Whitworth University's graduates are the most visible and important expression of our mission. So, we're proud of our record of preparing alumni for top graduate schools and successful careers. But we're even more proud of equipping them to connect their deepest convictions to their work and to other major life decisions.

Kristen Shields, the 2004 U.S. College-Division Academic All-American of the Year, is teaching math and coaching track in tiny Spangle, Wash. Jena Lee postponed graduate school to serve as founding director of Grammy-winning band Jars of Clay's mission to provide AIDS education and clean water to Sub-Saharan Africa. And Caleb Hug, winner of a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for academic excellence in math and science, is in a Ph.D program at MIT developing intelligent software agents to improve health care.

What motivates these Whitworthians, like generations of Whitworthians before them, is the pursuit of a calling and not just a career. They are seeking to change the world more than their own places in it. They are lifting up curiosity and conviction, grace and truth, responsibility and compassion in a culture that too often pits these values against one another.

So, Kristin Shields teaches where her big-time gifts touch a small community's very future. Jena Lee delivers life-saving training, clean water and hope to a place where all are in scarce supply. And Caleb Hug applies his vision and intellect to next-generation technology that will help doctors and nurses make people whole.