“When I think of Valpo, I think of endless possibilities. It’s where my dreams of the future began.” – Matt Palm ’01, ’04 MBA
For Matt Palm, choosing Valparaiso University felt like the beginning of something bigger than a college decision. It was the first step in writing his own chapter. “I originally heard about Valpo because my dad was a Lutheran pastor,” he recalls. “I was also interested in playing basketball and visited campus during my junior year of high school. I fell in love with the small campus and the atmosphere right away.” Like many Valpo students and alumni alike, Matt knew he would thrive in a smaller learning environment, somewhere he could grow academically and personally.
While on campus, Matt was a civil engineering major with a business minor and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He filled his time with intramural sports and campus life. Some of his favorite memories are woven deeply into Valpo history and his own family story. As a freshman, Matt camped overnight outside the ARC with friends to secure tickets to the 1998 Sweet 16 game in St. Louis, the year of the unforgettable shot by Bryce Drew. “It was electric,” he says. “That moment is something I’ll never forget.”
But perhaps Matt’s most sacred campus memory came a few years later. On January 5, 2002, he married his wife, Lovelyn, at the Chapel of the Resurrection while snow fell gently outside. His father officiated the ceremony, his final service before retirement.
After graduating in December 2001, Matt began working for a local home builder while completing his MBA. In August 2007, he launched his own custom home-building company, Crusader Homes, a name inspired by Valpo’s former mascot and the pride he carried as an alum, even designing the company’s shield logo himself. “It felt like the right name for a hometown builder rooted in values and integrity,” he says. “I was proud to be from Valpo.”
At the same time, Matt and his wife were building something even greater: their family. While she completed her nursing degree at Purdue Northwest, they began having children. By 2009, they had four daughters and felt called to pursue adoption. That journey led them to Uganda, a place that would ultimately transform their lives.
The Palm’s first adoption from Uganda took place in 2009. Over time, their family grew to thirteen — seven biological daughters, three adopted sons, and one adopted daughter from Uganda. In 2016, during what was expected to be a three-month stay in Uganda for another adoption, the country changed its laws to require 12 months of in-country fostering before international adoption could be completed. Rather than resist the unexpected detour, they embraced it.
Believing there was purpose in the pause, the Palm family purchased land and built a home in a village along the Nile River. “As a home builder, it was a dream to build a house for our family in our children’s birth country, alongside Ugandan neighbors.” Living there deepened the family’s relationships and opened their eyes to both the beauty and the hardship within the community. They encountered resilient, hardworking, joyful families who often struggled to access necessities like clean water, medical care, education, and stable housing. Out of those relationships, Shine Village Initiative was born.
Shine exists to preserve families, prevent children from losing parental care due to economic hardship, and share the Gospel through empowerment programs. The organization partners with local families to help them become self-sufficient and also offers educational, medical, and community outreach initiatives. Each Saturday, approximately 500 children gather for worship, teaching, meals, and play. “What began as adoption became partnership,” Matt reflects. “Our Western community now walks alongside our Ugandan community in hope.”
Today, as the president of Crusader Homes and co-founder of Shine Village Initiative, Palm continues to balance entrepreneurship and ministry, two callings rooted in service and stewardship. For the Palm family, the Valpo story continues, as one of their daughters is currently attending the University. “I hope she leaves with the same values and character-building foundation that shaped me.”
Looking ahead, Matt dreams of one day passing leadership of both Crusader Homes and Shine to his children, allowing him and his wife to spend time serving in both places as needed.
Looking back, Matt credits Valpo with shaping him into a well-rounded individual. “Valpo stretched me academically, spiritually, and personally. It challenged my character and helped me grow not just for the workplace, but for life.” Moving several states away from home forced him to step into independence.
Valpo was never just a campus for Matt. It was the starting line. “It’s where I became my own person,” he says. “It’s where everything began.”
