Audrey Johanns wanted to do the right thing. Owner of a small coffee shop in Jefferson City, she wanted to reward her employee for hard work. But two pay increases for the employee didn’t have the reaction Johanns was hoping for.

“She asked for her hours to be cut so she could keep her child care assistance,” recalls Johanns. “ At this point she was making $10 an hour and going to school, yet lost 50 percent of her child care assistance. I gave her another $1 raise shortly thereafter and she commented ‘you're killing me’ because she lost all assistance.”

Although she didn’t realize it, Johanns was witnessing the “cliff effect,” a common issue for working mothers where childcare assistance is lost due to hourly raises. Johanns learned about the issue  a year later when Sister Berta Sailor, co-founder of the Kansas City-based nonprofit organization Operation Breakthrough, came to speak to her Rockhurst MBA class about financial struggles working mothers face.

With Johanns’ past experience as a backdrop, she and her MBA class team launched a project to raise awareness and try and influence state legislators. She kept tabs on the issue by talking to the state capitol regulars who visited her café. She also testified to the Missouri state legislature on how the effect hinders small business owners. Despite outreach efforts, however, there were no state changes this year. But that isn’t stopping Johanns.

“I am going to continue working with our legislators outside of session for a new try next year.,” she says.

Where he’s heading: Volunteer in the Alumni Service Corps at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver, Colo.

When looking for a Commencement speaker for 2009, Rockhurst administrators didn’t have to look very far to find an individual who they felt best represented the Jesuit ideals of learning, leadership and service. Chris Shaver’s name rose quickly to the top.

Shaver has amassed an admirable list of service and academic activities and accomplishments during his years at Rockhurst. From helping found the Math & Physics Club to serving in the Student Senate to traveling to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, Shaver has sought to live out his ideals in every aspect of his college life. He counts among his best moments the times he spent on service trips and as a leader on retreats.

“The best thing I will take away is an expanded and integrated perspective on life in which I am able to take all of the experiences I have had at Rockhurst, including leadership positions, classes, and fun experiences with friends, couple them with the Jesuit ideal of finding God in all things, and consequently see the world as filled with goodness,” says Shaver.

After graduation, Shaver will serve as a volunteer in the Alum Service Corps and fulfill a year of service teaching math at a Jesuit high school in Denver, Colo. After that, he plans to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics.

Where she’s heading: Managua, Nicaragua, to serve in the Jesuit Volunteer International

Andrea Essner never had a problem deciding what she wanted to do.

“Whenever I participated in service through Rockhurst, I had the feeling that, at some point, I wanted to commit my life to service,” says the new member of the Jesuit Volunteer International (JVI).

With a long history of service activities in high school, Essner was drawn to the four pillars of the JVI – spirituality, simplicity, social justice and community. They were values she tried to uphold in her everyday life. She found that service opportunities at Rockhurst – like VOICES for Justice – gave her ample opportunities to exemplify the pillars and serve others.

On a service trip to Belize last spring, Essner met some JVI volunteers and her service vision crystallized. She applied to JVI over Winter Break, and was recently notified of her acceptance. Beginning in December, she will serve at Pajarito Azul, a home for kids and adults with physical and mental disabilities just outside of Managua, Nicaragua.

“I am overjoyed that I have been given this opportunity and I honestly do not think that I would have found JVI had it not been for my time at Rockhurst,” Essner says.

Where he’s heading: A financial advisor career with Smith Barney Financial Services

Kyle Hummer teed off the golf ball.

“Well, I killed that,” he said to his golfing partners, putting his three-iron away. Then he heard the roar of applause coming from 300 yards away on the green. Hummer’s tee shot on the par-four hole had landed then rolled into the hole  – a one-in-seven million shot.

“ I was in complete shock,” he says now. “The hardest thing after that was to finish the next 16 holes!” The hole-in-one was made during the 2008 Michigan Regional tournament – one of Rockhurst’s most important —and attracted the attention of Sports Illustrated Magazine.

“I talked to the editor, but they didn’t end up running the story,” says Hummer – an omission that hasn’t dimmed the accomplishment of the shot. “I can honestly say I've never had that much of an adrenaline rush before; on or off the golf course.” 

National attention was becoming the norm for Hummer. That same month, he was named the 2008 Bachelor of the Year for Missouri by Cosmopolitan Magazine, beating out hundreds of other contestants and appearing on E! TV, The Today Show and others. It was, as he recalls, another “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Upon graduating with his degree in business management, Hummer will begin his job with Smith Barney Financial in Kansas City, training to become a financial advisor. He knows the job will be a challenge in today’s economic climate, but looks forward to learning and helping others navigate through the financial conditions of today.

