Alumni Story

Catawba College had built a faculty of the very best teachers by retaining the best professors. Most would strive to make their class interesting, entertaining and informative, and thus, each class would become one that most students wanted to attend.”

The first person to greet Fred when he arrived on campus was a coach, who welcomed him “to friendly Catawba College”. That description proved true in Fred’s student experience. Then-president Dr. Keppel epitomized the friendliness that pervaded campus, Fred recalls. The close-knit feeling of community made it easy for him to adjust to college.

Hard work and perseverance paid off, Fred found when, as a freshman, a persistent hall counselor urged him to study and “dragged me to the library every night after dinner for two semesters”. That relentless encouragement and his own effort helped him obtain the firm footing academically he needed to take the next steps on his intended path. “Catawba did not offer the professional training for what I had decided to study but did provide a steppingstone” [Fred became a Landscape Architect].

Fred reflects on still-memorable messages he picked up from three of his professors, whose names - Singers, Powers, Faust - are among a roster of legendary Catawba faculty. Their timeless teaching is part of the fabric of current-day Catawba education. “Be prepared”, remains applicable to classes and careers; “Explore our natural systems”, is a focus of Catawba’s environment and sustainability emphasis; and “Even required courses should be interesting”, is a belief championed by Catawba faculty who know that the general curriculum courses help all students develop and apply critical thinking skills and also equip them to make connections across disciplines and careers.

He realized that was not the case everywhere when he changed schools to major in landscape design. At that next school - not named here - “I discovered that the majority of faculty outside of the Design School, simply taught dry…curriculum with little or no personal student contact.” 

Something else Fred learned at Catawba he was able to apply years later when operating his own landscape design business. “My belief is that the small size and friendly structure of the school set an example of what could be accomplished in the future by energetic employees of a small service firm rather than the large impersonable mega size firms that claimed only they could ‘provide it all’.”

Just as a well-placed steppingstone can make a positive difference in a landscape, for Fred, Catawba serves as an important steppingstone that made a positive difference in his life.