Debbie (Plont) Garden - Class of 1983

WELCOME TO BENZIE COUNTY CENTRAL SCHOOLS FEATURED FRIDAY ALUMNI.  Today, we would like to recognize Class of 1983 alumni, Debbie (Plont) Garden.

Debbie grew up in Beulah, attended Crystal Lake and Platte River elementary schools and graduated from Benzie Central in 1983.  Miss Forbes and Mrs. Keillor were her favorite grade school teachers, and Debbie’s love for health and biology started in Mr. Gehring’s classes in high school.  Student Council, Key Club and cheerleading taught her the value of leadership, school and community involvement, and how to work as part of a team.  So many favorite Benzie memories are from her cheerleading days!  A lifelong friendship began then and it’s not uncommon for an occasional cheer to break out in her kitchen today.  Shoot the hoop, drop it through the loop . . .

Debbie’s dad, Bruce Plont, taught math at the high school and her mom, Carole, was the attendance secretary.  In addition to working at the school, her parents attended sporting events, chaperoned dances, and coordinated homecoming festivities.  They were everywhere and so, to Debbie, school often felt like ‘home’.  She enjoyed it.  Her summer jobs included babysitting, working in the bakery at Farmer John’s, waitressing at the Courthouse Café and, her favorite, working at Beulah Drug. 

After high school graduation, Debbie attended Central Michigan University.  Human behavior and health classes were her favorites which ultimately lead to a major in Health Fitness Promotion with a psychology minor.  She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1987 and moved to Grand Rapids to complete an internship with Steelcase.  The YWCA offered Debbie her first job in downtown Grand Rapids.  While there, she worked primarily with women in the workforce and retirees.  She still remembers the wonderful senior ladies that attended the water aerobics class.  They came with stories about their lives and it was the first time she heard people talk about their memories of having spent time in Northern Michigan.  It was comforting to Debbie to hear how other people felt about where she grew up.  It was also a little surprising to her that so many knew about Benzie County.

A move to the metro Detroit area brought an opportunity to work with the employees of Chrysler Corporation as part of their employee wellness program and it’s where Debbie’s continued her career for the past 24 years.  She’s worked in a variety of settings from office to assembly line.  If someone had told her in high school that she would work in a manufacturing plant or two (or five) where people are building cars and trucks around the clock, and that she would really like it, she wouldn’t have believed them.  What an experience!  The diversity of personalities, backgrounds and life philosophies have kept her work and conversations interesting.  Education and coaching have been a big part of her role but she’s learned a great deal from the participants as well, the biggest lesson being that we’re truly all so similar despite our upbringing or life experiences.  Chrysler, now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has seen its share of change over the years but the wellness program has remained a core benefit for employees and has earned numerous awards.  Today, Debbie trains new coaches and manages staff working in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois facilities. Helping people create change in their lives is challenging.  Helping people determine what’s important to them and what they value is the rewarding part and what makes change feel possible.

While working at Chrysler, Debbie met her husband, James.  He too had stories from northern Michigan.  He’d spent summers camping at Platte River and had attended Northwestern Michigan College before going to Michigan State.  Benzie County was popping up again.  The two married in 2002 in her parent’s backyard in Honor. Debbie gained three stepchildren and a whole new world of challenges and fun.  Go Team!  All three kids are now in their 20’s and in the full swing of their careers.  She is also a grandma to two-year-old Lily Jane. She is definitely a priority and a highlight these days.  Spending time together is important to Debbie’s family.  They plan trips north and spend a week or two camping at Platte and enjoying ‘home’.

Faith plays a big role in Debbie’s life as well.  She and James have been involved in various church ministries from budget counseling to helping couples in marriage distress.  This volunteer work prompted them both to return to school in 2007 to pursue their master’s degrees in counseling at Oakland University.  It was pretty cool for them to share this experience as a couple.  They completed their school work and internships and now have a counseling practice in Rochester, MI.  They counsel couples together which brings a unique perspective for their clients. They also mentor pre-marriage couples through their church and occasionally speak to groups about what they call the Five Foundations: Faith, Fitness, Food, Family and Finances.  They enjoy traveling, cooking, entertaining, hiking, biking, Spartan football, and hanging with family and friends. 

