Senior Spotlights
Photos by Armando Jenkins-Vazquez ’21
Luther’s class of 2024 began their college journey at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but so many of our incredible students defied the odds, immersing themselves in critical learning and meaningful experiences. Here’s just a sample of the diverse and impressive things this graduating class was able to accomplish at Luther even during unprecedented times.
Building communication chops alongside deep cocurricular involvement
When he first visited Luther in January 2020, California native Xavier Andrade had a moment of doubt about attending college in the Midwest.
“I think it was about 10 degrees below zero in Decorah that weekend,” he recalls with a laugh.
Xavier Andrade '24
Thankfully, the atmosphere on campus—and particularly among members of the Norse football team, for which he played linebacker and safety—felt exponentially warmer. “That visit was incredible,” he says. “The guys were great, the coaches were great, and the campus and the small-town environment felt so comfortable.”
The intimate size of the college community facilitated Xavier’s transition to campus that fall. “I’m pretty shy,” he says. “But it wasn’t hard for me to come out of my shell at Luther.”
The grandson of immigrants from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, Xavier served as Student Senate’s diversity representative and as president of Latines Unides, which supports students of Hispanic/Latino descent and brings awareness of the culture to the wider community.
In the classroom, Xavier focused on political science and communication studies. The son of two community-minded parents—his mother, Ligia, is a current member of the San Mateo Union High School District Board—he had long been interested in the science of politics. Classes like Media Literacy, which taught him how to engage ethically with technology and the media, hooked him on communication studies.
Xavier connected the two disciplines by participating in the Lutheran College Washington Semester in the spring of his senior year. As part of the program, he completed a communication internship with Hola Cultura, a publication that celebrates Latino art and culture in the nation’s capital. “My internship experience was awesome,” says Xavier. “I learned so much about the intricacies of the journalism trade, and I really sharpened my writing skills.”
Now back home in San Mateo, Xavier is putting those skills to good use on a social media campaign promoting his mother’s school board reelection effort. “There are so many things I’m interested in pursuing down the road,” he says. “I’m going to take some time to figure out the details, but I want to stay in the communications field.”
—Sara Friedl-Putnam
A research duo makes a major discovery
Gwen Coleman (right) and Emmelyn Cullen accomplished a lot during their time at Luther. Emmelyn, a biology and theatre major from Madison, Wisconsin, participated in seven theatre and three opera productions, mostly in stage management but also through acting and lighting and set design. Gwen, a bio major and environmental studies minor from Hot Springs, Arkansas, was a four-year member of Luther’s conference-winning swimming and diving team.
Emmelyn Cullen '24 (left) and Gwen Coleman '24
The two are impressive individually, and they’re also a powerful duo. In the summer of 2022, they worked with professor of biology Kirk Larsen to research native bee biodiversity on campus. Their research led to the discovery of seven species of bees never before recorded in the state of Iowa. It was a major surprise and a welcome validation that efforts to increase pollinator-friendly plants on campus were working.
It was also a huge achievement for two undergraduates—bee identification is a really specialized skill, and new discoveries like this don’t typically come from a pair of 21-year-old college students. The project received national media coverage, getting picked up by news outlets in 42 states, from Florida to Alaska to Hawai’i. Gwen and Emmelyn, quickly thrust into the limelight, got used to being pulled from the field by a Luther media relations specialist asking if they could do an interview in 20 minutes.
In addition to Professor Larsen’s tutelage, part of the secret of the pair’s success was a bee identification course they sat in on that summer with an expert from the Missouri Department of Conservation who’d written a book on the subject and was teaching graduate students on Luther’s campus. It was an uncommon opportunity to learn a rare skill.
“Credit has to be given to the donors to undergraduate research opportunities as well,” Emmelyn says. “The fact that we were able to be paid for doing this made it way more feasible.”
A Luther mentor plus a visiting expert plus research funding added up to an incredible stepping stone for Gwen and Emmelyn. And the duo proved just how powerful a small liberal arts education can be when they won first (Gwen) and second place (Emmelyn) in the student poster competition at the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America in November 2023, competing against students—entomology majors, no less—from large R1 universities.
