HNGR Faculty and Staff

Laurel Goreham, M.A.

Student Support Coordinator

Laurel Goreham joined the HNGR program in the summer of 2021. She has an M.A. in Clinical and Mental Health Counseling from Wheaton College and worked as a counselor at a nonprofit counseling agency in Chicago prior to joining the HNGR team. In her role with HNGR, Laurel uses her skills of coming alongside students in assessment and development throughout their time as an intern. She brings significant prior international experience, having worked in a global context for a decade with at-risk women and children in Nepal, and helping individuals and families navigate intercultural adjustment and living.

Laurel has a passion for walking with people living and learning in international environments, and enjoys a good cup of coffee, being in the mountains, walks with her husband and dog, and seeing people thrive. Her vision for her role in the HNGR program is empowering students before, during, and after their internships and life at Wheaton to become people whose faith resides in the bottoms of their feet as they accompany others towards fullness of life.

laurel.schone@wheaton.edu

Kelly Wilson, M.A.

Partnership and Placement Manager

Kelly grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City and studied Environmental Science and Spanish at Wheaton.  She participated in HNGR and completed her internship in 2015 with Fundación San Lucas in Nicaragua.  Kelly is incredibly thankful to be a part of the HNGR team, where she has the joy of maintaining the links with HNGR’s network of over 80 current partners and making connections with new organizations and faith communities that could host student interns.

Through personalized discernment conversations, Kelly works to match students with internship placements that fit them well according to their field of study, personality, and passions, then support the logistics to make the placements a reality. She is honored to support students, accompany partners, and foster an environment that prioritizes doing justice and listening to marginalized people as the heralds of the Kingdom.

During high school and college, Kelly worked several summers to support community-based initiatives in Panamá and Honduras and developed community partnerships and placements for youth volunteers in Ecuador.  She was Honduras Project director in 2014-15, and in 2016, Kelly joined the HNGR staff as interim Communications Coordinator until beginning an agricultural internship at ECHO in Florida, which led her to a field experience to develop a nutrition sensitive home gardens pilot program in Guatemala for 6 months. Kelly spent several years in Southwest Florida working to develop coalitions and support the initiatives of schools, non-profits, food recovery groups, and others to improve healthy food access among food-insecure populations. She has a master’s degree in Agricultural Education and Communication and is a skilled trainer and networker. She has two beloved cats and enjoys cooking, baking, spending time outside, and thoughtful conversation.  

kelly.wilson@wheaton.edu

Laura Atkinson

Office Coordinator

Laura and her husband Tim have lived in Wheaton since 1996 and have three adult children and 2 grandchildren. Outside of work, Laura enjoys going for walks, playing tennis or pickleball and visiting their children/grandchildren as often as possible.  Laura enjoys serving in the HNGR department where she can use her passion to help others and develop relationships with the HNGR students as well as the many partners, faculty, parents, and others associated with the program. 

laura.atkinson@wheaton.edu

Nina Mantalaba

HNGR Communications Specialist

Nina Mantalaba was a HNGR intern in 2019, interning in Quezon City, Philippines. There, she learned about holistic transformation through storytelling and sharing art. She graduated from Wheaton in 2020 with a degree in Anthropology and Psychology.

Nina is passionate about listening to, learning from, and amplifying others’ voices. She enjoys conducting interviews and curating others’ stories into different pieces of media. She believes that by listening to others' stories, one can connect, empathize, and relate with others around the globe.

Other than a well-crafted interview, she enjoys connecting with students, visiting museums, and creating art with others.

nina.mantalaba@wheaton.edu