Debbie’s been surrounded by good people; people who’ve taught her a great deal about life.  “There are lessons everywhere if we’re open to seeing them. Embrace change.  Find the fun.  Share your stories.  You never know whose life they may impact – or how other people’s stories may impact yours or even include Benzie County.  BC, BC, BCHS!  We are, we are, we are the best!”

Debbie, we are without a doubt #OneBENZIE proud of all of your accomplishments and the difference you are making in the lives of many.  Remarkable that you have carried “home” with you as it continues to help you pave your way.  You guessed it, Mrs. Crossman boasts to like, love and share. 

Samantha Lathwell - Class of 2002

WELCOME TO BENZIE COUNTY CENTRAL SCHOOLS FEATURED FRIDAY ALUMNI.  Today, we would like to recognize 2002 alumni, Samantha Lathwell.  Samantha was raised on Lathwell Farms in Benzie County. She attended Crystal Lake Elementary from Kindergarten through 6^th grade. She then attended the Jr. and Sr. High school 7^th through 12^th grades. Samantha was involved in Basketball and Softball all four years of high school. Samantha also attended the Career Tech Center for business administration and dual enrolled her senior year at Northwestern Michigan College.

After high school, she moved to Wausau, Wisconsin where she received her veterinary technician certificate. She made the move back to Benzie county in 2007 where she pursued her nursing degree. Samantha graduated from Northwestern Michigan College with her Associates degree in Nursing. She completed her testing and became a Registered Nurse in 2013.  While finishing her nursing degree, she met her fiancé Brian Adams while working at a golf course. Together, they took a leap of faith in 2012 and opened “The Stone Oven Restaurant” in Lake Ann. In May 2018 they will have been open for six years. Being an entrepreneur has always been in her plans, she just wasn’t sure how! Samantha shared, “This has been an amazing adventure, with a growth rate that has been fast and furious. We are grateful for our community and our staff for the support and hard work through all of our growing pains we have endured these last six years. Benzie County has always been my home and I am proud to be someone that can offer jobs to others and give back to my community when necessary. Our greatest achievement was born in June, 3 years ago. Our little boy Jude is our pride and joy! He is the reason that hard work, perseverance and leaps of faith are so important!” 

Samantha, thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.  Congratulations on your accomplishments and on your successful local business.  The Stone Oven has been a great addition to our #OneBENZIE community.  Yes, you got it…Mrs. Crossman is feeling the liking, the loving and the sharing! (Stop in the Stone Oven for a great meal, too)

Marshal Dunham - Class of 2016

“In the beginning of high school, I wasn’t a very good student nor was I at a good place in my life in general. It wasn’t until I had Mrs. Huddleston for 10^th grade Biology that this began to change for the better. Every single day, she pestered me asking when I was going to join AP Biology. I really didn’t understand at the time. All I did was sleep in her class, I never did the weekly research write-ups – I was the quintessential slacker. She saw something in me that I couldn’t. Eventually, I conceded and signed up for the class the next year.

                In an odd way, I’m a very competitive person. In not putting effort into being a good student, I reasoned that it couldn’t be said that I’m less intelligent that anyone else, just that I didn’t try as hard. When it came to AP Biology, the class itself was the culmination of an entire year’s worth of expectations and beliefs – I wanted to do well for the sake of Mrs. Huddleston. The effort I put into that course was the most effort I’d put into anything in a long time. That’s not to say that I completely changed as a person (I rarely turned in the weekly notecards) – I was, and still am, a flustered mess that tends to procrastinate. I’ve just learned to procrastinate work with work I like more. The experience, however, seeped into the rest of my life and I found myself with a competitive drive to do well in anything I do. My grades vastly improved, and I found myself joining the other (4) AP courses the following year.

