Sterling College

Gordon Kling and Diane DeFranco-Kling, both senior professors of Theatre Arts, were named honorary alumni by the Sterling College Alumni Council for their combined 77 years of service to the College.

During Gordon Kling’s forty years at Sterling, he has not only taught classes and directed plays and musicals—over fifty of them!—but has also been involved with the renovation of Spencer Hall, the building of Mabee Library, and the founding of the Sterling Scots Heritage Society. He acts as a consultant for both the Faculty Council and the Faculty Welfare Committee. 

Diane DeFranco-Kling has been involved with the directing, choreography and costuming of many theatre productions during her thirty-seven years at SC. She has also served on the Faculty Welfare Committee for the last thirteen years.
The Klings have spent their entire married lives and raised their four children in the Sterling College community. Diane DeFranco-Kling shared, “Gordon came here after being chosen at a Speech Conference in Chicago by the then-current head of the SC Speech and Drama Department. Gordon was asked to be the Theatre specialist. We were married the next year. I moved to Sterling and taught at the high school for two years before being asked to join the faculty at SC.”

In October, Honorary Alumni Status was presented to the Klings during the Homecoming alumni banquet. After being introduced by former theatre major Greg McGlynn, class of ’87 and current President of the Alumni Council, their awards were presented by David Earle, class of ‘88 and the College’s Director of Alumni. The Klings were given framed certificates with the words “Certificate of Honorary Alumnus (or Alumna) Status” before a crowd of more than 100 Sterling College alumni and friends.

The Sterling College Theatre Program will be presenting The Screwtape Letters...

at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22, in Culbertson Auditorium on the Sterling College campus. 

The play is the Theatre Arts senior project of Jean Bosch, a senior from Wichita, Kansas, and Nate Prior, a senior from Norco, California. Bosch directs the show and Prior plays the part of the demon Screwtape in this production of British actor/playwright Nigel Forde’s adaptation of the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
 
Forde's adaptation follows a senior demon named Screwtape as he instructs his pupils Wormwood and Slubgob on the best methods of turning their "Patient," an ordinary man living in war-time England, toward the "Father Below" (Satan) and away from "the Enemy" (God).

Bosch had very specific reasons for choosing this particular stage version of Lewis’ famous book. “A couple years ago I saw a production of Forde's adaptation. I was impressed by the rich characterization and witty dialogue, but, more importantly, I was affected at a deeper level than I had experienced with any other piece of theatre. I was naturally quite eager to bring this powerful message to the Sterling community.”

Tickets will be available at the door the nights of the performances. Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for students, children, and seniors. Contact the Sterling College Theatre Department at (620) 278-4265.

 The Sterling College Board of Trustees announces that Dr. Paul J. Maurer has accepted the presidency of Sterling College. Dr. Maurer will become Sterling’s eleventh president February 2, 2009.

“Dr. Maurer brings tremendous passion, energy, and compassion to Sterling College’s presidency. His commitment to Sterling’s mission will accelerate our unprecedented growth that began with Dr. Douglas’s appointment in 2005,” Chairman of the Board Tony Thompson said.

Dr. Maurer brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Sterling College, having led Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL, as its Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement and President of Trinity International Foundation for the past six years. As a member of the president’s executive team, he helped shape strategic planning, policy, and operational decisions for the University. Gift income grew, including the most successful capital campaign in Trinity’s history. Maurer also serves on the Advisory Board of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding.

Prior to Maurer’s work at Trinity, he was on staff at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA, where he directed a successful $57M capital campaign. During his tenure at Westmont, Maurer was involved in the early formation of Westmont’s Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts.

 “It’s an honor to be chosen to serve as President of Sterling College,” says Maurer. “I believe the primary role of a Christian liberal arts education is to develop students’ maturity of intellect, character, interpersonal relationships and Christian faith. Christian education has the unique opportunity and responsibility to develop the whole person. A comprehensive education is not only a better education for the individual student, but serves the Church and broader society.”
 
Maurer received his Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University, where he was named an H.B. Earhart Fellow. Dr. Maurer also earned his Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1989, and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cincinnati in 1983. He has published in Presidential Studies Quarterly and contributed to a volume entitled The Moral Authority of the Government. Maurer is currently working on a book on the religious rhetoric of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Maurer and his family are members of Christ Church Lake Forest in Lake Forest, IL, a non-denominational church. Maurer’s wife, Joellen, serves as Director of Spiritual Growth at the church. Dr. Maurer has been active in teaching and in the formation of the small groups ministry.

