Lake Stevens hall-of-famer works for aid in Kenya

Published 10:53 pm Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tracy Stover isn’t one of those people who never really left high school. She’s a world traveler now working in Kenya.

Walk down a main hallway at Lake Stevens High, though, and you’ll see her name in a permanent place. A 1991 graduate, Stover was back at her alma mater last week to be inducted into the Lake Stevens High School Hall of Fame.

She’s in good company, joining 16 others to be so honored. It’s a diverse list that includes legendary University of Washington basketball coach Marv Harshman, a 1935 graduate, and Steve Thompson, who in 1969 played with the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.

Stover, 35, was also a talented high school athlete. She played soccer and twice competed at state track meets in the 100-meter hurdles. Her hall of fame recognition at an awards ceremony Feb. 12 came not through athletics, but from Stover’s efforts to help people in our troubled world.

Few places have been as troubled in recent months as Kenya, where Stover has spent five years working with World Concern. She is now the Christian nonprofit organization’s country manager for Kenya.

Since December, when Kenya held a presidential election, more than 1,000 people have died in tribal strife, according to the Associated Press. President Mwai Kibaki, of the dominant Kikuyu group, was declared the winner over Luo tribal member Raila Odinga, although election observers disputed the results.

In the past, Stover said last week, “Kenya has been very stable, it’s famous for its stability.”

Now based in Nairobi, capital of the central African country, Stover has worked extensively in a community near Narok, in southwestern Kenya. “Narok has only been in the news a couple of times. We had one week that was really, really bad,” she said. “Quite a few people were killed, and we weren’t allowed to leave the hotel. It was a very scary, tense time.”

She plans to return to Kenya on March 10, after visiting family here and attending an annual World Concern meeting in Seattle. The agency is involved in managing camps for people displaced by the violence. “We have 1,500 people displaced in our district. We’re small in terms of the news. Up north it’s 200,000 people,” said Stover, adding that six more people have been added to World Concern’s staff in Kenya to help with relief services for refugees.

Stover has spent much of her time in Kenya in a community-based development program, called a Nehemiah Project, helping bring water, health care and education to the Narok area.

“I feel very blessed. It’s been hard, but good,” Stover said.

She traces her interest in global needs to her church, Seattle’s University Presbyterian, where she worshipped while a student at the University of Washington. During her time at the UW, where she studied sociology and psychology, she took mission trips to Mexico, Bolivia and Mississippi. After college, she earned a master’s degree at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in England.

She had traveled to Africa with friends and spent a summer in Cape Town, South Africa. “I had fallen in love with Africa,” she said. “I really believe God called me into it.”

Lake Stevens High School Principal Ken Collins said the hall of fame program was started to honor alumni who have contributed time to the school, including some with high-profile careers. The Purple and Gold Club, made up of people from the community involved in fundraising for educational and school activities, is involved in the selection process.

“We try to get input from the community, people who have been here a long time,” said Collins, who once taught Stover in an honors world issues class.

Rodger Anderson, a Lake Stevens High social studies teacher, also had Stover in classes. She has come back to speak to his students.

“She was a great kid to have in class. When I found out she was in Africa, I was teaching world geography. She’s a really good speaker,” said Anderson, who was instrumental in submitting Stover’s name for the hall of fame.

“It’s a big reward for a teacher when a student remembers us and comes back,” Anderson added.

Stover’s mother, Roxanne Diss, can’t help but be concerned, but she’s confident of her daughter’s knowledge of Kenya. “I quit worrying a long time ago,” said Diss, who remembers Tracy going off to Central and South America after her first year of college.

“As far as Kenya goes, I always encouraged her to follow her heart,” Diss said.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.