Alumni Spotlights (Season 2 Finale) | Monte & Cassie

This episode is all about YOU! You’ll hear a recap of Season 2, many alumni spotlights, and a preview of Season 3. Hear how God is at work through UNW grads in your community and around the world. From music and law to ministry and biology, UNW alumni are living out their callings and using the unique gifts God has given them to make an impact in today’s world. With alumni in 67 countries, it’s clear that their influence reaches far beyond campus. 

Explore more from featured alumni:

Read Joshua Underbakke’s “It is Written”: Click here

Read Doug Huffman's “The Story of Jesus Continues: A Survey of the Acts of the Apostles”: Click here 

Read Doug Huffman’s “God’s Goodness for the Chosen”: Click here

Learn more about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Dave Omdall: Click here

Explore alumni-owned businesses: Click here

🎧 Subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen.

💬 Know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of UNW doing amazing things out in the world? Let us know at alumni@unwsp.edu. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Join as we highlight the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern. This is the Unwavering Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hey everybody, this is Monty and Cassie. And welcome to another episode of the Unwavering Podcast. Actually, welcome to the season two finale. This is going to be a blast.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

It sure is.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Let's go. This is going to be a fun episode. Um, and here's the plan. We're gonna start by recapping season two just a little bit, and then we have a bunch of alumni spotlights to share with you, and then hopefully we'll finish it off with a preview of what's to come in season number three.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

That's right. Before we dive into some alumni spotlights, Monty, did you have any favorite guests or moments during season two?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Oh man, season two is so much fun. I'm thinking back to some of our guests. Wayne Peterson from the tractor to the airwaves, I think President Hornbeek with Amplify the Gospel. We had Jason Sharp in here. Um we had an awesome list. How about you?

SPEAKER_04 1:20

We really did. Um, looking back, I really really love talking to Heidi Anderson. She's such a joy. So, I mean, even if you just got to sit down, it felt like we were sitting down just to having a chat, but uh with a purpose. So she's a delight to listen to and hope we get to have her back sometime.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, do you feel like if you had to pick a favorite moment from season two, you could come up with one?

SPEAKER_04 1:40

Yeah, again, talking to Heidi. Um, but I also really appreciated hearing from Laura Watkins about her research about uh phones and uh how that impacts our relationships and communication? That was fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Your screen time has gone down multiple hours per day. So many hours.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

I remet my kids, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Oh, that's great. Yep. Speaking of kids, remember when we had those students on? Um they're not kids, they're young men and women. But having Eliana and Joel on here was a highlight from season two, hearing their hearts and their experience. What's something that's gonna stick with you, do you feel like, as you look back at season two?

SPEAKER_04 2:16

Yeah, I think similarly to season one, hearing the passion that people have in the roles that God has given them, whether it's here at Northwestern or out in the community and world, he's gifted us in unique ways. And so I think the ways that we all get to use those, it's amazing to hear about and just how excited everybody is. When you you're you're using your God-given gifts, there's like this passion that comes naturally, and that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

It's it is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Yeah, how about you? What is what sticks with you?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Uh, our very first guest from season two, Peter Reed. We brought him in. Um, he works with Torchbearer International or Torchbearers International. Uh I ended up actually taking quotes from that episode, and I have two pages of quotes from Peter Reed.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Um, it changed my life. Like some of the quotes, uh, you know, he shared God is the only author that's with us every time we read his book.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Right?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Like that was really, really good. And and therefore he's also our teacher as we read it. He also talked about the transforming power of Christ in us, not just a savior who died for us, but a savior that lives in us. Listen all the way back through if you want to. But um, we had some great guests and uh we're excited for what's to come in season three as well.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

For sure. So today is all about celebrating you, our alumni. So we have alums that listen to the podcast and we want to share what's going on in the alumni world, and we've gathered some alumni spotlights to share with you uh from um different resources. So we can't wait to dive in.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Yeah, this is gonna be fun. I think we've got 11 alumni spotlights to share, variety of different topics. Most of these alums don't know that we're spotlighting them either. So hopefully these stories are accurate. No, no, we feel very confident that these are these are good updates and spotlights, but it's gonna be a bunch of fun. And uh, we've actually recruited Dave, the alumni guy, to to help us out here, to help us and encourage us and cheer us on along the way as we share these spotlights. So um, Dave, why don't you help us out and kick this off?

