MU | N e w s
Mike Emrick ’68 wins Vin Scully Award
The voice of hockey in America,
Mike Emrick ’68 received the
prestigious Vin Scully Lifetime
Achievement Award in Sports
Broadcasting on Nov. 2.
“I wanted in the worst way to be a sportscaster and the more
broadcasting I did, the more I was hooked,” Emrick has said. The MU
grad went on to earn his master’s degree from Miami University in
Ohio and picked up his nickname “Doc” after earning a Ph.D. from
Bowling Green State University.
Presented by WFUV Radio in New
York, the award is named in honor
of Vin Scully, the legendary voice of
the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He has been the voice of the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey
Devils of the National Hockey League and he has worked 14 Stanley
Cup final series, 10 NHL All-Star Games, and seven Olympic Winter
Games.
Emrick grew up in LaFontaine, Ind.,
and majored in communications studies at Manchester. As a senior
and student radio station manager, Emrick and faculty advisor Ronald
Aungst worked to receive a Federal Communications Commission
license. They began using the station letters WBKE in honor of the
station managers: Brent Barkman ’66, David Kistler ’67 and Emrick.
In his 39 years of calling professional hockey, Emrick has received
two Emmy awards and was the first broadcaster inducted into the U.S.
Hockey Hall of Fame.
He and his wife, Joyce, live in eastern Michigan.
Inspiring educator named Alumni Teacher of the Year
“She inspires her students, she
inspires everyone who works with
her, and she inspired me every day
for seven years.”
This was how Mike Martynowicz,
instructor of education, introduced
the 2015 Alumni Teacher of the
Year, Beth Beery ’90 (at left in
photo). Beery was honored at an
Education Department banquet last
spring.
“I come from a couple generations of teachers,” she said. “My father
is a Manchester graduate and honored educator. He has helped me to
see that education is about working toward equality for all, while at
the same time helping individuals grow. As a child, watching my dad
inspiring his students made me want to be a teacher.”
Beery is the Spanish teacher at Huntington (Ind.) North High School,
where she and Martynowicz were colleagues. She graduated from
Manchester with a degree in secondary education and Spanish and
continued her education at the University of Barcelona and Indiana
University, where she earned her master’s degree.
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Beery says education is a celebration of her students’ successes –
getting into college, landing internships and traveling abroad. “I am
constantly learning from them,” she said. Change is cause to celebrate,
too. “We are becoming a small world, and this is exposing us to more
diversity,” Beery said. “Change goes hand-in-hand with continued
learning.”
To MU students studying education, Beery told them, “It’s essential to
have great mentors around, especially when starting out your career.
I suggest surrounding yourself with people who are good listeners
and encouragers.” Make your classrooms comfortable and welcoming,
she added. “I always try to bring a passion for what I do, a positive
attitude, and lots of compassion every day,” she said. “Part of our job
in education involves creating a safe place for students to be themselves
and feel accepted so they can grow.”
Beery doesn’t always know what impact she has had on students. “You
hope that they will remember some of the things that you said, or
taught them, or did together. I like the saying by Maya Angelou: ‘They
will never forget how you made them feel.’”
Beery said that she encourages her students to go into the world and
help make it a better place. “I see education as much more of a journey
than a destination,” she said.
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