You probably know the name Doc Hendley ’04 by now, but just in case: He’s the founder of Wine to Water, a faith-based nonprofit that installs running water and sanitation systems in the neediest parts of the world, and he’s one of the 10 finalists you can vote for to be named CNN’s 2009 Hero of the Year. Voting for that ends Wednesday, and the winner will be announced Thanksgiving Day at 9 p.m. during a live telecast on CNN. So, vote! And, keep voting.
We first reported on the work that Doc is doing on our blog in May. We spoke with him by phone for a few minutes Monday; and after the jump is a Q&A with him about how his life and his organization have changed since he was named a finalist for CNN’s Hero of the Year.
How did you find out you were a finalist for CNN’s 2009 Hero of the Year?
I found out a couple of days before they announced it on Oct. 1. They called and told me. I ran off the road when I found out. I didn’t expect it at all.
Michael Chinneck ’06 has a degree in middle grades language arts and social studies. But in 2008, he began working for Central Texas College, running education centers on military bases in Afghanistan. After spending several weeks helping to set up education centers on different Army bases, he settled at Forward Operating Base Sharana, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There he oversaw the offering of college courses to the more than 3,000 members of the 62nd Engineer Battalion. He returned to North Carolina in May and talks here with former NC State intern Ryan Greene about his year of challenge, danger and personal growth.
On his job
[It encompassed] setting up classes for soldiers to take on site. I hired teachers [and] worked with universities to facilitate getting books to their students there. One of the things that soldiers have is goarmyed.com. [The military] gives [them] $4,500 while on active duty to take college courses. There were over 300 different colleges within the system, and the number of degrees was in the thousands. So there were a lot of choices for the soldiers.
On the importance of the work
It sets up their career after the military. I saw soldiers positively working toward something they thought could be attainable in the future. And it provides an outlet for them while they’re deployed to take their mind off the combat environment. I saw soldiers going to classes at night, and they said, “This is the only thing I have besides going to my room and just sitting there and thinking about what’s going on.” On the base, you really don’t have anything else. You have maybe a small [Morale, Welfare and Recreation area], which provides computers and phones. But when you have 20 computers and over 3,000 soldiers on the [base], it’s really not going to be feasible for them all to do that.
On the dangers
Our bases got attacked a couple times while I was there. One base in particular, Salerno, it was attacked twice in two days. About [2 a.m.], I heard something fly by and thought, “That does not sound good.” (more…)
In the Autumn issue of NC State, we talked with David Evans ’84, a Washington, D.C.-based photographer who travels the world looking to shoot the unseen, to document life in far-off cultures and to find the familiar in the foreign. Evans started in advertising but migrated to photography. Along the way, he helped to direct the creation of the National Geographic Channel. His work has appeared in National Geographic magazine, and he shoots often for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We have posted a PDF of our photo feature to our Web site. You can see additional images in the slideshow above and read more from Evans below.
Did you feel in danger when you were documenting the possession cult in Venezuela? (Editor’s note: see photo 12 in the slideshow)
Yes and no. They don’t like journalists or photographs. When I first found the violent stuff going on in the mountains — it was a very remote, isolated place — I was chased away several times and threatened with my life. I just kept going back, trying to explain who I was until I was accepted into the inner circle. And then people were used to us and let us work. There were people very opposed to us being there, and because it’s Venezuela’s more poverty-prone population, there’s also a more violence-prone people involved. These are people who after throwing corn on the ground to make these symbols and thrashing around and bleeding and screaming and sweating and stepping all over this stuff were picking up the kernels of corn to cook for dinner. That’s how poor they were. Me walking around with $30,000 of camera equipment strapped to my back, it’s pitch dark in the middle of the jungle with thousands of people in various states of possession. It’s a little worrisome. (more…)
In the Summer 2009 issue of NC State magazine, we asked readers to tell us their memories of living on a student budget. We received nearly 175 responses and printed many in the Autumn 2009 issue. Below is a submission from (Ret.) Col. Ralph Brake ’40.
Ralph Brake '40, from the 1940 Agromeck.
Not only did he send us his story (below), he loaned us the ledger in which he recorded his income and expenses for his junior year (1938-39). We’ve reproduced images of pages from it at the end of the post.
How much did college cost? I estimated my freshman year expenses at $400. Expenses went up approximately $100 per year for my sophomore, junior, and senior years. For my junior year, September 1938 to May 1939, I kept a written ledger of my income and expenses.