Maurer and his wife Joellen have four children, Jon (17), Elizabeth (16), Daniel (13) and Sarah (8).

Four members of the Sterling College women’s soccer team gained all-conference recognition following the 2008 season.

Sophomore forward Kylie Yates led the way being named to the KCAC First Team after scoring fourteen goals and dishing out two assists during the 2008 campaign. Yates was a second team performer last season. 

“Kylie has continued to become a real scoring threat for us the past two years,” said Sterling College Head Coach Justin Morris. 

   Senior Elisabeth Gafford and junior Kate Good earned Second Team All-KCAC honors and sophomore Joanne Williams was named to the Honorable Mention Team to round-out SC’s postseason honors.

Gafford anchored the Sterling defense during the 2008 season. This is Gafford’s second year in a row to be named the all conference second team. She was named the Honorable Mention list her sophomore season.

    Good who earned 2nd All-KCAC honors played in the midfield for the Lady Warriors and scored 3 goals and tallied 3 assists on the season. 

    Williams along with Good appeared for the first time in her career on the honorable mention team as a defender. Williams tallied one goal the season while playing in the back for the Lady Warriors.
 
“We are very excited to have all these ladies recognized by the KCAC,” said Morris. “All four players have been very instrumental in our program and our success over the past few years.”

1st Team All KCAC
Kylie Yates – Sophomore – Forward – Berthoud, Colorado

2nd Team All-KCAC
Elisabeth Gafford – Senior – Defender- Crowley, Texas
Kate Good – Junior – Midfield – Lincoln, California

Honorable Mention All-KCAC
Joanne Williams – Sophomore – Defender – Plano, Texas.

This Thursday, November 13, at 7:00 pm, “A Night of Drums,” a percussion recital, will “play loud” at Sterling College in upper Wilson Hall. The recital will feature performances by the Sterling College Percussion Ensemble, directed by Matt Esau; the Temporal Mechanics Union from Cowley College in Arkansas City, directed by Chris Mayer; and Jared McGuire, a senior at Sterling College. The recital is free and open to the public. McGuire describes this recital as “a combined concert featuring traditional rhythms, improvisational percussion, original compositions and percussion theatre.”  The recital is McGuire’s senior project. He says, “Ginger Zyskowski—owner/operator of Professional Drum School in Hutch, former adjunct percussion instructor for Sterling, and all-around nice lady—thought it would be fun to have a senior percussion recital. She asked me to do it, but I'm not a major. She said that it would be fine, I just had to clear it with the music department.  So, I did that.” The two groups are combining on the piece "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," arrangement by Chris Mayer. McGuire will be playing a solo, “For the Sake of Noise,” and also combining with Mayer on "The Deeper Meaning of Things," composed by Todd Harper. The combined groups will also perform two traditional pieces, one an African piece, "Mandinka," the other a samba, "Batacuda Dos Tigres." Jared McGuire, of Arkansas City, Kansas, is the son of James and Janie McGuire.  He is majoring in English and secondary education and hopes to teach English at an area high school. Jared sang in Concert Choir and in the Sterling College Highland Singers his junior year. He has also been in Percussion Ensemble and Drumline.

The Sterling College women's soccer team ended their season Friday night on a penalty kick shootout with McPherson College. Sterling who escaped McPherson one week earlier with a 1-0 victory in Sterling knew it was was going to be a "dog fight".

As it was in the first game McPherson and Sterling both showed up ready to play and battled it out through nintey minutes to end in a 1-1 tie and then two scoreless 10 minute overtime periods. 

In the first half, sophomore Kylie Yates put Sterling up 1-0 in the 37th minute of the game, as she broke past the McPherson goalkeeper and put the ball into the open net. Sterling held the lead going into the half.

In the second half, McPherson cranked up the offensive pressure as they put eleven shots at SC keeper Katie Clark.   In the 64th minute McPherson's Jessica Stahr found Alyssa Baldi in front of the Sterling goal a pounded the ball into the lower right corner for the tying score 1-1. Neither team could any finish any opportunities throughout the rest of regulation. 

