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Last Saturday, we celebrated the 63rd Annual Commencement Exercises for The King’s College. Thirty eight young men and women walked across the stage of Lincoln Center and into the next phase of their lives. Graduations are always fun, but at King’s, graduation means so much more.
A diploma is not the only goal of an education at King’s. No - our mission is only beginning as students become alumni. The discipline of mind and habit formed at King’s produces alumni who are prepared to fulfill the mission of The King’s College wherever they end up serving God. They have learned about the ideas upon which nations rise and fall, they have developed socially and spiritually in the college community, and they grown professionally here in New York City.
The alumni from King’s are a new generation of Christian leaders equipped to join, shape, and lead the strategic institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. Yes, some start in the mailroom – but soon, we will see them in the boardroom.
When students become alumni, life changes. They move from learning ideas in the classroom, in community, and in the city to implementing those ideas in their lives and careers. This is when our mission gets its feet. I always say that our mission comes to fruition in our alumni. Now you know why.
 All my best,
Jamey Nordby
Vice President of Advancement
Please help the Alumni Executive Committee! We are looking for nominees for our annual alumni awards, including the Charles Anderson Award and TKC Alum of the Year.
You can read about all four awards and their criteria here. All nominations must be received by June 15.
We are also looking for nominations for the 2010 Decade Representative. Graduates from 2010 and 2011 are eligible to nominate any graduate from the decade thus far. The position is for two years and will be selected at the Alumni Executive Committee’s August meeting. Please submit your nominations to alumni@tkc.edu.
Homecoming and Parent's Weekend
Save the Date! This year, Homecoming will be held September 30 - October 2. Join with fellow alumni, students, and parents to celebrate all that God is doing at The King’s College! We’re looking forward to a great weekend in New York City with you!
Students Reflect on Vision of The King's College and Service to God During 63rd Annual Commencement Ceremony
The King’s College congratulates the 38 young men and women who graduated on Saturday, May 14. In a beautiful ceremony at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, graduates reminisced on their college years, reflected on the College mission, renewed their desire to serve God, and received their diplomas.
As the Valedictorian of his class, Edward Snyder-Ritter reminded his fellow graduates that when they first started at King’s, they joined a college community “that promised to crush us with the very first College Writing assignment…a college that told us that we could and should lead a world hostile to our faith.”
All the preparation, all the difficulty, all the struggling, he said, served to prepare the graduates for a vibrant and successful life beyond college. With this richness, however, comes much responsibility. “For everyone to whom much is given,” he quoted from the Gospel of Luke, “from him, much will be required.”
“We have attempted to ‘know the good’ and now we must do it,” Snyder-Ritter said. “We have come far in knowledge, now we must go further in action. We must make sure that these were not ‘the best years of our lives,’ but the preparation for lives ever richer.”
Selected by a vote of his peers to represent the class, John Hundscheid similarly addressed the graduates and the audience on the value of education. He discussed the distinction of a King’s education.
“We’re trying to participate in the Great Tradition,” he said. “We want to talk about the defining questions. If you think most colleges and universities are interested in that, I suggest taking a stroll through a major university’s course catalog. You can take Fat Studies at Colombia or get a Master’s degree in Vampire Studies at the University of Washington.”
The value in participating in this centuries-long conversation, he said, is that it sees an education as an end in itself. The classical conception of such a liberal education was the cultivation of the soul.
“The fruits of a liberal education—prudence and discernment, justice and charity—are abundant,” Hundscheid said. “But to harvest these fruits, you must care for the tree. You cannot merely attend to the fruit. You must nurture the soul.”
The graduates and their gathered family and friends also heard from President Dinesh D’Souza, who spoke to the new alumni as the leaders of the future. He exhorted them to consider what they would do with the rest of their lives by exploring what it means to be followers of Jesus in the world and discerning the ways we can emulate him in the 21st Century.
D’Souza asked the graduates, “How can we be effective Christians in a secular society? How can we as Christians perform, transform, and affect our culture?”
The answer, he said, is partially revealed in the mission statement of The King’s College. True societal influence requires both a bottom-up and a top-down approach to challenge reigning assumptions and to promote Christian virtues.
The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. Through a focused curriculum and its New York City location, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in the Empire State Building.
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Michele DeKonty Announced as Director of Career Development
The King’s College is pleased to announce Michele DeKonty as the Director of Career Development. DeKonty brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in facilitating professional relationships and employment opportunities.
Career Development at The King’s College offers practical career development tools to students. Career Development also maintains an active professional network that students at The King’s College can draw on as they pursue internships and jobs in and outside of New York City.
DeKonty graduated from Regent University with a degree in Organizational Leadership and Management and has spent over 17 years in Washington, DC. While in Washington, DeKonty worked in a variety of senior level capacities. In 1995, DeKonty worked as a legislative advisor to U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, where she drafted federal legislation related to domestic and international social welfare issues.
