Tag: alumni

As part of Founders’ Weekend, Spalding University hopes alumni and the community at large will come get acquainted with its newest campus green space on Oct. 5-6 and take time to eat, drink and play some games.

Spalding welcomes the public to its inaugural free Founders’ Weekend Fall Festival at newly opened Trager Park from 4-9 p.m. that Friday and Saturday. There will be lawn games, including a nine-hole miniature golf course, inflatables, food trucks and beer served by Great Flood Brewing. AT&T Fiber is another sponsor.

The park is located at the corner of South Second and West Kentucky streets, and free parking will be available at the former Kroger building.

Bellissimo and Georgia Sweet Potato Pie Co. will offer food on Friday, and Street Food King will on both days.

“I think there will be a good variety of activities – food, games, music, the Spalding community and the nearby community, too, “ said Shaun McDonough, Spalding’s new director of student activities and recreation. “So I think it’ll be a great mixture for everyone.

“This being a big activity in Trager Park is really great, and I know in my role, I’m looking at what can we use that space for, whether it be intramurals or other things in the future.”

Trager Park is a 2.2-acre grassy park with 100 newly planted trees. It opened in November 2017 after the property was transformed from an unused asphalt lot. The fall festival will be one of the first official university events held at the park, and it’ll certain to be the biggest so far.

“We’re just seeing how things are growing at Spalding and how we’re just trying to do more,” McDonough said.

With alumni in town for reunion weekend and visiting prospects and their parents on campus, Spalding is hoping for a big festival crowd. The Spalding festival will also be the same weekend as the St. James Court Art Show, held up a short distance away in Old Louisville, and Spalding hopes St. James fans will stop by Trager Park afterward.

While dozens of graduates from Spalding University Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy work in and around Louisville, many other alumni have found jobs across the country that they said pay well and are personally fulfilling. Here, we highlight one of them, Clarissa Tenido Perry, who works at the Villa Pueblo Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center in Pueblo, Colorado.

Clarissa Tenido Perry, a native of Hawaii who attended high school in West Virginia, got job offers in Southern Indiana and in Colorado – where she wanted to be – shortly after graduation from ASOT in 2015.

“Anywhere on the West Coast, there are a lot of jobs,” she said. “Anywhere in the South and in any rural areas there are plenty of jobs.”

She said she felt eager and prepared to go work out west after Spalding placed her at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for her Level II fieldwork.

Tenido also got her bachelor’s in health science from Spalding, participating in the bridge program in which senior undergraduates can begin working toward their graduate-level OT coursework and finish a year sooner. She said she enjoyed the small class size of the ASOT program.

“I felt like it was more of a family atmosphere, and that was really nice,” she said. “They promoted that feeling and culture. … I think Spalding helped me become a well-rounded therapist. I’m doing a little bit of outpatient and a little bit of skilled nursing. But if I wanted to go on into mental health, or community therapy, I would be able to do it with all the knowledge and all the education I received from Spalding. So I would highly recommend it. I think they did an excellent job in educating and getting me ready for whatever setting I chose to work in.”

Learn more about the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy.

Watch a video about the Spalding Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program.

Register for a Aug. 28, 2018 Spalding OTD info session.

While dozens of graduates of Spalding Univesity’s Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy  work in and around Louisville, many other alumni have found jobs across the country that they said pay well and are personally fulfilling. Here, we highlight one of them – 2015 alumnus Tom Cox, who is a hand therapist in Florida. 

Tom Cox credits his Spalding Level II fieldwork under and current ASOT faculty member Dr. Greg Pitts for setting him on the path to success in hand therapy. He said that right after graduation, he earned a job in Washington, D.C., making $79,000 initially and that within the first year received a raise to six figures. As of the summer 2018, he works under a group of hand surgeons and orthopedic surgeons in South Florida.

