Why should students have all the fun?

As I compose this blog more than 130 Bluffton students are scattered across the globe on their cross cultural experiences – in Iceland, Israel/Palestine, Guatemala, Columbia and closer to home in Chicago inner city, the Gulf Coast, Appalachian Kentucky and New York City.

Not to be outdone, the music department has decided to pull together an Alumni Choir Tour to Italy in June 2013. While the student's three-week long experiences focus on service and cross-cultural experiences in homestays, the alumni 10-day tour is being organized through a travel agent with hotel accommodations. So it's really not quite the same thing, but it would be interesting none-the-less.

One of the PR student assistants, an art major, went to Italy for her cross-cultural experience a few years back and brought back wonderful photos. (Photo credit to Cara Rufenaucht Delphia '07)

The alumni tour includes stops in Venice, Florence, Orvieto and Rome. Plans are for the alumni to present a cappella performances at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and San Marco Cathedral in Venice. Are you imagining yourself there yet?

After posting about this trip on Bluffton’s Facebook page yesterday and sending out an email to select alumni and students today, there has been quite a bit of chatter about this opportunity on social media.

Unfortunately, most of the chatter I’ve seen is by recent grads for whom a trip to Italy isn’t quite in the budget. Don’t despair, while alumni trips are not organized on a regular basis, opportunities to travel with fellow Beavers do come along on occasion. So start saving your pennies now and you’ll be ready for the next trip!

To learn more about the Alumni Choir Tour to Italy, visit the Bluffton web site for detailed information and a registration form. Deadline to express interest, and to let director Mark Suderman know what voice part you sing, is June 15, 2012. Contact him directly at sudermanm@bluffton.edu for more information.


2007 Cross cultural students in Italy

Ciao!

BBF - Bluffton Beavers Forever

So it’s Friday before graduation. Classes are complete. Finals turned in. There’s nothing to do but to pack up and make memories before Graduation Sunday.

Four years. Four years of living, eating, studying, praying and playing together comes down to this one last weekend. Then you’ll move on to the next stage in your life. If you are like I was, there are many emotions swirling right now: happy, sad, scared, nervous, excited, thankful…

I remember standing in Klassen Court after my commencement in a sea of black. Where are my friends? My professors? Who do I want to give one final thank you, good bye, love you hug? All I see is black robes and my parents standing off to the side waiting to give a congratulations, proud of you, love you hug.

The people at Bluffton who have grown to be important to you, those who have encouraged you, challenged you, supported you – they will always be with you. Sure they may no longer be right down the hall, you will probably not see them or even talk with them daily – but they will always be part of you.

In the words of Jon Geuy ’85, "Although we maybe took it for granted while there & we don't always stay in close contact now, being a Beaver is something special.”

So enjoy this weekend! Then go make a difference in the world! But be sure to come back to campus for Homecoming and/or May Day because being a Beaver really is something special.

Carpe Diem

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the end-of-the-year communications department banquet. Professor Melissa Friesen assured me that the students would be interested in knowing how I ended up working in PR at Bluffton University, and why have I stayed here for 20+ years.

Not sure what the students gained from my walk down memory lane, but it was interesting for me to acknowledge the closed doors, opened windows, seized and missed opportunities that brought me to this place.

When I graduated from Bluffton in 1986, I did not aspire to be a web communication manager who works with social media. That job description did not – obviously – even exist. I suspect that many Bluffton alumni can relate. Thank goodness for our liberal arts education that gave us a wide base of knowledge and preparation for life.

I’m so thankful for the opportunities offered through the Learn and Earn program. My campus job working as a writer for the communications office (a.k.a. public relations) provided a bridge between academic and professional. More than just padding the resume, my time as editor for The Witmarsum student newspaper and as a Bluffton News intern provided leadership and networking opportunities.

Bluffton students continue to embrace these opportunities. Seniors were invited to tell about their internship experiences. One communication student interned at WTLW Lima Christian television gaining experience in filming and editing. Another received a broad experience at Findlay Publishing Company, working for a time in radio, print and promotions, even providing voice for commercials “when they needed a 10-year-old girl.” Not an internship, but another student worked in the fall with the WTLW sports crew.

