On May 11, 2020, Ferrum College alumna and Residence Life staff member Alli Colls Summers ’15 and Assistant Football Coach Luke Summers celebrated their one year anniversary as a married couple. Little did they know how unique their first married year together would be.
Over the course of a year, the Summers family continued renovations on their house, enjoyed a home overrun with adorable puppies from their two golden doodles Woody and Gracie, and embarked on a quarantined and socially distanced lifestyle thanks to COVID-19. In mid-April 2020, the couple learned they were expecting their next greatest adventure: a baby due around Christmas.
“It’s been quite a year and a half,” said Alli, who was also promoted to director of Ferrum’s Residence Life and Housing in June 2020. “We’ve been pretty busy! Luckily, most of it has been a lot of fun.”
Their healthy baby boy, Lincoln Keith Summers, arrived at 1:25 a.m. on Christmas Day 2020. He weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.
“Lincoln already knows what he does and doesn’t like and he’s going to let you know it,” Alli said. “He’s very snuggly and an incredible day sleeper! Shockingly, for a 10 pounder, he does not enjoy eating! He’s the sweetest baby. We’re so in love, but definitely exhausted!”
In 2019, Alli and Luke were featured as Ferrum College Sweethearts in this article.
Author, speaker, and domestic violence educator Janine Latus will visit Ferrum College’s campus on Monday, October 28, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the Panthers Den of Franklin Hall. She will present “You Know What’s Really Scary? Relationship Violence.” A reception will follow the presentation. This event is free and open to the public.
Janine Latus had recently left an abusive marriage and was attending a conference when she learned that her youngest sister, Amy, was missing. In April 2002, Amy had taped a note to the inside of her desk drawer. “Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved,” it read, “but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me…”. Two years later, Amy’s former boyfriend Ron Ball was sentenced for her murder.
These experiences led Latus to launch a campaign against relationship violence, and today she is a widely sought-after teacher, author, and speaker who regularly conducts workshops for clients in the corporate, educational, and military sectors, as well as professional athletics. Her talks have inspired thousands of people to recognize relationship abuse, break free, and heal.
Dr. Lana Whited, professor of English and director of the Boone Honors Program at Ferrum College, describes Latus’s previous visit to the Ferrum campus: “I have seldom heard the undergraduate students on our campus quieter than when Janine Latus was speaking to them. Janine is generous with her time and talents and unwavering in her crusade to spare others what she and her sister Amy endured. Her message resonates long after she has gone.”
Visit Latus’s website to read the first chapter of “If I Am Missing or Dead” or to listen to Latus’s 2017 Tedx talk.
Latus’s appearance at Ferrum College is sponsored by the Office of Student Life, the Boone Honors Program, Stanley Library, and the campus chapter of Help Save the Next Girl.
Event details submitted by Dr. Lana Whited.
