A Friends University Alumni Publication
Michelle Baker 1981
Why did you choose Friends University?
I was a sophomore at Wichita’s South High School, where Andre Thomas (‘73) was student teaching. He made such an impression on me, that I began voice lessons the next year with Vivian Fleming and piano lessons with Guy Johnson as a high school student. I was engaged to Kerry Baker (‘91), who was studying music education, and a French Horn major, at Bethany College, Lindsborg. We decided he would transfer to Friends when I graduated from South High School in ‘75 and we started that fall together, getting married on November 15 of my first semester. I never looked at another college to attend. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, but they were supportive of my decision to attend Friends, get married, and be the first in my family to graduate from college.
Who influenced you the most during your time at Friends?
Dr. Riney made the biggest impact on both Kerry and me. Our life decisions even after Friends were impacted by his advice and help. Of course, Vivian and Guy were great encouragers and teachers to me personally.
Share your best college memory while at Friends.
Some of my fondest memories at Friends included the Singing Quaker Symphony of Spring for five years, getting to enjoy Bill & Nancy Grahams’ home to watch the videos after, home concert tours every year, January term musicals & operettas, the H.M.S. Pinafore, and a special NATS competition in 1978. Kerry and I had fun visiting the “secret” museum on the top floor of Davis building once with Steve Dillon. It was a treasure to see all the history of Friends University hidden away. The relationships started at Friends are some of my most cherished friendships to this day. The Singing Quaker Alumni Choir, started by Dr. Riney, has allowed me to maintain those special relationships for the last 25 years.
What advice do you have for current students who want to make the most out of their experience at Friends?
I advise them to remain true to each other and their faith and encourage them to take seriously our new motto; FAITH, FRIENDS, FUTURE.
Describe Friends University in three words.
Friends, faith and future.
First FAITH in GOD, which brings everything we are challenged to learn to help us discover who we are and how we are to serve others in HIS Name.
Second, FRIENDS, a place where we feel safe to learn the specifics of our calling and build those close friendships to walk through life with us.
Last, but not least, FUTURE, that we are prepared to use what we have learned to benefit those we are called to serve and encourage others to join the wonderful community of Friends University.
How did your education at Friends prepare you for your career?
Friends University prepared me for more than I imagined. I immediately started teaching music in Wichita Public Schools after graduation. Soon, Kerry and I decided I would stay home with the five children we had in nine years, four daughters and one son, who died. It was then we felt educating our own children at home would be best for our family. I also taught many private voice and piano students, sang, played piano in churches where Kerry and I served and was privileged to be a Trustee on LifeWay Board of Trustees for 8 years. I have sung in the Wichita Symphony Orchestra Chorus since 1979.
We were able to see all our daughters attend college, with three following us as Friends University graduates. Rachel Baker-Hutson (‘05) is a physician assistant with Via-Christi Emergency Rooms, Elizabeth Baker (‘08/‘10) has both her undergraduate and master’s in management information systems, working for Curo, and Jessica Baker (‘13) business management/music business, living in Austin, Texas, as a luthier and production manager for live shows. Our oldest daughter, Jacelyn Baker is a private piano and voice teacher in the Maize area. As they were all out of high school and successfully finishing college, I decided to return to teaching music with WPS, now in my 12th year, and completed my Master of Music Education from Wichita State University 2010. Since Kerry’s death in 2013, I firmly believe that without my excellent education from Friends, I would not have been equipped to find joy serving God through music, teach my own children and my students nor help any of them find joy in the music they make.
Kent Brown 1982
Why did you choose Friends University?
I chose Friends because I wanted to be at a school that shared the teachings of Jesus.
Who influenced you most during your time at Friends?
I was influenced by many great teachers and staff members but I think the greatest influence came from so many class members, a great group of talented, faithful, and caring people.
Share your best college memory while at Friends.
My best memories are from the Singing Quaker Spring Break trips to Chicago, Texas, Colo., Fla. and the top for me was the international trip to Europe. There were too many fond memories to list, but singing together in some of the most beautiful churches and places in the world is a time I will not forget.
What advice do you have for current students who want to make the most out of their experience at Friends?
I would encourage current students to jump in with both feet and become involved in an extra-curricular area that is of interest to them. Real everyday life comes on quickly after graduation and it is so easy to say “I wish I would have tried that in college” …whatever that may be… Opera, Musicals, a Quartet, Golf, Preaching, Football…. Try it!
Describe Friends University in three words.
Life-long friendships.
