Augsburg alumnus John Cerrito ’11 wrote an article for College News in which he described how internship opportunities at a Twin Cities radio station helped him to discover and develop an enjoyable career before he completed his degree. Read the story, “It’s Not About Getting A Job, It’s About Finding a Vocation,” on the College News website.

When Sonja (Daniels) Zapchenk graduated from Augsburg in 1977, she hoped fervently to find work with teens and young adults in a psychiatric hospital setting, similar to the fascinating work she had enjoyed in her internship. Instead, the only job she could find was as a music therapist with elderly in a nursing home setting—not what she had planned. But it wasn’t long till she realized that was what she really wanted to do. Music therapy, she learned, was at the core of her being, and helping people with Alzheimer’s Disease was becoming her passion.

In her various jobs working with senior adults (as music therapist, recreation director, volunteer coordinator, and adult daycare provider), Zapchenk encountered many individuals who were lethargic, non-communicative, or confused; and she was delighted to discover—daily—that the music therapy she provided was making a difference in their lives. Adding music to the equation always seemed to open doors in communication, and she loved seeing them “come alive.” When she started playing the piano, the residents would often begin to sing the lyrics to the hymn, clap their hands, tap their toes, or nod their heads in rhythm. And she found that, for individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease in particular, music therapy could provide a way to communicate with their families as well—even without conversation.

At Eaglecrest, a Presbyterian Homes community in Roseville, Minn., where she has served for 20 years and is now Recreation and a Volunteer Director, Zapchenk is also the Intergenerational Coordinator, which provides the special opportunity of leading intergenerational activities for the senior residents and the toddlers and preschoolers who attend the childcare center in the same facility. She has seen music bring age groups together more quickly and effectively than anything else.

Zapchenk chose Augsburg after some friendly urging from her mother, Sigrid (Kvenberg) Daniels ’48, and because of its highly regarded music program. She was thrilled to sing under “Doc” Sateren’s direction in choir, and the start-up of a Music Therapy program in her junior year was perfect timing. She has stayed in touch with Augsburg in numerous ways—by singing in Masterworks and Vespers (under the direction of Prof. Peter Hendrickson, her classmate), by providing a music therapy internship program that drew in many Augsburg students, through countless reunions and singing opportunities with friends from choir days (including all-day “brunches” with many women friends), and by regular contact with Prof. Roberta Kagin and other music therapists from her graduating class. She is still moved when she thinks about the special bond among the “Sateren singers,” the many sustained and treasured friendships, and all the “really neat people” at Augsburg who have affected her life.

For years, Josh Thelemann ’14 had been more than a little concerned about kids growing up in neighborhoods like his—neighborhoods where fewer than 50% of public school students would graduate from high school, typical 8^th-graders were three levels behind their peers in math and two levels behind in reading, and the housing/income gap is among the highest in the nation. Then it struck him! While studying Elementary Education at Augsburg, he came up with an idea that has now become reality—a nonprofit organization that takes at-risk kids off the streets and provides programs to give them a fair shot. He named it SOS (Saving Our Schools).

In an area where crime rates peak in after-school hours, students and chaperones bike across the city to learn about history, art, science and more. SOS provides programming that aims to decrease suspensions and increase cooperative activity in a school where 99.7% of children live below the poverty line. One annual SOS event, Thanks4Giving Day, is hosted on Black Friday and involves collecting donations for hundreds of families in need, as well as school supplies for schools serving large numbers of at-risk children. Also, SOS is a sponsor of the Minneapolis Math League, providing weekly practices, transportation, and other support for at-risk students to participate.

In launching the nonprofit and finding ways to engage young adults and professionals to help, Thelemann first obtained endorsements for SOS from community leaders, such as then-Mayor R.T. Rybak, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Senator Terri Bonoff; then partnered with some of the state’s largest education-related organizations. In SOS’s first year, nearly $30,000 in funds, goods, and services was allocated to programming and resources for at-risk students of Minneapolis.

Thelemann, Behavioral Interventionist at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Golden Valley, Minn., is grateful for the amazing support he received from his family and community throughout his youth, as well as for numerous extra-curricular activities, all of which made a difference for him. He acknowledges the “huge role” Augsburg played in his creation of SOS (see www.SaveOurSchoolsToday.org/blog), and is particularly thankful for the “unwavering” support from Dr. Stanley Brown and Prof. Dan Jorgensen, who pushed him to reach new heights and guided him in efforts to foster good will in the community. Thelemann was recently recognized by OTA+Pollen as a “young professional on the rise” and for “outstanding work in the community and personal achievements.”