The SPU Voices Podcast

When Paige Johnson ’15 first started exploring job opportunities for hospital dietitians, she was amazed by the demand for different dietetic specialties and services. Johnson started her career at Seattle Children’s Hospital’s milk lab, mixing formulas or fortifying a mother’s breastmilk, then moved to pediatric oncology. After four and a half years working at Seattle Children’s, Johnson recently accepted a new clinical dietitian position at Harborview Medical Center.

Fern Donaghy found theater early in life and came to SPU to study Theatre Education, hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow alum and Roosevelt High School Theatre teacher, Ben Stuart. But when COVID made student teaching more difficult than ever, Fern leaned in to passion for working behind the scenes in wardrobe and costume. Now, only a year and a half out of college, Fern works for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Paramount Theatre, and Climate Pledge Arena dressing for both locals shows and world tours. 

Dr. Deana L. Porterfield was elected in January of 2023, to be Seattle Pacific University’s next president. Porterfield is the 12th president in the university’s 133-year history and its first female president. She assumed her duties on July 1, 2023. With more than 35 years of experience in Christian higher education, including almost nine years as president of Roberts Wesleyan, Dr. Porterfield is known as a visionary leader with a passion for faith-based higher education which promotes transformational learning and hope.

Cami Ostman began her career as an English teacher. Then, after getting her master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from SPU in 2000, spent the next 20 years as a therapist. Upon writing a successful memoir and seeing first-hand the transformational power of writing one's own story, she started The Narrative Project: providing everything you need to get your book done. Now, after watching hundreds of lives grow and blossom, she is bringing those transformational lessons to non-writers as well with The Phoenix Lessons.  

Alexia Estrada, class of 2020, is the granddaughter of farm workers and director of operations at Semillero (Nursery) de Ideas, a nonprofit centering around farm workers as the leaders of innovation. She spent her summer running an innovation challenge, speaking with farm workers about their ideas of how to make the cherry harvest safer and more efficient for themselves and the growers. In August of 2023, they presented the winner with a chance to patent his product and reap the rewards of his invention. 

We took a look at three generations of Noel with the long lost Christmas poem by JRR Tolkien written in 1936, the song Cry of a Tiny Babe by Bruce Coburn written in 1990, and a spoken word piece written in 2020 by our own Philip "Sharp Skills" Jacobs. Enjoy these readings by SPU alumni and podcast guests. Merry Christmas! 

After 18 years serving as a probation officer with the Lewis County Juvenile Court, Lee Montgomery ’89, saw how easily kids without a strong support system found themselves getting into trouble. He had to do something to help slow the cycle of poverty and incarceration, so he started the Lewis County Youth Mentorship Program with a mission to inspire youth through meaningful relationships to make positive choices that build resiliency, encourage growth and enable them to pursue a successful future.

Tod Yansomboon, currently in his final quarter at SPU, is an international student from Thailand. Tod left his home at the age of 15 to attend high school in the US in pursuit of his overarching goal: to understand business and how business can help others. After three years of high school in three different U.S. states, Tod arrived on the SPU campus to study business administration and found his dreams all coming true ... until COVID hit. Forced to return home without much hope of returning, Tod turned to social media for community and support. He is now a true influencer with over one million subscribers, and his videos have been being viewed over 200 million times.

2020 grad Jacoby Miles describes herself as a business administrator, lover of the arts, apologetics enthusiast & lover of people. At the age of 15, she was paralyzed from my chest down due to a gymnastics accident. She has worked hard to gain her strength back but is still confined to a wheelchair with limited mobility. She says her life has never been the same after the accident, but it has changed in the best way, too.

Rev. Dr. Katie Douglass, Associate Professor of Educational Ministry and Practical Theology at Seattle Pacific, and her team have recently received 1.3 million in grants for the Faith Formation Project. The project is all about partnering with congregations and families in the Pacific Northwest to help kids grow in faith. If you are a parent, you know today’s fast-changing world is making your job even harder. Prof Douglass is here to help.