They also parlayed their summer research into other positions. Emmelyn worked with the USDA’s Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wis., in summer 2023. Gwen participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln that same summer.
“It went so well that they offered me a paid position for graduate school,” Gwen reports. Two weeks after graduating from Luther, she began her program, studying mosquitoes as plant pollinators and also as vectors of human diseases.
Emmelyn spent the summer after graduating doing what she loves—surveying bees, this time for the US Geological Survey’s Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota. Eventually, she plans to attend graduate school to continue learning about bees.
“When it comes to bees,” she says, “every person I talk to about it has interest. And I just felt really good with the research I did at Luther, being able to raise awareness and teach other people about all these things I was excited about.”
—Kate Frentzel
Embracing the new while studying the old
Ian Gonzales from Olathe, Kansas, is an anthropology superstar. During his time at Luther, he served as an executive member of the Anthropology Club for three years, including as president. He held a work-study job in the Anthropology Lab for four years and contributed to a conference paper for the Society for American Archaeology. He was a member of the Lambda Alpha Honors Society for Anthropology and recipient of the R. Clark Mallam Memorial Scholarship in Anthropology.
Ian Gonzales '24
He also put in lots of time in the literal field, helping conduct geophysical surveys around northeastern Iowa—particularly at Effigy Mounds National Monument—not only as a paid summer researcher but also as a volunteer on weekends and school-year afternoons.
“There’s something so neat for me about picking up an artifact and knowing that it has its own story and history that we don’t really know,” he says.
While Ian made his mark on Luther’s anthropology program, he also leveraged his college years to try new things. As a double major in Nordic studies, he helped with classes for children at the Vesterheim Museum, and he spent a semester in Norway. He joined the Equestrian Club and the Pound Ultimate Frisbee team—both brand-new activities for him. “I’ve learned in the last few years just how fun trying new things can be,” Ian says.
“Even though it was scary to ride a horse for the first time, to take a plane by myself to a foreign country for the first time, to volunteer at an archaeological excavation for the first time, I knew that I would always come out of the experience with something new. New skills, new stories to tell, new people met. I have learned to love the new.”
This past summer, Ian tried something new while becoming part of something old when he joined the legacy of Luther grads to work at Bear Creek Archaeology in Cresco, Iowa. Eventually, he plans to attend graduate school—hopefully in Norway—and specialize in Norwegian and Scandinavian archaeology.
—Kate Frentzel
A global health major works toward “good births”
During a gap year between high school and college, Linnea Johnson Nordqvist of Gothenburg, Sweden, taught third grade in a low-income school district. “So many of my students’ families had immigrated to Sweden and had these barriers to financial and housing security,” she says. “It really impacted them and made me realize that health isn’t just about the physical well-being of people; it’s about the structures that we’ve built and how they’re often a disservice to people.”
Linnea Johnson Nordqvist '24
Linnea knew she wanted to major in global health, but at Luther, she developed an especial interest in reproductive and sexual health and feminist medical anthropology. She took a gender, health, and medicine course that really solidified her interest. “In high-income countries like the US, birth outcomes are statistically really good,” she says. “But that’s obscuring the experiences that women are having in this context that isn’t benefiting them. Women should have the right to have a good birth.”
Linnea interned with a certified professional midwife at Willow River Midwifery and a nurse-midwife at WinnMed, both in Decorah. “The midwifery model of care didn’t pathologize birth, and I really resonated with that,” she says. She focused her senior project on obstetric violence and what she learned through her immersions in home-birth and hospital-based models of midwifery.
Linnea co-founded the Global Health Club at Luther and served as its president. She was also president of the Luther Disability Alliance, served on Student Senate in a number of roles, and participated in choir for three years. She worked for Luther’s Center for Academic Enrichment for three years, moving from tutor to peer coach to lead peer coach.
