Spotlight on Students

By DONNA BUNCE
Special to the Register
(May 6, 2003 - OC Register)

At Concordia University's "A Gala of Stars" benefit Saturday night, the buzz was all about the men's basketball team winning the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division I basketball championship a month ago.

"It's the first time since 1941 that a California team has won," said a proud Stephen Christensen, executive vice president of university advancement.

The fund-raiser, usually a dinner auction held in a hotel, this year moved to the campus arena where the basketball team had performed its magic. The event also added a musical extravaganza featuring Concordia students. With 326 guests in black-tie attire sipping champagne, bidding on silent auction items, enjoying a three-course meal and being thoroughly entertained by a fantastic musical revue, you had to be reminded you were in a gymnasium!

The evening was hosted by the Friends of Concordia University and led by event Chairwoman Joan Harrison. The Christus Mundo Award was presented by Concordia President Jack Preus to Marian Baden, a retired faculty member and vice president and dean of the School of Education, and to Dr. Arthur Oswald, a founding member of the university's board of trustees and the first on-campus medical doctor. "The students were very healthy, so I didn't have too many house calls," he joked. The university's inaugural Servant Leadership Award was presented to Margie Wakeham, best known for her work with Families Forward.

The nonstop musical review, which covered 66 hit Broadway show songs and was directed by alumni Rob Blaney and Michael Shackelford, wowed everyone and ended, appropriately, with "The Impossible Dream."

Very possible was the $158,000 netted for student scholarships.


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