Cox said Pitts instilled in him the “Four C’s” of a successful therapy practice – caring, communication, confidence and competence. “His big philosophy is that if you love patients, they recognize that, and you’ll never be slow at your clinic,” Cox said. “That’s how I’ve operated, based on his philosophy. If patients know you genuinely care about them, genuinely love them, and are genuinely invested in them getting better, they’ll bend over backwards for you with what you ask of them.”

From 2013-17, 95 percent of Spalding graduates passed the National Board Certification of Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam, which is required to become a registered and licensed occupational therapist. Cox said he was impressed by the way the Spalding faculty prioritizes board exam preparation.

“At Spalding, you’ve got some of the best professors in the nation, in my opinion,” Cox said. “You had really good professors who were passionate about the subjects, so they armed you with the information you need. And they prepare you for that NBCOT extremely well, and that’s what you want to be prepared for. If a program doesn’t prepare you for the boards, it’s not worth going to. … If anyone wants to be set up for success, Spalding would be the place to go.”

Learn more about the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy and its new doctor of occupational therapy (OTD) program.

The “Spalding at 21c: Voice and Vision” reading series will hold its third session of the season from 6-7:15 p.m. Thursday, July 19 at 21c Museum Hotel, 700 W. Main St. The free, public event is sponsored by Spalding’s nationally ranked Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing program and the hotel.

The July lineup showcases a mix of prominent and award-winning local and regional poets and prose writers – Adam Day, Erin Keane, Will Lavender, Kayla Rae Whitaker, Philip White and Lisa Williams.

The evening begins with open-mic presentations of one- to two-minute readings of works in progress. Individuals may sign up for an open-mic presentation on a first-come, first-served basis just before the program begins.

The “Spalding at 21c: Voice and Vision” series runs the third Thursday of every month from May to August. Writers from all area universities, community writers’ groups, Spalding alumni and independent writers are welcome to participate. If interested in taking part in a future reading, inquire with series coordinator Amy Foos Kapoor at [email protected]. Spalding MFA founding program director Sena Jeter Naslund and associate director Katy Yocom emcee the series. Spalding MFA associate program director Lynnell Edwards will emcee the July reading.

Free street parking is available. Proof on Main welcomes those who would like to enjoy the culinary arts, further discussion, and literary connection at the end of the evening. For more information and reservations, visit www.proofonmain.com or call 502-217-6360.

About the Readers

Adam Day is the author of the forthcoming collection of poetry Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press) as well as Model of a City in Civil War (Sarabande) and Badger, Apocrypha (PSA). Spalding MFA in Writing alumna Erin Keane is a poet, critic and journalist who serves as an executive editor at Salon. The author of three collections of poetry, Keane also serves on the board of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Will Lavender is the New York Times bestselling author of the psychological thrillers Obedience (Crown) and Dominance (Simon & Schuster). Kayla Rae Whitaker’s work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, Literary Hub, Lenny Letter and others. Her debut novel, The Animators (Random House Trade), was named one of the best debut novels of 2017 by Entertainment Weekly and NPR. Philip White has won a Pushcart Prize in poetry and a Willis Barnstone prize in poetry translation. His book of poems, The Clearing (Texas Tech), won the Walt McDonald award. Lisa Williams has published three books of poems: The Hammered Dulcimer (winner of the May Swenson Poetry Award), Woman Reading to the Sea (winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize) and Gazelle in the House (New Issues Press).

About the Spalding MFA in Writing program

Spalding’s nationally distinguished low-residency MFA in Writing program is committed to excellence in a noncompetitive atmosphere. The program offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting and playwriting. Students begin the semester in the spring, summer or fall with a residency in Louisville or abroad; then, faculty and students return to their homes for an independent study focusing on the student’s creative writing. Cross-genre exploration is emphasized. Students may customize the residency location, season, and pace of their studies. See spalding.edu/mfa for more information.

