A Great Alumni Story

I'm Terry Klein, class of ‘97, and I live in Spooner, Wisconsin, a small town in the northwest corner of the state. I am writing this post because recently I traveled to Guatemala on a mission trip. It was an amazing trip in which a group of 7 people from my church built a home for a family in need, experienced a culture far different from ours, had a great time playing with kids and made many new friends. You may be wondering what this has to do with Wartburg alumni. Well, an amazing “it’s a small world” experience occurred during the trip. One day as we were traveling to our worksite one of my teammates asked me where I went to college. My reply, of course, was, "Wartburg," and his reply was, “that’s where I went!” The fellow alum is Bob Nelson, class of ‘65. We had actually attended the same church for several years but first made the Wartburg connection while traveling in a van, on a bumpy mountain side road, in the middle of Central America. We shared stories such as the cost of tuition, living in Clinton, discovering we had both taken classes from the same professor (Mel Kramer), and Bob explaining Roy’s Place egg and cheese sandwiches. The connection with Wartburg does not end there. More importantly were the opportunities we had during our trip to share our faith and serve others. Opportunities we value, in part, because they were nurtured in us during our time at Wartburg.