03
View from the Valley
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Mark Logsdon attended Wabash Valley College from August 1990 to May 1992. Mark, though originally from Owensboro Kentucky, decided to attend WVC solely because of its basketball program and distance from home. The close proximity between Mount Carmel and Owensboro would allow his parents to attend games with relative ease. “I did not take my last couple years of high school very seriously from a studying perspective,” Mark said, “but wanted to keep playing basketball, Wabash Valley gave me the opportunity. Even though I had a couple of 4-year schools offers out of high school, they were not where I wanted to eventually end up. I also wanted to play college ball with my best friend from my high school team, so Scott Hogg and I were able to sign and play here for 2 years.” During those two years, Mark enjoyed his Public Speaking, Business, and Statistics courses. Though he admits some of his professors may have thought he did not study at all, he enjoyed the small class sizes as they allowed him more direction and time in difficult subjects. Q: What do you remember most about your time here on campus? A: "This is a great question because it is the same thing that I enjoy the most about living back here now, the town itself. In my sophomore year, we had a great following, not so much my freshmen year as we were awful. We had a change in the coaching staff the summer of ‘91, Pat Smith came in and embraced the small town, turned the program around, had us out in front of people, spent time at the elementary, and middle schools with clinics, etc., and it showed at games with the fan base and the following as we played through the year and to the National Tournament. From the town perspective, especially coming from Owensboro with a much larger population, it resembled Rockport, IN where my dad was the high school principal. When there was a football or basketball game, the sidewalks rolled up and the town went to the game. I remember going to watch my host family’s son, Robbie Thompson, play football my freshman year and couldn’t believe the whole town was there. The same went for the high school basketball team and the following, both are very much the same today. I always thought how great it was that this town of 7500 not only followed but loved their home team. I also met my wife, Jill (Ackerman back then), as we graduated from WVC at the same time. Even though we didn’t reconnect until 6 years ago, I’ll never forget her always talking about the Aces and her love for this town. She hasn’t changed in that regard and it has helped me embrace living here today. She and her mother, Kate Ackerman, have gotten me more involved in town and with the college. I have enjoyed volunteering on the Foundation Board at WVC and look forward to seeing many more upgrades and changes on campus as well as seeing the gym getting back to being full for both the Women’s and Men’s basketball teams. I hope their season ends this year, as ours did my sophomore year, in Hutchinson, Kansas for the National Tournament. Q: Where has your education and career taken? A: "After WVC, I chose to go back to Owensboro to finish playing basketball and study at Kentucky Wesleyan College. I majored in Special Ed and Math (K-12), then later in life went back to school at Middle TN State University with a major in Business and Leadership. After KWC, I traveled to Australia and played/coached basketball in two different cities in the State of Queensland. I first played in Townsville, QLD, and then moved eight hours West of the coast to Mount Isa, QLD. I played for 3 seasons and then decided I was finished and had to grow up, so I came back to the states, moved to the Nashville, A: "For the past 22 years I have worked in the Food Manufacturing industry, based solely on Food Safety. Our company is a Turn-Key solution for companies (Tyson for example) on the daily Cleaning/Sanitizing, Quality, Labor, and Chemistry that is involved in our processes to make sure we are protecting their Brand and ours. As people often say, 'we never even think of that'. I always tell them when asked,' I want to make sure the companies that I work with that produce food products my loved ones eat, can be done so at a very safe and high-quality level.' I often mess with our kids and ask, 'who made what you are eating' and now get told, 'please stop, we are hungry.' I have worked in both the Sales and Operations departments of our company over the years and spend a lot of time now working with new and/or young leaders in the organization as well as our main Corporate Accounts. I use a lot of what I learned here at WVC still today, whether that is from my Public Speaking, relationship building, or from the competition of playing college basketball. TN area, and started my adult life." Q: "What do you do for work now?
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker