"Mighty" Music Inspires Scholarship Support

Ryan ’97 and Lyndsay (Kahler ' 96) Ermeling是在康考迪亚大学欧文分校的唱诗班认识的. Two years after graduating, 他们设立了Ein Feste Burg合唱奖学金，以支持合唱团和有经济需要的学生. In the years following, Ryan的创业公司从他的车库搬到了凤凰城的一栋办公楼里，现在他有20名员工，在过去的12年里，他的业务一直保持着两位数的增长.

“Concordia is near and dear to us,” says Ryan. “It has a strong Christian environment. 奖学金是我们祈祷和谈论的事情. 毕业后，我们想通过某种方式保持联系，于是想设立一项年度奖学金，帮助那些需要帮助的学生，或者向音乐系施加压力，让他们为合唱团招募学生.”

Ryan, a communications major, and Lyndsay, a music major, toured Japan, Korea, and Germany with The Concordia Choir.

“Our relationship began in the choir,” says Lyndsay. “That’s where we met. It brought us together in a very unique way. 我们一起度过了很多时光，在排练厅，在CU中心的舞台上，在巡演中. 康考迪亚大学的音乐课程在我们心中有着特殊的地位.”

在参观维滕贝格的众圣徒教堂时，马丁·路德将他的95条论纲钉在了教堂的门上, the choir did an impromptu performance of “Ein Feste Burg,” in English “A Mighty Fortress.”

“我们在歌曲中爆发，其他所有巡演的人都停下来听，”瑞安说. “It was one of the highlights of my 4 years at Concordia. It was a powerful moment and a powerful piece of music.”

“我想我们合唱团里没有一个人不起鸡皮疙瘩，”林赛说. “We all just stood there a moment and took it in.”

That memory was part of the reason that, upon graduating, 他们将他们的奖学金命名为Ein Feste Burg合唱奖学金.

“Tithing has always been important for us,” Ryan says. “我们都是在经常去教堂的家庭中长大的，我们都明白慷慨的重要性，并把上帝给我们的礼物奉献出来. As we looked at how we wanted to tithe and give back, obviously church is important for that, 但康科迪亚是我们生活中如此重要的一部分，我们想让它成为我们捐赠的关键部分. We looked at each other and said, ‘How can we not? We have to find a way to get Concordia into this. 我们能做些什么对我们和这个机构来说是特别的、有意义的?’”

当时，林赛在奥兰治路德中学领导合唱团. 瑞安曾在科罗拉多州立大学富勒顿分校担任体育关系助理主任. 有一天，Ryan的老板来到他的办公室，对他说了一句话，这句话最终改变了他的职业生涯:“我们用来在线播放游戏的服务将开始向我们收取每款游戏几百美元的费用. We can’t afford that. 有没有什么方法可以让我们利用技术自己做这件事呢?”

Ryan wasn’t especially good with technology, 但在苹果电脑上，他想出了一个在公司内部播放游戏音频的方法, saving quite a bit of money. Right away, people told him he should market his solution.

“我天生没有创业精神，但这是在正确的时间，正确的地点，”瑞安说. “许多二级和三级学校以及NAIA学校没有采取任何行动. 我有机会进入这个市场，当时它还很开放.”

在他们家的车库里，他安装了17台eMacs和耦合器设备，将高速互联网线路变成了72条电话线, 他通过互联网为感兴趣的听众播放游戏.

“Meters were bouncing, lights going on and off,” says Ryan. “It was a light show in there.”

早期的乐趣之一是成为NAIA的官方流媒体合作伙伴，并直播康科迪亚的全国锦标赛. On Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Ryan was handling 80 to 100 broadcasts all by himself. 现在，他的公司Stretch Internet每周六直播800场比赛.

瑞安说:“我从来没有想过要发展和全职经营这家公司. “这是我的副业，我开始赚取额外收入来养家糊口，这样林赛就可以辞去她的工作, or I would. 如果12年前你问我，这是否会成为我们的主要收入来源, I wouldn’t necessarily have thought that it was.”

Lyndsay says the word-of-mouth growth “took me by surprise. It just kept growing and we kept adding schools. It was pretty exciting,” she says.

Ryan says the secret sauce is great customer support. “That has been our selling point all along,” he says. “我们提供的客户服务是如此稳定和可靠. Far and away that was the biggest factor.”

Stretch Internet现在为近600所学校及其球迷播放大学体育比赛的视频和音频广播, including Concordia University Irvine. As the business has grown, so has the Ermelings’ giving.

随着时间的推移，我们已经能够增加捐赠，使其越来越有影响力....我们希望我们的奖学金能培养出对音乐的终身欣赏，以及音乐在信仰中所扮演的角色.

“随着时间的推移，我们已经能够增加捐赠，使其越来越有影响力，”瑞安说. “我希望我们能在这方面继续付出更多，祝福合唱节目.”

林赛继续从事音乐工作，并在凤凰合唱团担任了5年的副中音, during which time the group won 2 Grammy awards. 如今，她是路德教会的当代敬拜主任，并在教会的学校里教授所有的唱诗班和戏剧班. The Ermelings have three daughters, ages 14, 11, and 2. 大女儿是著名的美国芭蕾舞学校的全日制学生，住在纽约市的林肯中心.

“我们全身心地爱着康科迪亚，”林赛说. “We’re hoping one of our daughters goes there in the future. 我们也希望我们的奖学金能培养出对音乐的终身欣赏，以及音乐在信仰中所扮演的角色. For me, music connects me to my faith more than anything. 我们只是想让其他人有机会拥有那种山顶音乐体验, 去做一些他们不可能做到的事情.”