About 21c Museum Hotel Louisville

A multi-venue museum, 21c was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors and preservationists who are committed to bringing works of art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate contemporary art into daily life. 21c Museum presents a range of arts programming curated by Museum Director and Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites, including thought-provoking solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today; site-specific, commissioned installations; as well as a variety of cultural events. The organization collaborates on arts initiatives with artists and cultural organizations worldwide, including The North Carolina Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, The Contemporary Art Museum Houston, The Barnes Foundation, The National Gallery of Ontario, The Creative Capital Foundation, and others. Since opening in Louisville in 2006, 21c Museum has presented more than 85 exhibitions, including Cuba Now!; Alter Ego: A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea; Blue: Matter, Mood, and Melancholy; Aftermath: Witnessing War, Countenancing Compassion; Seeing Now; Wild Card: The Art of Michael Combs, a Fifteen-Year Survey; Dis-semblance: Projecting and Perceiving Identity; Albano Afonso: Self-Portrait as Light; and Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art.

Spalding alumnus Tyler Glass is showing with every snap of his camera and every post on his Instagram account that he possesses what just about everyone covets on social media nowadays: influence.

He’s also finding adventure and professional success along the way.

Glass, a former Spalding natural science major and soccer player, has spent the first two years since his graduation traveling to amazing outdoor spaces, learning photography and showcasing dramatic pictures of mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and cliffs on Instagram.

People like his pictures a lot. As in likes and likes by the thousands, and he’s built a following of more than 56,000 on his @tylerwayneglass Instagram account.

“I’m someone who’s gotten extremely lucky,” Glass said. “There’s a lot of hard work with it, too.”

Companies that sell outdoor clothing and equipment have taken notice of his work and hired him as a freelance contractor to take photos that feature their products – the kind of cool nature shots you’d expect to see in a catalog.

The brands he’s worked with include Moosejaw, Naturewise and Kelty Built, plus hotel, car rental and camper van companies.

“Their mission is brand awareness, and I’m a tool to get that done,” said Glass, who has made recent trips to Iceland, Oregon and Colorado. Trips to Canada and Switzerland are planned. … “It’s probably one of those things in a couple years I’m going to look back and think, ‘This was pretty cool.'”

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He and a travel/business partner make a list of destinations at the beginning of the year and contact brands that they like to let them know they are going and are available to provide content or to perform Instagram takeovers.

“A lot of it has to do with, you spend so much time on Instagram and follow other Instagram influencers who are going places,” he said. “You see where they’re going, and you say, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty cool shot, but maybe I can do better, get a different shot, get a different angle.'”

Glass, who once thought he’d go to law school after getting his bachelor’s, started photography after his Spalding graduation in 2016. He hoped it would be an activity that might fill the time void left after the completion of his four-year college soccer career.

He and friends took a three-week drive out west after graduation, and he brought along an inexpensive camera and lens.

“From there, it just became a passion,” Glass said. “It definitely wasn’t me thinking, in two years I’ll have over 50,000 followers and getting paid to travel to these places. I kind of thought that (trip) would be me like my last hurrah before entering the workforce, and instead, it jump-started all this stuff.”

During 2017, Glass said, he improved his skills and developed a personal style of photography and editing, and his Instagram pictures were getting shared more and more. He’s worked to keep his Instagram page and Instagram stories fresh and unique, and his pictures made their way onto Instagram Search and Explore pages. He gained more attention when Tamron USA, the lens company, featured a story on its website about Glass proposing to his girlfriend during the trip to Iceland last year and highlighting some of the photos he took.

The increased following has led to increased business.

“I spent a lot of last year reaching out to brands, and the last few months, I’ve had a lot of brands reach out to me,” he said. “It was just finding the best way to put myself out there so that a lot of people could see me. Obviously Instagram has helped me out a lot with that.”

Glass has a pretty sweet gig, and he knows it. He said he tries on his trips to live in the moment and appreciate the cool places he’s getting to see. Instead of concerning himself only on getting the perfect picture of an amazing sunset in Oregon, for instance, Glass said, he tries to make sure to take time and enjoy getting to witness the sunset.

