Walk-on guard keeps rising to her ambitions, lifting others along the way Abby Abel has always chased big dreams. After participating in a Purdue youth basketball camp at age 9, she decided she was going to play for the Boilermakers one day. She continued attending camps each summer; by her junior year of high school, […]
The slips of paper, naturally, are faded. It’s been nearly 10 years since John Romine (AS A’08) held them in his hands and scribbled what were, essentially, his last requests and stuffed them in a folder. John was dying of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, unable to secure a bone-marrow match in time to save his life, and […]
Telescoping prosthesis enables 10-year-old girl to bow violin It’s atypical to see a piano as part of a grade school orchestra ensemble, but that’s exactly what Zayra Vincent encountered when she visited the Burgin Elementary School music room this spring. There, in the back of the Arlignton, Texas, classroom, a smiling 10-year-old girl plucked […]
When Ammie Hudson-Blahuta (HHS’02) prepared to cut the ribbon at the grand opening of GiGi’s Playhouse Sugar Land with a huge pair of scissors, surrounded by family and friends, she realized that Sugar Land, Texas, was taking a big step forward. For Hudson-Blahuta, a mother of two, the snip signaled a goal accomplished. “When the […]
Kyle Fiechter (S’10) knows it’s easy to make superficial assumptions about others. “So many times we conceive an image of who people are and think there’s a box to put them in,” he says. “But then they surprise us with their thoughts or their backgrounds or their resolve to overcome adversity.” That instinctive feeling to […]
It’s no surprise that Elizabeth Harter (HHS’12) found herself bringing hope and healing to residents of developing nations lacking adequate medical care — her grandparents, aunt, and uncle have spent years as overseas missionaries and imparted a passion for faith, sacrifice, and adventure. “I felt called to serve the forgotten, to take care of people […]
Birds on a wire are a fairly common sight; but for Scott Kramer (HHS’00), they represent a turning point in his life. “I was waiting for a bus, and I saw all these birds congregating together on a power line,” he says. “I noticed one bird off by itself, and I wondered if it would […]
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the earth is currently experiencing a mass extinction of thousands of plant and animal species. If it goes unchecked, 30 to 50 percent of current species could disappear by 2050. Such a loss would devastate the planetary ecosystem. While mass extinctions occurred in prehistoric ages, this one differs […]
The friendship between the Cartwright and Hall families stretches back nearly 25 years, when Mary-Claire Cartwright (HHS’85, MS LA’16) joined the Purdue Research Foundation in 1992. Judy Hall (HHS’79), already employed at the foundation, became a mentor and friend to the new hire. Their husbands, Mark Cartwright (ME’84) and Curt Hall (HHS’92), who served in […]
It took a few years for destiny to find Sally Ann Zoll (LA’72). When it did, she recognized it immediately. In 2003, Zoll’s son, Cory Henry (A’96), a US Army reservist with an 18-month-old son of his own, was called to active duty for the Iraq invasion. It was, she remembers, “just a horrible, crazy […]
