On Thursday and Friday of last week, York invited several distinguished York graduates back to the school to honor their accomplishments. They presented speeches on their high school experiences and lives in general. One of the honored alumni was Dr. Barbara Kegerreis Lunde.

Dr. Barbara Kegerreis Lunde graduated from York in 1955. She has had incredibly successful career as a physicist and engineer. The foundation of her success formed while attending York.

“People have asked me how I’ve done the things I’ve done,” said Dr. Lunde. “The answer is no one told me I couldn’t. That was certainly true at York. Maybe they didn’t think I would, but they certainly didn’t tell me I couldn’t.”

This positive environment created during her youth helped her realize her potential if she worked hard enough. However, it was her mother who helped her turn her potential into true success.

“I was inspired by my mother to take hard courses to learn a lot,” said Dr. Lunde. “Most classes were mostly with boys. Later these courses were useful because they put me on a track to take hard courses in college and get professional, well paying jobs.”

After high school, Barbara went off to college. She had good grades and knew she wanted to use her education to enter the field of science. However, at that time, the science fields were mostly pursued by men.

“Mostly girls were music majors and education majors; I didn’t think I wanted to teach some grade and I knew I wasn’t musical,” said Dr. Lunde. “Just to be different in sorority rush, I said ‘I’ll major in physics, and that’s what I did.”

Dr Lunde, with her brave decision to major in physics, was able to achieve great success at college and eventually beyond.

“I earned a BA and MS in physics from Northwestern University,” Said Dr. Lunde. “Then I went in to a job at MIT, requiring a master’s degree in physics. It evolved into allowing me to design guidance systems for the minuteman missile, which defended us during the cold war.”

Lunde, after college, also received a patent for these designs and later went on to work for NASA as a project manager. She then built several radio stations with her husband, taught at Iowa State University, and much, much more. She believes that York helped jump start her into this wildly successful life, and is grateful that she was able to attend such a great school.

“It all started at York,” said Dr. Lunde. “because no one told me I couldn’t.”