From the age of 5, Georges LaBranche wanted to become a pastor of a church. A fatal car wreck four years ago changed his life and his family's future, but it didn't change his mind. Georges says his faith and his resolve to minister were only deepened by his family's tragedy.

Georges' family, driving toward the beach in the rain, found themselves behind a semi-truck. A spare tire on the truck fell loose from a chain and shot back toward their car.

The car flipped, throwing Georges and his 17-year-old brother Sebastien out of the car. Their father, Dumesle LaBranche, died at the scene. Georges suffered head trauma and had to be resuscitated. He was put on life support and was in a coma for five of his 11 days in the hospital. He suffered broken bones, ripped tendons and a ruptured spleen. His mother suffered several broken bones, and spent two months in the hospital and 18 months in a wheelchair. Georges' sister, Khymburgly, suffered a serious gash to her face requiring plastic surgery.

Through their grief and long recovery, Nadej LaBranche said she felt that Georges and Khymburgly held their family together. "He was helpful. What are we going to do without him next year?"

Georges plans to attend Oakwood University this fall, where he'll major in theology. He said the accident didn't cause a crisis of faith for him because it prompted a lot of prayer. "The car accident pushed me to have more of an interest in being a pastor. Now I have more of a passion for it. ... For everything we've been through, I'm still alive ... I'm still able to wake up every day."

Virginia Burroughs at the Dayton Daily News reports that Ohio's top 24 robotics teams competed in the OhioFIRST Robotics Competition State Championship on May 30 at Dayton's Thurgood Marshall High School. OhioFIRST is an acronym: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Sade Foster, co-captain of Thurgood Marshall's CougarBots, said the team "got me more into engineering and math." She's heading to Oakwood University to become a math teacher.

OhioFIRST chairwoman Kathy Gerber said, "This year's 'Recycle Rush' challenge was to build and program robots that stacked totes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers, properly disposing of pool noodles that represented litter."

Henry Noble, CougarBots coach, oversees the robotics program and Math & Science Club at Thurgood Marshall and was project manager for the FIRST Robotics tournament. He observed that many students receive scholarships based on their work with robotics and "From my perspective, there could never be too many robotics competitions."

Join us in the Blue and Gold End-of-the-Year Challenge by making a gift to the Oakwood Annual Fund by midnight, June 30. Our goal is to increase the annual giving participation rate of our alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends.

On May 24, seven Oakwood alumni graduated from Loma Linda University with doctoral degrees in either Dental Surgery, Medicine, or Pharmacy:

School of Dentistry

Tiana Osbourne, DDS, '11

School of Medicine

Nichelle Anderson, MD, '11

Adegbemisola Daniyan, MD, '11

Kris-Ann (Robertson) Humphreys, MD, '11*

Charles Pennick, MD, 07

KeAndrea Titer, MD, '11
 

*Dr. Humphreys was one of 26 LLUSM graduates to be inducted in to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society, a professional medical organization, that recognizes and advocates for excellence in scholarship and the highest ideals in the profession of medicine. This is the highest honor/recognition any school of medicine graduate can attain. Only the top 25 percent of a medical school class is eligible for nomination to the society, and up to 16 percent may be elected based on leadership, character, community service, and professionalism.

School of Pharmacy

Nadine Ruth Martin, PharmD, '11

On June 14, six additional Oakwood alumni graduated from LLU in the following programs:

School of Allied Health Professions

De'Onna Clark, MOT, '12

Aceline Alusca, MSOP, '11

Mareka D'Andra Shay Lindo, DPT, '08

School of Public Health

Alexandra Nicole Alleyne Oliver, MPH, '13

Monique-Renee Pinnock, MPH, '10

School of Behavioral Health

Kayla Williams-Rawlinson, MS, '13