                Biology will always hold a special place in my heart – If I hadn’t met Mrs. Huddleston, I would not be anywhere near as successful as I am now. However, I found myself liking the math courses more. I’ve never had a great memory, and I loved that with math you can develop the intuition and notice patterns to derive anything you might need. Also, I also have to credit a large chunk of this love to two teachers in particular, Mr. Seymour and Mrs. Kangas. Their goofiness and structure (respectively) and passion cultivated my fondness of the material. In a similar manner to Mrs. Huddleston, they also believed in my capabilities – I was allowed to join AP Calculus at the same time as Pre-Calculus to make up for lost time, which set me on the path I’m on now.

                Along with being an undergraduate at Michigan Tech, I am a math tutor and a researcher in our biology department under Thomas Werner (where I work to understand fruit fly color patterns and mushroom toxin resistance). I also just got notification that I received funding to work by our math department to do research this summer! I will be working with objects known as tree-like tableaux in an attempt of understanding how many tree-like tableaux are associated with a given partition. Now forget all of those words, and instead imagine drawing dots in empty boxes, such as in the figure below. Under certain constraints, such as every row and every column has to have a dot, I want to count how many ways you can do this. These structures for some reason have connections to topics in theoretical physics, bio-polymerization, etc., which is why we’re interested in them!

                I am forever indebted to the teachers of Benzie Central -  I owe the clarity of my choices to them. My majors are in dedication to those individuals, and I plan to get my PhD so I can become a professor and hopefully pass it on.

                Advice, take all the AP courses and college courses you can (reasonably). I wouldn’t have been able to double major in 4 years without the extra credits, and they let you get to the interesting classes quicker.

                When it comes to college, the biggest tip is to go places and meet people. Go to class. Go to office hours. Go to clubs. Meet classmates. Meet professors.

                I have had classes where I already knew most of the material. I still went and took notes. People tend to, once they recognize material, assume they remember a lot. There are always details you have forgotten; and better to fix that in class than in exams. But more importantly, meet people from your class (or your major in general). It is invaluable when deadlines are coming down, to have people to turn to.

                Speaking of people to turn to, go to office hours! The professors are often just sitting there twiddling their thumbs, and you showing up saves them from some boredom. Professors tend to be a bit nicer to students who they see are putting in the effort (participate in class as well). If you aren’t convinced, ask Mr. Kubit about the psychology of positive associations. I started my current research project and was given a job application by forming relationships with my professors. Try to show up with something to build off of (not just a blank page), but if you are hopelessly….. lost go anyway.

                If you are interested in something, seek it out. Go to clubs, go to events posted around campus. This isn’t even college, (it was still in HS) but I loved my participation in Science Olympiad (shout out to Mr. Kinnan – I’m looking into getting a pet Chilean Rose tarantula this summer when I move off campus). Don’t be afraid if it’s out of your realm: I just participated in an AI competition and I’m only in my second computer science course ever, and it was so much fun even with 9 hours of broken code. (We still almost took 3^rd place!).

                Overall, what I want to convey is this: if you stumble across an opportunity that motivates you, take it and run with it, even if it’s somewhere you didn’t expect. I worked as a dishwasher (at The Fusion in Frankfort) and transformed that into a position as a sushi chef in 2 summers, and it still feels weird to say those words. I didn’t really feel like the restaurant industry was for me, but I cherish the experience and the people I met. If I had to predict what I went to college for in elementary school, it probably would have been more along the lines of literature/arts. I was nose deep in a book all the way up to high school and I loved to draw. If I had to predict in middle school, it would’ve been game development. I started playing games at the age of 2 with Pokemon Snap (thanks to my older brother) and always will. Now, I’m some amalgamation of math and biology, and I couldn’t be happier with that choice.  Last but not least: if you need help, don’t be afraid to get it.”

Marshal, your story is one we are so very proud to share and your advice is something that we could all benefit from in various areas of our lives. We at Benzie Central are rooting for you, now and always.  Mrs. Crossman says, LIKE, LOVE, and SHARE and celebrate Marshal.  #OneBENZIE AWESOME!