Cedarville faculty hobbies outside of the classroom

By Balen Allain, Megan Deets, and Sierra Perkinson

Stacey Stratton: Stage combat

By Balen Allain

Stacey Stratton teaches theatre classes and directs mainstage shows at Cedarville. She also has certification in all forms of stage combat.

Stage combat involves combat like sword fights but also the most physical interactions between actors or stunts, like a slap or – Stratton’s favorite – falling down the stairs.

“It’s making everything happen in such a methodical and planned way that safety is ensured,” Stratton said. “But then you add the acting component that sells it like it’s happening spontaneously.”

During her grad program, Stratton had a classmate who was a fight master, a top-level member of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). He taught a class in stage combat every semester, which Stratton always took. She even went the extra mile at the end to become certified as an actor combatant

“I loved it,” Stratton said. “I’m a physical person. I love all things active.”

Directors don’t need an expert to have stage combat in their shows, but it’s considered good practice to have someone on set to ensure safety and comfort. It also helps sell the immersion of the show.

Stratton was once brought on by a friend to stage a hanging within a Civil War reenactment. Her friend was going to be the hanged man.

“This reenactment was happening over a weekend,” Stratton said. “The first day, it was so believable that it freaked people out. They restaged the ending to that story, and they didn’t do it the rest of the weekend.”

She even taught her kids stage combat as they grew up.

“It’s part of our daily life,” Stratton said. “At really young ages, they were practicing stage slaps and punches, and it’s so fun.”

Stage combat is an opportunity to keep people safe while doing something Stratton loves.

Balen Allain is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media, and Journalism major. He enjoys gaming, writing, and music.

Rest, renewal and creativity

By Sierra Perkinson

Cedarville University’s Professor of Psychology Betsy Linnell has a mind bursting with creativity, most clearly demonstrated in her favorite crafting hobbies.

“I love to create because it makes me think about God and how creative he was with us,” Linell said.

Creativity allows Linnell to reflect on God’s handiwork in creation and individuals. It is not only beneficial for herself, as she also utilizes her creative mind as a tool to teach both her students and counselees how to help themselves.  

“I definitely see creativity as self-help, and as restorative and healing for myself and my daughter,” Linnell said. “I do often use more creative means in my counseling. When I was working with children, we did a lot of arts and crafts and a lot of different hands-on activities.” 

Not only does Linnell enjoy her creative hobbies because they help her and those she teaches, but she especially cherishes the aspect of creating art with her daughter as a way to bond with her. Creativity is not their only shared interest, and Linnell looks forward to trying out new hobbies with her daughter.

“I’m trying to get better at being more athletic so that we can bike ride longer, because right now we just do it for fun,” Linnell said. “I want to do a real, long bike ride…maybe 50 miles.” 

Although these are Linnell’s personal favorite ways of relaxing and being creative, hobbies of all kinds are important for individuals to find what they love and use it as a way to enjoy themselves when life becomes chaotic. In the midst of a hectic time, finding something that can brighten your day is essential for some self-care. 

“Always make time for fun,” Linnell said. 

Sierra Perkinson is a sophomore psychology student and reporter for Cedars. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, laughing, reading, and is fascinated by the human mind.

Jeffrey Haymond – Car Restomodding 

 By Balen Allain

Jeffrey Haymond is the Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business and an elder at Centerville Christian Fellowship. He served in the Air Force for twenty-nine years and has a doctorate and two master’s degrees. He’s also a life-long car guy. 

Haymond is the proud owner of a “restomodded” 1971 Cutlass, and he’s worked on several other old classics. 

A restomod is a car that has been restored to its original quality and modded to perform better on the road. He has another Cutlass, a red convertible he’s had since 1990, which students can see in the Stevens Student Center parking lot on a clear day. This remains the model he has the deepest connection to. 

“Beyond the thirty-five years, I’d always had a Cutlass,” Haymond said. 

Haymond has put a lot of work into it, performing multiple engine swaps on it. This past summer, he replaced the chassis after he found rust spots. He’s also kitted it out with modern parts to boost its performance – making it ride smoother, react faster to driver input, and quieter. 

“They’re all new, plus they’re upgraded with modern performance suspension geometry, modern brakes, fuel injection,” Haymond said. “I’ve had several people who work on cars say they’ve never seen an old car run as well as it.” 

Haymond fabricated parts for his cars, a skillset he learned through community college years ago and now online resources. He sells some of his fabricated parts for profit. 

“I don’t see people, I don’t see organizations and I don’t see cars the way they are,” Haymond said. “I tend to see them way they could be. And I think that’s a gift of God. We shouldn’t see somebody as they are, but for what God could put in them. We should see this world not as it is but what God will transform it to be, and we ought to be about transform part of that process.” 

