In this edition:

 
Mike Jasper ’91   Jesse Henderson

  
Heidi Bulow Parsont ’90
   Alex Restrepo ’12

  
Dr. Ramón García ’77  


Click here to read Alumni Spotlights.


Mike Jasper ’91, MAT’96
Associate Director of Facilities and Manager of Lands and Grounds


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

Student experience: political science and education major; linebacker, football team captain, 1991; Richard Mangano Award for team scholar-athlete; Delta Upsilon

Responsibilities: A lot of people think we’re just catching a suntan on a lawnmower, but there’s a little bit more to it than that! We take care of the grounds, snowplowing, athletic facilities, event setups like commencement, reunion, and bands who’ve come here over the years, like Run DMC (I’m dating myself now!).

Path back to Colgate: For three years, I had a sales job in the family products division of Playtex Corp. Then I did some teaching and coaching in the area, and worked on campus while going for my master’s. I became the athletic facilities coordinator in 1995. I got to know everything about the grounds and golf course (I was the superintendent for a year), and earned various certificates and licenses. I’ve been in my current job since 2002.

On tending one of the nation’s prettiest campuses: We want the campus to blend into the surroundings; we don’t want to get gaudy. We take a lot of ownership and pride in that.

On being the swan handler: The swans garner a lot of attention. We constantly get phone calls with concerns for the swans, but as long as they have open water, they are happy.

Most challenging task: Dealing with Mother Nature and trying to make Colgate life work around her. It makes me and the guys I work with feel good when staff members tell us on a snowy day, “Jeez, I drove here today and the best roads were on campus.”

Odd jobs: Digging for burials in the cemetery is one of the more unusual things we do.

How being a former football player caring for the stadium plays out: Our proudest moment was having the playoff games here in 2003. We didn’t have artificial turf then, so we were under a lot of pressure. Just before the Western Illinois game, 10 inches of snow fell. Guys brought in their personal four-wheelers, and we were plowing the lines during timeouts. I asked the ref if we could paint lines in red at the goal and sidelines. When Colgate drove for the winning score, the ref said, “Thank God you guys painted those lines red, or I’m not sure I could have seen if it was a touchdown!”

Pastimes: I’m the varsity football coach at Sherburne-Earlville. I do a lot of hunting and fishing. If you live in this area, you kind of have to get into it. I train my dogs to do bird hunting.

Must-haves if stranded on a desert island: A knife, for sure. I never go without. With two kids (daughter Courtney starts at St. John Fisher College this fall, and son Austin will be in 9th grade), I’ve gotten to be a cell phone/texting junkie. And I’d just as soon have something comfortable to drink that’s going to take the edge off. Plus, you could use it to start a fire.

— Rebecca Costello


Jesse Henderson
Visual Resources Curator


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

How she got here: Before joining the Art and Art History department, I did my master’s in library and information studies at McGill University in Montreal. I directed my assignments toward image collections, so I really focused on hoping to land this exact job, even though I didn’t know it was available.

The mission: The main charge of the visual resources library is making analog and digital images available for faculty. We’re transitioning this analog collection to digital based on what the professors are using. They basically curate the collection; they come in, bring books, and say, “I want these images for my lectures; I need them so I can project them, show them, and talk about them.” We’re up to almost 12,000 in the four years that I’ve been here, but we’re dealing with a 90,000-image slide collection.

Favorite medium and color: I’m a painter at heart — I love oil painting. Any opportunity I have to discover new painters while handling the collection is great for me. And my favorite color is red. Definitely red.

Crowd shocker: I always surprise people when I tell them that I was the homecoming queen of my high school, because it’s such a stereotype. I try to tell them to shock them, and then they’re like, “No!” Other than that, I’m pretty much an open book.

Working on the Shapes for Hamilton Project: I built a fairly simple database in Filemaker Pro and ended up cataloguing all of the shapes into the database. Once we got the lists of people, I integrated them and randomly matched them up with a shape. In the gallery, once you made contact through the database and found yourself, you saw your shape and started thinking about what it looked like compared to all the others. It brought a new perspective to the project that none of us were expecting. I just made the tool, and then it turned into something wonderful that helped streamline all this information.

