Doug Elrick ’87 insists that digital forensics is not quite as thrilling as its television portrayal—that evidence doesn’t magically appear with a click of the computer keyboard, and digging into data isn’t terribly dramatic.

Then he mentions a computer bloodied by a gun homicide. And his attempts to prove six-figure feeder pig fraud: He successfully hacked an encrypted program after discovering that secret access—called “backdoor” in programming lingo—was labeled, incredibly, “backdoor.”

Elrick received the 2024 Spirit of IACIS Award (International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists) for his pioneering work over decades of technological changes.

While at Northwestern, Elrick interned at Iowa’s state crime lab, returning in 1989 as a drug chemist. In 1992, a child abduction case dependent on a mangled floppy disk proved unsolvable, but Elrick caught the computer bug. He led the effort to create what would become the state’s Cyber Crime Bureau, one of the first in the nation.

“People were just starting to have home computers at this time, so we were in on the very beginning of this technology,” he says. “Sometimes, solving the problem may not solve the case, but you know you’re doing something to help the criminal justice system.”

Elrick now shares his stories with students at Des Moines Area Community College. In a perfect plot twist, some of them intern at the Cyber Crime Bureau he created.

Sharon (Olson ’90) Johnson has faced tremendous personal and professional challenges: enduring the death of her husband, Jeff Johnson ’86; battling two bouts of cancer; and taking the reins of Jeff’s jewelry store right when a century-old ceiling beam threatened to wreck the business entirely.

Yet she found the strength to continue a 20-year pursuit of educational pathways to inspire the young people in her diverse Minnesota community.

As community education director for the Worthington school district, Johnson recognized a need to address the cultural barriers faced by ethnically diverse high schoolers wanting to attend college, such as language and a limited ability to travel. Working diligently with a team since the early 2000s, she created a pipeline from an area community college to a teaching degree at a local university. About 100 students currently take part; though there is no requirement to work in Worthington following graduation, six teachers of color have returned to the district that nurtured them.

Last April, Johnson received Forward Worthington’s 2024 Inspirational Woman Award for her resilience and accomplishments in the face of adversity.

“There is value in making choices like these—choosing acts of service to your community and to individual people,” Johnson says. “I find that work to be powerful and life-changing.”

Missionaries Kristin (Neth ’11) and Tyler Tigges ’09 trace their vocational journey back to Coach Woudstra and Coach Korver, who inspired them as Raider athletes to make a positive impact not only on the basketball court, but on the world.

Today, the couple plants multicultural churches an ocean away.

In 2022, the Tiggeses moved their young family to London, England, where their host organization, Antioch Ministries International, had already planted roots. The couple started Sunday morning “pub church” the first month they arrived, attracting seekers in their 20s and early 30s. After outgrowing three local taverns, the flock of 80-plus sought out a larger venue.

Throughout the week, neighbors from nearly every continent meet in house churches for discipleship and Bible study—and for free hot chocolate. One churchgoer offered her café for outreach to express her gratitude to God and the community.

The movement they’ve built reminds Kristin of reading Revelation 7 while in college and being struck by the image of every nation standing before God.

“We’re seeing a glimpse into that,” Kristin says. “It feels like a beautiful gift to be able to see people doing what God created them to do. It’s a dream that was planted inside us during our years at Northwestern, and now we’re seeing it in real life.”

God had big plans for Chrislyn (Kemp ’90) Skippings to pave the way for young future leaders—and it all started at Northwestern.

Looking back, Skippings sees how her participation in several clubs on campus allowed her to observe strong leadership skills and began to shape her for the future God planned.

“These clubs contributed significantly to my growth and development, and being president of the International Club truly enhanced my leadership skills,” she says.

Returning to her homeland in the Bahamas after graduation, Skippings joined the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF). In her 34-year tenure with the force, she has applied the leadership skills learned at NWC and helped open doors for young leaders in her area. She was the first female leader to serve in several high-ranking roles within the RBPF, including her current position as director of public affairs.

“I believe that youth model what they observe and are taught,” Skippings says. “I want to be a leader who is a model of excellence consistent with and reflective of Christ. As I reflect on my experience at Northwestern and the present experiences of my daughters who attend NWC, I’m ecstatic to see that the standard of excellence has been maintained.”

While at Northwestern College, Sierra Rosetta Tumbleson ’23 won several national theatre awards. Now pursuing a doctorate in theatre at Northwestern University, she continues to receive acclaim, having been named one of six Rising Leaders of Color by American Theatre magazine in May 2024.

Tumbleson credits this honor to her connections within Northwestern University and its faculty support, which gave her several opportunities to participate in Chicago-area productions. “Also, there hasn’t been a lot of Native American representation in the Rising Leaders of Color program, or in theatre in general, so I appreciate that they want to uplift Indigenous artists,” she says.

