ASC: Where are they now?

Mr. Magee

As an Alumni Service Corps member last year, Mr. Max Magee provided a fun environment in his freshman theology class for students to learn about God and often used pop culture to teach about morals and other positive values.

“My favorite thing about the class was Movie Mondays,” sophomore Joe Cochran said.

On Movie Mondays, Mr. Magee would show his class a clip of a movie to lighten the mood and to introduce the topic of the class for the next few days.

After he finished his year at Rockhurst, Mr. Magee stayed in Kansas City and taught at the Upper Room. His experience at the Upper Room prepared him for his current job in St. Louis as a religion teacher at Loyola Academy.

In addition to teaching this summer, Mr. Magee tried to experience the best cuisine Kansas City had to offer.

“Nothing can beat Grinders on 18th Street. The wings and Philly cheese steak were phenomenal,” Mr. Magee said.

Mr. Lawlor

Mr. Sean Lawlor made a lasting impact on the Rockhurst community last year as an Alumni Service Corps member. Many of his students loved his attitude and relaxed spirit, greatly enjoying his freshman theology class

“His theology class was mostly about our personal relationship with God,” sophomore John Nogalski said. “He made it…less formal.”

After Rockhurst, Mr. Lawlor was expecting to join the Peace Corps and go wherever they wanted to send him. But that did not turn out as expected. While on a camping trip with friends, he had an accident with a rope swing.

“I fell onto some large boulders sticking out of the water and crashed on my left knee which cracked in two,” Mr. Lawlor said.

During his recovery, he wrote music. His inspiration comes from many popular bands and artists. He tries to take the idea and translate it into the purest melody possible.

Since his trip was delayed, he saved up some extra money with all the time he had and decided to go to Guatemala. He is currently down there working for a travel website, writing articles and taking pictures of various places.

After Guatemala, Mr. Lawlor plans to return home and wants to make a visit back to Rockhurst before leaving for the Peace Corps this summer.

Mr. Lawlor currently has a blog in which he writes about his experiences and he also has a Band Camp page with his music. Those websites are listed on the Prep News website at prepnews.org.

Mr. Gustafson

Mr. Erik Gustafson was the only Alumni Service Corps member last year who did not teach theology. Instead he taught English. He was also the only of last year’s three ASC members to stay at Rockhurst.

Last year, Mr. Gustafson came to Rockhurst not knowing whether he really wanted to be a teacher or not.

“Teaching was something that had appealed to me…and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go to school for the next two years just to find out that I didn’t want to teach,” Mr. Gustafson said.

Mr. Gustafson realized that he enjoyed teaching and by chance Rockhurst had an opening to teach freshmen and sophomore English classes.  He decided to take the job.

Mr. Gustafson makes learning English enjoyable, yet constructive for his classes. He explains the content to the students but finds a way to make them laugh even though English is a usually serious class.

“He gets the job done but still has some fun [with the class],” sophomore Charlie Lipford said.

Mr. Gustafson plans to remain a teacher at Rockhurst for years to come.

Tags ASC broken knee chill english Grinders on 18th street Guatemala Mr. Gustafson Mr. Lawlor Mr. Magee music Peace Corps pop culture st. louis theology Upper Room