Where she’s heading: Medical school at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Amber Pelzl had every intention of starting and finishing college in the same place – Loyola University New Orleans. But after just a few days, a hurricane named Katrina sent Amber on a journey filled with turns and detours that finally ended here at Rockhurst, where the biology major will graduate in May and prepare for medical school in the fall.

A Kansas native, Pelzl had been at Loyola just one week when Katrina struck the city. At that point university officials felt school would resume in just a few days, so Pelzl packed enough for a few days and headed for Bay St. Louis, Miss., with Colleen, a student she had just met.  When the hurricane reached category 5, the two headed for shelter in the Stennis Space Center. But after just a few days, the shelter ran out of food.  The two decided to try and make it to Georgia. Eight hours later, they had only made it to Hattiesburg – normally a two-hour drive. Exhausted and almost out of gas, they were able to reach Colleen’s father. He then drove from Macon with gas for the girls to follow him back. From there, Pelzl got on a plane to Kansas City.

“The minute I got off the plane, I got a call from a high school friend, Meaghen Whalen who told me Rockhurst was taking us ‘refugees’” says Pelzl.  A day later, she was in school at Rockhurst.

“Coming back to the Midwest set me on a different path,” she adds. “ Rockhurst provided me with an excellent education that helped me get into med school and influenced me to stay closer to family. Coming back to Missouri also provided me with the opportunity to reconnect with a friend of mine, who, as fate would have it, is now my fiancé. I wouldn’t have changed what happened for anything.”

Where he’s heading: Costa Del Sol, Spain, to compete in the World Karate Championships, followed by law school

Jarrett Leiker was a high school senior and six-time reigning martial arts world champion for his age group, when he came face-to-face with the bleak diagnosis. Visiting the doctor for a leg injury that wouldn’t seem to heal,  Leiker was told he had Spondylolisthesis, a rare condition in which one vertebrae of the spine slips over another, causing pain and weakness in his back. At a minimum, he faced major surgery to repair it and likely the end of his martial arts teaching and competing career. In the worst case, he might never walk again.

“That was very tough,” recalls the Rockhurst history and political science major, “being told at 18 that you might never walk again.”

But after nine hours of surgery, six months of rehabilitation, a year of “no physical activity” and a back brace, Leiker beat the odds, first by  beginning his martial arts training again and then remarkably winning the 2008 World championship and his seventh gold medal. This October, he will travel to Costa Del Sol, Spain, to compete again as a member of the U.S. team for his eighth title. Once that’s over, Leiker will focus on his martial arts teaching and competing before starting law school next fall, where he plans to study sports and entertainment law.

Where she’s heading:  Saint Louis University for graduate school

This time of year, most college seniors are getting ready to celebrate graduation or perhaps spring birthdays. Meghan Morris, however, is celebrating her 20-year anniversary – as a cancer survivor.

Just two years old, in January of 1989, Morris was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Although she went into remission in February, she suffered on-and-off complications for the next several years. When she was nine, Morris was invited to Camp Rainbow, a summer camp for kids with cancer. It was an experience that changed her life. Morris has now worked at the camp in some capacity for eight consecutive years, several years as a counselor and then a unit head. This summer, she will join the staff.

In addition to Camp Rainbow, Morris has also been a staunch participant and supporter of the Relay for Life. Since coming to Rockhurst, she has been a team captain for UMKC’s Relay and was the top individual fundraiser for last year’s Relay.  Not surprisingly, Morris has earned the Rockhurst President’s Volunteer Service Award. This fall, Morris, a math major, will head to Saint Louis University for graduate school.

Where he’s heading: Grand Coteau, La., to enter novitiate to become a member of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus

At first, Luciano Garofalo wasn’t sure what to call his feeling. It was the summer of 2007 and he was fresh off Campus Ministry’s SuperNatural Christians Retreat. The week-long retreat culminated with a visit to the Jesuit Novitiate in St. Paul, where Garofalo met the Jesuits and novices who lived and worked there. The end of that trip marked the beginning of another journey for Garofalo.

“Coming home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Jesuits and novices I met, and the stuff I learned about their lives,” Garofalo says simply. ”It was like an obsession that I finally realized was a genuine calling from God to consider that kind of life.”

When he returned to Rockhurst in the fall, Garofalo started spiritual direction and really began contemplating whether or not he belonged with the Society. Months of discernment and a silent retreat with some Jesuits in Colorado convinced him that his true calling was to join the order and advocate for Christian peace and justice. He will enter novitiate in mid-August.

Until then, Garofalo is currently working at a L’Arche Community in Tacoma, Wash., a faith community dedicated to those with developmental disabilities.