In the first overtime Yates almost pulled the game winner out as she found Mac's keeper thirty yards out from her goal but her shot was barley deflected by the diving keeper. Then in the second overtime Elaine Fontes broke free inside the eighteen but her shot sailed wide of the goal. So then we were onto penalty kicks.

Sterling's first shot was saved by the Mac keeper, the second one was scored, the third one was saved and the fourth one missed the post by inches. McPherson scored 3 of there 4 shots. 

"This was a tremendous game to be a part of" said Head Coach Justin Morris. "I am very proud of our team today they competed from the very first minute of the match till the last one.We unfortunately just couldn't convert on the penalty kicks. I couldn't have ask for a better effort. McPherson is a very talented team and I felt we stepped up and gave them a battle".

Sterling ends the season at 7-9-2 and qualifed for the KCAC playoffs for the fifth year in a row. Sterling will graduate five seniors this season. 

Photo courtesy of Grayson Graves

"These games are the reason we coach," remarked Head Coach Andy Lambert in a post game interview.  "This was just great back and forth battle and the kind of excitement you hope to have in college football."

Excitement it was.  Knowing going in that St. Mary would air it out and the Warriors would grind on the ground made the match-up all the more appealing.  There was no argument that both Quarterbacks on the field Saturday were the keys to the game; Sterling's Tyler Degenhardt with his feet, and St.Mary's Daniel Robles with his arm.  Both would have big days. 

The Spires would draw first blood as a crucial 4th down mishap at the end of the 4th quarter would give the Spires great field position.  A bad snap in the punt formation forcing a kneel down woud give the Spires the ball 22 yards away from paydirt in which they would capitilize 3 plays later on Robles to Derick Shulte 15 yard completion. 

The Warriors would quickly answer with a 50 yard drive early in the 2nd quarter capped off by a Degenhardt to Rashard Colquitt TD reception.  The two prize fighter like teams would them trade some blows as the Spires with a big 53 yard pass completion from Robles to his favorite target on the day, Glen Wallin, would set up another Robles passing TD, again finding Wallin in the end zone.

The Warriors would answer right back with two big runs from Degenhart and Colquitt, Colquitt's 29 yarder finding the goal line.  After the failed two-point conversion, the score would be 13-12.  Robles of St. Mary would quickly find Tai Murray two consecutive times in the air to give St. Mary an 18-13 lead at halftime.

The Warriors would strike on their first possession of the 2nd half with a Carlos De Los Reyes TD reception from Degenhardt.  The Robles show took no break as he would guide St. Mary on a 71 yard drive the subsequent possession and cap it off with an 8 yard scramble for a touchdown.  After a quick Warrior series and punt, it seemed as though Robles and the Spires could bury an early dagger in the Warriors as they drove to the Sterling 15 yard line.  With going up 2 scores seemingly assured, the reliable Robles overthrew a TD intended pass finding Warrior corner Brent Schnieder who would return it 88 yards the other direction, setting up another De Los Reyes TD reception with Degenhardt; possibly one of the biggest momentum swings of the game at that point. 

Robles would then throw two consecutive interceptions, one to Brock Frank, and a second to Austin Kingsbury; both resulting in Warrior touchdowns by Tyler Degenhardt.  Depending on which Daniel Robles would come back out to the field after the set back would foretell how the remainder of the game would go.  The first half Robles would be back as he would master two impressive drives, the first 58 and the second, and an incredible 83 yard drive; which would require a 2 point conversion attempt to tie the game at 41.  With yet another pass to Willie Harris, the comeback was solidified with the score tied 41-41 with just under two minutes to go.

The two minute offense would prove effective for the Warriors, however, as Degenhardt would lead the Warrior down to the 10 yard line with under a minute to go and a great opportunity to win the game.  On a 2nd down, defensivemen John Annino for the Spires would make the biggest sack of the day, snagging Degenhardt for a 10 yard loss.  After a 5 yard penalty on the next play, the Warriors were forced to go for a much longer field goal try then they had planned, 41 yards against a stiff wind. With the kick short, overtime was underway.

The Spires would have first posession, resulting in a quick TD strike from Robles to Tai Murray with the extra point threw the score would be 48-41.  