What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I have been blessed to have experienced several different careers. My wife Amy and I owned and operated a business on West Maple for 16 years called Brown’s Botanicals. Then I became a licensed Funeral Director in the State of Kansas. Since an early age (during college), I felt a call to serve God in a ministry setting and worked in several lay leadership roles until 2009 when I was blessed to be asked to serve the United Methodist Church as a Pastor. I have been appointed to two different congregations, currently serving as the Pastor of the Furley United Methodist Church, located on the corner of 101st St. North and Greenwich Road. My greatest accomplishment is to work with and be in ministry with many people who are so very talented in what they do and share Christ in it all.
How did your education at Friends prepare you for your career?
Life gets very busy and sometimes difficult, but my education at Friends has helped me understand that we do not have to walk this life journey alone. I believe in Divine appointments in our everyday lives. God speaks, draws and guides at just the right moment. My time at Friends University gave me a great group of people to do life with.
Michael Shockley 1986/2001
Why did you choose Friends University?
There were a multiple of reasons to attend Friends University. Part of the decision was to honor my Grandfather, Mike Schoonover, who attended Friends in the 1920’s. I was looking for a college where I could study business and participate in vocal music, which Friends had two fantastic choir directors in Dr. David Weber and Dr. Cecil Riney. I don’t think I understood at the time, but I had so many false narratives about my faith that I have full confidence that I was being led to be at Friends.
Who influenced you most during your time at Friends?
During my undergraduate years, I was influenced by Jerry Highfill, Kim Gara, Richard Foster, Vernon Hinshaw, Howard Macy, Pat Allen, David Weber and Steve Porter. I’m still learning about my faith and am blessed by Dr. James Bryan Smith.
Share your best college memory a while at Friends.
In early 1982, I had what I thought was a great idea to throw my date into a snow bank. As I was carrying her out of the fine arts building on the stairs that used to be on the south side, I slipped on the ice and landed on the cement steps. I had missed a week’s worth of classes when my phone rang. One of my business professors, Jerry Highfill, was checking on me. When he learned I was having back issues, he told me to wait by the phone. Thirty minutes later he called back, told me he was on the way to pick me up and took me to his doctor in Winfield. I was diagnosed with a vertebra compression fracture. During our return trip to Wichita he verified that I was living alone. Once we arrived to my house he instructed me to get what I needed for a couple of weeks and invited me to stay with he and his wife. I don’t recall that Susie Highfill knew in advance until I walked in with him. Oh, and that date? June Storck took pity on me and figured out she needed to watch after me to keep me from doing any additional hair-brained ideas and married me. The memory of the fractured back isn’t the best memory, but the genuine caring I received by the Highfill’s and June’s love and support over the last 37 years can’t be surpassed.
What advice do you have for current students who want to make the most out of their experience at Friends?
I would advise students to get involved in an extracurricular activity on campus as soon as you can. I would also say to take advantage of the liberal arts and enroll in a class you think you’d find interesting, not one you think is an easy “A”. If you take that advice, do it early in either you Freshman or Sophomore year as you might find what you thought was going to be your major just changed.
Describe Friends University in three words.
Just three words! Faith, relationships and Integrity
What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I’m going to switch this up just a little and say that my professional career allows me the freedom to volunteer on non-profit boards. After my time on the Board of Trustees at Friends, I became active in the United Methodist Annual Conference.
That actually happened because of Dr. Jim Smith inviting then Bishop Scott Jones to Faith and Learning. I snuck in the back of the auditorium and listened while I was on the Board of Trustees and was inspired by Bishop Jones’ message to the student body.
I’m currently the chair of the Great Plains Annual Conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits, Chair of the Board for EmberHope Youthville, serving at risk children, and the Vice Chair of the Board for the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund which is a grant maker in health. Each of the service opportunities built on the next. Friends University introduced me to the endowment model, which was essential in addressing budget challenges for the conference coming out of the financial crisis in 2012. I joined the Health Ministry Fund to chair its Investment Committee and was introduced to justice motivated change. I then used concepts from all of those as the EmberHope Youthville board addressed technical challenges facing Kansas Foster Care.
How did your education at Friends prepare you for your career?
I am a private investor and stock trader, so it’s not just the accounting and investing classes that helped, although they were crucial. I believe the critical thinking skills that were developed thoughout my undergraduate and graduate years at Friends were even more important. I have to make decisions with incomplete data. I hadn’t thought about it, but that’s true for the non-profit board as well. In the case of the budget challenge in 2011, everyone was thinking of using reserves to provide emergency funding or not using them and having a budget crisis. Maintaining the reserves for potential unfunded pension liabilities or abdicating our fiduciary responsibility. I was able to show how we could maintain the corpus for pension reserves and create a sustainable spending policy against that corpus to provide budget support. Most of the time the solution isn’t screaming “here I am,” but it can be in front of you if you approach it with an open mind.