a tremendous asset to the APD, and stood out when it came time for the department to choose its top officer. He helped solve a sensitive sexual assault case that involved a child, obtaining a confession from the suspect, who had met the child online. After another successful arrest, the chief of police received a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Justice/Division of Criminal Investigation. In it, Condon was praised for his assistance during an undercover investigation involving a 25-year-old Appleton man who was engaged in sexually explicit chat communications with a 14-year-old girl.

“There’s extra motivation to catch predators who victimize children,” Condon says. “Children have a hard time protecting themselves, and are particularly innocent. There is a sense of pride to sit across a table and get a confession from these predators and stop them from harming more children.”

Condon realizes that law enforcement personnel have been under intense scrutiny over the past year, but his dedication to protecting and serving his community is unshakable.

“Yes, we’re always in the public eye,” he says. “But we handle that with a lot of pride. For me, it’s an honor and a privilege to wear that badge every day.”

Seven Lakeland College natural sciences division students recently participated in Marquette University’s annual Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium in Milwaukee.

The Lakeland contingent, comprised of students in the Lakeland Undergraduate Research Experience (LURE) Program, created four posters, which were among the 40 total posters on display.

“Our students did a great job,” said Greg Smith, Lakeland College associate professor of biology. “Their posters looked really good. Going in, our students were intimidated by the thought of discussing their research with Marquette faculty and students. They soon realized how much they have learned over the course of the summer. They’ve become experts in their area of research. Seeing that validated by faculty, graduate students and their peers really builds their confidence.”

The Lakeland posters and authors (student and professor) were:

•         “Examining the Demographic Effects of Coal Fly Ash Exposure Routes in Daphnia Magna and Daphnia pulex,” by Madison K. Hull and Paul C. Pickhardt

•         “Population Effects of Coal Fly Ash-Exposed Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Fed to Daphnia magna at Low and High Food Concentrations,” by Brooke L. Wilder-Corrigan and Paul C. Pickhardt

•         “Assessing the Rate of [PSI+] Prion Formation in Mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains,” by Cassandra J. Mueller, Emily K. Thomas and Gregory R. Smith

•         “Neurotransmitter Catabolism by Stem Cell Derived Astrocytes,” by Suzette Rosas and Jered V. McGivern

Also representing Lakeland at the symposium were LURE students Libby DeClark and Brianne Frank, who are working with Brian Frink, professor of chemistry and physics. They will present at a regional chemistry conference later this year.

Making the afternoon in Milwaukee even more special for the Lakeland group was hanging out with several Marquette representatives with strong Lakeland connections. Andrew Karls, who will join Lakeland’s staff this fall as an assistant professor of biology, earned a Ph.D. from the Marquette biological sciences program in 2014 and has been working as a postdoctoral associate there for the past year. He joined the Lakeland group for lunch.

In addition, Lakeland graduates and former LURE students Joshua Hakala ’13 (now in his third year in the Marquette biology Ph.D. program), Ricardo Rosas ’14 (in his first year in the Marquette chemistry Ph.D. program) and Jenna Waite ’09 (in her first year in Marquette’s physician assistant program) interacted with the Lakeland group. Rosas got to see his sister, LURE student Suzette Rosas, present.

Ryan Lawrence didn’t choose Lakeland College thinking he’d someday repair shattered bones and help replace knees and hips. But that’s what he’s doing now, and the 2011 graduate loves it.

Lawrence, 26, is a board certified physician assistant for Aurora Health Care in the Milwaukee area. He assists one primary orthopedic surgeon, but helps others in a pinch. He is the first assistant in surgery at four facilities, which means he’s responsible for many aspects of all operations, including the closure of skin, incisions, suturing and stapling.

“I’m basically the surgeon’s second set of hands,” he says.

Lawrence, who grew up in Sheboygan, Wis., as a self-described “homebody,” liked Lakeland’s proximity to home and its close-knit culture. He played baseball for the Muskies for two years, and worked on the grounds crew for three.

“I really liked the campus and met some great friends,” he says.

Academically, he was interested in orthopedics, so he gravitated toward health-related biology classes in Lakeland’s natural sciences division. One professor brought in a Lakeland grad who was a physician assistant. That guest visit motivated Lawrence to work toward the same career path, which meant gaining admission into a master’s program. He graduated from Lakeland with a degree in biology, then attended The University of Findlay in Ohio, where he completed a 27-month program and graduated in December, 2014.

“The best thing about Lakeland, and it’s something I realized even when I was there, is that with only a handful of students for each professor, you really form great bonds with your professors,” he says. “They take so much time to help you, and they give great references. They definitely helped me get to the next level.”

Wanting to return home to Wisconsin, Lawrence was ecstatic when he received a job offer from Aurora the week before graduating from Findlay.

“My first surgery was a total hip replacement, just a couple of days in, right after orientation,” he recalls. “But I knew exactly what to expect.”

Now, he and the surgeon he works with perform between five and 10 procedures a week, including scheduled operations and after-hours emergency surgeries.

“One night last week, we were in the operating room until after 10:30 taking care of a severe femur fracture,” he says. “Hip and knee replacements are straight forward. The mood is calm and laid-back. But sometimes with these fracture cases, there can be quite a lot of blood when we open it up. That’s when we have to determine what we’re going to do, and everyone’s adrenaline is pumping.”

Lawrence says he’s thankful his Lakeland experience helped guide him to this highly satisfying career, one that allows him to help people almost every day.

“We are fixing patients’ problems instantaneously,” he says. “When we replace a knee or hip, we are, in just a couple of hours, taking away their pain. It’s so rewarding helping patients go from being debilitated to leading active lives.”

Katie Amundsen was a solid writer coming out of high school, but when someone asked her four years later how much she improved at Lakeland College, she chuckled.

“I look at my writing during my first semester at Lakeland, and I just cringe,” the 2015 Lakeland graduate said. “I learned so much at Lakeland from all of the professors and my fellow writing students.”

Now the student is about to become a teacher. Well, actually, she’ll be a student and a teacher. Amundsen is at Wichita State University in Kansas, where for the next three years she will work on her master of fine arts (MFA) in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry while serving as a graduate teaching assistant.

Thanks to her tremendous talent and strong letters of recommendation from Lakeland College Fessler Professor of Creative Writing and Poet in Residence Karl Elder; Meg Albrinck, the college’s vice president for academic affairs, dean of the college and professor of literature and writing; and former associate professor of composition Signe Jorgenson, Amundsen’s tuition will be waived. In addition, she’ll receive a stipend to help cover other expenses.

