The average regional vice president for KBS Realty Advisors has over 15 years of experience in the financial industry, so when Sterling College Alumnus Rigo Medina ’06 was promoted to a regional vice president position in the company, it was highly unusual both because of his age (he is the youngest VP at KBS) and his limited experience. However, his professors and coaches at Sterling College were not surprised.

More than 40 years later, Dr. Dan Fahrenholtz can tell stories about his time at Sterling College. He can list the professors and fellow students who had profound impact on him, and he can name the SC singing group he toured with in the summers.

And he can tell you that God used Sterling College to lead him into medicine, the field that he excels in today. “I had the idea early on that I wanted to be an MD,” he said, “but I didn’t think I could do it. One of my friends at Sterling, Dan Pauls, was a pre-med major a year ahead of me. I watched him and thought, ‘I can do this.’”

This past spring Sterling College’s Teacher Education Program Chair Dr. Gladys Ritterhouse travelled to Chicago’s West Side. She toured several neighborhoods there, visited a homeless shelter and had lunch in a restaurant serving soul food. These are not traditional tourist spots in Chicago, but Dr. Ritterhouse was not on vacation. She was attending the first-ever Council of Advisors for the Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture, an organization that Sterling College has partnered with for nearly a decade.

It looked like just fun and games on Sunday night as the new Sterling College students passed a ring-shaped candy from one person to the next using only their teeth and a toothpick and then tied their legs together to compete in the “team-legged” race. However, they were actually increasing their chances to have a successful college experience. “Students who are involved and who have friends on campus are more likely to stay in college and earn a degree,” said Assistant Professor of Exercise Science Shawn Reed as he spoke to the students on Saturday. “National statistics say that most of you will not finish college, but that’s not the case at Sterling. We want each and every one of you to succeed.”