On the first play for the Warriors, Degenhardt would find Clay McEachern in the end zone for a 25 yard score.  Just as quick as the emotions skyrocketed, they fell to the ground as the extra point would find the hands Defensive lineman Chris Joly of the Spires blocking the tying attempt, ending the game, the final 47-48.

As billed, the quarterbacks would lead the way with Tyler Degenhardt for the Warriors responsible for 6 touchdowns (4 passing, 2 rushing); and Daniel Robles for St. Mary putting up a stunning 450 yards passing with 7 touchdowns (5 passing, 2 rushing), easily the MVP of the game for St. Mary.

The Warriors with the loss would fall out of a second place tie with Ottawa, their opponent for next week's season finale.  National tournament implications will still be on the line next week as the 7-1 Ottawa has an outside chance of getting an at large as the 2nd place finisher, with Friends likely to run the table.  Sterling will have the opportunity to play the spoiler, as Ottawa is no doubt wishing they could play any other team in the league than a Warrior team with as much desire and courage and welcome of what could be a thriller season finisher.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 at Smisor Stadium.

 Robert Krause, a junior at Sterling College, and Jamie Gustus and Edward Streckfus, both sophomores at Sterling College, have been selected to receive UPS Scholarships.  Krause is the son of Melinda Krause of Windom, Kansas. Gustus is the daughter of Amanda Butts and Dallas Gustus of Lyons, Kansas.  Streckfus is the son of Ed and Sandra Streckfus of Lakin, Kansas.
 Krause, Gustus, and Streckfus are three of 639 UPS Scholars at private colleges and universities across the nation.  These Scholarships are funded annually by the UPS Educational Endowment Fund, which was established by the United Parcel Service (UPS) at the Foundation for Independent Higher Education (FIHE) in Washington, DC.  FIHE administers the program in cooperation with its partner, the Kansas Independent College Fund.
 This year, the UPS Educational Endowment Fund distributed nearly $1.8 million for its scholarship program, bringing the cumulative total amount of scholarships awarded to over $41 million.  An additional $430,000 in competitive grants will be distributed to private colleges and universities this year to improve education services for students and encourage collaboration among colleges.
 In announcing the UPS Scholarships, Lisa Hamilton, President of The UPS Foundation said, “For nearly 50 years, the UPS Foundation has been honored to support education through partnerships with such organizations as FIHE and the Kansas Independent College Fund.  The availability of quality, affordable higher education at places like Sterling College is critical to establishing a talented, more diverse workforce.”
 Sterling College is a four-year, Christ-centered, liberal arts college located in Sterling, Kansas, with a mission “to develop creative and thoughtful leaders who understand a maturing Christian faith.” 

The Sterling College women's soccer team finished the regular season up Saturday with a win at Friends University 2-1 over the Falcons.

Sterling jumped out on one of the better defensive teams in the conference in the second minute of the game when Joanne Williams found the back of the net. Sterling held a 1-0 lead going into half-time. In the second half, Friends evened things up when Allyssa Cox found the net and tied the game 1-1 with 21 minutes left in the game. Senior Elaine Fontes almost put the game winner away one minute later when the FU goalkeeper mis-hit a ball that dribbled right to Fontes' foot but her shot went wide. Finally in the 77th minute Kylie Yates scored her sixth game winner of the season away as Sterling escaped with a 2-1 win and qualified for the the upcoming KCAC Tournament. 

Sterling will be the #6 seed and play against #3 McPherson on Friday at 6:30pm tentatively at McPherson College. The Warriors played McPherson last Wednesday and won 1-0 in Sterling. If the Lady Warriors win they will advance to play #2 Ottawa University on Nov. 14th at 2:30pm. The KCAC semifinals and championship are being hosted by Ottawa University.

Sophomore Kylie Yates has been named the KCAC "Offensive Soccer Player of the Week" for her performance last week against McPherson and Friends University.

Yates, a 5'5, forward, from Berthoud, Colorado scored both game winners for Sterling in the last twelve minutes of each game. By winning both games Sterling will advance to play McPherson College in the quarterfinals of the KCAC Tournament Friday night in McPherson.  Game time is set for 6:30pm

Kylie really came through when we needed her to" said Head Coach Justin Morris. "She has done a nice job creating legit goal scoring opportunities for this season."

Yates leads the Lady Warriors with 13 goals on the season and six game winners.