Elder started what has become a pipeline from Lakeland’s writing program to Wichita State’s when he earned his MFA in creative writing more than four decades ago. Years later, Jodie Liedke, a 2007 Lakeland graduate and current assistant professor of composition at the college, earned her MFA from Wichita State. Amundsen said she’s honored to follow in their footsteps.

“They were both very influential when it came to me applying, and I’m so glad they were,” she said. “Karl told me all about the Wichita State program and helped me pick out my best poems to submit, and Jodie helped me with the application process and told me about the best restaurants in Wichita.”

Amundsen applied to five graduate programs and was accepted by four, two of which offered her funding. She is excited to begin teaching at WSU while continuing to hone her craft.

After graduating from Sheboygan South High School, Amundsen discovered that life doesn’t always follow a straight path. She chose Marquette University, but realized rather quickly it wasn’t for her.

“It just didn’t work, didn’t fit,” she recalled. “The size of the school was overwhelming, and I was homesick. I didn’t really get to know any of the other writing students or professors.”

She transferred to Lakeland, found a home, thrived and graduated with a double major in English and writing.

“I worked so well with all of the professors and all of them had such a profound impact on me,” she says.

Amundsen remembers her adrenaline pumping when she participated in her first introduction to poetry workshop.

“I had never been in an environment like that,” she said. “Just knowing the other students could tear my work apart was scary and exciting at the same time. But everyone was so helpful.”

Katie interned for Stoneboat Literary Journal http://www.stoneboatwi.com/ and dove deep into helping select and edit works from among many submissions. Even after her internship was complete, she continued to serve Stoneboat “for fun” as an associate editor. She also proudly completed her senior project, a collection of poems titled “Funetics,” and this past winter she read her favorite pieces to a wide-eyed group of middle school students in Sheboygan.

Eventually, she’d like to teach creative writing, specifically poetry, at a college or university. “That’s THE dream,” she said. Until then, over the next few years, she’ll strive to follow the examples set by the Lakeland professors who left such a positive impression on her.

“They know everything, and it’s amazing how they pass on that wisdom to their students,” she said. “Obviously I realize they don’t literally know everything, but when you’re a student and you’re looking up to them, you realize just how valuable their knowledge is. The fact that they share that knowledge so freely is awesome.”

Lakeland College senior-to-be Lexie Greenheck is having a blast. Her adrenaline is flowing, her people skills are glowing and she’s relishing her important role in the biggest sporting event in the United States this week.

Greenheck is a paid merchandise operations intern for the PGA of America during the PGA Championship at nearby Haven, Wis. She’s working long hours, but her energy level has kept pace with the importance of this event.

“It’s kind of surreal,” says the business management and international business double major of this special opportunity. “When I first learned I would be working for the PGA, I thought, ‘OK, that’s cool.’ But now that I’m actually here, and it’s exciting talking to vendors and helping customers. Golfers and their families are constantly coming in. Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy might be right outside.”

Greenheck estimates she’ll work more than 100 hours this week, but she’s not complaining. She usually arrives at the 38,000 square foot main merchandise building at 6 a.m., then gets right to work “making sure everything is organized, sizes are laid out correctly and clothing is properly stocked.”

Representatives for major vendors such as Nike, Under Armour, Greg Norman’s apparel division, Cutter & Buck and Ralph Lauren stop by to check out how their merchandise is being displayed. Once the big tent opens at 7 a.m., the customers flow in and out until almost 8 p.m.

Several days before the players and fans arrived, Greenheck helped set up the massive structure, from hanging pictures and signs to laying down carpeting to placing all of the various clothing where it belonged.

“It’s been such a great experience,” she says. “I feel like I am really prepared. Being at Lakeland has helped my communication and people skills and my ability to handle being pulled in five different directions. My business classes really helped me understand how the merchandising side of this event works. And my sports marketing class helped me so much, because through the class, I met some of the people who work for the PGA.”

This is the second internship for Greenheck, who previously worked as a global supply chain employee with the Artisan Cheese Exchange, a Sheboygan-based company that specializes in connecting cheesemakers with global companies.

“I think I definitely have had more opportunities because I decided on a small, private, liberal arts college,” says the Oostburg, Wis., native. “It’s easier to make career connections here because of the people you meet, and I obviously like being part of such a close-knit community.”

Greenheck has blossomed, excelling as a student and building an impressive resume while also playing on the women’s basketball team.

“It’s funny, because before I decided on Lakeland I thought I wanted to go somewhere else,” she says. “My parents went here, and I wanted to be different. But I’m glad I chose Lakeland. It’s really a great fit.”

Poised and confident, the young man in the crisp blue business suit approached the podium and addressed about a dozen members of the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center’s leadership team.

This was a big moment for Lakeland College senior-to-be Michael Esiobu, and he delivered. His 20-minute presentation, titled “Geriatic Improvement Project utilizing ISAR tool and referrals,” was the capstone of his three-month, 20-hours-a-week paid internship with the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center.

Esiobu, who is majoring in business administration with a health care emphasis, pored over 176 cases involving elderly patients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED). His key discovery: patients who were referred to and later completed a referral, such as following up with their primary care physicians after an ED visit, appeared significantly less likely to return to the ED. The acronym “ISAR” stands for “Identification of Seniors at Risk” and represents a screening tool used during an initial evaluation.

“Michael did a great job throughout this internship,” said Lori Knitt, chief nursing officer. “The health care industry has its own vocabulary and structure, and he was a fast learner in terms of rapidly getting up to speed on our language. He was asked to research, collect and compile data and express his discoveries in a way that is easy to understand. Michael delivered in all areas.”

Terry Miller, a 2009 Lakeland graduate who is director of operations for Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, said he was impressed with Esiobu’s skillful interpretation of the data. Among other members of Aurora’s leadership team on hand for Esiobu’s presentation were Dave Graebner, president; Craig Schicker, manager of the emergency department; Lisa Entringer, ED registered nurse case manager; and Stacie Schneider, director of human resources.

Esiobu said the business information systems class he took at Lakeland helped prepare him for this internship, and Lakeland’s culture of communication and inclusion helped him feel comfortable interacting with the many people he met.

During the internship, Esiobu was invited to don scrubs and witness a spinal surgery and a total knee replacement. From scrubs to business suit, Esiobu got a real feel for the inner workings of a top-notch local hospital.