Unsurprisingly, Linnea has been flush with offers for the year following her college graduation. She was a semifinalist for a Fulbright assistantship, and she turned down a Peace Corps placement so that she could spend July and August in Resita, Romania, working with a local NGO that serves children and young adults. In October, she heads to Cingoli, Italy, to spend six months with the Italian Red Cross. Her longer-term plans are to earn nursing and certified nurse midwife degrees at Gothenburg Sahlgrenska Academy.
“The global health major was so open for exploring,” she says. “It really gave me the ability to tailor it toward what I was interested in, and that’s been profoundly empowering. It’s really contributed to getting me where I am today.”
—Kate Frentzel
Leading through the power of music
Some college students take a while to find their academic focus, but that wasn’t the case for Josh Kainz of St. Michael, Minnesota.
Josh gravitated toward musical activities in high school, where participation in concert choir and musical theatre opened his eyes to the possibilities of a career in music education. “I experienced so many cool things through music in high school that I knew then that I wanted to help other students harness the power of music to become the best versions of themselves,” he says.
Josh Kainz '24
Josh began college at North Dakota State University, but his first year left him unexpectedly unfulfilled. Mere weeks before his sophomore year, he ran into Mark Potvin ’01, Luther assistant professor of music, at an American Choral Directors Association event. When Josh told Potvin he didn’t feel at home at NDSU, Potvin suggested that Luther might be a better fit. Two weeks later, Josh arrived in Decorah and started classes as a vocal music education major.
The college hit all the right notes from the start.
“Luther really was the perfect fit—I ended up where I was supposed to be but took just a little bit longer to get there,” Josh reflects. “I loved the small Lutheran college choral tradition and the excellent quality of the music program.”
His endeavors on and beyond campus included singing three years as a tenor in Nordic Choir (with which he toured Norway this past summer), working two years as a resident assistant, serving a semester as student conductor for Norskkor, stepping in as interim choir director at Decorah Lutheran Church, and directing the pit orchestra for the Luther production of Big Fish.
This fall Josh began work as vocal music director at Coon Rapids (Minnesota) High School. He’s not ruling out the possibility of seeking a master’s or doctoral degree in the future, but, for now, he’s focused on the musical growth of his students at Coon Rapids.
“I feel very prepared to teach vocal music,” he says with typical exuberance. “Luther allowed me to try out different things, make mistakes, experience success, and gain confidence in my skills to lead others from point A to point B.”
—Sara Friedl-Putnam
A Harvard-bound theology major learns in and out of the classroom
It turns out that using a manual typewriter isn’t an entirely lost skill among today’s college students.
When it came time for Ethan Kober, an English and religion major from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to start his senior honors project—a 105-page historical-fiction novella about a man who died of rabies in 1903—he decided to go back to the basics: no computer, no Google Docs, no spellcheck, no modern technology at all. Instead, Ethan spent hours pounding away on a typewriter until the novella, To Die Full of Days, was complete.
Ethan Kober '24
And while he isn’t necessarily eager to repeat the experience, Ethan does say it was the ideal way to tackle the project. “The beauty of writing with a typewriter is that you can just keep going, keep writing, keep staying in the flow,” he says. “It wasn’t about the speed of my writing; it was about the intention behind it.”
Ethan had to approach his entire time at Luther with deep intention, if just to fit everything in. He ran cross country for the Norse, played French horn in Concert Band, and served on the board for the Oneota Review literary magazine and as managing editor for the Chips campus newspaper, all while earning top grades in his classes—he was inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta English honor society—and working for the Center for Sustainable Communities.
“Not every school allows you to participate in such a variety of activities,” Ethan reflects. “But that’s part of why I love Luther so much—from the start, the college saw me as a whole person who has a lot to offer and learn, both in and out of the classroom.”
Ethan will spend the next three years earning his master of divinity degree at Harvard University. Accepted to four top divinity programs, he says one of the primary reasons he chose Harvard was because of the way faculty approach theological questions. “It’s akin to Luther in the sense that they explore how to have deep theological conversations in ways that embrace other religions and aren’t so exclusively Christian,” he explains. “Harvard immediately felt like the right choice exactly because of that diversity of thought.”
