Chris Borgman 2006

About Me:
I grew up in Fulton, Illinois, which is basically a twin city of Pella in northwestern Illinois. It’s a small, rural town with a strong Dutch heritage in the area my parents were both raised. I grew up playing baseball and basketball as much as possible. My love of baseball is what really led me to Central where I could get a great education yet also still play the game that I loved on the collegiate level. I was an only child growing up so I got to spend a lot of time with my parents whom I still love and appreciate dearly to this day. As I’ve gotten older and had kids of my own I can look back and see how many sacrifices both my parents made for our family. We weren’t rich but also weren’t poor; however, we had to bust our butts for everything we had. My mom did a lot of different jobs to support our family. She was the equivalent of baseball’s utility player: a secretary/assistant, florist, babysitter, etc. Basically, whatever she needed to do, she did. My dad was a construction worker for 35 years, who also poured concrete (driveways, sidewalks, etc.) on the side to bring in extra income for us. Not only did he do that, but he also coached pretty much every sports team I played on as a kid. Looking back on all of that, I can see now why the guy never had trouble falling asleep at night; but he never complained. I also was expected to pour concrete with my dad and help with the family’s side business. I did that job every summer break, all summer long, from age eight through optometry school when I was 25. It was during those 17 years that I learned the value (OK maybe “preference” is a better descriptor here) of heat in the winter and air conditioning during the summer! (ha) My dad’s work ethic is second to no one and those times are where I think the bulk of my motivation, work ethic, determination and demeanor came from. He was and still is my hero.

As I got into high school, I found a very good core group of friends. I was never a trouble maker, but I would participate in as many pranks as I possibly could. My best friend, Greg Kapusinski (Central Alum 2007) and our other friends would start water balloon fights, TP houses, play sports, swim, fish and simply just hang out. We would cause mischief for sure, but never anything that hurt anyone or caused property damage. We were mainly about causing mischief in the cleanest way possible, if that is even a thing (ha). He is still my best guy friend to this day.

I loved baseball more than basketball, but basketball was probably my better sport in high school. Turns out my wife Becky (Wells) grew up 20 minutes away from me and likely yelled curses and booed me heavily when we played her school. (For the record, my team always crushed her team in high school. (ha) She had no idea who I was, and I had no idea who she was until I met her at Greg & Andrea Kapusinski’s (Central Alums 2007) high school graduation party. Becky and Andrea had met at a track meet in high school and decided to be roommates at Central. When I first met Becky, she had a boyfriend. Although I instantly had a crush on her, I didn’t pursue her, but we remained friends. A few years later when I heard Becky was single, I swooped in and fell head over heels for her. My dad says to this day that when I fell for Becky, that I fell so hard I broke my chin, both arms and both legs on the way down (ha). He is right. I’m lucky to have her in my life as my best friend, wife and mother of our two girls, Lydia (3 years old) and Elyse (1 year old).

Employment/Future Aspirations:
I currently am a staff doctor/faculty member at the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn. where I get the cool job of training/educating students who are on track to become future optometrists. I am excited every day to wake up and work with the aspiring students. They have a passion for learning that I find contagious. I always tell the students that “If you are bored in eyecare, then you’re doing it all wrong.” There is so much to learn, so many challenges to overcome and room to make things better. It’s super hard work, but I do love it.

The reason I got into academics was because of the potential impact I could have on the profession and maybe even the world. In private practice (where I was in Des Moines for three years), I saw tons of interesting, cool and yet sad cases, but I never really had an outlet to mentor or mold-and-shape another future doctor. I’m a huge believer that everyone should give back in at least one of the three T’s: time, talent or treasure. Treasure is the easiest to give, like donating money or goods. Talent is taking the gift that God gave you and maximizing it in some way. Time is likely the most precious and valuable, yet the hardest to part with for most people. In my job, I am able to use my talent for teaching and my time to maximize my impact on future optometrists so that after they graduate they are well prepared to care for the people in the communities they serve. In a weird way, I am attempting to clone myself as much as possible with these students so that they can take some small piece of me along with them to help them better care for their patients after they graduate. I know that sounds weird but that is what I hope they gain from working with me.