“This internship was a great experience,” he said. “I learned that hospitals have a lot of great people working in the background, and I really appreciate that I was able to meet, interact with and work closely with many of them.”

For two sisters and their two daughters, the desire to help people with mental health issues runs deep and strong.

This is the story of four Lakeland College graduates who are related by blood and connected by a drive to make a difference. Meet Denise Pannebaker and her sister, Rene Domask; Denise’s daughter, Noelle; and Rene’s daughter, Ashley. Three are entrenched in the mental health field. The fourth is about to join them.

“They are all such awesome, dedicated people and such great assets to their communities,” says Phyllis Rieder, associate director of Lakeland’s Fox Cities Center.

Denise and Noelle earned Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) degrees from Lakeland’s Fox Cities Center. Ashley earned her bachelor’s degree on Lakeland’s main campus and began work on her master’s through Lakeland before moving to Arizona and completing her degree through the University of Phoenix. And Rene is closing in on her Lakeland MAC degree.

“It’s a pretty cool story when you think about it,” says Rene. “We kind of followed each other to Lakeland, and Lakeland has been really good for all of us. When we get together, we joke about starting our own private practice someday.”

“I had such a positive experience,” adds Denise. “The diversity of classes I took and the professional instructors at Lakeland really provide a plethora of learning opportunities. They are mostly practicing therapists who work at local hospitals and clinics and bring their experience to Lakeland’s students.”

A former teacher herself, Denise was impressed with the curriculum offered in Lakeland’s MAC program.

“I really got a great education. It’s a very well-constructed program, and it really met the needs of a person like me who already had a career but wanted a new career for a specific reason. Lakeland met that need in a very poignant way.”

For more than two decades, Denise served communities in New Orleans and Wisconsin as a school teacher and administrator. She enjoyed it, but yearned to do more to help young people who were suffering.

“As a teacher and administrator, I saw so many kids and families who were really hurting,” Denise says of her previous career in education. “I could help, but I couldn’t get at the root issues.”

Now, as a certified mental health specialist for Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Denise is putting her Lakeland degree and her passion for helping children to maximum use. Through the United Way-funded PATH program, Denise works directly with students in the schools.

“The level of need in our schools is very significant,” she says. “It’s an amazing experience to work directly with school counselors and administrators and see the kids on site at no cost to their families.”

Noelle, Denise’s daughter, graduated from Lakeland’s MAC program last May and recently accepted a position as live-in resident director for the national “A Better Chance” program. This program brings gifted students from urban environments across the U.S., houses them on the Lawrence University campus and works intensively with them to maximize their potential. She also works for the Appleton Area School District, helping implement an Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) program at a local elementary school.

Ashley, Rene’s daughter, was a four-year volleyball player who graduated from Lakeland with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and art. She is now the residential treatment center director at the La Ventana Treatment Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

And Rene, who works for Staples in a technology sales job, completed her first internship at Theda Clark Medical Center and is about to take on her second internship at the Outagamie County Jail.

“I’m wondering how the career transition will be, but I’m excited about doing something I know I am going to love. Working in mental health has always been a very strong desire of mine.”

Just like it has for her sister, daughter and niece.

Jill Dequaine, talent acquisition manager for Schenck SC, was quite impressed with the poised Lakeland College accounting student she met during an on-campus mock interview session a few years back.

“I told Scott right then, ‘You’re going to be a Schencker one day,’” Dequaine recalls with a laugh. “After our mock interview, I hooked him up with our Manitowoc office for an internship, and obviously he’s done very well.”

Indeed he has. After a promotion last fall, 2012 Lakeland grad Scott Stuckmann is a fast-rising senior accountant whose goal is to become a Schenck shareholder.

Stuckmann is just one of numerous success stories representing the symbiotic relationship between Schenck SC – a Wisconsin CPA and business consulting firm – and Lakeland’s vaunted accounting program. According to Dequaine, about 40 of Schenck SC’s roughly 500 team members around the state are Lakeland College graduates.

Stuckmann’s paid junior-year internship with Schenck went so well, he had a full-time job going into his senior year. He interned there again as a senior, then began his Schenck career the same month he graduated.

“It’s a great relationship,” Dequaine says of the strong pipeline between Lakeland and Schenck. “We are pleased with Lakeland’s accounting program and the curriculum. We are drawing great students.”

Stuckmann grew up on a farm in Newton, Wis., and attending high school at nearby Manitowoc Lincoln. He didn’t think he’d like accounting, but changed his mind, in large part because of longtime faculty icon J. Garland Schilcutt, emeritus professor of business administration.

“The biggest thing that turned me on to accounting was Professor Schilcutt’s accounting principles class,” said Stuckmann. “It was a tough class, very demanding, but also very rewarding.”

Once he discovered his academic path, he soared at Lakeland, excelling in the classroom, working in the registrar’s office, helping run convocations and honing his skills in Lakeland’s Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA, sponsored by Schenck, involves Lakeland accounting students preparing tax returns for lower-income Sheboygan-area citizens.

“That was really great,” Stuckmann recalls. “Learning tax preparation software, communicating with the people we were helping … the whole experience made me feel like I had a leg up on everybody who didn’t have this opportunity.”

During Stuckmann’s junior year, Bob Martin, adjunct instructor of accounting, worked with Lakeland Success Coach Jessica Lambrecht to set up on-campus mock interviews with Dequaine. Stuckmann was a bit intimidated by the idea, but made a great impression.

“Lakeland’s Success Coaches really want to help,” Stuckmann says. “Students should definitely take advantage. When I was there, Jess really helped me get my resume in order. They also provide interviewing tips, mock interview opportunities and speed networking sessions with employers. You can tell they really care a lot about the students and want them to be successful.”

Freshman orientation took place on Monday and Tuesday for the large, enthusiastic Class of 2019. Included in the jam-packed two days were:

•  A panel, moderated by Meg Albrinck, vice president for academic affairs and the dean of the college, and comprised of four faculty members. The professors offered numerous tips on how to succeed in college and answered questions.

•  Presentations by the members of Lakeland’s Student Success and Engagement Team on the college’s many co-curricular, fraternity and sorority, employment and student leadership opportunities.

•  A trip to Sheboygan’s renowned John Michael Kohler Arts Center, where the students participated in a writing workshop with the artists-in-residence, Young Chicago Authors. After the workshop, 10 students read their poems or stories out loud in front of their peers.

• A bean bag championship tournament and an ice cream social, with music played by a DJ, in the 1862 Lounge.

