Elon Alumni

Rebecca Johnson Mastin '93, principal of Mulberry Elementary School in Wilkes County, N.C., received the county's principal of the year award on March 28. Mastin will now compete with principals of the year from more than 20 school systems in northwestern North Carolina for regional principal of the year.

A record 1,394 young alumni made gifts to Elon as part of the IGNITE Challenge in March, exceeding the 1,200 donor goal and helping to bring in $480,939 to the university. By surpassing the donor goal, young alumni enabled Elon to receive bonus gifts totaling $40,000 from Elon alumna and trustee Kerrii Anderson '79 and a group of nine young alumni. Elon is grateful to all young alumni who participated in the Challenge.

Music theatre alumnus Rob Marnell '06 was featured in the March 31 edition of The News Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Ind. He spoke with reporter Sheryl Krieg about his role as Alex the Lion in a touring production of "Madagascar Live" based on the hit animated film.

Keiko Sudani '08, who teaches at a school in Tokyo, has sent a message to the Elon community describing her experiences in the March 11 earthquake. Keiko is the sister of Asami Sudani '06 who previously shared an account of her experiences. Read this note for Keiko's letter to Elon.

Iris Versmissen '10 was recently awarded the North Carolina Science Teachers Association Outstanding Elementary School Student Teacher of the Year Award. Versmissen was an elementary education Teaching Fellow with a Spanish minor.

Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and Elon's Commencement speaker this spring, is serving as the Pentagon's official spokesman for the U.S. military operations in Libya. Gortney held a media briefing on the combat operations on March 19.

Two Elon alumni are providing our community with their perspectives on the disasters in Japan and the effects on the people there. Amy Jo Jenkins '05 expressed her thoughts in a telephone interview and Asami Sudani '06 provided a written message via Facebook.

Alex Ellis, a 2005 graduate of Elon's music theatre program, will be featured in a Webseries called "Diary of a Chorus Girl." The series, which premiered on YouTube's DanceOn channel Wednesday, March 16, will chronicle Ellis' experiences while making her Broadway debut in the ensemble of "Catch Me If You Can."

Michelle Micca '10 has been selected to present her choreography in The Young Choreographer's Festival on June 11, 2011, in Symphony Space New York at 8 p.m.