By: Dezaray Barr
—
Each year, Indiana Wesleyan University awards a Distinguished College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Award. This award is granted to an alumnus or alumna of the College who has exhibited excellence in serving his or her profession, community, church, or alma mater in the spirit of Jesus Christ. This year’s recipient is Phil Talbert.
Talbert is the CEO of Talbert Educational Consulting, LLC. From 1987 to current, he has been a member of the Greenfield Church of the Nazarene. He has been a Church Board Secretary for 27 years, a member of the New Church Building Committee, a Middle School/High School Sunday School Teacher, a Bible School Teacher/Activities Coordinator, an Adult Sunday School Teacher for five years, a Song Leader/Assistant Song Leader for seven years, a Usher and Weekly Counter for fifteen years, and a Community Day Coordinator/Church Car Show Coordinator.
Talbert has also been a Board Member of the Warren Arts and Education Foundation since 2005 and a Founding Member of the Warren Township Kiwanis Club since 2004.
He has received the following awards: Warren Township Service Award 1982, NFL Teacher of the Month 1996, Voyager Expanded Learning Founder’s Award 2009, Indiana Department of Education “Spotlight on Learning” Award in 2009, Indiana Department of Education Distinguished Principal Award in 2011, Warren Township Lasting Impact Award in 2015, City-County Council Proclamation of the City of Indianapolis “Key to the City” in 2016, and Hawthorne School Playground dedicated in honor of Phil Talbert in 2016.
“I went to the altar at sixteen years of age and asked the Lord what He wanted me to do with my life,” Talbert said. “I had planned to be an architect, which I had been preparing for in high school. While at the altar the Lord said to me. ‘Phil, do you want to build buildings or build people?’ I said, ‘What do you want me to do Lord?’ The Lord said. ‘I want you to build people.’ I said that if that is what He wanted me to do, I was willing to do it. This was part of God’s plan for my life. I would not be a Christian today, if I hadn’t attended Marion College (now IWU).”
When Talbert was a student, he ordered a brand new custom Corvette, right off the assembly line, to arrive on graduation day. This is the same Corvette in its original condition and will be featured in the parade during homecoming.
—
Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a junior Strategic Communication and Honors Humanities double major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. At IWU, Dezaray runs both the JWHC Blog and her own blog. Visit Dez’s website at www.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.