If you’re fortunate enough to call J. Garland Schilcutt a friend, you know he loves being around good people, listening to great music, traveling the world and sipping a well-made Manhattan or two with his dinner.

You also know he intensely dislikes peas, liver and asparagus.

But wait, about that asparagus …

“I was at Field to Fork café in Sheboygan, sitting at the lunch bar, watching this young lady preparing asparagus,” he says. “She cut it up neatly, coated it with olive oil and put it on the grill. She let me taste it. It was crisp, and it wasn’t bad!”

The man lovingly known as “Prof” is 85 now, but the iconic, longtime Lakeland College professor still views the world through that same wide-open mind that brought him here 57 years ago – and convinced him to stay. His initial view of Lakeland was similar to that of asparagus. But it changed.

Prof, who “semi-retired” (his term) after the 2014-15 academic year, will receive the first Professor J. Garland Schilcutt Award on Sept. 26 during the inaugural Big Fish Festival. The award, which recognizes the profound effect Schilcutt has had on the Lakeland community, will be presented annually to a Lakeland graduate who is dedicated to educating, mentoring and positively impacting young people.

One thing about Prof: Effusive praise directed at him is not his favorite thing. Alumni approach him regularly at college events and tell him his guidance was the primary reason for their success. He shaped them, they’ll say. He made them who they are, they’ll gush.

“It’s uncomfortable,” Prof says of such praise. “I wonder, ‘what the heck did I do to deserve this?’ Whatever it was, I would do it for most anybody.” He pauses briefly. “I mean, it’s my job.”

Hello, Lakeland College

It was December, 1958, when the first of more than 50 colleges and universities he had applied for reached out to him for an interview. He’d been working as a short-term substitute teacher in the Chicago Public School System and wanted to put his Indiana University bachelor’s and master’s degrees to better use.

Prof took a train from Chicago to Sheboygan, then a car ride past the fields to a Lakeland College campus more desolate than he could have imagined. It was Christmas break. Nobody was around. He enjoyed thorough interviews with college president Arthur Krueger and the dean, Oscar Hoffman. Given Prof’s background and teaching experience, Hoffman asked Prof if he’d have any problem working with white students. Prof confidently said of course not, shook the dean’s hand and headed back to Chicago.

“I thought, ‘Get me out of this place,’” he recalls, grinning. “I will never hear from anyone from Lakeland and will never see this place again. But within a few days, I got the call …”

He took the job, but only because he figured teaching at Lakeland for one semester would buy him enough time to find something more suitable to his imagination. His initial course load of seven included economics and other business-related courses. That was more than 20 different classes, more than 100 semesters and more than 2,000 students ago.

“If someone had told me I’d still be here 57 years later, I’d have laughed in their face,” he says.

It’s all about the people

The friendships with staff, students and faculty formed quickly, like the add-water instant concrete you buy at your local hardware store. Prof lived in a trailer on campus, and if his lights were on, students were welcome. He wasn’t much older than many of them, and he’d play the organ or pull out a deck of cards for games of Sheepshead or Pinochle.

“We’d have a cup of coffee and on occasion, a beer,” he says. “But of course, mostly they came by to get help with accounting. There was a lot of accounting work done in that trailer.”

Prof figured after that first class graduated, he’d bolt for greener pastures. But then another class found its way into his heart. And another. And another, and another. The carousel never slowed down enough for him to jump off.

“I made many friends, and we all accepted one another,” he says. “They found no difference in me, and I found no difference in them.”

Even as our country struggled during the tumultuous, racially and politically charged 1960s, Prof felt love and comfort at Lakeland. His trips into Sheboygan were without incident, but he did feel stares and recalls one interesting encounter at the Red Owl grocery store.

“I was passing a mother and her little boy in the aisle, and the child yelled, in a loud, shrill voice, ‘Look mommy, a black man,’ ” Prof recalls. “Fortunately there weren’t a lot of people in the store. We passed each other again, and the mother, who was embarrassed, said to her child, who was pointing at me, ‘Yes, he’s a man, just like your father.’”

Friends become family

For the first 10 years or so of Prof’s tenure at Lakeland, he often made the 200-mile drive home to Gary, Ind., during breaks and long weekends. Over time, his parents, sister and other family members passed away. Prof never married or had children. At some point, he realized his family was all around him. Right here.

“Yes, this is home,” he says. “I’ve lived here longer than I have any other place.”

Years ago, around so-called retirement age, he tinkered with moving to Thailand. Maybe a Caribbean island. Or North Carolina. Someplace warmer.

“But Thailand is too damn hot, and besides, why go where you have to introduce yourself all over again,” he says. “I’m content here and I will stay here. Yes, even in the winter.”

Students taught him how to ski and alumni have traveled with him around the world to nearly four dozen countries, from Australia to Venezuela and countless exciting places in between. Next summer, he wants to hit Scandinavia.

“I used to climb any mountain,” he says. “I would scuba dive, and I have a private pilot’s license, land and sea. I still think I can do anything I once did. But I’ve begun to realize that I’m not young anymore. I’m damn near 100.”

Still teaching ‘my baby’

While Prof no longer teaches a full course load, he hangs on lovingly to his Business and Professional Protocol course, in which he has helped shy, unsure students who initially avoid eye contact and offer limp handshakes blossom into models of confidence.

“That class is my baby, my all-time favorite,” he says, “because it’s about life skills. It’s so gratifying for me to see the students grow.”

He’s seen a lot of growth, in ways that are difficult to comprehend. He has taught the grandchildren of students he had taught years earlier. He has taught students who graduated, had glorious careers and retired – while he still chugs along.

Feeling right at home

Prof had a tough summer. A portion of his colon was removed. Because of breathing difficulties, he uses an oxygen tank. “I’m too proud to use it like I should,” he says.

The mind is sharp, the wit is strong and the smile is bright. Asked to reveal what that secretive initial J. stands for, he laughs and says, “No way!”

Sitting in his tidy office, Prof reflects upon how meaningful his time at Lakeland has been. He chuckles when referring to some of his closest alumni as his No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 sons and daughters.

He never left Lakeland and he never will. What once looked like soggy asparagus, when viewed with a fresh approach, is pretty darn good.

“The reason I stayed was not the wonderful location or the wonderful campus,” he says. “It was the wonderful people, my students and colleagues, the people I call friends and family.”

Last May, 43 years after delivering the Lakeland College 1972 commencement address, Prof gave the 2015 commencement address – the 153rd in the college’s history. He calls upon his message that day to sum up the wonderful journey that began with a long train ride and a leap of faith.

