Alumni Return for Homecoming Weekend
Westmont will honor California State Assembly Member Kristin Olsen ’96 as Alumna of the Year during Homecoming 2014 Oct. 17-19. Olsen, who takes over as the next Assembly Republican leader in November, joins Young Alumnus Award winner Daniel Zia ’06 and Global Service Award winners Byron ’82 and Lisa Repko ’84 Borden at the All-Alumni Brunch celebration on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 10-11:30 a.m. on Magnolia Lawn. For more information, please contact the alumni office at (805) 565-6056 or alumni@westmont.edu.
Olson, who represents San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties in the 12th Assembly District, will be the first mother of school-aged children to serve as leader of a Republican or Democratic caucus in the California Legislature. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Westmont with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies. She served in the prestigious Senate Fellows Program, eventually becoming assistant vice president for communications and public affairs at California State University, Stanislaus. She was first elected to the assembly in November 2010 and re-elected in November 2012.
Zia is CEO and owner of the Zia Group, a boutique real estate firm that sells more homes in the greater Santa Barbara area than any other. His desire to encourage people in their Christian faith merges with his analytical mind and entrepreneurial drive, creating a vocation he calls a real estate pastor. He and his wife, Sarah Smith ’06, are involved with Young Life, the Unity Shoppe, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and the Westmont Young Alumni Council.
The Bordens have devoted their lives to full-time, cross-cultural service. They left for Kenya in 1984 and served there until 2000. They moved to Europe working with Marty ’81 and Carey Fanoe ’85 Uhler to start churches before returning to East Africa in 2007. In Tanzania, they empower local men and women through discipleship, helping them generate more income. They have launched Wema Ventures, an organization dedicated to spiritual and economic transformation (http://www.wemaventures.org).
Alumna Joy Eggerichs ’04, director of Love and Respect Now, leads the chapel service on Friday, Oct. 10, from 10:30-11:15 a.m. in the gym.
On Friday night, alumni and their families will enjoy burgers and a bounce house on Kerrwood Lawn beginning at 5 p.m. The evening concludes with the first-ever Homecoming Golf Cart Parade from 5:45-6:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the Westmont Family Fair with carnival games, face painting and an inflatable tumbler is from 12-4 p.m. in the parking lot near Thorrington Field. The women’s soccer game begins at noon, and the men kick off at 2:30 p.m. on Thorrington Field.