2024 Alumni Award Recipients

Boaz Papendick and LaRae Coleman were both pastors’ kids. For Boaz, that meant moving around to various states, along with spending four years in Egypt with his missionary family. His time in Egypt lit the desire in his heart to become an overseas missionary for the rest of his life. Through God’s leading, he attended Weimar Academy in California and completed two years of college there before being led to finish his degree at Southern. 

LaRae’s father served as a chaplain in the United States Air Force, so she also moved frequently, living in various states and in England. Her parents were always helping others, instilling in her a lifestyle of service and a desire to travel.

The two met briefly on a Sabbath walk in Harrah, Oklahoma, at age 15, but they didn’t see each other again until both were at Southern. They graduated together in 2004 and got married in the spring of 2005. They spent a life-changing year in Michigan as Bible workers at the Midland Seventh-day Adventist Church before going on to attend Loma Linda University to study public health. Boaz graduated with a master’s degree in global health, and LaRae graduated with a dual MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics. 

Boaz’s adviser suggested they join a team to do medical work in a closed country in West Africa. A series of events led them to administer a small church-owned clinic in the southern part of Senegal, instead of going to their original destination. It was trial by fire to figure out how to pay salaries, make back payments for employees’ social security, and become self-supporting. God blessed their naivety and efforts, and in three and a half years the clinic was fully self-sustaining and paying all bills and salaries on time.

In 2013, God led the couple to Lebanon as Boaz was asked to start the Health Ministry Department for the Middle East and North Africa Union. He started with a blank slate and an empty office. Again, God blessed, and in two and a half years, Boaz was able to develop a functioning department with a three-person team implementing health expos and seminars around the territories. These programs empower local churches with tools and ideas for using health as the right arm of the gospel. 

While it was comparatively easy to recruit missionaries in his regions, Boaz felt a burden for West Africa, where it was much harder to inspire missionaries to go—particularly Senegal with more than 17 million people and barely 300 active Adventists. Seeing the incredible need, the couple felt God calling them back to Senegal. This time there was no conference position, so they returned to Senegal in 2017 as volunteer missionaries living on faith and started a small ministry called Le Chemin, affiliated with Outpost Centers International.

Since his time at Weimar, Boaz’s long-time conviction to start a school much like the first Adventist college in Battle Creek, Michigan, grew as he saw the needs in Senegal as well as the opportunities. The country is open, allowing missionaries to freely work as Christians, and many people from surrounding West African countries come to study in Senegal. The couple decided to open a lay missionary training school for all of West Africa and possibly even North Africa.

After seven years of waiting, disappointment, trials, and prayer, and in conjunction with OCI, the Lay Institute for Global Health Training, and FARM STEW, the school opened its first training program in January 2024. Nine students from several West African countries attended are now back at their homes, actively involved in implementing what they learned. 

Besides partnering with Boaz, supporting his efforts, and being a sounding board for his many projects, LaRae has spent the years raising and intermittently homeschooling four children, working as an aide in the clinic in Senegal and the missions department in Lebanon, serving as a teacher and tutor, and helping local community members with entrepreneurial efforts. 

Mamie Pruitt is a Southern girl from Bessemer, Alabama. She attended Bessemer State College and Oakwood College (now University) before transferring to Southern, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. While at Southern, she worked as an RA in Thatcher Hall and at McKee Bakery. She also organized a girls’ intramural basketball team. 

She went on to earn her master’s from Alabama State University, and she’s been going ever since. In fact, Mamie had perfect attendance throughout her 40 years as a physical education specialist for the Cobb County School System in Marietta, Georgia. She was chosen as Teacher of the Year five different times, received an Award of Excellence and recognition as a Super Teacher from WTBS-Channel 17, and was recognized by the State of Georgia with the Excellence in Physical Education award. She was also honored to receive the Michelle Obama Let’s Move award for her school.

Mamie shares her time, talents, and passion with her church and community, as well. She has volunteered as a fitness facilitator at the South Central and South Atlantic Women’s Conferences. She is a Master Guide and jump-rope team coach and instructor for the Atlanta Berean Pathfinder Club. Additionally, she has participated with and facilitated for several nonprofit organizations, including Girls Inc. of America, Homeschool Network Inc., Hunger Walk-Run, Future Seekers Inc., and the American Heart Association. She was recognized as the Community Leader of the Year by the National Council of Negro Women.

Bringing together all her wisdom and experience, Mamie founded C-ME Professional Services to provide physical education and motivational speaking services to private schools and nonprofits. Recently, Mamie was named the 2023-2024 Advocate of the Year by the Georgia Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. She also created the Mamie Pruitt Educational Assistance Fund for young people in all school levels who need help with academics, sports, school camps, special celebrations, tuition, and more.

Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, Mamie co-authored two devotional and inspirational books for women, My Life Praises You and Heart of My Sisters. 

Her motto is “It’s all good, and it’s all God.” 

Jeremy Grabiner is the interim director of congressional relations at the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH), a nonprofit dedicated to improving healthcare access for Native Americans in urban areas.