“You’ve got to have something to do, something or someone to love and something to look forward to,” he says. “I really believe in that. All these years, I’ve had lots of things to do, plenty of people to love and many things to look forward to. I guess that’s kept me going.”

• You are cordially invited to join other Lakeland College family members and friends as we celebrate Prof during the annual Alumni Award Celebration at the inaugural Big Fish Festival on Sept. 26. We will unveil the first annual J. Garland Schilcutt Award. Register at http://lakeland.edu/bff.

Lakeland College, the only four-year institution in Wisconsin to offer an aviation program, has been granted classification that will streamline students’ paths to commercial pilot licenses.

Federal Aviation Administration Part 141 certification means fewer flight hours will be required, due to the comprehensive professional training curriculum developed by Brandon Molina, Lakeland’s chief flight instructor.

“This is the most respected path for students to become professional pilots,” Molina said. “We are taking this program to the next level.”

Lakeland also continues to offer Part 61 certification, which features fewer classroom hours but requires more flight time. This option is most viable for non-degree-seeking students or non-Lakeland students who want to work through Lakeland toward a private or commercial license.

The Lakeland program features two state-of-the-art Cirrus SR20 aircraft, both of which include advanced aircraft with glass cockpits and Cirrus Aircraft Parachute Systems (CAPS).

“These are the sports cars of aircraft,” Molina said.

Lakeland’s program is alone in the state in offering its aviation degree as a minor. Students are encouraged to major in business, information technology or communications, for example, then add the aviation minor. Molina said employers seeking pilots, prefer this approach because it makes their young pilots more versatile and procedure trained.

Graduates of Lakeland’s program will earn multi- and single-engine commercial ratings, on top of instrument rating. The minor is 31 credit hours, and students will accrue flight time starting with their first AVN flight class.

“Our students’ lab is the sky,” Molina said, noting that 16 of the 31 credit hours required for the minor involve flight time.

Molina instructed 17 students last academic school year. An additional eight students joined the program this fall and Lakeland hired a second full-time instructor, Steve Vaught, assistant chief flight instructor. Vaught taught Lakeland’s high school summer program to five students for college credit.

The emergence and rapid growth of Lakeland’s program – which operates out of the modern Lakeland Aviation Center at the Sheboygan County Airport – comes at a good time for its students. The airline industry at large faces an alarming shortage of pilots in the coming years as large numbers of pilots are near retirement age.

According to published reports, regional airlines are now offering signing bonuses, and Boeing has projected that nearly half-a-million new commercial pilots will be needed over the next two decades.

Ryan Lawrence didn’t choose Lakeland College thinking he’d someday repair shattered bones and help replace knees and hips. But that’s what he’s doing now, and the 2011 graduate loves it.

Lawrence, 26, is a board certified physician assistant for Aurora Health Care in the Milwaukee area. He assists one primary orthopedic surgeon, but helps others in a pinch. He is the first assistant in surgery at four facilities, which means he’s responsible for many aspects of all operations, including the closure of skin, incisions, suturing and stapling.

“I’m basically the surgeon’s second set of hands,” he says.

Lawrence, who grew up in Sheboygan, Wis., as a self-described “homebody,” liked Lakeland’s proximity to home and its close-knit culture. He played baseball for the Muskies for two years, and worked on the grounds crew for three.

“I really liked the campus and met some great friends,” he says.

Academically, he was interested in orthopedics, so he gravitated toward health-related biology classes in Lakeland’s natural sciences division. One professor brought in a Lakeland grad who was a physician assistant. That guest visit motivated Lawrence to work toward the same career path, which meant gaining admission into a master’s program. He graduated from Lakeland with a degree in biology, then attended The University of Findlay in Ohio, where he completed a 27-month program and graduated in December, 2014.

“The best thing about Lakeland, and it’s something I realized even when I was there, is that with only a handful of students for each professor, you really form great bonds with your professors,” he says. “They take so much time to help you, and they give great references. They definitely helped me get to the next level.”

Wanting to return home to Wisconsin, Lawrence was ecstatic when he received a job offer from Aurora the week before graduating from Findlay.

“My first surgery was a total hip replacement, just a couple of days in, right after orientation,” he recalls. “But I knew exactly what to expect.”

Now, he and the surgeon he works with perform between five and 10 procedures a week, including scheduled operations and after-hours emergency surgeries.

“One night last week, we were in the operating room until after 10:30 taking care of a severe femur fracture,” he says. “Hip and knee replacements are straight forward. The mood is calm and laid-back. But sometimes with these fracture cases, there can be quite a lot of blood when we open it up. That’s when we have to determine what we’re going to do, and everyone’s adrenaline is pumping.”

Lawrence says he’s thankful his Lakeland experience helped guide him to this highly satisfying career, one that allows him to help people almost every day.

“We are fixing patients’ problems instantaneously,” he says. “When we replace a knee or hip, we are, in just a couple of hours, taking away their pain. It’s so rewarding helping patients go from being debilitated to leading active lives.”

Katie Amundsen was a solid writer coming out of high school, but when someone asked her four years later how much she improved at Lakeland College, she chuckled.

“I look at my writing during my first semester at Lakeland, and I just cringe,” the 2015 Lakeland graduate said. “I learned so much at Lakeland from all of the professors and my fellow writing students.”

Now the student is about to become a teacher. Well, actually, she’ll be a student and a teacher. Amundsen is at Wichita State University in Kansas, where for the next three years she will work on her master of fine arts (MFA) in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry while serving as a graduate teaching assistant.

Thanks to her tremendous talent and strong letters of recommendation from Lakeland College Fessler Professor of Creative Writing and Poet in Residence Karl Elder; Meg Albrinck, the college’s vice president for academic affairs, dean of the college and professor of literature and writing; and former associate professor of composition Signe Jorgenson, Amundsen’s tuition will be waived. In addition, she’ll receive a stipend to help cover other expenses.

Elder started what has become a pipeline from Lakeland’s writing program to Wichita State’s when he earned his MFA in creative writing more than four decades ago. Years later, Jodie Liedke, a 2007 Lakeland graduate and current assistant professor of composition at the college, earned her MFA from Wichita State. Amundsen said she’s honored to follow in their footsteps.

“They were both very influential when it came to me applying, and I’m so glad they were,” she said. “Karl told me all about the Wichita State program and helped me pick out my best poems to submit, and Jodie helped me with the application process and told me about the best restaurants in Wichita.”

