Campus News
December 19th, 2023
Hostutler Ashby remembered during GC class
Achievement Fund gifts 3-D printer for engineering classes
Photo by John Rudd
Kim Hostutler holds the butterfly ornament created for her by Phil Malone using the 3-D printer purchased for the Engineering Department by the Kalie Hostutler Ashby Academic Achievement Fund.
Photo by John Rudd
Team ICNH (Insert Cool Name Here) won the Battlebot final exam competition in Garrett College’s Introduction to Engineering course. ICNH team members, left to right, are Aiyana Yoder, Andrew Constantini, and Loki Baum.
The Butterfly Effect – a theory that small changes can produce large effects – was on full display last Tuesday at Garrett College.
Contributions large and small to the Kalie Hostutler Ashby Academic Achievement Fund led to the recent purchase of a high-speed 3-D printer for Garrett College’s Engineering Department. And that purchase, in turn, will help Garrett College produce better-prepared engineering students, according to engineering instructor Dr. Kelli Sisler.
“Kalie left such an important legacy here,” said Sisler of Ashby, a former Garrett College employee who was killed in a tragic car accident in 2015. “She had such a passion for education and helping students, which is what the Kalie Hostutler Ashby Academic Achievement Fund is all about.”
Freshman Jett Miller said the 3-D printer is already having a significant impact in his Introduction to Engineering class.
“It’s so much faster and it’s made us more efficient in our learning,” said Miller, who graduated from Southern Garrett High.
Phil Malone – who is Garrett College’s BoxRush combat robotics club founder and is co-teaching the Introduction to Engineering course with Sisler – used the 3-D printer to create a butterfly ornament for Kim Hostutler, who is Kalie’s mother. Malone also made ornaments for Kalie’s sister, Brittney Golden, and Kalie’s son, Sawyer Ashby.
“Scott Stallings, who at the time was the College’s graphic designer, developed the butterfly graphic and logo to represent the fund,” said Associate Dean Kim DeGiovanni, who organizes regular Ashby Fund events.
“I’m so grateful to Garrett College and especially Kim for keeping Kalie’s memory alive,” said Hostutler. The presentation was made during the class’s final exam, which featured round-robin Battlebots competition among the class members.
“Kalie had such a positive impact on Garrett College,” observed Sisler. “She was very passionate about education and helping students.”
