Robyne Bostick ’89

Robyne Bostick was inducted into the West Shore Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this spring for her excellence in basketball. Bostick called her induction an “honor, especially because there are so many great athletes and coaches from Central Pennsylvania.”

Bostick’s basketball career kicked off at Trinity, where she played under Coach Harry DeFrank and helped the Shamrocks win four Mid-Penn championships, three PIAA District 3 titles, and a PIAA state championship. She finished at Trinity with an overall record of 115-12 and ranks 7th on the all-time scoring list with 1,269 points. Bostick was also named to the Patriot News Big 15 Team in 1988 and 1989.

After graduating from Trinity, she took her talents to Saint Joseph University, where she played basketball for the SJU Hawks, leading the team in scoring and rebounding as a senior. She also earned honors as a Kodak District II All-American, as a first-team All-Atlantic 10 selection, and as Most Valuable Player of the Hawk Classic. Bostick was the Big 5 Rookie of the Year in 1991, and she currently ranks 10th in all-time field goal percentage with an average of 49.4%. Bostick helped lead Saint Joseph to a Big 5 title during each of her four seasons and was inducted to the school’s Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. Her achievements also earned her a nod by the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, where she was inducted as a member.

Of her experiences playing at Trinity and Saint Joseph University, Bostick says, “P laying sports and being part of a team really teaches you a lot of life lessons.” Bostick uses those lessons regularly in her career as a Division I collegiate basketball coach. She’s coached for Princeton University, the Air Force Academy, Vanderbilt University, and James Madison University. To Bostick, coaching is about “helping these young women get an education and putting them in a position where they can graduate and become productive members of society.” She is currently the associate head coach at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

In addition to working with young ladies, Bostick also spent time as a morale, welfare, and recreation supervisor on US military bases in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Of the future, Bostick says her plan is to ” continue to coach college basketball and be a role model for my players, and to help them achieve success both on and off the court.” Her greatest goal is to “make a difference” for her players.

Chris Spahr ’97

Chris Spahr left Trinity with a passion for service and education that drove him to enroll in the Peace Corps and also continue earning degrees, even to this day. After earning a B.S. in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State, Chris spent two years in Paraguay in the Peace Corps. This formative experience reinforced messages of a common humanity, for Chris. He says of the experience, ” No matter where we go in the world, we meet people with the same basic needs and wants as ourselves. Family, friendship, a roof over our heads, food on our table, and the opportunity to grow personally and educate our children. Ultimately, we are all one human family. Having the opportunity to live and work in a Paraguay for four years was an incredible privilege. Despite cultural differences I was immediately embraced by my Paraguayan family and friends who became a very formative part of my life.”

After returning to the United States, he pursed an M.S. in Geoenvironmental Studies from Shippensburg University, graduating in 2005, and is currently writing a Ph.D. dissertation on Urban and Regional Planning for the University of Wisconsin. He expects to graduate in 2019. Chris is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Centennial Parkside Community Development Corporation in West Philadelphia. Our mission is to preserve, promote and revitalize our neighborhood through partnerships with businesses and institutions and programs that engage residents, increase opportunity, and grow a diverse, thriving community. Chris says he’s “driven to pursue this work because I’ve learned about the historical failures of city planning that have left economically isolated and segregated communities throughout our cities. My passion comes from an opportunity to play a role in reversing this historical trend through advocating for communities that have suffered as a result.”

Brittany Misitano ’11

Brittany Misitano is in her final year at Widener University Commonwealth Law School with coursework focused in Business Law. Law school has afforded her many opportunities to engage with her community, including interning as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Anne Covey on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, and during the Fall Semester she was an intern in the Office of Cabinet Affairs at the White House. As an intern for President Donald J. Trump, Brittany’s duties included facilitating United States Cabinet meetings by coordinating venues and providing logistical support; participating in speaker series events which featured Senior Administration officials; drafting policy and legal analysis memorandums on current affairs; and assisting in organizing events for United States Cabinet Members and Agency Officials. Brittany was also able to tour the US Capitol and Supreme Court Building, and watch President Trump and the First Lady depart on Marine One on the South Lawn. She is pictured with President Trump (over the President’s shoulder in the red dress).

Personally, Brittany values volunteering, and as a Penn State alumna (’15) she has volunteered with the Paterno Family Beaver Stadium Run for Special Olympics Pennsylvania for the last five years. In 2016, she and her family were honored to receive the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Community Hero Award.