—Sara Friedl-Putnam
Making great strides with a servant’s heart
Faith is front and center for Samuel Scott. In Decorah, he was a member of Stone Ridge Community Church. On campus, he was involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Tuesday Night Discipleship, and Men’s Bible Study. In conversation, he frequently quotes Bible verse.
Samuel Scott '24
In particular, Samuel takes to heart Bible passages that highlight service. As a member of the men’s basketball team for four years, he says, “My goal was not to get a one-up on my teammates, but to serve them on or off the court. That’s the biggest thing I learned from being part of a team. You want accolades, but don’t sacrifice what God put in you just to be good at the game.” Samuel was recognized for this attitude—as well as leadership and sportsmanship—with the Bleed Blue Award at the annual Norse Awards last spring.
During his time at Luther, Samuel, a management major from Banning, Calif., also served fellow students through his work in Luther’s TRIO program, coaching them on financial wellness and connecting them with resources. And he really homed in on his goal of becoming an entrepreneur.
As a high school sophomore, Samuel’s family lost their home. Having nowhere else to go, they moved in with a family friend—nine people in a one-story house with Samuel sleeping on a cot. Up until that point, he’d imagined a career in basketball, but a torn MCL around that time ushered in a new reality. “That’s what started it for me,” Samuel says, about becoming an entrepreneur. “I thought, This will never happen to my family again. My family will never feel what it’s like to have a lack of money or resources ever again.”
At Luther, Samuel was president of the Entrepreneurship Club, and he even launched his own chewing gum company. During his last six weeks of college, he studied for and passed the Iowa health and life insurance exam and was already training remotely for his new career with Globe Life Insurance.
Eventually, Samuel hopes to start a business that serves families in some way. “You can’t go into something thinking, What can this do for me? What can I get from this?” he says. “It should always be, What can I give? How can I serve? How can I help these people? I’ve been helped more than I could ever imagine, so I’m going into it with that.”
—Kate Frentzel
A new minor lights the way for a theatre major
As a new student at Luther, Lauren Siems found a home in the theatre program. Even though that’s not where she saw her future career, she was drawn to the people and to the immediacy of the art form.
“With any fiction, you can get drawn into its world,” she says. “And theatre is especially magical because it’s happening in real time. It’s like a communication and a relationship between the audience and the actors—that’s what I really love about it.”
Lauren Siems '24
Lauren stretched out in the theatre major, acting on stage, co-directing a SPIN Theatre production, and serving as vice president for Top Banana Improv Troupe. She took a work-study job writing content for the Visual and Performing Arts Department. The summer before her junior year, she adapted Dracula into a radio play, Westenra, that Luther’s Underground Radio Theatre of the Air performed.
That same summer, an announcement from Luther changed her life: the college was adding a counseling minor. Lauren had spent time as both a nursing and psychology major, but neither felt like the right fit. Her father, Jay Siems ’84 (Lauren’s mom is Sheryl [Luckow] Siems ’82, and her oldest brother is Greg Siems ’12), told her about it. “I was thrilled. It was everything I wanted from the psychology major but less of the analytical facts and figures and more of the human connection and that sort of thing. I immediately declared the minor.”
Lauren saw a chance to use both of her academic disciplines when she stumbled across drama therapy—a therapeutic technique that asks people to act things out to improve empathy, self-awareness, and communication, as well as to process emotions. The summer before her senior year, she was selected as part of Luther’s Research Scholar Program. She researched intergenerational trauma, then wrote a full-length stage production about it, which became part of her senior thesis.
This fall, Lauren began a master’s program in school counseling at the University of Northern Iowa. “I want to foster a home for students who feel safer at school than at home, while also making students who feel safer at home feel comfortable and safe in school,” she says. “I want to be that safe, nice person and part of that positive association with school.”