Balen Allain is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media, and Journalism major. He enjoys gaming, writing, and music.

Dr. Deborah Groen: Raising labradors

By Megan Deets

Megan Deets

“I’m a crazy dog person,” Dr. Deborah Groen said.

Groen, a political science professor at Cedarville, is not only the proud owner of three dogs, but she is also a breeder of labrador puppies. She grew up in a family that raised cocker spaniels, and she knew it was a hobby she wanted to continue. Throughout her life, she has raised several dozen litters.

Groen loves the research she gets to perform as a dog breeder. She is fascinated by how a puppy’s brain develops, which happens most when they are between three and 16 days old. She also enjoys learning about health testing. There are new ways to see a dog’s genetics through DNA testing, and she desires to choose the healthiest parents possible for her puppies using these current methods.

But it’s not all about research. Groen reminisced about sitting in the playpen with the puppies at the end of the day and getting some cuddles. As adorable and funny as the puppies are, there is a big commitment in raising them. 

“It’s a lot of fun and snuggles, but when there’s a litter on the ground, it’s a lot of hard work,” Groen said.

For the first few weeks after a litter is born, she doesn’t get much sleep because she is up with the puppies every few hours.

All the hard work is worth it to Groen, who loves her puppies and searches to find the best home for them.

Groen said, “What a cool way that God gave us some extra joy in the world!” 

Megan Deets is a freshman Professional Writing and Information Design student. Some of the things that she loves are new notebooks, fresh fruit and musicals.

Clara Lutz: Exploring the world through God’s creation

By Megan Deets

Clara Lutz, a social studies professor at Cedarville University, developed a love for cooking from a young age. Her parents worked overseas as missionaries, and her mother would learn to cook food from whatever region they were living in.

“She was embracing a love of that culture,” Lutz said.

When she started her own family, Lutz had plenty of opportunities to practice cooking for herself.

“Being a chef, and just being a home cook, is a lot of work,” Lutz explained.

Through cooking, she has been able to develop better time management. 

“I always call myself a time optimist,” Lutz said.

Through cooking, she practices managing different tasks with the end goal of one finished product, whether that’s making dinner for her family or growing produce in her garden.

Lutz’s gardening hobby grew out of a desire to have fresh herbs available for cooking, but she soon learned how much she enjoyed it. Because her family doesn’t have any pets, she joked, “My plants are my pets.”

Lutz’s daughter recently joined her in a gardening experiment. They wanted to see if apple trees would grow from seeds out of apples they had at home. When the seeds did germinate, Lutz researched apple trees and was fascinated to learn that these trees had the potential to produce more than one type of apple. 

Lutz appreciates going to nurseries and learning about different types of plants. She also follows some events involving plants. One that she finds particularly interesting is a prominent flower show in Chelsea, England. 

Both cooking and gardening stem from Lutz’s love of learning about other cultures and people. All cultures have their own diverse cuisine and plants that she can experience through her hobbies. 

Megan Deets is a freshman Professional Writing and Information Design student. Some of the things that she loves are new notebooks, fresh fruit and musicals. 

Brian Burns: Excellence in hobbies and in heart

By Sierra Perkinson

For many individuals including Cedarville University’s director of campus experience and principles of management professor Brian Burns, hobbies are a welcomed break from life’s chaos, allowing time to decompress after a long day. 

One hobby Burns’ enjoys is reading, describing this hobby as a sort of process.

“I listen to the book first, then I read it, and then I listen to it again,” Burns said. “As somebody who is very much a ‘listening-learner,’ it allows my mind to dream, and when I go and read the book, it allows me to [go], ‘Oh, I remember that!’”

Along with reading, Burns spends his time studying Disney’s management. Being a principles of management professor, he references Disney’s management to help paint a picture to his students. 

“Using Disney as an example is like, ‘Okay, why can this company that’s all about customer service [and] the guest [be] doing better than we as Christians?’” Burns said. 

Among his other hobbies, spending time with family surpasses them all. Burns’ favorite aspect of his hobbies is that he gets to be near his family. 

“I think my favorite thing is when I’m with my family,” Burns said. “…Just being around the people that are the closest to me.” 

Burns loves spending time with his wife, Danielle. Having lost her central vision, Danielle uses her peripheral vision in order to see. Burns gladly supports her where he can; this is not a task for him, but a privilege. 

“If Danielle were to call right now […] I’d answer that phone call, and if I had to go, I had to go,” Burns said. “The team knows that. That’s the kind of culture that we have here, too. You can never cheat your family.”

*This is a collection of blurbs from Cedars’ fall 2025 edition of the magazine.

Sierra Perkinson is a sophomore psychology student and reporter for Cedars. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, laughing, reading, and is fascinated by the human mind.