Alumni News

I’m staring out at the Himalaya range from my window in Kathmandu, Nepal having just had a wonderful phone conversation with my Mother about our days at Alpine. I’m flooded with so many wonderful memories. We were a full-on Alpine family with three boys as campers (me, Rob and Jay) and a sister (Melissa) at Desoto. What a long trip it has been since my Hunter year in Crazy Horse cabin. I remember thinking back then that a month away from home was like a lifetime. Yet, I soon learned that the days were filled with so much activity that time always slipped by too fast. Probably one of the most valuable gifts from my years as a camper was all the friends I made. Having been both a 1st and 2nd termer, a Mohawk (only once) and a Cherokee, a Medicine Man one year and Chief the next, by the time I arrived at Ole Miss as freshman, I felt like I already knew the entire school. Always a highlight during those cold winter months, was Mr. Dick turning up on his annual recruiting tour to show us the year’s highlight reel. I imagine Kathmandu might be a little too far for him to travel? And slaughter ball may be the greatest game every invented. I still can’t believe there isn’t a pro league!

Personal Update
I got married about 10 years ago to Marcela Sandoval from Texas whom I met while working in Washington DC. We have 3 children: Zoey who is 7, and 5 year old twins Carter and Emma.

I’m working as a Diplomat for the United Nations and currently serving as the Representative to Nepal for the UN World Food Program. Oddly enough for a boy from the Mississippi Delta, I’ve become a high altitude climber and big mountain snowboarder so Nepal, which is home to 8 of the 14 highest mountains on earth, is Nirvana! Over the years, we’ve lived in China, Zambia, North Korea, Nepal, and the Philippines.

We had 4 inches of snow today on Lookout Mountain.  Check out this video of Bully snowboarding at the pool!  A new activity perhaps??  It was a great day.  Pictures coming soon.

Untitled from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

We say it every year because it’s true – what makes Alpine each summer is the staff.  These incredibly fun, cool, Christian college age guys are the life of Alpine each summer.  They make camp!  They are the reason that you campers want to come back year after year.

We’re fired up because it’s time to start staff recruiting!  November is almost here and that means it’s time to strike out on the highways and byways of the South to some of the coolest places around – college towns.  Weldon, Peter, and I head out next Tuesday to Knoxville and the University of Tennessee.  We’re looking forward to getting dinner with our Tennessee staff and then doing interviews with some new prospects.  Evan Warner is setting those up so talk with him if you know a great prospect.

Wednesday will find us on the move to Nashville for a little time hanging out at Vanderbilt.  We had a great group of Vanderbilt guys last summer including Stephen Maroda, Nelson Graham, Andrew Dudas, Patterson Fenelon, Peyton Davis, and Carver Morgan.  We’ll have a reunion with these guys and are counting on interviewing a number of their friends (Stephen Maroda is setting those up).

The next week will find us at Mississippi State and Ole Miss.  New RUF pastor Brian Sorgenfrei and his wife Liza are friends of ours (and he is a former staff member), so we’re looking forward to seeing them and having dinner with all the Bulldog faithful (hopefully at Little Dooey’s, some of the best BBQ in the state of Mississippi in my opinion).  Talk to Brian or Price Davis, who’s setting our schedule, about interviews at State.

Then on to Ole Miss where Carter and the girls will join us and hopefully the O’s too.  We always have a great time staying at the Inn at Ole Miss and interviewing guys while looking out over the lovely Grove (Talk to Sumner Abraham about setting up an interview there).  3 year staff member Hammond McEver is the new RUF intern there after graduating from Washinton and Lee last May so it’ll be great to catch up with him.  And Les Newsom, longtime RUF minister there is an Alpine alum and good friend.  The highlight of the week will be staying for the weekend in Oxford to see if the Rebels can hold their own against the solid looking Tennessee Volunteers.  We’ll be setting up an Alpine tent in the Grove so please come by and see us if you’re there that weekend (more on the location later).

Tentative plans for the week before Thanksgiving call for trips to Auburn and Georgia.  More on those soon.  We also hope to travel to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Washington and Lee the week after Thanksgiving.

Veteran staff, we hope to see you out on the road.  Thanks for continuing to spread the word to your friends about Alpine.

For rapids that flow,

Glenn

We’re excited to get out on the road to see lots of familiar faces and meet many new Alpiners!  Here is a copy of our schedule so far.  Please check back often as we are adding new dates all the time. 

Cities without a location are usually at someone’s home.  For more information on a particular slide show, call our office, 256.634.4404. 

We hope to see you this fall!

Carter and I fly out Thursday to Dallas, TX for our first 2010 Alpine Slide Show.  Thursday night, September 17th, at 7PM.  We can’t wait to be at the Boyd’s home, see many familiar faces, and meet new families who are interested in Alpine.  If you are in the Dallas area and are interested in Alpine, please come.  We’d love to meet you.  For more information, call the camp office, 256.634.4404. 

Hope to see you there!