My future aspirations are kind of up in the air at the moment. I love what I do and the opportunities that come along as part of the job requirements. I’ve learned in my short career that I should never close a door to an opportunity. I love my job, but I am aware that God sometimes puts time limits on our stays in certain locations as He may have a larger project in store. We’ll see where God wants us in 5, 10, even 20 years because where He wants us is what’s best for us, and that’s where I want to be.

Memorable Central College Moments:
• Meeting my future wife
• Playing “Gennis” with Kris Walters (Central Alum 2006) all over campus
• Mowing the grass on the island for my work study position
• Dr. Russ Benedict and Dr. Wendy Weber – my two favorite college professors by far. Now that I’m teaching at the graduate level, I find myself teaching in almost the exact same ways they did. Their love and passion for learning and teaching are even more obvious now as I look back on my time in their classes. I model my interactions with students completely off of how they interacted with me. I’m grateful to have learned from them.
• Attending Dutch football, basketball and volleyball games. I always had a blast hanging out with my friends while also taking pride in the Dutch Athletic programs
• Sitting in Nanes with Austin DeHoogh (Central Alum 2005) in October 2003 watching the Chicago Cubs blow their lead to the Florida Marlins with only a few outs to go and therefore missing their opportunity to go to the World Series
• Thursday nights at Dr. Salami’s. A large group of us would go for a beer or two and just hang out.

My life after Central College
Immediately after graduating in 2006, I worked with my dad for the summer, and started my doctorate program at the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago in the fall of 2006. In December of 2006, Becky and I started dating, and a year later we were engaged. We married a week after I graduated from optometry school in 2010. We lived in a 500 sq. ft. apartment in the area surrounding Wrigley Field in Chicago while I did a post-graduate residency.

I had a job lined up in our hometown around the Quad Cities but that fell through so Becky and I decided to move to Des Moines and start building our lives there. I applied for and landed a sweet private practice gig in downtown Des Moines while we lived in Pleasant Hill. While our friends were starting families, Becky and I struggled to get pregnant. We learned that we both had fertility issues that left us with <1% chance of having kids without surgery, but even the surgery didn’t guarantee anything. After we both had surgery and a round of in vitro, we learned we were pregnant with our first daughter Lydia. She was and still is an answered prayer for us. She was worth the wait and trouble we had to go through to meet her.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in private practice in Des Moines, but after about two years, it dawned on me that I really missed teaching and working with students. It was also around this time that I found my faith in Christ, or maybe I should say He found me. After many discussions and prayers with Becky, we made the decision to follow where God was leading us, and it seemed to be obvious He wanted me in academics. I applied to different optometry schools (including my alma mater in Chicago), but my resume seemed to fall on deaf ears, except for one school – the Southern College of Optometry here in Memphis. We flew to Memphis to check out the school. Becky and I made a list of things that needed to happen for us to move and said if everything on that list was taken care of, we would take it as a sign that we were supposed to move to Memphis to start anew here. What a scary and exhilarating time this was! We absolutely loved our time in Des Moines and were secretly hoping we’d be forced to stay in Des Moines, but God had other plans. Before we knew it, four months after our visit to Memphis, we had our house sold, everything packed up and driving through the night with our then one-year-old to Memphis.

Two years later, our youngest Elyse was born. Talk about another huge unexpected blessing! For Becky and I to have two kids – when we really wondered if we would ever be parents at all – it was a huge blessing, and we treasure these two girls more than I can describe. I think we are better parents now because of our fertility struggles. I can’t say that we’ve always enjoyed the struggles and challenges we have faced since we’ve moved here, but we know this is where we are supposed to be. So here we are in Memphis, and here we’ll stay until God decides it’s time for us to be somewhere else.