Amundsen applied to five graduate programs and was accepted by four, two of which offered her funding. She is excited to begin teaching at WSU while continuing to hone her craft.

After graduating from Sheboygan South High School, Amundsen discovered that life doesn’t always follow a straight path. She chose Marquette University, but realized rather quickly it wasn’t for her.

“It just didn’t work, didn’t fit,” she recalled. “The size of the school was overwhelming, and I was homesick. I didn’t really get to know any of the other writing students or professors.”

She transferred to Lakeland, found a home, thrived and graduated with a double major in English and writing.

“I worked so well with all of the professors and all of them had such a profound impact on me,” she says.

Amundsen remembers her adrenaline pumping when she participated in her first introduction to poetry workshop.

“I had never been in an environment like that,” she said. “Just knowing the other students could tear my work apart was scary and exciting at the same time. But everyone was so helpful.”

Katie interned for Stoneboat Literary Journal http://www.stoneboatwi.com/ and dove deep into helping select and edit works from among many submissions. Even after her internship was complete, she continued to serve Stoneboat “for fun” as an associate editor. She also proudly completed her senior project, a collection of poems titled “Funetics,” and this past winter she read her favorite pieces to a wide-eyed group of middle school students in Sheboygan.

Eventually, she’d like to teach creative writing, specifically poetry, at a college or university. “That’s THE dream,” she said. Until then, over the next few years, she’ll strive to follow the examples set by the Lakeland professors who left such a positive impression on her.

“They know everything, and it’s amazing how they pass on that wisdom to their students,” she said. “Obviously I realize they don’t literally know everything, but when you’re a student and you’re looking up to them, you realize just how valuable their knowledge is. The fact that they share that knowledge so freely is awesome.”

Lakeland College senior-to-be Lexie Greenheck is having a blast. Her adrenaline is flowing, her people skills are glowing and she’s relishing her important role in the biggest sporting event in the United States this week.

Greenheck is a paid merchandise operations intern for the PGA of America during the PGA Championship at nearby Haven, Wis. She’s working long hours, but her energy level has kept pace with the importance of this event.

“It’s kind of surreal,” says the business management and international business double major of this special opportunity. “When I first learned I would be working for the PGA, I thought, ‘OK, that’s cool.’ But now that I’m actually here, and it’s exciting talking to vendors and helping customers. Golfers and their families are constantly coming in. Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy might be right outside.”

Greenheck estimates she’ll work more than 100 hours this week, but she’s not complaining. She usually arrives at the 38,000 square foot main merchandise building at 6 a.m., then gets right to work “making sure everything is organized, sizes are laid out correctly and clothing is properly stocked.”

Representatives for major vendors such as Nike, Under Armour, Greg Norman’s apparel division, Cutter & Buck and Ralph Lauren stop by to check out how their merchandise is being displayed. Once the big tent opens at 7 a.m., the customers flow in and out until almost 8 p.m.

Several days before the players and fans arrived, Greenheck helped set up the massive structure, from hanging pictures and signs to laying down carpeting to placing all of the various clothing where it belonged.

“It’s been such a great experience,” she says. “I feel like I am really prepared. Being at Lakeland has helped my communication and people skills and my ability to handle being pulled in five different directions. My business classes really helped me understand how the merchandising side of this event works. And my sports marketing class helped me so much, because through the class, I met some of the people who work for the PGA.”

This is the second internship for Greenheck, who previously worked as a global supply chain employee with the Artisan Cheese Exchange, a Sheboygan-based company that specializes in connecting cheesemakers with global companies.

“I think I definitely have had more opportunities because I decided on a small, private, liberal arts college,” says the Oostburg, Wis., native. “It’s easier to make career connections here because of the people you meet, and I obviously like being part of such a close-knit community.”

Greenheck has blossomed, excelling as a student and building an impressive resume while also playing on the women’s basketball team.

“It’s funny, because before I decided on Lakeland I thought I wanted to go somewhere else,” she says. “My parents went here, and I wanted to be different. But I’m glad I chose Lakeland. It’s really a great fit.”

Poised and confident, the young man in the crisp blue business suit approached the podium and addressed about a dozen members of the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center’s leadership team.

This was a big moment for Lakeland College senior-to-be Michael Esiobu, and he delivered. His 20-minute presentation, titled “Geriatic Improvement Project utilizing ISAR tool and referrals,” was the capstone of his three-month, 20-hours-a-week paid internship with the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center.

Esiobu, who is majoring in business administration with a health care emphasis, pored over 176 cases involving elderly patients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED). His key discovery: patients who were referred to and later completed a referral, such as following up with their primary care physicians after an ED visit, appeared significantly less likely to return to the ED. The acronym “ISAR” stands for “Identification of Seniors at Risk” and represents a screening tool used during an initial evaluation.

“Michael did a great job throughout this internship,” said Lori Knitt, chief nursing officer. “The health care industry has its own vocabulary and structure, and he was a fast learner in terms of rapidly getting up to speed on our language. He was asked to research, collect and compile data and express his discoveries in a way that is easy to understand. Michael delivered in all areas.”

Terry Miller, a 2009 Lakeland graduate who is director of operations for Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, said he was impressed with Esiobu’s skillful interpretation of the data. Among other members of Aurora’s leadership team on hand for Esiobu’s presentation were Dave Graebner, president; Craig Schicker, manager of the emergency department; Lisa Entringer, ED registered nurse case manager; and Stacie Schneider, director of human resources.

Esiobu said the business information systems class he took at Lakeland helped prepare him for this internship, and Lakeland’s culture of communication and inclusion helped him feel comfortable interacting with the many people he met.

During the internship, Esiobu was invited to don scrubs and witness a spinal surgery and a total knee replacement. From scrubs to business suit, Esiobu got a real feel for the inner workings of a top-notch local hospital.

“This internship was a great experience,” he said. “I learned that hospitals have a lot of great people working in the background, and I really appreciate that I was able to meet, interact with and work closely with many of them.”

For two sisters and their two daughters, the desire to help people with mental health issues runs deep and strong.

This is the story of four Lakeland College graduates who are related by blood and connected by a drive to make a difference. Meet Denise Pannebaker and her sister, Rene Domask; Denise’s daughter, Noelle; and Rene’s daughter, Ashley. Three are entrenched in the mental health field. The fourth is about to join them.

“They are all such awesome, dedicated people and such great assets to their communities,” says Phyllis Rieder, associate director of Lakeland’s Fox Cities Center.