Before he left for a recent trip, his father told him goodbye and reminded him, “Realize what you’re doing right now because you’re doing something that a lot of people your age aren’t getting to do and would die to get to do,” Glass recalled.

Glass also looks back fondly on his time at Spalding.

The graduate of Louisville’s Academy for Individual Excellence had originally planned to attend Georgetown College and play soccer there but changed his mind right before the start of his freshman year and came to play at Spalding instead.

“It’s the best decision I ever made,” he said. “I made the absolute best friends I’ll ever have in my entire life. It’s one of the most important things that’s happened in my life. It’s kind of taught me with these trips and with life in general, that life is not going to go exactly how you planned no matter how hard you try or how well you think you’ve got it planned out. Life is going to change up a little bit, but usually it’s going to be for the better.”

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Spalding University will hold its annual commencement ceremony on June 2 to celebrate 645 students who have completed or will complete bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees during the 2017-18 school year.

The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at Canaan Christian Church, 2840 Hikes Lane.

Spalding will also recognize five individuals with honorary degrees or special awards that recognize service, philanthropy, leadership and dedication to the greater good.

Community activist Christopher 2X, retired banking executive and current nonprofit leader Carl M. Thomas and banking executive Steve Trager will each receive an honorary doctorate of public service.

Nursing leader Christe Coe (Master of Science in Nursing, 2008), will receive the Caritas Medal as the university’s alumna of the year – the highest honor Spalding annually bestows. Additionally, Barbara Carter, field director for the Spalding School of Social Work, will receive this year’s Outstanding Faculty Award.

Here’s more on those five honorees:

Honorary doctorate of public service

**Christopher 2X is an anti-violence and peace advocate in Louisville who has sought to be a “voice for the voiceless” since 2004, and he has been called upon multiple times to smooth difficult situations that arise in the community. He has created or co-created campaigns such as Fight Crimes Against Children, Connected Voices, Voices of the Survivors, Put Down the Gun, Project Build a Rapport, Let the Kids Grow, Team Hope NOLA, the Respect Project and Justice for LIL 1s. In 2012, he was appointed to the mayor’s Violence Prevention Work Group, and he has been featured in national media for his work related to violent crime and incarceration issues.

He serves as ambassador of public relations for the Global Mixed Gender Basketball League, recently created by the rapper and entrepreneur Percy Miller, aka Master P, and he has started a series of Balling for a Cause youth basketball camps that focus on leadership skills.

**Carl M. Thomas is the executive director of the V.V. Cooke Foundation, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations that support religious, educational and humanitarian causes.  He retired in 2015 as president and treasurer of the Gheens Foundation after 10 years in that position. He retired in 2005 as chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Bank and Trust Co., where he worked for 14 years and was one of its founding employees. He also is former senior vice president and director of the banking division at First National Bank of Louisville/National City Bank.

Among his civic and nonprofit roles, Thomas is the board chairman of the Filson Historical Society and is on the boards of the Home of the Innocents, the Lincoln Heritage Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Fund for the Arts, Stage One Family Theatre and Future Up. He is a former Spalding trustee.

**Steve Trager is the chairman and CEO of Republic Bank, where he has worked since 1987, and has held myriad roles in other professional, educational and charitable organizations. Trager is actively involved in the operation and retail management of Republic’s 45 banking centers in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee with total assets of $5.1 billion. He is also past chairman for the Kentucky Bankers Association, the University of Louisville Board of Overseers, the 2016 Fund for the Arts Campaign and Leadership Kentucky. He is a former board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Louisville Branch and the Louisville Regional Airport Authority. Trager currently serves on the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees.

