Pictured, from left, are Kris Williams, Brittany Lyon, Drew Flamm, Ken and Cindy Shamblen, Shari Benyousky, Abby Smith, and Brooke Hamstra. Photo provided by Williams.

By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: For this 112th column, some Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club members went back to school with a Rotarian.

WINONA LAKE – The buzz of potential hangs on a Friday Campus Visit Day in Winona Lake. Families with wide-eyed teenagers weave through the campus of Grace College, their futures still a question mark. But for our group of eight from the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club and one AWOL Rotarian, the destination was certain: the Alpha Dining Commons, and a lunch date with the man at the helm, President Drew Flamm.

Stepping into Alpha, you’re greeted by warmth. A fireplace crackles beside comfortable chairs, a welcoming “living room.” On this day, it’s a hub with tables showcasing summer camps and mental health resources. This is a campus that feeds both mind and body, a theme that continues as we pass Administrative Assistant Megan Mudd at the desk. Note to the public: you’re welcome here anytime, too.

The recently renovated dining commons is in cheerful chaos. There is a din of laughter, clattering trays, and sizzling skillets. General Manager James Bloemendaal and Flamm guide us through a culinary landscape of pizza, salad bars, healthy options, and desserts. But the star, as James proudly points out, is Humberto Martinez at the Imperial Stir-Fry showcase station. With a huge smile, Humberto expertly tosses bowls of fresh student-chosen veggies and shrimp on a blazing flat grill.

“He’s been with us more than 15 years. The students absolutely adore him,” James says.

President Drew Flamm eats healthy.

As if on cue, the entire room erupts into a raucous, joyful “Happy Birthday” for a student named Isaac. This isn’t a scripted event; it’s organic, communal. We weave through the stations, loading our plates with vegetables, fried rice, and slices of fresh pizza. We settle at a long table, surrounded by “Gracies” and staff, our group a mix of alumni like funeral planner Brittany (2013) and wildcard Abby Smith (2018).

Flamm, in a sharp suit punctuated by a red belt (more on that later), is utterly at ease. When Tool guy Ken Shamblen asks how he ended up as college president, he grins.

“Grace did a nationwide search… only to hire a kid from down the street,” says Flamm.

His path from Manchester University’s Development office to Grace’s VP of Advancement, and then to be its seventh president in July 2022, speaks to a deep connection with this community.

The conversation flows easily. We good-naturedly ribbed Project Manager Kris Williams (who would prefer to be called “Local Legend”). Kris was recently affectionately “fined” by Optimist sergeants for sitting alone at a table of available women. This sparks a memory for Brittany: the legendary Grace tradition of “fumbling.”

Flamm’s eyes light up as he tells us, “So, if a single guy sits with four or more women, sometimes a group of guys will tackle him and yell ‘Fumble!’ or you might overhear a guy in line murmur to another, ‘I’m not going to fumble you here, but…!’”

The table erupts in laughter. We dive into other traditions: the engaged men who get tossed into Winona Lake by their friends and must sprint up the hill to ring the Alpha bell to celebrate; the apocryphal tale of the Volkswagen Beetle disassembled and rebuilt inside the basement chapel.

Flamm shakes his head, “So many alumni have claimed to be part of that story, but the details change, so maybe it happened more than once?”

Professor Rick Koontz, leaning in from a nearby seat, confirms he witnessed the famed bell tower candy-stripping prank in the ‘80s when a human chain managed to paint the outside of the McClain bell tower with vertical stripes like a KFC. “It was actually hilarious,” he says. “And it took several re-paintings to make the stripes fade.”

Flamm adds with a wink, “You know who accomplished that? Greg Dosmann. He’s on our Board of Trustees now!” He pauses. “There’s actually a lot fewer pranks on campuses these days. Too many cameras everywhere.”

Brittany Lyon with her imperial stir fried rice option.

Between bites of mashed potatoes, the talk turns to Grace’s present and future. Flamm speaks with passion about the fastest-growing major, medical imaging (“for students who want medicine without the blood and guts”), the success of the Mechanical Engineering Major Baja SAE team competing against other academic engineering giants to design, build, and race off-road vehicles, and how accounting students consistently land in the top 10% nationally for CPA pass rates.

He outlines visionary grants Grace has received, like one from Lilly Endowment to study AI’s future impact, and current partnerships, which are helping to fund a community field house and a partnership with the KCV Kosciusko County Velo bike park.

Flamm is a president deeply rooted in family and place. With three kids aged 10, 12, and 14, he sees Winona Lake as the perfect home. “I hope we are here for a very long time,” he says.

I asked him how much he works in a week. “Well,” he says. “What actually is work? Am I working at a Grace College basketball game or having family time? I love what I do.”

“Is this work?” I gesture around the table.

Flamm smiles back. “I’ll let you know if this is work after I see the article!”

As the clock ticks toward 1 p.m. and the commons quiets as students stream out to their next classes, we tackle dessert and deeper questions. Abby chooses a lemon blueberry frosted cake with ice cream. So, you ask, what is the president’s favorite dessert? “Cereal,” he confesses without hesitation. Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Trix? “Or Captain Crunch. Anything sugary and not good for you. I’m probably a college student at heart.”

“Speaking of that, why remain a college when you could be a university?” asked Cindy Shamblen.

“We could be a university tomorrow,” Flamm explains. “We do offer graduate-level classes. But we want to be known for being smaller, intimate, a place where you are known and seen.” It’s a deliberate choice, a branding of community over corporatism.

To prove that it wasn’t just talk, Flamm showed us his everyday brand – a red belt and red socks. Red, of course, is Grace’s color. The vibrant color ties it all together, playful, consistent leadership, and threads of identity.

As we said our goodbyes, the impression was clear. At Grace College, leadership isn’t aloof; it’s sitting across from you, laughing about cereal and pranks. And lunch at Alpha is more than a meal. It’s where faith, learning, and community are on the menu every single day, all for the fair price of $10.25. And that is a brand worth savoring.

Do you know of an interesting place, restaurant, nonprofit, or person that you’d like to see featured in Diners and Dives or Banter? Send Shari Benyousky of SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].