Denise and Noelle earned Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) degrees from Lakeland’s Fox Cities Center. Ashley earned her bachelor’s degree on Lakeland’s main campus and began work on her master’s through Lakeland before moving to Arizona and completing her degree through the University of Phoenix. And Rene is closing in on her Lakeland MAC degree.

“It’s a pretty cool story when you think about it,” says Rene. “We kind of followed each other to Lakeland, and Lakeland has been really good for all of us. When we get together, we joke about starting our own private practice someday.”

“I had such a positive experience,” adds Denise. “The diversity of classes I took and the professional instructors at Lakeland really provide a plethora of learning opportunities. They are mostly practicing therapists who work at local hospitals and clinics and bring their experience to Lakeland’s students.”

A former teacher herself, Denise was impressed with the curriculum offered in Lakeland’s MAC program.

“I really got a great education. It’s a very well-constructed program, and it really met the needs of a person like me who already had a career but wanted a new career for a specific reason. Lakeland met that need in a very poignant way.”

For more than two decades, Denise served communities in New Orleans and Wisconsin as a school teacher and administrator. She enjoyed it, but yearned to do more to help young people who were suffering.

“As a teacher and administrator, I saw so many kids and families who were really hurting,” Denise says of her previous career in education. “I could help, but I couldn’t get at the root issues.”

Now, as a certified mental health specialist for Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Denise is putting her Lakeland degree and her passion for helping children to maximum use. Through the United Way-funded PATH program, Denise works directly with students in the schools.

“The level of need in our schools is very significant,” she says. “It’s an amazing experience to work directly with school counselors and administrators and see the kids on site at no cost to their families.”

Noelle, Denise’s daughter, graduated from Lakeland’s MAC program last May and recently accepted a position as live-in resident director for the national “A Better Chance” program. This program brings gifted students from urban environments across the U.S., houses them on the Lawrence University campus and works intensively with them to maximize their potential. She also works for the Appleton Area School District, helping implement an Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) program at a local elementary school.

Ashley, Rene’s daughter, was a four-year volleyball player who graduated from Lakeland with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and art. She is now the residential treatment center director at the La Ventana Treatment Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

And Rene, who works for Staples in a technology sales job, completed her first internship at Theda Clark Medical Center and is about to take on her second internship at the Outagamie County Jail.

“I’m wondering how the career transition will be, but I’m excited about doing something I know I am going to love. Working in mental health has always been a very strong desire of mine.”

Just like it has for her sister, daughter and niece.

Jill Dequaine, talent acquisition manager for Schenck SC, was quite impressed with the poised Lakeland College accounting student she met during an on-campus mock interview session a few years back.

“I told Scott right then, ‘You’re going to be a Schencker one day,’” Dequaine recalls with a laugh. “After our mock interview, I hooked him up with our Manitowoc office for an internship, and obviously he’s done very well.”

Indeed he has. After a promotion last fall, 2012 Lakeland grad Scott Stuckmann is a fast-rising senior accountant whose goal is to become a Schenck shareholder.

Stuckmann is just one of numerous success stories representing the symbiotic relationship between Schenck SC – a Wisconsin CPA and business consulting firm – and Lakeland’s vaunted accounting program. According to Dequaine, about 40 of Schenck SC’s roughly 500 team members around the state are Lakeland College graduates.

Stuckmann’s paid junior-year internship with Schenck went so well, he had a full-time job going into his senior year. He interned there again as a senior, then began his Schenck career the same month he graduated.

“It’s a great relationship,” Dequaine says of the strong pipeline between Lakeland and Schenck. “We are pleased with Lakeland’s accounting program and the curriculum. We are drawing great students.”

Stuckmann grew up on a farm in Newton, Wis., and attending high school at nearby Manitowoc Lincoln. He didn’t think he’d like accounting, but changed his mind, in large part because of longtime faculty icon J. Garland Schilcutt, emeritus professor of business administration.

“The biggest thing that turned me on to accounting was Professor Schilcutt’s accounting principles class,” said Stuckmann. “It was a tough class, very demanding, but also very rewarding.”

Once he discovered his academic path, he soared at Lakeland, excelling in the classroom, working in the registrar’s office, helping run convocations and honing his skills in Lakeland’s Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA, sponsored by Schenck, involves Lakeland accounting students preparing tax returns for lower-income Sheboygan-area citizens.

“That was really great,” Stuckmann recalls. “Learning tax preparation software, communicating with the people we were helping … the whole experience made me feel like I had a leg up on everybody who didn’t have this opportunity.”

During Stuckmann’s junior year, Bob Martin, adjunct instructor of accounting, worked with Lakeland Success Coach Jessica Lambrecht to set up on-campus mock interviews with Dequaine. Stuckmann was a bit intimidated by the idea, but made a great impression.

“Lakeland’s Success Coaches really want to help,” Stuckmann says. “Students should definitely take advantage. When I was there, Jess really helped me get my resume in order. They also provide interviewing tips, mock interview opportunities and speed networking sessions with employers. You can tell they really care a lot about the students and want them to be successful.”

Freshman orientation took place on Monday and Tuesday for the large, enthusiastic Class of 2019. Included in the jam-packed two days were:

•  A panel, moderated by Meg Albrinck, vice president for academic affairs and the dean of the college, and comprised of four faculty members. The professors offered numerous tips on how to succeed in college and answered questions.

•  Presentations by the members of Lakeland’s Student Success and Engagement Team on the college’s many co-curricular, fraternity and sorority, employment and student leadership opportunities.

•  A trip to Sheboygan’s renowned John Michael Kohler Arts Center, where the students participated in a writing workshop with the artists-in-residence, Young Chicago Authors. After the workshop, 10 students read their poems or stories out loud in front of their peers.

• A bean bag championship tournament and an ice cream social, with music played by a DJ, in the 1862 Lounge.

If you’re fortunate enough to call J. Garland Schilcutt a friend, you know he loves being around good people, listening to great music, traveling the world and sipping a well-made Manhattan or two with his dinner.

You also know he intensely dislikes peas, liver and asparagus.

But wait, about that asparagus …

“I was at Field to Fork café in Sheboygan, sitting at the lunch bar, watching this young lady preparing asparagus,” he says. “She cut it up neatly, coated it with olive oil and put it on the grill. She let me taste it. It was crisp, and it wasn’t bad!”