SPEAKER_02 4:15

It's another Northwestern Alumni spotlight.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Thanks, Dave. Cassie, can I start with a cute love story for our first spotlight? I'm I was hoping you would. Okay, here it comes. So this is actually an extremely recent grad, as in just graduated this last weekend, like two days ago. His name is Cade Wolf, 26th grad and business admin major. Well, here's the story. So his mom, Jessica Wolf, attended Northwest here in right around 1997. During her freshman year, she was given a room assignment and was assigned with two sophomores, which is not standard practice. Usually that doesn't happen, right? Right. So assigned with two sophomores, one of them was Mary Ellen, now Grossinger, and she graduated in 98. They ended up becoming best friends, the type of best friends that eventually were in each other's weddings, and they eventually were pregnant at the same time. Oh, getting ready to have their first babies. Well, one of those two babies was a boy, uh, Cade, our recent alum. The other was a girl named Janie Ann, who is also here and will be graduating next December. Well, they grew up and in ninth grade, Cade reached out to Janie Ann and said, Hey, uh, and these are his words, hey, you're pretty. Can we talk? Essentially. Smooth. He said there's a there's a little distance, like six hours and not much to risk, so he took the chance. Well, they got along really well. Um, well enough that Cade decided to come to Northwestern because Janie Ann was coming to Northwestern. Um they weren't allowed to start dating until they were college students. Okay. So they immediately started dating and they're getting married this summer.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

No way. Oh my goodness. That's that's every mom's dream to have her besties' uh kid and your kid get together. That's adorable.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

And it happened.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

Wow. Wow. That's amazing. I'm so happy for that. Spotlight number one.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Hit it, Dave. It's another Northwestern Hello Nice spotlight.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

That's fantastic. Well, I have a a spotlight for you. Um, coming in from 2001, Joshua Underbaki, he was a youth ministry major, and in this last year, he get this. He wrote his first book, became a police chaplain, and is in the process of becoming a certified life coach. Also while pastoring a growing church, which is Hope Fellowship in Ramsey.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Oh, super cool. What's the name of the book?

SPEAKER_04 6:41

It is written.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Right, I understand. But what's the name?

SPEAKER_04 6:44

It is written.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Cassie, seriously, how do I find this book?

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Okay. Go to Amazon and search It Is Written.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Oh, it is written. Is the name of the book? Oh, okay. Got it.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Yes, it's a collection of inspiring true stories that reveal how God is always at work. So that sounds amazing. Everyone go get that book.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

That's right. And we'll uh put the link in the show notes as well. Um, Dave? It's another Northwestern spotlight. All right, well, speaking of authoring books, Cassie, I have another spotlight. Perfect. You might know this guy, he's kind of nice. Um, Doug Huffman, 83 grad from uh Bible and ministry major, uh, he wrote a book called The Jesus Story Continues, a survey of the Acts of the Apostles. And that book was actually named a winner in the biblical studies category of the Gospel Coalition's 2025 book awards. Wow, that's incredible. Seems like a must-read. He also co-authored uh another book with fellow UNW alums, Amanda and Dallas Jenkins. And their book is called God's Goodness for the Chosen, the Chosen Bible Study series four. So, way to go, Doug.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

It's another Northwestern Alumni Spotlight.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Well, speaking of Dallas Jenkins, he is a 1998 grad and he just dropped season five of The Chosen called The Last Supper.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

The Cho what's the chosen?

SPEAKER_04 8:03

It's just this little TV show. Fantastic series on the disciples of Jesus. So you have to watch it if you haven't already.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

I have not watched season five.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Well, I don't want to give you any spoilers, but yes, it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I'm gonna watch season five.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

It's another Northwestern Alumni spotlight.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

All right, Cassie, I've got a series of music alumni spotlights to run past you. Uh the first one is Justin Cook, a music major from 2017. He composed the music for the Postman's Daughter, a new musical that was recently performed at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis here in April.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Looks kind of cool, huh?

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Yeah. Love theater.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And the fact that he composed the music, that's awesome. Also, piano performance alumnus Curtis Baum from 19 is starting law school this fall.

SPEAKER_04 8:54

Really? Mm-hmm. Well, do you think he's gonna compose his own walk-up music for the courtroom?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Can you picture that? I mean, do they do that? If you've got the skills to like write music and do law, why not have a walk-up song?

SPEAKER_04 9:06

I think that's what's missing in the courtroom, really.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

That's how it would be on a TV show.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

For sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Um, he's also a piano tuner. So, you know, if you need future legal advice and you're piano tuned, we've got your guy. I've always been looking for that combo. Thank you. Actually, um, shout out to the Eagle Business Directory. Um, if you're looking for an alumni service, you should check it out. We have uh 270 alumni owned or operated businesses in there. So uh go check it out. We gotta make sure um make sure Curtis is in there for his piano tuning business. And then um one more music alumni spotlight. 2025 alumna Elena Karsten, she's a music performance and music education double major, was a Fulbright English teaching assistant this year in type A. And it's continuing for a second year, something that Dr. that um well the professors in education say is an unusual honor.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

I wish I was type A.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

No, Cassie, it's type A. Like T A I P E I.