Among his accolades, Trager was in 2003 named the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Man of the Year and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southern Ohio and Kentucky region. He was a 2004 inductee into the Atherton High School Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame and the 2005 winner of the Distinguished Alumni Award for the U of L Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. Trager served as council chair with the Boy Scouts of America for the 2009 Friends of Scouting Campaign, and he was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 2015.

Caritas Medal (Alumna of the year)

Christe Coe, who came to Spalding as an adult to earn her MSN, is an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) who has served 12 years on the Kentucky Board of Nursing, currently as the financial officer. She has been active with the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives and has served as a board member at Spalding, a CPR instructor for the American Heart Association and a committee member for St. Agnes parish and school. Coe is a supporter of Kosair Charities, Little Sisters of the Poor, Louisville Metro Animal Services and other charitable causes.

The Caritas Medal is presented to an alumna or alumnus who has made a significant contribution to a particular field and who embodies the qualities and spirit of service encompassed in the mission of Spalding. “Caritas” – Latin for “charity”- is included in “Caritas Christi Urget Nos” (The Charity of Christ Urges Us), which is the motto of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, the Catholic order that founded Spalding.

Outstanding Faculty Award

Barbara Carter has served as the field director for undergraduate and master’s students in the School of Social Work for more than 10 years, ensuring that students receive rigorous and relevant field experience prior to joining the profession of social work. During her time at Spalding, Carter maintains a 100 percent placement rate for students, having placed more than 700 of them in social service agencies in Kentucky and other states.

Katie Goben ’18 graduates from Spalding’s Master of Science in Business Communication (MSBC) on June 2 with a 4.0 GPA. Goben, who earned her master’s degree while working full time, discusses her experience as well as her favorite memory at Spalding.

What is your favorite Spalding memory?

Goben: My favorite memory of the MSBC program is simply all of the people I have met throughout the program. Dr. Hinkle has quickly become a mentor to me and my peers never stop amazing me with their determination to reach their goals. I know I have met lifelong friends and created a network that will help me reach my goals in the future.

What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time at Spalding?

Goben: I am most proud to be graduating from the MSBC program with a 4.0. This is not something I have done before, so it feels good to see all my hard work pay off. It is especially nice since I completed the program in one year while working full time.

What is your favorite spot on campus?

My favorite spot on campus is the patio off the second floor of the ELC. It is a great spot to hideaway in, relax, eat and take naps in the hammocks! It has even helped me get a few unintentional sunburns this spring.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Spalding will forever hold a special place in my heart. The last year has been full of ups and downs but the support that this school gives is second to none. I was very nervous coming into the Master of Science in Business Communication, but I realized early on I was going to be okay. I would encourage anyone who is considering furthering their education to not only consider Spalding but especially the MSBC program.

Jeff Maxey, an alumnus of the Spalding University College of Education master’s program, was named the South Carolina Teacher of the Year on May 2. In a phone interview this week during Teacher Appreciation Week, Maxey said he credits the program at Spalding for setting him on a path to success in teaching.

“Not a day has gone by in teaching classes that I don’t think back to something I learned in my experience at Spalding,” said Maxey, a special education teacher at Starr Elementary School in Anderson, South Carolina.

He won the award during a gala event last week. He’ll receive $25,000 and the use of a new BMW for the next year, during which he’ll serve as an ambassador and the spokesman for more than 50,000 educators in the state. He’ll travel the state to speak, conduct mentoring and work with teacher cadets and teaching fellows. The South Carolina Department of Education touts its Teacher of the Year program as one of the strongest in the country.

“Jeff exhibits the qualities and characteristics that we want to see in every current and future South Carolina educator,” State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said.

Maxey didn’t begin his professional life as a teacher. The Louisville native and Seneca High School graduate got his bachelor’s degree in religious studies and communication from Western Kentucky University in 1992, then served as a minister at Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green.

Several years later, he made the career move into teaching, and he said the programs offered in the Spalding College of Education made it possible. Maxey was able to earn certification to teach special education during the day at Lassiter Middle School in the Jefferson County Public Schools system while taking his graduate-school courses in the evenings and on weekends.