In 2003, DeKonty moved on to work as an International Policy Analyst for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Two years later, she would serve as a senior adviser to U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, then-chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. From there, DeKonty went on to serve as Chief of Staff to the Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention within the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, she managed day-to-day operations for the office.
Through her work in Washington, DeKonty developed relationships with important figures in government, media, and business. As Director of Career Development, DeKonty will leverage her experience and relationships for the benefit of students and the college as a whole. DeKonty applied for the new position because of the College’s excellent reputation and because she is passionate about helping Christian leaders shaping strategic national institutions.
Jamey Nordby, Vice President of Institutional Advancement said, “Michele’s enthusiasm for shaping young leaders is infectious. Her professionalism and her experience serve her well. I know that she will quickly take Career Development at The King’s College to a whole new level. I am very excited to have her on board and look forward with great anticipation as she develops Career Development in the coming months and years.”
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King's Students Teach for America
Teach for America is currently one of the most sought-after—and prestigious—opportunities for college graduates with demonstrated leadership abilities. The King’s College is thrilled to announce that three members of the Class of 2011 were selected to the program to teach for two years in public schools across the nation.
After a four month application process, Matthew Rosenbaum, Danielle Perkins, and Abigail Sattler were accepted into the program.
College graduates apply to TFA for a variety of reasons. Some apply to help fight the educational inequity that has overwhelmed parts of the public education system. Rosenbaum became interested in the program after writing a comparative study of the graduation rates in varying educational environments. He recounts one specific finding, that “Norman Thomas [High School], on 33rd and Park, has a 70% graduation rate for white kids, while blacks and Hispanics, who compose over 90% of the school, have a 30-40% graduation rate. That's appalling.”
Danielle Perkins applied for the fellowship to “portray learning as a lifelong passion, not as something to leave behind once you're out of school.”
Other candidates are attracted to the combination of TFA’s mission and the professional opportunities that it boasts. Since its founding in 1990, TFA has developed a large network of business and academic relationships that it offers to graduates of the program. TFA holds professional partnerships with Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, and Credit Suisse, and academic partnerships with top-tier graduate schools like Cornell, Columbia, and Harvard, among others.
As a result, TFA is one of the nation’s most competitive and selective fellowships. In 2010, the New York Times reported that of over 46,000 applicants, just 4,500 were selected to enter the program.
According to the students selected this year, the King’s education uniquely prepared them for the interview process. Rosenbaum said, “I felt comfortable in the interviews in large part because of my King's education, especially my class in business communications.” Perkins felt particularly equipped by the House System at King’s, saying, “The day of the final interview, I felt articulate, confident, and excited, mainly because of the experience I had gained from working in house leadership.”
In the past two years, four of six King’s students who have applied for TFA were accepted into the program. Speaking to the success of King’s applicants, Rosenbaum said, “I think the reason King's has so many people get accepted is because King's emphasizes student leadership. So many people are in leadership in a House, organization, or club, because much of King's revolves around ‘if you want it, start it.’ And that's a pretty special environment that trains the sort of people TFA is looking for.”
The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. With a focused curriculum in the liberal arts tradition, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in the Empire State Building in New York City.
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Bradley Wright Exhorts Empirical Accuracy
As a Christian sociologist and myth-buster, Dr. Bradley Wright wonders, “Is Christianity well-served by inaccuracy?” That is why the myths he targets are not myths about the Christian faith perpetrated by secular society. He targets myths about Christians that Christians themselves perpetuate.
Wright spoke to students at The King’s College on April 29, 2011, as part of the college’s Distinguished Visitors Series.
Wright is a tenured professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. He told students that he did not write much about religion before he achieved tenure, however, because of the tremendous pressure against Evangelicals in academia.
Wright is the author of two books. In Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told, he challenges common statistical assumptions made by popular Christian authors. For example, he challenges the common belief that the divorce rate among Christians and non-Christians is equal. In fact, he said, divorce rates decrease dramatically with higher instances of church attendance. Wright believes the use of inaccurate statistics is dangerous because inaccuracy “makes it difficult for Christians to prioritize problems.” Inaccurate statistics are also discouraging, he said, asking, “Why would you want to give your life to a faith that doesn’t work?”
Wright’s second book, Upside: Surprising Good News about the State of our World, attempts to address the pessimism that many Christians feel toward the future. He believes that Christian gloom toward the future is unfounded and said that although this generation has its problems, “world hunger is decreasing, while at the same time awareness of world hunger is increasing.” Dr. Wright also pointed to higher life expectancy rates as an indicator of life improving.
Wright encourages Christians to think more positively about the future and to refrain from using faulty statistics. His message of hope is a bright light to Christians generally and, in particular, to students at King’s who desire to see their world become a place more in line with God’s plan for the world.
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As always, do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments atalumni@tkc.edu
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