Early experiences growing up as a missionary kid in Zambia, Africa, instilled in Jeremy a deep sense of service. After earning a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Southern in 2014, he returned to Zambia to start his career as the head of accounts and inventory at Riverside Farm Institute. A year later, he moved back to Chattanooga to work as a market specialist at Unum but soon realized that his passion was for public service. This led him to pursue a graduate degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

After graduating with his master’s in 2021, Jeremy joined NCUIH as a policy analyst and quickly advanced to policy manager of congressional relations. In this position, he played a pivotal role in leading a multi-organizational, bipartisan legislative campaign to secure advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service (IHS). This legislative proposal ensured that funding for Native American health clinics would continue uninterrupted, even during federal government shutdowns. The importance of this plan was evident in 2019 when several health clinics for Native Americans were forced to reduce services or shut down entirely, with devastating consequences for their communities.

In 2023, the advance appropriations bill for IHS was signed into law, with the president praising it as a historic step toward improving healthcare access and outcomes for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Shortly after, Jeremy assumed his current role at NCUIH, where he continues to further the organization’s mission.

Also in 2023, Jeremy gave up a part of himself, quite literally, to save his father’s life. Steven Grabiner was diagnosed in 2007 with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronic disease for which the only cure is a liver transplant. Surgeons transplanted 60 percent of Jeremy’s liver into his father last year. The operation was completed just in time, as Steven’s liver had severely atrophied. Both men are healthy and doing well, thanks to Jeremy’s commitment to his family and this tangible demonstration of his dedication to helping and serving others.

Victor Czerkasij has come a long way from third grade, when his teachers thought he may need a “special school” as his aptitude and intellect seemed less than stellar. Thankfully, someone thought to check his vision, and with new glasses, the world opened up. 

While at Southern, he married his academy sweetheart Rene (Albers), ’82, in 1982. Their wedding reception was held in Southern’s Dining Hall. The following year, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and became the associate director of the Ukrainian Voice of Hope in California. When the department was sunsetted in favor of the Russian language, he accepted a position as chaplain at Greater Miami Academy, where he was ordained in the Florida Conference. Five years later, Hawaii called him to teach and pastor on Kauai. 

After enjoying the beautiful beaches—and surviving a category 5 hurricane—Victor joined the recruitment team at Southern in 1993 and advanced to become the director of Admissions, setting enrollment records. During this time, he also completed his master’s degree in religion at Southern. 

With two young boys at home and 19 years of denominational employment under his belt, Victor decided to transition to a career that would allow him to have more time with his family. He completed an associate degree in surgical assisting, was granted a scholarship to Vanderbilt University, earned master’s degree to become a family nurse practitioner, and was awarded for his research on psoriasis. 

Vanderbilt invited Victor to be an adjunct faculty member on his graduation day. In 2022 he earned his doctorate in nursing practice, focusing on unique treatments for psoriatic arthritis. His primary efforts are in clinical dermatology, but he participates in a dozen medical advisory boards that review research data and speaks 80 times a year at conferences where he is considered an expert on multiple dermatology diseases. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, his family’s country of origin, has provided an opportunity for frontline medical service there, and he was pleased to see the Ukrainian Voice of Hope revived in Kyiv. Recently nominated as a fellow for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Victor has many new projects in the works. He enjoys preaching, traveling with Rene, and loving his sons­—all while wearing his trusty pair of glasses.

Braam Oberholster is a retired professor of finance and international business at Southern. 

In 1979 he completed a double-major bachelor’s degree in management and accounting through Andrews University’s extension campus at Helderberg College in his home country of South Africa. After graduating, he and his wife, Petro, served in Malawi for nine years, initially in leprosy control and later at Malamulo Hospital as business manager of the hospital and chief financial officer for a number of community health and development programs. 

His teaching career began when he was invited to serve as a lecturer at Helderberg College after completing his master’s in business administration at Andrews. After a brief four years in the classroom, he was invited to step in as chief financial officer of the institution. Though he accepted the role, he didn’t want to step away from teaching, which he had realized was his calling. So he continued to teach part time, in addition to his administrative responsibilities. At the turn of the millennium, the Oberholsters were invited to do full-time teaching at Klabat University in Indonesia, which they gladly accepted. Their four years of service reinforced Braam’s skills in and commitment to developing young minds for professional service. 

In 2003, Southern invited Braam to join the School of Business. During the twenty-plus years Braam served in Tennessee, he completed doctoral studies at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, actively promoted business as mission, initiated and managed the semester abroad program, led domestic and international tours, and intentionally applied biblical foundations to the disciplines in which he taught. Most importantly, he made a significant impact on the minds, hearts, and lives of hundreds of Southern students who today are alumni. 

Braam’s time at Southern was a blessing for him, and many students reflect the same feeling—considering themselves blessed to have known and been taught by him. His wisdom, insight, interest, dedication, real-world experience and knowledge, and desire to see his students achieve greatness in their careers while maintaining Christ at their centers have made an immeasurable difference.