The man lovingly known as “Prof” is 85 now, but the iconic, longtime Lakeland College professor still views the world through that same wide-open mind that brought him here 57 years ago – and convinced him to stay. His initial view of Lakeland was similar to that of asparagus. But it changed.

Prof, who “semi-retired” (his term) after the 2014-15 academic year, will receive the first Professor J. Garland Schilcutt Award on Sept. 26 during the inaugural Big Fish Festival. The award, which recognizes the profound effect Schilcutt has had on the Lakeland community, will be presented annually to a Lakeland graduate who is dedicated to educating, mentoring and positively impacting young people.

One thing about Prof: Effusive praise directed at him is not his favorite thing. Alumni approach him regularly at college events and tell him his guidance was the primary reason for their success. He shaped them, they’ll say. He made them who they are, they’ll gush.

“It’s uncomfortable,” Prof says of such praise. “I wonder, ‘what the heck did I do to deserve this?’ Whatever it was, I would do it for most anybody.” He pauses briefly. “I mean, it’s my job.”

Hello, Lakeland College

It was December, 1958, when the first of more than 50 colleges and universities he had applied for reached out to him for an interview. He’d been working as a short-term substitute teacher in the Chicago Public School System and wanted to put his Indiana University bachelor’s and master’s degrees to better use.

Prof took a train from Chicago to Sheboygan, then a car ride past the fields to a Lakeland College campus more desolate than he could have imagined. It was Christmas break. Nobody was around. He enjoyed thorough interviews with college president Arthur Krueger and the dean, Oscar Hoffman. Given Prof’s background and teaching experience, Hoffman asked Prof if he’d have any problem working with white students. Prof confidently said of course not, shook the dean’s hand and headed back to Chicago.

“I thought, ‘Get me out of this place,’” he recalls, grinning. “I will never hear from anyone from Lakeland and will never see this place again. But within a few days, I got the call …”

He took the job, but only because he figured teaching at Lakeland for one semester would buy him enough time to find something more suitable to his imagination. His initial course load of seven included economics and other business-related courses. That was more than 20 different classes, more than 100 semesters and more than 2,000 students ago.

“If someone had told me I’d still be here 57 years later, I’d have laughed in their face,” he says.

It’s all about the people

The friendships with staff, students and faculty formed quickly, like the add-water instant concrete you buy at your local hardware store. Prof lived in a trailer on campus, and if his lights were on, students were welcome. He wasn’t much older than many of them, and he’d play the organ or pull out a deck of cards for games of Sheepshead or Pinochle.

“We’d have a cup of coffee and on occasion, a beer,” he says. “But of course, mostly they came by to get help with accounting. There was a lot of accounting work done in that trailer.”

Prof figured after that first class graduated, he’d bolt for greener pastures. But then another class found its way into his heart. And another. And another, and another. The carousel never slowed down enough for him to jump off.

“I made many friends, and we all accepted one another,” he says. “They found no difference in me, and I found no difference in them.”

Even as our country struggled during the tumultuous, racially and politically charged 1960s, Prof felt love and comfort at Lakeland. His trips into Sheboygan were without incident, but he did feel stares and recalls one interesting encounter at the Red Owl grocery store.

“I was passing a mother and her little boy in the aisle, and the child yelled, in a loud, shrill voice, ‘Look mommy, a black man,’ ” Prof recalls. “Fortunately there weren’t a lot of people in the store. We passed each other again, and the mother, who was embarrassed, said to her child, who was pointing at me, ‘Yes, he’s a man, just like your father.’”

Friends become family

For the first 10 years or so of Prof’s tenure at Lakeland, he often made the 200-mile drive home to Gary, Ind., during breaks and long weekends. Over time, his parents, sister and other family members passed away. Prof never married or had children. At some point, he realized his family was all around him. Right here.

“Yes, this is home,” he says. “I’ve lived here longer than I have any other place.”

Years ago, around so-called retirement age, he tinkered with moving to Thailand. Maybe a Caribbean island. Or North Carolina. Someplace warmer.

“But Thailand is too damn hot, and besides, why go where you have to introduce yourself all over again,” he says. “I’m content here and I will stay here. Yes, even in the winter.”

Students taught him how to ski and alumni have traveled with him around the world to nearly four dozen countries, from Australia to Venezuela and countless exciting places in between. Next summer, he wants to hit Scandinavia.

“I used to climb any mountain,” he says. “I would scuba dive, and I have a private pilot’s license, land and sea. I still think I can do anything I once did. But I’ve begun to realize that I’m not young anymore. I’m damn near 100.”

Still teaching ‘my baby’

While Prof no longer teaches a full course load, he hangs on lovingly to his Business and Professional Protocol course, in which he has helped shy, unsure students who initially avoid eye contact and offer limp handshakes blossom into models of confidence.

“That class is my baby, my all-time favorite,” he says, “because it’s about life skills. It’s so gratifying for me to see the students grow.”

He’s seen a lot of growth, in ways that are difficult to comprehend. He has taught the grandchildren of students he had taught years earlier. He has taught students who graduated, had glorious careers and retired – while he still chugs along.

Feeling right at home

Prof had a tough summer. A portion of his colon was removed. Because of breathing difficulties, he uses an oxygen tank. “I’m too proud to use it like I should,” he says.

The mind is sharp, the wit is strong and the smile is bright. Asked to reveal what that secretive initial J. stands for, he laughs and says, “No way!”

Sitting in his tidy office, Prof reflects upon how meaningful his time at Lakeland has been. He chuckles when referring to some of his closest alumni as his No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 sons and daughters.

He never left Lakeland and he never will. What once looked like soggy asparagus, when viewed with a fresh approach, is pretty darn good.

“The reason I stayed was not the wonderful location or the wonderful campus,” he says. “It was the wonderful people, my students and colleagues, the people I call friends and family.”

Last May, 43 years after delivering the Lakeland College 1972 commencement address, Prof gave the 2015 commencement address – the 153rd in the college’s history. He calls upon his message that day to sum up the wonderful journey that began with a long train ride and a leap of faith.

“You’ve got to have something to do, something or someone to love and something to look forward to,” he says. “I really believe in that. All these years, I’ve had lots of things to do, plenty of people to love and many things to look forward to. I guess that’s kept me going.”

• You are cordially invited to join other Lakeland College family members and friends as we celebrate Prof during the annual Alumni Award Celebration at the inaugural Big Fish Festival on Sept. 26. We will unveil the first annual J. Garland Schilcutt Award. Register at http://lakeland.edu/bff.