—Kate Frentzel
A catcher of the year with her sights set on the lab
Any college softball team would be thrilled to add Abby Spore to their roster. During her college career, the catcher from Robins, Iowa, was named American Rivers Conference Player of the Year, First Team All-Conference (twice), Second Team All-Conference, Academic All-Conference, First Team Academic All-District, National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First Team All-Region (twice), NFCA First (and Second) Team All-American, NFCA Scholar Athlete, and College Sports Communicators Second Team Academic All-American. She was the Norse top hitter for two seasons, and if your head isn’t spinning yet, she was also named the Division III Catcher of the Year in 2023 and nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year in 2024.
Abby Spore '24
“Those awards are also a reflection of my teammates,” Abby says. “In a team sport, you never do anything by yourself.”
While the accolades have been gratifying, the friendships Abby formed through the team have the real staying power. She reflects, “Softball’s given me a group of people that I spend time with every day. It’s given me so many relationships, and they’re all surrounded by something I love. Even though my career’s done, those are going to be a part of my life forever.”
Abby wove herself through other activities at Luther too, from three years of work-study running stats and scoreboards for the Athletics Department, to acting as morale captain for Luther’s annual Dance Marathon fundraiser, to serving on the board of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also assistant coached the Decorah High School softball team. “Sometimes I got a little too excited,” she admits, “but I think the girls realize that it’s just because I love the game so much and love helping athletes find similar passion for it.”
Abby was also a committed bio major. Last year, she interned at the Howard County Regional Health Center in Cresco, Iowa, learning how to draw, test, and microscopically observe samples in a medical lab. Because it was a smaller lab, she was able to really connect with the people who worked there. “I was having a lot of conversations about what these people’s lives look like and what their paths were and listening to the similarities and differences within them,” she says. “I knew I wanted to get into lab work and not research, and that really solidified it for me.”
The experience was such a fit that this fall, Abby started the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Mayo Clinic.
—Kate Frentzel
Expanding a comfort zone through global education
While many of her Luther classmates were grabbing coffee, ordering breakfast, or sleeping in, Amy Webb often began work at Luther’s Preus Library. She didn’t mind the early start. “When I’m passionate about something, it energizes me,” she says. And yes, Amy is passionate about libraries and the opportunities they offer. “Preus Library, like most libraries, fosters learning and inclusivity,” she says. “I grew up spending many hours exploring the Waverly Public Library, and my first job was there, too.”
Amy Webb '24
She learned about Luther, in fact, while working at the Waverly library. The library’s director, Sarah Meyer-Reyerson ’96, sang her alma mater’s praises, piquing Amy’s interest in the college. A campus visit for Scholar Recognition Day sealed the deal. “I knew immediately that Luther was where I was meant to be,” she says.
Amy explored a lot at Luther over her four years here. A talented violinist, she joined Symphony Orchestra and even managed the ensemble her senior year. A born leader, she served as president of the Luther Model United Nations club and the Luther Association of Gamers. An exemplary student, she earned membership in three honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa. A disciplined and inquisitive learner, she declared majors in international studies and German and traveled abroad during two January Terms.
But it was the semester she spent studying in Münster, Germany, that inspired her path after Luther. “I knew this experience would likely change my life, and it did,” she says. “It proved to me that I could step outside of my comfort zone and immerse myself in another culture.”
That’s exactly how Amy will spend this academic year, teaching English in Germany as a Fulbright recipient. “I’m excited about the prospect of living and working abroad while acting as a cultural ambassador,” she says.
Amy’s not sure what the distant future will hold, but she’s already contemplating earning a master’s degree in international relations or library science. Wherever she goes and whatever she does, one thing is certain—she’ll carry her Luther years with her every step of the way: “I felt accepted at Luther from the start,” Amy says, “I’ve been part of a larger experience that I know will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
—Sara Friedl-Putnam
Watch videos about three of our other incredible students from the class of 2024—like allied health sciences major Kiley Nolan—on the Luther College YouTube channel.