EAST LANSING - Gladstone High School graduate, Lyndsay L. Utke, daughter of Tina Chase of Gladstone and Tory Utke of Claremont, N.H., and granddaughter of Nancy Laundre of Escanaba, received her bachelor's degree in international relations and comparative cultures & politics from Michigan State University in East Lansing on May 4.
Lyndsay also completed the MSU ROTC program and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, Active Duty, in the United States Army in a separate ceremony on the same day.
She will be going to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in September for the 16-week Military Intelligence BOLC - Basic Officer Leadership Course. Following her training, Lyndsay will be stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25 Infantry Division, the "Arctic Wolves."
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Lyndsay Utke — MSU grad
Currently, Lyndsay is working in Nairobi, Kenya, completing a 12-week internship with SAACID (say-eed - Somali, meaning "to help"), an indigenous Somali, not-for-profit, non-religious, non-political, non-Governmental organization founded and directed by Somali women.
SAACID focuses on practical measures to enhance the life-options of women, children and the poor. With continous service to Somali communities for over 21 years, SAACID envisions "a world in which all women, children and the poor have full equality and full access to the resources necessary to fulfill their potential."
Their programming sectors include: Conflict-Governance, Education, Emergency Relief, Health/Nutrition/WASH, Livelihoods Development and Women's Empowerment.
While in Nairobi, Lyndsay will be working on a program related to child nutrition as well as livelihoods development, and work in the research sector. Her duties will include field coordination, program reporting and meeting with UN and INGO partners. She will return to the United States in August.
For more information on SAACID, visit www.saacid.org.