“Energy made visible” aptly describes Wittenberg students and alumni, but for Linda Prain Beals ’87, director of alumni relations, the phrase takes on even
more meaning.

Last fall, Beals had a brainstorm. Building on NBC’s famed Today Show series, “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” Beals began to wonder how to take the Wittenberg story on the road. How could her alma mater, she asked herself, make its collective energy more visible to its 25,000 living alumni in an exciting and innovative way?

A few sleepless nights later, as one idea to the next bombarded her brain, Beals convened several brainstorming sessions with colleagues in advancement, communications and admission. From there, the firstever alumni tour took shape, and the newly named Witt Nation was born.

“We often hear from alumni that they wished their alma mater would do something in their community so that they could brag more about Wittenberg,” Beals says. “That’s just what we plan to do.”

To the outside observer, the trip, scheduled for July 11-Aug. 1, may just sound like a social networking activity or reunion opportunity, but for Beals, it’s quite the contrary.

“It’s true that the road trip will allow for such activities and opportunities, but the focus has and will continue to be on our mission, and especially on how our alumni ‘lead personal, professional, and civic lives of creativity, service, compassion, and integrity,’ which we prepared them at Wittenberg to do,” Beals says.

Unwilling to let the focus of the tour hibernate in her head, Beals quickly engaged Ashley Petersen ’07, assistant director of alumni relations, and Brian DeSantis ’07, assistant director of the Wittenberg Fund, in the conversation to work out the details and get their young alumni perspectives. Two student-interns, Tyler Siemon ’10 and Ashley Manson ’09, also joined the team as tour coordinators, ensuring that the planning process would reflect multi-generational viewpoints. Within moments of meeting, the creative spark soon ignited, and Petersen and
DeSantis took a front-and-center role in the project.

Together the group decided that Petersen and DeSantis would make the nearly 7,000-mile trek around the country – literally briging Wittenberg to the cities and communities where large percentages of alumni live. While on the road, the two would write blogs, which would immediately post to the university’s Web site, so alumni around the globe could follow the tour. An interactive video component would also complement the site, thanks to the efforts of Ross Ballinger ’07, new media assistant for interactive communication, who will travel a few legs of the trip to assist Petersen and DeSantis with their multimedia needs.

“By adding these exciting multimedia components, the Wittenberg story immediately goes global,” Beals explains. “Even if we can’t be in everyone’s
hometown during the 20-day trip, we can share the experience with everyone in the Wittenberg family.”

Petersen and DeSantis will even catch up with the newest members of the Wittenberg family as the tour teams with admission in select cities.

“We are working with admission to co-host pre-‘Welcome to Wittenberg’ gatherings for those students and their parents who have committed to Wittenberg for the 2008-09 academic year,” Beals explains. “In so doing, the tour provides for immediate connections between new students-tobe and our alumni.”

Ever mindful of Wittenberg’s unique position as a leader in service learning and service to humanity, Beals and her alumni relations colleagues also insisted that the tour clearly show the longstanding distinctive quality of the university and its alumni to helping others. Ref lecting on Wittenberg’s Lutheran heritage, Petersen immediately engaged Bob White, director of church relations, in the conversation. With White’s assistance, the two are working with ELCA congregations nationwide to see how the tour team might partner with them on on-going or newly established service projects during the trek.

“With the trip just a couple months away, we’re still working out the details, but the response so far has been overwhelming,” Petersen says.“We expect to have a range of service opportunities, which we know will make the experience even more meaningful and memorable for everyone we meet along the way.”

They also are excited about the chance to stay with fellow alumni during the trip. From D.C. to Denver to San Diego, a number of alumni have already agreed to host the travelers in their homes.“

Having this fantastic opportunity to reflect and reminisce with Wittenberg alumni in their own residences will undoubtedly be a highlight of the trip for us,” Petersen says. “As a 2007 graduate, I’m only now beginning to understand the powerful role my alma mater has played in the lives of so many people, and I can’t wait to hear their stories.”

Inspired by the famous “The Road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost, especially the last line, “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference,” Petersen and DeSantis have also packed in some time to go “off-roading.”

“If alumni want Brian and Ashley to join them at their favorite hangout in their hometown, we’re going to do everything we can to oblige,” Beals says. “Why? Because friendship is a key characteristic of the Wittenberg experience, which our alumni daily reflect.

“Yes, it’s true that we serve with passion in our communities close to home and abroad, and that our faculty and academics are first-rate, but we also know the important role friendship plays in Wit tenberg’s collective success,” Beals adds. “I’m confident that this tour will not only forge new friendships, but it will also energize and engage our alumni in new and exciting ways so that together we can preserve and extend the one-of-akind Wittenberg story.”

by Karen Saatkamp Gerboth ’93