Tumbleson, an enrolled citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe tribe, grew up in Trimont, Minnesota. Her father is a farmer and her mother was a high school speech and drama coach. In her younger years, Tumbleson helped with many backstage tasks, gladly following her mother’s directions.

While at NWC, the theatre major participated in multiple productions each year and was selected for a literary fellowship at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and participation in Yale University’s Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Studying at Northwestern University on a full scholarship, Tumbleson hopes to become a theatre professor like those at NWC who inspired her to great achievements.

Grant Hegstad ’10 is the product of good guidance. He knows that. When describing the direction he received in career preparation, Hegstad uses words such as intentionality, relationship, affirmation and career training.

Now as the MOC-Floyd Valley High School assistant principal, Hegstad uses those qualities and methods to do for high school students what NWC professors did for him. They helped him find his place in the professional world, and he wants to return the favor and help high school students find theirs.

Evidenced by the numbers, students want this too. Under Hegstad’s leadership, student participation at the school’s career center has quadrupled over the past four years. The Milken Family Foundation noticed this, and Hegstad’s other educational contributions, and awarded him a national Milken Educator Award, an honor that includes $25,000 he can use however he wants.

The award, known as the “Oscars of Teaching,” isn’t one for which educators can apply or be nominated. Instead, the Milken Family Foundation searches for and selects teachers they want to honor. 

In February 2024, at an all-school assembly in Orange City, only the principal and superintendent knew what was about to happen. Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow spoke, followed by Dr. Jane Folley of the Milken Family Foundation; they announced Hegstad as a 2023–24 recipient.

“I had no idea I was receiving this award,” Hegstad says. “It was a pretty incredible surprise.”

The foundation commended him as someone who cares about the long-term well-being of students personally and professionally. That caring takes place at the school’s career center, where under Hegstad’s leadership, students acquire training and employment at area organizations, leading to job offers post-graduation. The center’s partnership base is expanding to include medical and educational fields—all engineered to help students find out what they like and are good at. 

This is part of God’s plan, which Hegstad references while describing his work with a nod to Northwestern’s mission statement: “My hope is that I can consistently engage in courageous and faithful learning and living that empowers me to follow Christ and pursue his redeeming work in the world.”

In the spring and summer of 2023, Hannah Van Meeteren ’23 wasn’t studying only for the four-part exam that would make her a certified public accountant. She was studying for her future. 

“A deeper understanding would better equip me for the CPA exam process and even more so for the career that would follow,” Van Meeteren says. “I think this motivation may have set me apart.”

Indeed. It set her in the top 40 scores of more than 86,000 people who took the CPA exams that year. As a result, the American Institute of CPAs named her one of 40 winners of the Elijah Watt Sells Award. Van Meeteren also earned the highest score of those who took the exam in South Dakota in 2023.

Upon receiving scores for the first exam, Van Meeteren realized she had done very well, way beyond the minimum passing requirement. “Many would say I had ‘over-prepared.’” After the second exam, she learned of the award, which provided “… a little extra motivation but was never the single motivating factor.” 

“I have always tried to approach learning in and out of class with a mindset beyond the immediate,” says Van Meeteren. She credits Vonda (Elgersma ’88) Post, professor of accounting, for challenging students to learn skills instead of memorizing content. “All of my professors encouraged my peers and me to go beyond what was merely expected.”

“There were many days when I felt I couldn’t hold anything more in my brain,” says Van Meeteren. “It probably would have been easier and more enjoyable to spend the summer post-college and pre-career far from any accounting books and tests. Knowing that this process would be just a short season in a greater and longer story helped keep me motivated to stay on track.”

While tutoring at Northwestern, Van Meeteren realized she was able to understand accounting with relative ease and help others understand it too. In January 2025, she began a new job doing just that, helping people with their taxes through her work at Eide Bailly, a large CPA firm in Des Moines, Iowa.

When James Bolger ’23 earned a spot in a youth soccer academy in his native Ireland, it seemed he had a clear path to a professional career.

The route soon took a twist.

“I played with them for about two years until I injured my knee,” he says.

The injury cost Bolger his roster spot, and efforts to join other academies fizzled. Instead, he tried out for an agency that places athletes with American colleges. That’s how Northwestern found him.

Bolger played 68 games as a Red Raider midfielder, scoring 18 goals and contributing seven assists. He then spent a year as a graduate transfer at a school in Virginia. Still, his path to a pro career remained hazy, partly because American soccer teams have caps on international players.

Bolger finally caught a break while on spring break in Mexico. His agency unexpectedly called to invite him to a European showcase. That event led to a contract with a Swedish club, which in turn opened the door to a contract with Irish team Drogheda United. In 2024, Drogheda won the Football Association of Ireland Cup.

Bolger could not stop smiling as he walked onto the field for the championship match in front of 38,000 fans. He simply tried to enjoy the moment.

“Everything just worked out so well.”