The KWC crew onboard the ship.

KWC alumni Rev. Tom Eblen ’68 (center back) and his daughter, Catherine Eblen Sherrard ’95 (center front), join Captain Ayers (far left) and the crew for a day of sailing in the Virgin Islands. Tom is a member of the KWC Board of Trustees. (Click the photo for a larger version.)

Old pals -- Ken Ayers, left, and Tom Eblen.

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Meet our new president and his wife, Dr. Craig and Annette Turner:

Read all about them in the latest issue of KW Today, our alumni magazine. You can also read the rest of the magazine on our website. Happy reading!

Jessica Collins Allen ’00 is married to Chaz, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army. In January, he lost both his legs in a bomb blast. Since then, family and friends have rallied around the couple and their two girls to create Team Allen to provide support and encouragement as Chaz recovers and the family gets used to a new normal. (Jessica has been flying back and forth from Tennessee to Washington D.C., splitting time between Chaz and their girls.)

Last night, Jessica and Chaz got to renew their marriage vows on stage in front of 10,000 people at a sold-out Train concert in Nashville. The group has been the Allens’ favorite – Train’s music has been a soundtrack for their lives together, so Jessica entered a contest to win a chance to propose on stage during Train’s hit song, Marry Me.

Even though they were already married, their story moved the band so much the Allens won the contest. Here’s a video of the Marry Me part of the show last night — you’ll see the Allens at about 3:20. Jessica gets to share part of their story and the couple gets serenaded by Train. Good stuff:

USA Today picked up the story and ran an article about the event in today’s paper. You can also read Jessica’s take on the night on her blog, The War of a Wounded Warrior Wife, and you can see photos of the evening on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GoTeamAllen.

Follow Team Allen on Facebook to stay updated on their inspiring journey. Go Team Allen!

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KWC 2011 grad Shanna Markwell is working in marketing in Chesterfield, England. She will be sending updates on her time in England to KWConnect. You can read her updates from the beginning here.
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Chesterfield is also a historic market town. I didn’t really know what that meant when I first arrived, but every day of the week is a different “themed” (for lack of a better word) market day. Some days the market will sell only fresh fruits, vegetables and other forms of vegetation (flowers, trees, shrubs). Other days will be filled with manly sales such as tools, hunting gear (except guns – Americans are over-privileged in this right), old metal things, and I’m sure there are more trinkets and things, but I’m not a man, so I really don’t know what else is sold.

Thursdays are my favorite market days. It’s flea market day! I tend to take longer lunch breaks on Thursdays to dig around peoples’ old junk. It’s very interesting. I’m surprised at how much Elvis memorabilia there is – DVDs, photographs, paintings and even fake Elvis money (in pounds of course). For some reason, I had the stereotype that all English must love everything from the Beatles and nothing else. Oops. I was wrong, and I formally apologize to the English nation and its people.

A cool site to see in Chesterfield is the Crooked Spire.  The picture below shows the Crooked Spire in all of its glory, plus it shows the countryside in the background. Chesterfield feels a lot like Kentucky (which helps with the homesickness) because of the rolling hills, fresh air and the small-town feel of being close to your neighbors.

The Crooked Spire in Chesterfield, England

I know what you’re thinking though. Why is the Crooked Spire crooked? It’s because the guy who was commissioned to build it ages ago (I don’t know the name… but I’m sure Google does!) bought the wrong type of wood to build it with. About half-way through building it, he realized his mistake. Yet, like a real man, he stood up, took responsibility for his actions and then finished the project. But then later he was so embarrassed that he hanged himself! Or so I’ve been told. 

Either way, I feel the man who built it should have been proud. The Crooked Spire is now a landmark of England and a popular topic of discussion among the Chesterfield civilians.

This just goes to show you, you never know what accomplishments you will achieve in life until you’ve done them … even if they are mistakes! A mistake may in fact be your greatest and most grand achievement! Be proud!

I’ll be in touch.
-Shanna

KWC 2011 grad Shanna Markwell is working in marketing in Chesterfield, England. She will be sending updates on her time in England to KWConnect. This is her second post — you can read her first post below.
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Hello all! 

I’ve been very busy lately. The magazine that I work for is free. These types of magazines are really popular in England. They’ve been given the title “freemium,” which sounds really cool if you ever get the chance to say to someone “I work for one of the largest freemium magazines in the county.” You should try it.

Since the magazine is free, they make money from the advertisements sold. My job title is/was the New Media Executive, which basically means that when a sales executive makes a sale or goes to a consultation or when a photographer goes to shoot pictures for the adverts, I tag along and pitch for web marketing and social media marketing. It can even get as abstract as a scratch-and-sniff print add (think restaurant, not plumber).

I’ve been to a few formal events. To be honest, I am kind of shocked and very honored (or honoured as the English would spell it) that the magazine would send someone as new as me to these events. I’ve been to grand openings of hotels where I, get this, get PAID to dress up, drink champagne, and chat with the millionaires that own the hotels. No big deal. Work isn’t necessarily always work. 