I had to work to stay in college. I had no bank account. I was fortunate to have three older sisters who provided financial support during my four years at NC State. My father and mother died before I enrolled.
Beginning with the second term in January 1937, I worked daily in the dairy, milking cows by hand starting at 3:30 a.m. The building for milking cows in 1937 was located near the site of Reynolds Coliseum. I occasionally dropped off to sleep at 8 a.m. classes. At the end of my freshman year my roommate, Bruce Hildebrand ’40, informed me that I had a choice: I either get a new job or get a new roommate for my sophomore year. I got a new job in the botany department doing typing, filing, etc. A bonus was working for Prof. Murray Buell occasionally as a babysitter.
Brake's ledger, where he recorded his expenses for the 1938-39 school year.
[After] my first year at NC State, I was given summer employment working for the U.S. Forest Service doing a timber survey of Pisgah National Forest between Asheville and Blowing Rock. This job helped pay for part of my sophomore year expenses.
In September 1938, I was accepted for the Advanced ROTC program, which provided some additional income. I also was offered a job in the ROTC Military Department for my junior and senior years, which helped pay my expenses. During a six-week ROTC camp at Ft. McClellan I was given extra duty as the company clerk in addition to the required training, but no extra pay.
Another source of income was from selling pecans. My father had planted about 5 acres of Stuart Pecans on his farm. I sold and delivered about 100 pounds of these to faculty members and students each fall.
Editor’s note: Click on the images for a closer look. There are more after the jump.
If you watch Grey’s Anatomy or Ghost Whisperer, chances are you’ve heard the music of Kyler England ’98. Since her days as a Caldwell Fellow, England has flourished in the alternative rock music scene in Los Angeles and was named one of Music Connection’s Hot 100 Unsigned Artist of 2007. Her songs from her latest album, Simple Machine—her fifth studio release—have popped up on numerous TV shows and earned her a spot as a finalist for Indie Acoustic Project’s 2008 Best Female Songwriter. She’s also a member of The Rescues, a band that the California-based Easy Reader independent newspaper described as the “first Indie supergroup.”
Listen to the group’s concert for NPR’s Mountain Stage music program,which describes The Rescues’ music as similar to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. Also read NC State magazine’s Q&A with Kyler England in our fall issue after the jump.
Update: Kyler England will perform on NC State’s campus — in Thompson Hall’s Titmus Theatre — on Friday, Oct. 2, beginning at 8 p.m. Order tickets through Arts NC State’s Center Stage.
No Week in Review this time, but I didn’t want to head out today without posting something. It’s always fun to see the things our alumni do after leaving NC State. This is Dan Murphy ’04, who’s a pro skateboarder and is on Nike’s skateboarding team. I’ve never been a skateboarder myself, but I can’t help but appreciate his skill and the ease with which he pulls off these 10 tricks. I’m sure he had a lot of practice on campus.
When Vivian Howard ’00, above, moved to New York, N.Y., to start an advertising job, she wasn’t thinking about a career in the kitchen. But after a year and a half of work she found unfulfilling, she left behind office life to cook in some of New York’s best restaurants.
Today, the English major and daughter of a hog farmer owns Chef and the Farmer, a fine-dining restaurant in Kinston that specializes in dishes using local and organic ingredients. She talks here with Deborah Neffa about her restaurant and her work.
Why open a fine-dining restaurant in Kinston?
I’m from Kinston, and my background is more fine-dining. When my husband, Ben, and I worked in New York, we had a catering business and specialized in soups. It was called Viv’s Kitchen. We made weekly deliveries and also did soups for some coffee shops. That’s actually what we had planned on coming back and opening—a soup and sandwich shop. But everyone in Kinston said it needs a nicer restaurant where people can have a nice meal and a glass of wine. (more…)
You probably know the name Doc Hendley ’04 by now, but just in case: He’s the founder of Wine to Water, a faith-based nonprofit that installs running water and sanitation systems in the neediest parts of the world, and he’s one of the 10 finalists you can vote for to be named CNN’s 2009 Hero of the Year. Voting for that ends Wednesday, and the winner will be announced Thanksgiving Day at 9 p.m. during a live telecast on CNN. So, vote! And, keep voting.
If you watch Grey’s Anatomy or Ghost Whisperer, chances are you’ve heard the music of 
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