Eric Bixler ’07
During my time at Goshen College, I served as both sports editor and editor-in-chief of The Record. After I graduated in 2007, I worked as a media journalist for the Elkhart Truth for less than a year before deciding to attend law school. I initially became interested in law because many of the events that I wanted to cover as a journalist were being driven by lawyers or other leaders with a law degree. Becoming a lawyer, to me, seemed like a more hands-on approach than covering the events through the media. I moved to New York after law school and became a corporate health care attorney. During the COVID-19 pandemic, my job became remote, so my family decided to move back to Indiana. My time at The Record developed at least two essential professional traits that have served me well in law: time management and efficient communication. Communicating with the public through the media is similar to communicating with a corporate executive as a lawyer.Both audiences are probably very busy and want the important information at the top!
Duane Stoltzfus ’81
In December of 1981, I put my last issue as editor of The Record to bed. When I look at the bylines on the front page of that issue, I can see clear vocational through-lines. In every case, The Record served as a relevant training ground. The writers of “War comes to campus,” which was about an upcoming festival of films like “Apocalypse Now,” were Beth Martin, who taught English at Goshen College for many years, and Mark Gibbel, who began his career as a book publicist in New York City. Julia Spicher, who wrote “Players to present night of three one-act classics,” is a poet and English professor at Penn State. Melanie Zuercher, the reporter assigned to “Declining enrollment threatens High Park dorm,” is a writer and editor with Bethel College in Kansas. Even as a 22-year-old student editor, I knew that, if the stars aligned, I wanted to return to Goshen College to teach. For the past 26 years, I’ve found my north star in Goshen.
Clarissa Gaff ’00
I am the executive director of a legal aid law firm that employs more than 150 people. Working on The Record was a seminal experience in managing staff and benefits me today. I learned key lessons; for instance, one of my photo editors would leave and go to bed at 12 a.m., even if the photos weren’t finished. When the practice was brought to my attention, I had to have one of my first difficult conversations with an employee about meeting their responsibilities. In another incident, which I truly regret and, under circumstances too great to be detailed here, I yelled at one of our editors in front of the staff when she had her weekly come-apart. The event taught me never to yell at another employee, and never to discipline one in front of others. These lessons weren’t glamorous, but they were very important in my development as a manager and how I work today with our organization’s employees. I was a co-associate editor with Steven P. Miller under the editor Amy Gingerich (now CEO of MennoMedia). Seven years later, I married him — and remain married to him today!
Celeste Kennel-Shank Groff ’04
Appreciating each person’s gifts while creating something together is at the core of the work I do as a journalist and a pastor. It’s a practice I learned while working on The Record. I saw how writing, editing, photography and graphic design are all necessary to the publication as a whole. That collaborative approach served me well when I was on the editorial staff of several publications: Sojourners, Mennonite Weekly Review and the Christian Century.
Learning how to interview well was also among the skills I developed while working at The Record. Through talking to people on campus and beyond in Goshen, I began honing the ability to ask questions or offer prompts that seek to understand a person’s perspective and background. I conducted more than 50 interviews during research for my first book, “What You Sow Is a Bare Seed,” a group biography about people who shaped a countercultural community in Washington, D.C. Today, I consider asking thoughtful questions and listening reflectively to be among my greatest gifts.