It’s moments like these that make me glad that I went to school. Being a young, American female can work for me and work against me. People are always interested that I’m from America. They want to know where I went to school, what I studied, what I plan on doing, etc.

But because I’m young, I think a lot of people (I’m speaking globally, not just the English) find it easy to assume that I don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m talking about. Youth is unfortunately interchangeable with inexperienced. I think that is why the magazine sends me out to these events. One it gives me experience in business matters and social events, and two, other people can see that the magazine hires people from all places and backgrounds. Young people aren’t always naive. And of course the third reason I go to events is to market new media because that’s my job!

But I’m glad that I went to school. Moments like these give me the opportunity to continue learning, but also to prove that I actually DO know some stuff about business. I love the look on people’s faces when I understand the meaning of B2B transactions, the bottom line, margins, turnovers and venture capital. (Don’t know the meaning of these terms? Try taking a few Kentucky Wesleyan business classes!)

Also, another great benefit of being a recent graduate is that I am used to working under the pressure of impending deadlines. Magazines revolve around deadlines. Procrastinating for a few weeks, then working like crazy for the last two weeks is something that college has groomed me for.

Earlier I said that my job title is/was the New Media Executive. What I meant by “was” is that a colleague and I have decided to expand our services into a new project – a sister company, if you will. I really don’t want to go into too much detail yet, because a part of me doesn’t want to jinx the whole thing. I’ll fill you in when I can.

- Shanna

KWC 2011 grad Shanna Markwell is working in marketing in Chesterfield, England. She will be sending updates on her time in England to KWConnect. Her first entry is below.
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Hello all!  Life is great in England. I’m working hard and playing harder. I couldn’t ask for more. I feel obligated to provide a back-story as to how I came to working in England. So here it goes:

Upon graduating in December, I decided that I needed some freedom (because living away from home for four years – well, three and a half – and then graduating early wasn’t enough). I booked a three week trip to England.

Why England? The pound is a bit weaker than the euro (take Financial Management and International Business, you’ll learn these things) so I wouldn’t deplete my bank account that I worked so hard to build. I didn’t want working at the mall long nights, early mornings, and dealing with kids during the Christmas season to be for nothing.

Also, there isn’t a language barrier. I’m bold enough to travel to another country for three weeks alone, but I am NOT brave enough to do it in a country where I can’t understand anything!

Before I left, I made sure to book in a few places that I definitely wanted to see. London was of course one of them. But, I’m from a small town in Kentucky. I’m not bred for places like London. So I called up a few marketing-oriented businesses all over England. I had a marketing degree, and I wanted to use it.

Luckily, I found a publications office (who I won’t name just in case there are legal issues – I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, but it’s just easier to avoid situations like that before they even begin) who was between employees at the time. They didn’t want to fully train someone new, but they run a magazine, so one thing is important: Deadlines! Deadlines! Deadlines! I was immediately accepted in the short term.

All of this was arranged pretty close to my departure; therefore I didn’t have enough time to fill out a work visa. So I worked as a freelancer, which is the polite way of saying I was paid under the table (See! I knew there was a reason not to name the business I work for!!)

After the three weeks was up, I returned home.

Something they don’t tell you is that it’s HARD to find a job. Well, maybe not. But for someone like me, I just didn’t know where to look. Something else they don’t tell you is be wary if you use careerbuilder.com. It’s full of very few real, decent jobs and completely saturated with crappy jobs that they spin and word it to make you feel like you’re moving into the right direction, even when you’re not.

I finished my resume (with the help of the Career Development Office at KWC – thanks for that, by the way) and posted it online. After a few interviews for jobs that I was sure I didn’t want, I felt pretty low. I even went crawling back to working at the mall a few days a week. I’m very thankful they had me back, but it’s just not something you want to be doing especially after graduating college.

In March, I got a Skype call from England. Word to the wise – get Skype immediately. You can call anywhere for a few cents a minute. Also, if you have a phone, you can buy a local Skype number for less than $20 for three months! My family can call me for free, and I’ve already paid for the three months, so it’s nothing extra. If you’re traveling internationally, Skype is a MUST! OK, I’m done with the commercial …

The publishers I worked for in January were calling. They asked if I was interested in returning for a few months. It would be a similar deal as in January, but for an extended amount of time. I said “YES!! I’ll pack my things.”

I did ask for one favor. Since I signed up for the Spring Break trip to NYC (another fun adventure provided by KWC), I wouldn’t be able to travel in March. And then my graduation ceremony was in May. I thought “Well, I’ve waited this long to work, might as well wait some more.” Plus, you only get to walk in your graduation once, unless you are ambitious and get more degrees. So I asked if I could stay until graduation.

The rest is pretty obvious. I made it to the UK, started working and now I’m writing this!

If I anyone takes anything from my blogs it should be this: don’t be afraid to throw yourself into an adventure. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you want to do in life, so until then, just do everything.

- Shanna