SPEAKER_04 10:04

Oh, the country.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

What? Uh it's the capital of Taiwan.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Is it? Oh. Well, you can tell I'm not type A.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

That's for sure. All right. Um, well, it's time for our halftime show. We're halfway through the alumni spotlights, and this halftime show is gonna feature alumni tidbits.

SPEAKER_04 10:23

That's wonderful. I thought you were gonna dance.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Do you want me to dance?

SPEAKER_04 10:27

It's not a visual podcast. I can sing.

unknown 10:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

And you can dance.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Let's share some facts instead. So these are some stats that you didn't know you needed, but now you can't live without. That's amazing. Well, and did you know that 16,589 of them live within 50 miles of Northwestern? So that's roughly 50% of our population within 50 miles.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Oh, that's pretty cool. 50% within 50 miles. Well, did you know that alphabetically first on the alumni list by last name is Peter Adol, owned from 09. He's a business admin major, and I'm sure I just butchered his last name.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

Oh, well, I'm gonna butcher this next one. So buckle up. Alphabetic alphabetically last on the list is Jason Zeitov. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Zeitkevitz.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Zeitkovitz from 2010. Shout out, Jason. Let us know how you pronounce your name. Please do. Um, I hope your digital, your art and digital media arts major is really paying off for you.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

All right, one last one. Did you know that Northwestern alums live in 67 countries around the world?

SPEAKER_04 11:42

I did not know that. But basically, what you're saying is we're everywhere. No big deal. Just casually impacting the whole world.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yep. Everywhere. Actually, um, funny story. So, um, and uh I hope I don't digress too far. But life, Aronson, uh 91 grad, so he does a little professional photography work, as in like he doesn't take the photos, but the photos are taken of him.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

Oh, okay. Well, in the biz, Monty, we call that model.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Sure, that makes more sense. So uh life is uh a a model and so he these companies take his photos and they use them on different products. Well, Angel Moyne, who works in our office, her husband, Steve, and her were in Florida on vacation, and Steve is going into the men's bathroom. Um, he goes into the stall and he looks over, and you know what he sees? An advertisement with life's picture on it. Literally, we are everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

We are everywhere. Wow. Well, enough potty talk. Let's get to pod talk. We have four more alumni spotlights for you. So buckle up. Dave Umdahl, classmate of mine, 2007. Shout out, Dave. He was a Bible and biblical studies major and he started a Brazilian jiu-jitsu club. I can't say that. Three times fast, Brazilian jujitsu club in Minneapolis to help kids grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And through this Brazilian jujitsu, Dave aims to create a unique environment where kids can learn discipline and perseverance and how to deal with failure while also experiencing the love and hope of Christ. And if you met Dave, you'll know that class is gonna be amazing. So shout out to him, and we'll have that link on our podcast.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

That's honestly so cool. Um, he sounds like somebody we need to get on to this podcast to hear more about that. Um, Dave, you want to help us with that one?

SPEAKER_02 13:33

It's another Northwestern alumni spotlight.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

All right, I've got one on uh this this is Zach Stelter, a 2010 grad in biology. Um, and he is leading his second mission trip to Kenya this summer. Actually, they're just getting ready to leave here soon. Um, they're heading to a rural village where seven Northwestern students will be accompanied by three other college students, five nurses, and two doctors.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

That's so cool. What did they do on the trip?

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, it's actually really cool. They partner with an orphanage to create a pop-up medical clinic to treat villagers in the region. And get this they expect to treat 100 to 200 patients a day. Wow. It's crazy. And in Kenya, patients usually have to pay up front for their medical services or they don't get treated, which means that unfortunately, many of the people in this region don't have the funds to cover the cost. So this team is a big blessing to the people in Kenya. And they have been blessed by donations from a bunch of people, which allow them to purchase all of the medicine and the supplies so they can provide free care to those patients. Um, also, one of those trip leaders is Randy Stensgard, a 91 UNDEP alum.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

That's so cool. It's another Northwestern alumni spotlight.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Switching gears here to the theater world, we've got Tommy McCarthy from 2019, uh, who studied theater here. Um he used to be a staff member here, so we're super happy for him and his journey as a professional actor.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yep, go Tommy.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

Woo! Um, he is actually at the Chan Hassan Dinner Theater currently in Guys and Dolls playing Rusty Charlie. So we're so happy for him. And um I want to go watch him and have that Chan Hassan chicken.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

I was just gonna say, does he have the recipe to the Chan Hassan chicken?