World traveler: The second year I lived in Montreal was heavenly. I lived in a very artsy neighborhood called “the Plateau,” and that was really the first serious metropolitan living experience I’d had. With access to the cafés and all the art, the pace of life was really fun.

Guilty pleasure: Frozen pizza. A good, cheap, frozen pizza.

She’s crafty: I made a quilt by hand. Some great local Hamilton ladies taught me how. My most recent crafty endeavor was with Emily Oren (assistant curator) and her husband. We made these handmade, painted little dice that say “you” on two sides, “us” on two sides, and “me” on two sides. They’re marriage dice, so people can use them to settle their disputes.

She plays banjo, too – is she the next Béla Fleck? No way. In four years, I’m still playing the same 12 small ditties, so I doubt it. But it’s fun, and I’m hoping to expand my knowledge more over the summer. My husband plays guitar really well, so at some point, I have to learn a little bit from him.

— Avi Israel '10


Heidi Bulow Parsont ’90


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

– Alumni Council member since 2009; Scene class editor, class secretary, 12 years; class gift committee, 20 years; reunion chair, 1995
– VP, Business Development, McKinley Marketing Partners
– MBA, International Business, Georgetown University

What is it about your job that gets you up in the morning?
I really like helping people, and my job allows me to do that — I place individuals looking for a job with people looking for talent. We work with some smaller companies, but our clients are mostly Fortune 1000, such as Verizon, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Discovery. I also really like building relationships with them.

Do you have a favorite question you ask candidates?
What past job gave you a runner’s high? There’s no right or wrong answer; what it tells me is the type of environment they work best in and why. It gets at the crux of who we are.

How would the people who know you best describe you?
I think they would say I’m a good listener. That I’m very much a type A. Headstrong (which sometimes gets me into trouble!). I’m also a very family oriented person. As hard as it is to be a working mom, I spend as much time with my family as I can.

So tell us about your family. Do you have a favorite pastime?
My husband Marc stays home with our kids. Brandon turned 3 in April and Lindsay just turned 2. Every Saturday morning that we’re home, we go to the local farmer’s market. It’s fun to spend time having them look at the different fruits and vegetables. They get chocolate milk, and mommy and daddy get a hot drink with plenty of caffeine.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?
I sang “Never Knew Love Like This Before” in my eighth-grade talent show — to the laughter of every parent in the audience, I’m sure!

Name a Colgate person who made an impact on you.
It was actually a group — my friends in Alpha Chi Omega. The spirit and the friendships that developed, the fun that we had, has given me good memories of school.

Tell us about your Alumni Council experience.
I’m excited about the career services side of it because it is such a good match with what I do for a living. I’ve made the commitment to do Maroon Advantage events a couple times a year, in different places; so far, in D.C. and at Reunion College. Trying to help people find jobs, especially in this economy, is near and dear to my heart.

From your class editor years, do names run through your head in boldface?
Yes! Last night in the Reunion tents, I could still say to people, “This is what you were doing; what are you doing now?” and they were like, “Good memory!”

