Profiles - About Alumni for January 2008

Featured Alums: Mike and Christina Wombacher

Yavapai College was a very special place to Mike. He attended specifically for the baseball program and met some of the best people in his life. “I have met and made some of the most special relationships and friendships at Yavapai and the most important is the one I share with my beautiful wife Christina Wombacher (Thrasher). We met at Yavapai and started dating the last semester there and have been married for more than five years.”

Mike and Christina reside in Chandler, Ariz., and Mike is currently a senior manager at Costco Wholesale. He started working there in 2002 when he was released from professional baseball. He played for two and a half years in the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs organizations. During his time at Costco he finished his schooling at NAU and earned his bachelor’s degree.

After graduating and playing basketball at YC in 1998, Christina went on to play another 2 years of basketball at Boise State University, where she earned her B.S. in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Exercise Science. In 2000, she moved back to her home state of Arizona and earned an M.Ed. in Higher Education at ASU while also working in the athletic department as the director of operations with the women’s basketball team. She married Mike in 2001, and they are now the proud parents of Ella Marie Wombacher, born May 25, 2006 and are expecting their second child in May of 2008.

(back to top)

Dawn Stone-Epperson

Dawn Stone-Epperson ran cross-country at Yavapai College from 1999-2001. She was an NJCCA All-American. Currently working as an emergency room nurse at Yavapai Regional, she still finds time to run. She has qualified for the Olympic Marathon will compete in Boston this April against 134 other qualifiers for a spot on the team. Dawn is married and has two young children.

Michael Berlowe

Michael Berlowe started his career in nursing after working in several other fields. He graduated from the nursing program at Yavapai College in May 2007 and earned his registered nursing license in July. He now works in Prescott on the medical surgery floor at the YRMC West Campus and part-time at Cedars Cardiovascular Center. Recently he was given the Nursing Student Award from the Arizona Nurses Association.

Donzell McDonald

Donzell McDonald signed with the Yankees as a 22nd-round pick out of Yavapai College in 1995. He had been drafted by Montreal in the 25th round out of Cherry Creek in 1993, then by Houston in the 17th round out of YC in 1994. Donzell played in 15 major league games – five with the Yankees in 2001 and 10 with Kansas in 2002. He was with Monclova last year in the Mexican League, where he hit .293 with 11 home runs and 26 stolen bases.

(back to top)

Kisha Spellman-White

The American Basketball Association announced two new expansion teams for the 2008 season with one right here in Prescott Valley. The ownership group includes Kisha Spellman-White. Kisha played guard/small forward for the Yavapai College Roughriders in 1996, then with the Arizona Sun Devils before embarking on a professional career in Cairns, Australia. For the last six years, she and her mother, Rita White, have been running a successful charter school in Phoenix. A successful businesswoman, she is also the owner of a new behavioral health residential care facility that houses foster children between the ages of 5 and 12 in a home-like setting. Kisha is dedicated to helping others to improve their lives.

Art Anderson

Typical of many of the retired folks in Yavapai County, Art Anderson has been attending classes at YC for seven years. He feels that he and his wife, Eliza, have received many benefits from the college. The most important, by far, was the “Weight Management” course taught by Cathy. The course and the teacher convinced them to become vegans, with real positive consequences for their health. Art also makes time to serve on the Yavapai College Foundation Board and the Alumni Outreach Project Planning & Oversight Committee.

Rick Kranitz

Rick Kranitz, attended YC 1976-78 and was recently named pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles.