Wartburg College honored its 2018 Young Alumni Award winners (from left) Dr. Joel Tuttle, Christina Wood and Russell Harris, during a dinner Friday, April 13.

Wartburg College honored its 2018 Young Alumni Award winners (from left) Dr. Joel Tuttle, Christina Wood and Russell Harris, during a dinner Friday, April 13.

Wartburg College recently recognized three outstanding young alumni for service to their communities.

The Young Alumni Award honors graduates from the past 15 years who are living the four pillars of the Wartburg College mission statement: leadership, service, faith and learning.

This year’s recipients are:

Russell Harris, of Detroit, graduated from Wartburg in 2010 and went on to earn his master’s degree in organizational management and leadership at Ashford University while working in admissions at the institution. He returned to Wartburg as coordinator for diversity recruitment in the Admissions Office and completed a certificate program in business and general management at Stanford University in 2013. His experience led him to the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Detroit, where he eventually became the principal. At the academy, Harris guided leadership-focused education that engaged and inspired more than 400 high school youth to the ultimate goal of earning a college degree. In 2017, Harris became vice chair of the board of the Black Male Educators Alliance in Michigan. This past summer, Harris became chief dream director at The Future Project, a nonprofit aimed at unlocking the potential and purpose of students across the country.

Dr. Joel Tuttle, of Dallas, Ore., is a 2003 alumnus who earned his doctor of optometry degree in 2007 from Pacific University in Oregon. Tuttle worked in optometry in central Iowa for several years before moving to Oregon to work part time and attend Cornerstone School of Ministry, where he earned a certificate in biblical and ministry studies. Tuttle and his wife, Berina, then spent a year living in one of the poorest areas of Jamaica, mentoring teenagers and providing eye care to those in need. After his mission work in Jamaica, he was mobilized for a year as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps and since 2012 has served with the U.S. Army Reserves as a captain. Since 2015, the family has made their home in Oregon, where he works as an optometrist and is active with professional organizations and in his church.

Christina Ufer Wood, a 2005 Wartburg graduate from Rochester, Minn., has been a sole proprietor since 2006 and earned a master’s degree in music therapy from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in 2012. She later founded Healing Rhythms Music Therapy, which recently was honored as the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year. Her leadership efforts have helped start music therapy programs at major medical institutions. She has offered her skills to the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, facilitated community drum circles and worked with the Miss Minnesota program to bring uplifting musical experiences to children. She also works with those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, using music to help end the stigma of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Wood has served as vice president of the Music Therapy Association of Minnesota and is a member of the American Music Therapy Association.

The three honorees were presented with their awards at a banquet on campus April 13.