These are such wonderful experiences to mesh real-world knowledge with academic learning to support the relatively new broadcast and journalism major offered through the communication department.

It’s something for us all to remember, regardless of whether we’re starting our career or nearing the end, always embrace opportunities offered by the open windows.

Feeling frazzled?

You know the feeling… too much to do, too little time to do it in, and you’d rather be doing something (anything) else. With two weeks of classes remaining before finals, our students are feeling a bit frazzled. Not like you have to be a college student to identify.

Are they (we) stressed because we procrastinate, because we’re disorganized or both?

Last night at the university-related Bluffton Center for Entrepreneurs business planning meeting I met a lady who is starting a home-based business helping people get organized. How many times have I grumbled to myself “I have got to get organized” as I step into the office, kitchen...? If the price is right, I just may be her first client!

Jerry Kennell, former Bluffton VP for advancement, used a system using slotted pages and small notecards in a three-ring binder. During meetings he would move cards from one slot to another as topics were discussed. My luck I’d drop the notebook, the cards would fall out and I’d be in a mess.

Odd for a web manager to say, but my current system is hard copy calendars and multiple to-do-lists. From the students I interact with, I’d say it’s pretty even whether they keep their life organized on a physical calendar or on their phone. Maybe I’m not so old-school after all.

We did add a small white board in the office to keep pressing projects top of mind and a shared excel worksheet to track web updates. It’s a start.

Big projects are coming for Bluffton and the PR house this summer. Just wait for it. It’s going to be epic. To prepare I Really Must Organize, combine to-do-lists, prioritize… so when a student unexpectedly stops by to ask if there’s anything she can do for me, I have an answer!
 
I typically re-organize after May Day/Graduation, the unofficial end to the academic year. But I'm feeling the need to clean and start fresh NOW.

Which means, for today anyway, the door is shut, the computer off, music cranked... Wish me luck!

Making memories

Wild West Riley Creek Festival

 Ah… the last month of classes. Remember the push to finish preparations for senior recitals, art shows, the musical, final papers and projects… and the pull of friends and a beautiful campus to procrastinate by squeezing in as many memories as possible?

Indeed Bluffton students are living in the midst of this tension. Eric Fulcomer, dean of students, commented a couple weeks ago, “I wish it was cold and rainy.” I.e. the pull of tennis ball golf and other distractions would not be as strong if the weather wasn’t so nice. I’m guessing many faculty members are thinking the same.

Last night I drove through campus. It was fun to see all the students out and about. Some were apparently walking to a study group, night class or the library, others – it looked like teammates – were hanging out behind Founders after practice, others were lining up shots with their one golf club and a tennis ball. Brought back memories.

There are several opportunities in the next month for alumni and prospective students to enjoy time on campus and rub shoulders with current students.

• The informal annual Pops Concert is 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, in Founders. Was it last year or the year before that Jodi Diller “played” cell phone ring tones in a Concert Band piece?
   

• Saturday, April 14, is the Riley Creek Festival, annually planned by SOUL (Student Organizations United in Leadership.) As in the past, there will be inflatables for children and college students, a picnic, concert and the Rubber Duck Race in the Riley.
  
  “Purchase” a rubber duckie for $1. Proceeds of the Duck Race will benefit the Ada United Methodist Church, which burnt earlier this spring.
     
• The annual Strike-Out Cancer softball game has been expanded this year to include a home baseball game and picnic on Tuesday, April 17. Softball vs. Anderson game time is 3:30 p.m. Baseball takes on Defiance at 4:15 p.m. Proceeds from the concession stand and balloon sales support cancer research.
     
• May Day is always a fun day to visit with friends and classmates, and formally welcome the graduating class as alumni. Special events planned for the day include the May Day Run, Alumni Choir Sing, ministry teams reunion, musical and, this year, a final celebration of The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center 25th year and more.

Connect with your buds and make arrangements to connect on campus. You’ll be glad you did.

Check out the online events calendar for more info.

 

The Zombie Apocalypse

I am intrigued by the plans made for next Wednesday, March 28, the daylong celebration of this year’s Civic Engagement Theme - “Public Health: Promoting Wellness for Self and Community.”

