Lauren Schmidt is living proof that a small liberal arts college can earn you a big-time Hollywood career. Although that is not what she planned when she came to Wittenberg, Schmidt has enjoyed an immensely successful career as a television writer and producer. Immediately after graduation, she worked for six years on NBC’s award-winning West Wing, earning a Writers Guild of America nomination in 2003 for an episode she co-wrote and having her first solo episode air in 2004. After writing and co-producing for ABC’s hit show Private Practice, she is now a writer and producer for a new NBC drama, Parenthood, which will debut in spring 2010.

Across the country, in cities and towns large and small, the debate about the state of our nation’s schools and what to do about it rages on.

Screen shot 2009-12-18 at 3.12.07 PMIf Scott and Carol Strawn could relive a time in their lives, they would certainly consider their Wittenberg years. Ardent supporters of their alma mater with their time, talent and treasure, Scott and Carol look back at their college days as providing a foundation not only for their professional success but their personal lives as well.

Bob Wagner ’69, Tom Young ’70, Sarah Newlin ’96, Sarah Jurewicz ’98, Joe Govern ’80 and the late longtime statistician Joe Clayton joined 178 others in Wittenberg’s Athletics Hall of Honor during Homecoming 2009. The six members of the Class of 2009 were inducted at a banquet on Friday, Oct. 23, during Homecoming, and were introduced to Wittenberg’s loyal fans during halftime of the football game against Carnegie Mellon, which the Tigers won 28-7.

Screen shot 2009-12-18 at 3.16.42 PMJust four years after graduating from Wittenberg, Caitlin Coleman already has a reputation among her friends for going out of her way to help others. In fact, they lightheartedly tease her about it sometimes. Like many alumni and students, Coleman is passionate about the well-known Wittenberg motto “Having light we pass it on to others.” From her days in high school volunteering to working at Wittenberg in the Office of Community Service to her job today as a volunteer coordinator at LifeSource Blood Services, the largest blood bank in Illinois, she is a living example of dedication to service.

The legacy of the late Pam Evans Smith ’82 continues through the scholarship founded in her name. In 2009-10, the Pam Evans Smith ’82 Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Danielle Remington ’10 and Stephanie Boardman ’10.

Forty years after earning second-team Lutheran Brotherhood All-America honors as a kicker at Wittenberg, Fred Mitchell ’69 has seen his athletic career come full circle. Currently a successful columnist with the Chicago Tribune and a best-selling author, Mitchell has been honored with the creation of the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award.

Women’s Soccer Head Coach Norm Riker wasn’t sure what the most significant achievement was as he boarded the team bus on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Not only did he guide the Tigers to the program’s first win at North Coast Athletic Conference rival Ohio Wesleyan in more than a decade, but he also reached a personal milestone with the 100th victory of his career.

One of the most successful grassroots fundraising efforts in Wittenberg history recently culminated in an announcement that the Committee to Honor Dave Maurer had raised a total of $672,690 to fund scholarships in the legendary coach’s name. More than 100 donors gave generously to the scholarship fund, which was celebrated on Dave Maurer Day, Nov. 1, 2008, with a banquet in Maurer’s honor.

Wittenberg values education, passion and commitment to community. Helen “Copey” Copenhaver Hanes has spent a lifetime sharing those values in extraordinary measure, so much so that her alma mater recently bestowed on her an Alumni Citation Award for exceptional personal or professional accomplishment that has brought honor to Wittenberg. Her journey to Wittenberg began in Virginia, where her father, The Rev. Eldridge Copenhaver, served as interim president of then-Marion College, a Lutheran women’s junior college, during the Depression. The family lived on campus, and Hanes completed two years there before coming to Wittenberg, where her father had earlier received an honorary doctorate of divinity.