Maxey spent about 18 months at Spalding, earning a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration on learning and behavior disorders.

“To be able to do it hand in hand – the learning (at Spalding) while being a practitioner during the day – really solidified and made the teaching in the classroom come to life and made me that much more a part of what of my professors were teaching me, because then I could go try it,” Maxey said. “Then I could come back and interact (with the professors) about what worked or about what things I could do to tweak it to become more successful.”

MORE: Information on all bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral offerings from the College of Education

Maxey said he was grateful for the options that were available to him at Spalding as an adult learner looking to make a career change into teaching.

“Spalding was a huge part of my educational journey,” Maxey said. “Right now, with the teacher shortage that we’re experiencing, I hope there’s a lot of people out there who would consider it. If they’re looking at making a change in career, looking for something very meaningful in which they can impact the life of children, I would certainly recommend that they consider Spalding and they consider teaching.”

After spending three years at Lassiter Middle School, Maxey’s career took a unique turn. He moved to North Africa to work for eight years for a non-profit organization doing teacher training in small villages.

“Every day, I used in Africa what I learned at Spalding,” he said. “I used a lot of the same principles my professors at Spalding taught me in how to use a variety of teaching techniques that I was able to pass along to those teachers and help them be successful in their settings.”

Maxey returned to the United States in 2013 and began teaching in South Carolina. His Teacher of the Year award shows that he’s done an exemplary job.

Maxey is eager to start traveling to talk with students, teachers, administrators and legislators about education policy and classroom practices. As a special education teacher, he said one priority of his will be to discuss enhancing teaching techniques for students with autism.

And, as he travels as Teacher of the Year, he’ll be riding in style. As for that brand new BMW, Maxey said, “I’m looking forward to putting a lot of miles on it.”

Spalding alumni and any other members of the Spalding community or friends of the university are invited to participate next Monday, April 23, in the second annual Spalding University Alumni Association Golf Classic at Chariot Run Golf Course in Laconia Indiana.

The cost is $150 per player or $600 for a foursome, and a few spots remain. You don’t have to be a Spalding alumnus/alumna to play.  The foursome entry fee includes 18 holes and a cart, range access, a buffet lunch, two drink tickets, a gift bag and access to the silent auction.

You can register online at this link, or contact Liam Clemen in alumni relations at [email protected] or (502) 873-4551 with questions.

All proceeds go the Blue and Gold Fund to support Spalding students.

The event begin with lunch at 11 a.m., followed by a shot-gun start on the course at 12:30 p.m.

“It’s just going to be a fun time,” Clemen said. “It supports the Blue and Gold Fund, which goes right back into scholarships and student funds. It supports the students, which is what we’re all about here at Spalding.”

Spalding will also host its 14th annual Day at the Downs at Churchill Downs on Sunday, June 3, the day after Commencement. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities for that are available at this link. Clemen said that event is always one of Spalding’s most popular and that dozens of tickets have already been sold.

Clemen especially encourages recent alumni to engage in Spalding events like the golf outing and Day at the Downs. He said a homecoming-style gathering next fall with drinks and music is in the works.

Clemen, a 2017 Spalding graduate and former baseball player who started at his job last October, is part of the alumni demographic he’s targeting. The Toronto native said he loved his experience at Spalding, majoring in communications and playing ball for a season before suffering an injury.

He did work study in the sports information office of the athletic department, including doing announcing for the live stream of Spalding basketball and baseball games.

Clemen said he’s enjoyed being on campus to experience the growth of the campus with integration of new properties like the College Street Center, the Republic Bank Academic Center and Trager Park as well as the proposed athletic fields project on Ninth Street.

“Being able to be a part of that has given me the Spalding spirit,” Clemen said. “That’s one thing I’ve been trying to get our alumni to do, come out to our games and events and show their support for their alma mater. I just love being here.”