Maybe it’s because I have a personal interest in health/wellness, but it’s been exciting to see this year’s theme develop with Team Andy, the dietetic internship program, and guest speakers such as Deo Niyizonkiza, Martin Chaffee, and Dr. Shelly Weaverdyck ’77. What a great year.

This theme seems to have caught students’ interest as well as there are more than 40 presentations representing 13 academic majors scheduled throughout Civic Engagement Day. Normal class sessions are suspended for the day with students expected to participate in the day’s activities. Like a conference, there are multiple sessions from which to choose from during each hour. Check out the scheduled presentations.

Your day could begin with ’88 grad Darryl Nester’s presentation of “The Zombie Apocalypse and Other Epidemics” (the spread of infectious disease.) Wouldn’t mind attending that one for the title alone!

Other topics include the effect of overuse/misuse of antibiotics in livestock, health care in the U.S., art therapy, stress, diet, video showing of “Supersize Me” which explores the effect of eating fast food three meals a day for a month, and “America the Beautiful” which explores our obsession with “physical perfection,” and more. Presentations will be made by individual students, student panels, faculty and guest speakers.

The day will conclude with a keynote address by three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ambassador Tony Hall. The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture will address the pressing issues encountered by anti-hunger activists.

This is the fifth annual Civic Engagement Theme/Day. Five years ago faculty members followed the lead set by Student Senate’s Go Green initiative and explored the theme “Environmental Stewardship: Living in the Natural World” in 2007-08.

Recycling receptacles across campus and paper recycling boxes near Marbeck Desk and in Centennial Hall are visible remainders of this focused study. Other “green” initiatives continue - such as the steps being taken to ensure that the new Health and Fitness Education Center is LEED certified silver or better.

It will be interesting to see in five years how this year-long focus on public health and wellness shapes the Bluffton campus. (No pun intended.)

Our calling... Christian community

Guest post by Gerald J. Mast, professor of communication

I have always been intrigued by the question of how God calls people. As a child I remember being jealous of the boy Samuel, who heard God calling him in the night. Would I ever hear such a call? Would I be brave enough to answer?

Other Bible stories offer similarly dramatic accounts of God speaking and people responding: Moses and the burning bush, Hannah in the temple, Isaiah and the seraphim, Mary at the annunciation, and Saul on the road to Damascus. These were women and men God called to challenging and world-changing tasks: leading God’s people out of Egypt, calling God’s people to repentance, bearing the Messiah, taking the mission of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit to grow as communities of grace, joy and peace.

During my college years, I struggled with my friends to listen to the voice of God as we faced big decisions, from choice of a major field of study, to dating relationships, to post-graduation plans. Those big decisions and the desire to hear God speak continued throughout my life, particularly at moments when I faced disappointment and failure.

A few years ago, a sabbatical leave provided me with the opportunity to study more carefully the question of how Christians understand their call from God, particularly from the perspective of Bluffton’s Anabaptist heritage. What I discovered during my research was both simpler and more exciting than I had expected.

I came to realize that God’s call is not a big mystery. God has already called us and most everyone who reads this blog will have already heard the call. The call is the same call that Abraham heard, that Moses heard, that Hannah heard, that Mary heard: Give yourself in faith to the life and mission of God’s people, flawed and broken though they be. Carry this mission into every corner of your life, no matter what station. As a member of God’s people, bring the good news of freedom and reconciliation and salvation to everyone in every place of life and work.

What this means in twenty-first century North America is encapsulated in the title of the book I wrote based on my sabbatical research: Go to Church, Change the World.

This account of God’s call may seem out of touch in a culture of declining church attendance and disillusionment with the failures and faithlessness of the church all around us. No doubt Isaiah and Jeremiah felt similarly disillusioned with God’s people, when they were called to speak up and remind God’s people of their mission.

Like these biblical characters, we have also heard God’s call, whether in church or in a Bluffton University classroom, whether through the counsel of a friend or by the speech of the heavens.  I see the call every morning on a sign displayed by a church located between my house and my office: “God is still speaking; no matter who you are, no matter where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

My own denomination puts it this way in its vision statement: “God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit to grow as communities of grace, joy, and peace, so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.”  Amen.

Just published: Gerald J. Mast, Go to Church, Change the World: Christian Community as Calling. Herald Press, 2012. For more information: http://mennomedia.org/gotochurch/