Transition is challenging. Steve Krampitz ’89 credits his education at Olivet Nazarene University for anchoring him in his Christian faith and making him a transition expert.
As a teenager, Steve’s first connection with Olivet came through his second foster parent couple, Don and Beverly (Burton) Johnson, who met while they were Olivet students. Don grew up in Kankakee County and attended Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School. Don’s parents, Oscar and Bertha Johnson, were charter members of College Church of the Nazarene in Bourbonnais.
Don and Bev had five children of their own, and all but one of them attended Olivet. They were also foster parents to more than 200 children during their 20 years of caring for young people in challenging family situations. They were wonderful parents for Steve at a transitional time in his high school years.
“I remember attending Homecoming activities on campus with Don and Bev for the first time in 1983,” Steve recalls. “I had no idea back then that I would ever become an Olivet student, much less an Olivet graduate someday.”
Don and Bev — whom Steve called Mom and Dad because he had lost both of his biological parents at a young age — took him to the Homecoming basketball game and to a play at Kresge Auditorium during that first visit.
Finding His Anchor at Olivet
When Steve came to the Johnson family, he had already attended seven different schools. During his last two high school years, the Johnsons helped him grow in his faith, get more involved in their Nazarene church family and get more connected with the church youth group.
“My only biological sister was already enrolled at a public university, and I enrolled there during my senior year in high school,” Steve says. “But following an impactful sermon from my youth pastor — at the very last minute, in fact — I switched my enrollment to Olivet instead. Even though I had very few resources of my own, God worked out His plan for me to start classes at Olivet in August 1985. The staff truly cared about me and helped me find the funding I needed to get my degree.”
Steve was one of the first students to cover a portion of his tuition by working at the radio station on campus. This job turned out to be a life-changing step for him.
“We navigated a lot of transition while I was employed at the station from 1985 to 1989,” he says. “We changed our location on the radio dial. Had a power increase to 35,000 watts. Changed our call letters. Even changed our music format. By the time I graduated in August 1989, the station had entered the digital age.”
Charting a Career Course
Steve was one of the first DJs to open up the microphone for WONU (formerly known as WKOC and broadcasting only in a small radius beyond the campus). Soon, they began getting phone calls from listeners in Chicagoland.
When the radio station tower was struck by lightning in 1987, Steve was one of the first to enter the studio after the storm.
“We could still smell the burnt wiring and equipment,” he says. “I helped evaluate the equipment to determine what was still working and what needed to be replaced.”
Steve was also greatly influenced by his experiences while singing in Orpheus Choir for four years. Dr. George Dunbar ’58 directed and conducted the choir at that time, and he became a powerful mentor for Steve. One of Steve’s fondest Olivet memories is the trip the choir made to sing at the National Music Educators Conference in Anaheim, California, in 1986.
“We chose our airplane seat locations by lottery, and God seated me between two Olivet giants, Dr. Dunbar and Dr. Harlow Hopkins,” Steve says. “When the flight attendants realized they had a choir on board, they asked us to sing the national anthem as we were flying over the Rocky Mountains. That was my very first airplane flight. For so many reasons, I will never forget it.”
Postgraduation Successes
Steve’s radio and fine arts experiences launched him into two successful careers. He worked at a variety of radio stations in Illinois, Iowa and Michigan until jobs became so scarce and low paying that he needed to find another career. Today, he works in customer service for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. His on-air broadcasting experiences plus the discipline and poise needed in musical performances are combining to make him an effective and valued employee.
Keeping memories of Olivet alive is one of Steve’s passions, as he continues to collect historical information and memorabilia from all decades of the University’s life. His collection includes more than 100 volumes of the Aurora yearbook; a large Olivet Nazarene College-branded round wall thermometer from 1978; and Dr. Dunbar’s miniature Nazarene hymnal from 1972 with Dr. Dunbar’s signature on the front, given to him by Linda (Luttrell) Dunbar ’59, Dr. Dunbar’s wife. He also has many CD, vinyl LP and cassette recordings of Olivet choirs and music groups, which he often shares on his YouTube channel and his Live365.com free streaming radio station.
A Word for Prospective Students and Parents
“Olivet has done a great job of adding more majors, strengthening and growing departments, adding more graduate studies and all with a Christian focus and foundation,” Steve says. “Shine.FM has grown to become a major broadcasting network for Christian music. Being part of the Olivet community is one of my greatest joys.”
Steve adds, “Higher education is expensive, no matter what school a student chooses. My message to students and their parents is: Don’t let money be the obstacle. If Olivet is where God wants you, He will make a way and put you there.”
Learn more about Shine.FM and Olivet’s history at Olivet.edu.
Read the entire “Doing Something Good Together” issue here.
