Bryn Athyn College Alumni Magazine Fall/Winter 2017-18 | Page 9

CHARTER DAY
Alumni Honored
The College proudly honored four alumni at the BAC all alumni reception on Friday
evening, October 20: Laurie Horan (AA ’76) as Outstanding Volunteer, and Curtis
Childs (AA ’06), Becca Smith (BA ’03), and Lincoln Smith (BA ’03) as Distinguished
Alumni.
Laurie Horan Curtis Childs
After graduating from the Academy Girls’
School in 1974, Laurie earned an Associate in
Arts in 1976 from Bryn Athyn College (then re-
ferred to as ANCC) and continued to take ad-
ditional courses there before transferring to
Tracey Warner School of Fashion Design in Phil-
adelphia, graduating
from there in 1980.
While at the Col-
lege she had met Rich-
ard Horan, and they
were married in 1981.
They lived in Mitch-
ellville, Maryland for
21 years where they
were active in the
Washington Society.
They have five grown
children and two grandchildren.
The family moved to Bryn Athyn in 2002
as their oldest was starting at the College. With
children attending all levels of the schools in
Bryn Athyn, Laurie has found many opportuni-
ties over the years to volunteer when parental
help was needed, but always felt especially drawn
to the College where she had had such a good
experience as a student. The Bryn Athyn College
of the New Church Alumni Association was in
its infancy in the early 2000s, as a loosely orga-
nized group of people who felt passionate about
supporting the College. Laurie began attending
their meetings in 2006, serving as secretary for
many years, and has continued to serve on the
Board ever since. After receiving an A.A.
from Bryn Athyn Col-
lege with a focus in biol-
ogy, Curtis transferred
to Oakland University
in Rochester, Michigan
and graduated with a
degree in communica-
tions. Beginning with
short stints in everything from carpentry to
working at a county juvenile detention facility,
his career path led him to the fascinating and
meaningful field of Swedenborgian outreach.
Hired by the tech-focused startup NewChurch
LIVE, Curtis worked on and eventually became
head of KidsLive—a program that sought to dis-
till the complex yet vital ideas in Swedenborg’s
published theological works into something
that kids would not only understand but joy-
fully embrace. He wrote scripts, acted, and yes,
even dropped a kids’ album. He began working
in online video in 2011 and, after a period of
independent production, was hired by the Swe-
denborg Foundation to build digital commu-
nity and get exposure for Swedenborg’s writings
through the web. He now works there as digital
media producer and his projects have amassed
more that 400,000 Facebook page likes, 9 mil-
lion YouTube views, and 74 million minutes of
content watched. His work has been featured on
the Dr. Oz show, and he spoke in August at the
Conference for Consciousness and Human Evo-
lution in London. To see so many people around
the world embrace Swedenborg’s message is
a constant source of wonder, inspiration, and
gratitude for him. He lives in Bryn Athyn with
his wife Brooke and their two-year-old daughter
Sydney, who gets cuter every day.
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