— Rebecca Costello


Alex Restrepo ’12


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

Alex Restrepo ’12 said he has never been on a “real boat” before, other than ferries and rides at Disneyland near his hometown of Fullerton, Calif. But he’s already set his sights on joining Colgate’s sailing club next year. With this “try anything” attitude, Restrepo leads by example for other students, particularly underclassmen whom he mentors through his various roles on campus. Restrepo is a residential adviser at Andrews Hall, acting president of Brothers, ALANA ambassador, Student Government Association senator, and Latin American Student Organization treasurer.
    “I came to Colgate because I wanted to do something completely different — to make my college experience what I want to make of it,” he said. “I encourage a lot of first-years that if they want to do something, just do it. If it doesn’t work out, at least you tried, and hopefully you learned something along the way.”
    Among Restrepo’s many involvements on campus, he is a liaison for Vision, composed of campus identity group leaders, who meet to talk about their plans and new opportunities for collaboration. “The goal is to have bigger and better events and bring together different pockets of campus,” he explained.
    Over the past year, Restrepo has also been working with the multicultural committee in the admission office, giving prospective students his take on Colgate and what the university has to offer. “There are a lot of opportunities here to expand and grow as a person,” he said. “I always tell them, ‘Whether you decide to come to Colgate or not, this is the time in your life when you want to do everything you can so that when you look back, you have no regrets.’”
    Restrepo serves as a mentor not only for Colgate students, but also for high school seniors in Columbus, Ohio, whom he helps through the nonprofit organization HighRise. Founded by his older brother in conjunction with Nationwide Insurance, HighRise aids underprivileged students with the college search, application, and financial aid process. “It’s amazing to hear what these kids have gone through and to know that they still do so well in school despite all the adversity that they face,” Restrepo said. One of the students he worked with had been accepted to Colgate and at press time was seriously considering attending next year.
    Restrepo is volunteering with HighRise again this summer while also interning for a second year at Nationwide. Now a history major and economics minor, Restrepo changed from majoring in English after spending last summer as a finance intern with the insurance company. Although he had no background in economics, the company gave him a two-week trial internship, and Restrepo’s hard work convinced them to keep him on for the remainder of the season. “It was a great experience, and so much of it changed my path,” he said.
    After Colgate, Restrepo hopes to spend a few years in finance and then return to his original plan of becoming a high school history teacher. “After taking The American School as my FSEM with Professor [Barbara] Regenspan, I realized the best teachers I had in high school were the ones who went into education later in life. So I decided I wanted to do something other than education right after college.”
    His positive high school experience is largely what fuels him to mentor others. “The reason why I was so successful is because I received such good mentorship and, because of that, I want to give back and help people.”

— Aleta Mayne


Dr. Ramón García ’77


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

– Colgate Trustee since 2008; 2009 Diversity Week panelist; class gift agent
– Founding director, Garcia Medical Centers and Chicago Endoscopy Center
– Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago
– M.D., Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena; F.A.C.P.

Tell us about your work. Did you always want to be a doctor? Since I was five — I tell people, I never had to make a decision! I founded the Garcia Medical Centers and the Chicago Endoscopy Center, a gastroenterology procedure facility, 20 years ago. I see patients and employ five other physicians. More than 90 percent of my patients are Spanish speaking. Because of the language barrier and culture, a lot of them wouldn’t be as comfortable elsewhere, so we need to serve them. My wife, Marilyn, and I have been talking about starting a free clinic.

Describe your Colgate experience. I remember kind of being overwhelmed. It was tough. Just a few years before I came to Colgate, my family immigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic. I was pre-med, and barely spoke English. I learned most of my English at Colgate. And I thought it was the most beautiful place on Earth. I was a kid in a candy store the whole time I was here.

Name a key professor who made an impact on you. Elmer Trumbull, who died last year, was my organic chemistry professor, and I just loved that guy. I still remember things he would tell me. He once told me, “Ramón, this is going to be the most intellectually stimulating experience you will have.” And it was so true. My astronomy professor, Tony Aveni, also was a significant role model.

What do you feel you bring to the table as a trustee? Obviously, diversity, both ethnically and professionally, is where I stand out. This year, I am the only Latino, and the only doctor, on the board. With the changing demographics of our country, I’d like to see Latino diversity increase both on the board and on campus. It’s hard, because we are competing for particularly talented Latino students. We have to see these kids as national treasures; they are going to be the leaders of a great chunk of our population. So if Colgate can prepare a lot of these future leaders, it will be great for the school. There’s a lot of work to be done; I like to champion that cause.

What other aspects of the issue of diversity are important to you? We are known for academic excellence, and we should continue that. And, beyond my board role, I’ve been talking to a group of professors about how we can attract, and keep, more minority professors. One of the things that is happening at Colgate is, it’s fairly easy to recruit minority professors, but it’s a different issue to get them to stay. That’s one of the issues that I like working on most.

Tell me about your family. My wife is a social worker. Gabby is my 20-year-old, a communications major at Miami University of Ohio. Then I have Nico, who’s a 12-year-old seventh-grader.

We hear you’re a commercial pilot. I’ve been flying since 1992. I remember flying to my reunion and buzzing the procession on Oak Drive. But 90 percent of the time, I fly around the Chicago area, going to little airports in Wisconsin and eating greasy hamburgers at the airport diners. Particularly in the cloudy wintertime, I like going above the clouds and flying around in the sunshine up there.

— Rebecca Costello