Learn more about how Spalding alumni can stay engaged at Spalding.edu/alumni.

Top photo credit: Golfible.com

Spalding has produced a certified Rising Star in Louisville’s arts community.

Vinhay Keo, a 2016 graduate of the Spalding’s art program and a current admissions counselor, was honored Thursday, March 1 with the Rising Star Award by Louisville Visual Art at its The Stars Among Us luncheon.

Keo, a 23-year-old native of Cambodia who immigrated to the United States at 10, earned acclaim last fall for his solo exhibition, “Confront,” during the Louisville Photo Biennial. The exhibit at the Moremen Moloney Gallery was listed as one of the five must-see shows of the event by the Courier Journal. LVA described Keo’s exhibit “as a commentary that spoke to the chaos in American society, the worth and importance of the immigrant in that chaos, and the very core value of diversity that lies at the heart of the United States of America.”

“It was great to be in position to be recognized pretty recently after my undergrad, having graduated here,” Keo said. “To have already had the success I had with a solo exhibition last year and then to be recognized from that exhibition with this (LVA) event was just a really great honor and great privilege to be in the lineup with the (three) amazing (other honorees).”

He said he’s not sure the reality of his quick ascent in the Louisville arts scene has fully sunk in.

“At the end of the day, I realize my success wouldn’t have happened without a community of supporters who have helped me to get to where I am now, as far as the amazing faculty and staff here at Spalding and within the art program,” Keo said. “I’ve had some amazing mentors who have encouraged me to pursue things I didn’t even think I could do. I’m really lucky to be part of a community that embraces the notion of, ‘It takes a village,’ and I’m at the receiving end of all this amazing support.”

Keo said he was touched by the positive reception his “Confront” exhibit received from the arts community and from collectors.

“It was just a big boost of confidence – that perhaps this is the right path for me as a young artist,” Keo said. He added with a laugh: “And not necessarily a starving artist.”

Keo’s training is in studio art with a focus on digital media, and his work has included primarily photography. Moving forward, he said he’s interested in different disciplines of performance art and potentially doing video art and sound art.

“What I’m most interested in is how do I use art to engage with the larger community to really potentially be an agent of change to create a more accessible world and more diverse world,” he said.

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LVA celebrated Elmer Lucille Allen, Porter Watkins, Wilma Bethel, and Vinhay Keo. @louisvillemayor introduced the luncheon, which was hosted by Gill Holland at the @kygriot. We look forward to seeing you at the second ceremony, coming in 2019! https://t.co/a2luroZc3W pic.twitter.com/EjF6RJy2P8

— Louisville Visual Art (@LouVisualArt) March 1, 2018

‘A shout out to the Spalding community’

Hosted by film producer, developer and philanthropist Gill Holland, the LVA luncheon was held at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage and attended by Mayor Greg Fischer and dozens of others, including many from the art community.

Keo was one of two Spalding alumni to be honored by LVA.

The other was Elmer Lucille Allen, a 1953 graduate of Nazareth College (now called Spalding) who received LVA’s Legacy Award. Allen, who was the first African-American chemist at Brown-Forman, is an accomplished artist specializing in ceramics and textiles.

“She and I both gave a shout out to the Spalding community,” Keo said.

With his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Spalding, Keo said he now plans to continue his education and pursue a master’s of fine arts. He plans to enroll in grad school this fall, and he’s a candidate for admissions at some of the top grad art programs in the world, including in London, New York and California.

In his current job as a recruiter, Keo said he enjoys connecting with high school students who are in a position now that he was in not long ago as a student at Warren East High School in Bowling Green.

“I found out about Spalding through admissions counselors,” he said. “Now I get to be in that same role and essentially introduce high school students to the arts and a possibility of a career in the arts. Louisville is a really great community in terms of the people, the institutions and the overall spirit about the power of art and what it can do.”