SPEAKER_04 15:16

Okay, we'll have to ask.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Okay, well, if you did a date night, head on over to the Chan Hassan and uh look for Tommy in the show Guys and Dolls.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

It's another Northwestern spotlight.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

All right, we've got one more, and uh this is arguably the best for last, potentially. We have an alum who literally saved a life. Whoa. Yep. Um, and her name is Annika Dykstra, uh 24 biology and bible grad. She was at Planet Fitness uh when a gentleman, his name was Greg, had a massive heart attack and he actually died for a few minutes. My goodness. But Annika did CPR until the medics arrived and the man survived.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

Oh, this is a happy story. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yes, he survived. Um it's actually crazy. Uh doctors who later did the surgery on Greg couldn't believe that they that he survived. They were astounded because of how accidentally Annika did CPR that he survived. They they said it must have been a doctor who was doing CPR, right? Um, because that was the only way that he was gonna stay alive without any big time damage. Wow. Um, but he survived and he's thriving. And what makes this even cooler is that Greg, the guy who had the heart attack, he's the he's the father of several Northwestern alums, including his sons, Levi Dice from 2012 and Josh Dice, uh, 2013, and now his daughter-in-law, Brittany Dice, who also graduated in 2013. And Levi was actually in my wedding to get our music. So, like there's connections all over the place. Alum saves the life, UNW alum saves the life of a UNW parent. That's a crazy small world. It's crazy. And um, hopefully we can get Annika on here sometime too. But she was saying that she wasn't even planning to go to the gym that day, and she felt like a prompting that she should go. Um, and she decided to say yes. Wow. And go there. Obviously, it's not always gonna turn out like this, but there is a story and a message in this as we're sensitive to the spirit and what he's guiding us to do that. I don't know, maybe he wants you to save a life.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Well, and I'm glad it was Annika getting that prompting because if God had prompted me to go to the gym, I don't know how obedient I would have been. So way to go, Annika. That's cool. That's awesome. So cool.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

It's another Northwestern alumni spotlight.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

All right, those are some amazing spotlights. No fun. And I think really just a snippet of what's going on in the community with our alums. There's so many cool stories we don't even know, but I hope we got a good representation.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Well, that's only 11 of the 32,000 living alumni.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Next time, the rest. So we will have a season three.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, what's next, Cassie? What's happening in season three of the Unwaving podcast?

SPEAKER_04 17:53

So we're gonna have some wonderful guests. We're gonna start near the end of August. So that's the plan. Um, and then we're gonna have 25 episodes, we think, we hope.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Yeah, this season we have 18, I think, episodes. Okay. So we're we're then a level up. That's the desire. 25 episodes next next season, starting right when the school year starts again, kind of sticking with the semester season schedule. Um, and we are bringing an idea that started with you. So if all goes you, Cassie.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Oh, me.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Um, yeah, if all goes according to plan, we're gonna have a couple unwavering podcast series as part of this season as well, where we dive into a series of speakers on the same type of topic, back to back-to-back days.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

Wow, that sounds like a really good idea I had.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That was genius. One of your better ones, no.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

Um that's great.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Hey, when I say one of our better ones, she has lots of great ideas just for you listening.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Just a couple a year. That's so cool. So, um, if you, the alums listening or others listening, know of somebody who we we should feature on the podcast, we'd love to hear it. So you can email us at alumni at unwsp.edu. We'd love to hear your suggestions.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yes, please. Or if you want to be on the podcast, you can also just email us as well.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

That'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Um, well, thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in all season long. Or if this is your first episode, you can go on back. I think there's 38 episodes now between season one and season two. But we thank you for listening. We sure have a ton of fun getting a chance to hear um from the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern. It's really cool to see how um we are unwavering together, unwavering in our love for God's word, unwavering in our love for God's world that's playing out all over campus. And as we just highlighted, it's playing out in our alums and in their lives across the world. So thank you for joining us on this journey. Uh, don't be a stranger, come join us at Northwestern and uh and go on wherever you live and live out our unwavering mission. But this has been Monty and Cassie for season two of the Unwavering Podcast, and we hope you have an awesome summer. We will see you in the fall.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Holding on to your promises.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Hold it on to your family. Thank you for listening. To hear more, subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen. And if you know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of Northwestern doing amazing things out in the world, let us know at alumni at unwsp.edu. The unwavering podcast, highlighting the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Your love is on.