Diane Borchardt

Diane Borchardt was a former teacher's aide/study hall monitor at Jefferson High School in Wisconsin. She was convicted of hiring three of her students to murder her estranged husband, Ruben Borchardt, on Easter morning in 1994 [1]. The Borchardts were married in October 1979. Ruben had just lost his first wife (the mother of his two children) in a car accident earlier in the year. For the next 14 years, both Ruben and his children were living with Diane, and the Borchardts had a daughter together. He did not hit or abuse Diane.

Late in 1993, Ruben fell in love with a woman who had hired him to do some cabinet work for her and he decided that he wanted a divorce from Diane. During the divorce proceedings, Ruben won title to their home, and Diane was given one month to vacate the premises. Diane then began soliciting some of her students for the job of killing Ruben, offering them cars and $20,000 from Ruben's life insurance policy. One of them, Douglas Vest, eventually agreed to do it and enlisted a couple of friends to help him. On the eve of the murder, Diane deliberately picked a fight with Ruben and told police that she was leaving the house, thus giving herself an alibi.

The next morning, around 3:30 AM, as Ruben and his son prepared to go to the Easter Sunrise Service at their church, Diane's students broke into the house and shot Ruben twice with a sawed-off shotgun, just as he was going up the stairs to get his son out of bed. Ruben was taken to a hospital, where he died several hours later. Diane got away with the crime for almost six months, until one of the gunmen told 'the wrong person' about his involvement in the crime, and implicated Diane as the organizer of the plot.

Kathy Coleman

Kathy Coleman ’87 is the 2009 recipient of the Alumni Volunteer Award. In addition to Coleman’s generous philanthropy, she contributes a tremendous amount of service to College. As a graduate of the Weekend College, Coleman lends a hand to them whenever they need it—whether to endorse a letter or be listed in a publication. Coleman is a member of the board of trustees and co-chairs the institutional advancement committee. She has also taken on multiple fundraising efforts on the College’s behalf, traveling both locally as well as to New England and the Southeast.

Coleman makes it her job to re-introduce alumni back to the College; she researches what may interest individuals, and then follows up. She participated in Hiram’s alumni trip to Greece. She made sure that she was meeting with each person individually, sharing information on the latest happenings at Hiram, and making sure they were forming a relationship with the College while they were in Greece.

Coleman noted that she – and her late husband Les – love places that built a sense of community – and that is what Hiram is all about. Thank you to Coleman for her volunteerism, and congratulations on this deserved recognition. Put this Alumni Weekend on your calendar, and see people from you class year – maybe one of this year’s award winners is from your class! All of them have been notified, accepted and will be in attendance, so plan on joining us!

Indy 500

Helio Castroneves understands better than most how hard it is to win the Indy 500. The charismatic Brazilian won here as a rookie in 2001 and then backed it up with a victory the next year, becoming only the fifth driver in the history of the race to win two in a row. Since then, six years have passed with no fence-climbing celebrations at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the man dubbed "Spiderman.''

"The first year was pretty tough,'' Castroneves said. "The second year was even tougher. The third year, I had like a bullet. This car was incredible, supersonic. I finished second. So, I learned that you can't let opportunities go by. You've got to go for it. That's what we're going to do this Sunday.''A win this year would be particularly significant for Castroneves. On Friday, federal prosecutors dropped the remaining U.S. tax evasion conspiracy charge against him and his sister, clearing Castroneves of all the charges that once threatened to derail his career.

In just his third race since returning to the IndyCar Series, Castroneves will start from the pole on Sunday, with Penske Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe next to him in the middle of the front row. That 1-2 punch gives team owner Roger Penske a good shot at his 15th Indy win. "But, to win here, everything has to work perfectly, everything,'' said Penske, whose last winner was Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006.