Coming home to speak in public can almost always be counted on to give a person the jitters.

"I can take someone's spleen out in five minutes if I have to, but to talk in front of my home town makes me a little nervous," Dr. Karen Diefenbach, Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School's distinguished alumni recipient, said.

Diefenbach, the pediatric surgical fellow at Yale University, overcame whatever jitters she might have had and talked about her career and how she was influenced by CMHS.
"Whatever your goals are, you can achieve them coming out of Carrier Mills High School," Diefenbach said.

Coming from a small town and small school gave Diefenbach an people from larger schools don't have, she said. In a place like Carrier Mills, teachers and residents personally encourage kids to excel and take pride when they do. Diefenbach mentioned Richard Morgan, who made her believe a career in science was possible; Linda Absher and Georgia Cowger, who taught her how to speak in public without breaking out in hives -- or at least to wear clothing that hides an outbreak of hives when speaking in public.

Diefenbach had doubts at times, along with doubters.

During her undergraduate years at Southern Illinois University, she had a guidance counselor who told her to forget about medical school.

"My decision to pursue surgery was met with disbelief," Diefenbach said.

She was a quiet student who didn't fit the profile of a surgeon. And at the time Diefenbach was applying for a surgical spot only one in five went to women. But she persevered and made it through medical school.

In July she will be the newest permanent faculty member at Yale. If you asked her department chairman whether he would ever hire a person who came from a small town and graduated state colleges, "he would have laughed -- until now," Diefenbach said.

Morgan, who is now the superintendent, remembered the class of 1988 as a group of high achievers in high school.

"Man, were they competitive," Morgan said.

"It wasn't about who had an 'A,' it was about who had the highest 'A.'"