BestSemester Magazine Spring 2010

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WHAT’S TECHNOLOGY HAVE TO DO WITH IT?

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FOREIGN FAITH

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CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT

BESTSEMESTER S P R I N G 2 01 0 • I SS U E 6

Celebrating a LEGACY of

T H E O F F - C A M P U S ST U DY M AG A Z I N E

TRANSFORMATION in the lives of 10,000 BESTSEMESTER STUDENTS

T H E

RSP

RUSSIAN STUDIES PROGRAM

One Last Opportunity to

EXPERIENCE RUSSIA

Winston Churchill called Russia “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Sample the mystery firsthand. In the fall of 2010 we will host the last semester program in Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia. If you have always wanted to experience the mystery of Russia – join us for the final semester.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

WWW.BESTSEMESTER.COM/RSP OR GO TO PAGES 6, 9, 16, 34 & 35.

ITINERARY 10

14 SPRING 2010

18 NO. SIX

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22 DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

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10 I LOVE TECHNOLOGY (ALWAYS AND FOREVER) Whether it is having the newest film camera or knowing how technology is changing the professional landscape, these three BestSemester programs help budding filmmakers, musicians and journalists navigate the technological terrain.

ISPATCH D PASSPORT

14 ENTER FAITH Interpreting religion abroad.

18 BEYOND CEREMONY

AND COURTESY

The rules of cultural engagement.

22 11 MILLION BOOKS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND The Bod card.

24 THE

FIRST 10,000 Celebrating a legacy of transformation in the lives of 10,000 BestSemester students.

26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Washington Journalism Center Middle East Studies Program Latin American Studies Program American Studies Program Russian Studies Program Contemporary Music Center Uganda Studies Program Programmes in Oxford Los Angeles Film Studies Center China Studies Program Australia Studies Centre

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DISPATCH WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SPEND A SEMESTER OR SUMMER ON AN OFFCAMPUS STUDY PROGRAM?

BESTSEMESTER BestSemester magazine is published each year in the fall and spring. BestSemester programs are offered by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). The magazine is also available online at www.bestsemester.com.

President Paul R. Corts, Ph.D. Executive Editor Vice President for Communications Nate Mouttet Managing Editor Jocelyn Green E D I T O R I A L

B O A R D

Vice President for Student Programs Ken Bussema, Ed.D Campus Relations Coordinator Danara Schurch Assistant Director for Student Programs Deborah Kim Director, Washington Journalism Center Terry Mattingly International Student Programs Advisors Aaron Stuvland Sara Thomas D E S I G N A N D P R O D U C T I O N Journey Group, Inc. Charlottesville, VA Creative Director Greg Breeding

You make new friends. You see new places. You challenge your faith. More importantly, you see your world and yourself with new perspective. It’s an adventure that will never be matched but will always be cherished. In a word, it’s about transformation.

And what happens when 10,000 students engage in off-campus study? A legacy.

In this issue, we are celebrating the legacy of transformation in the lives of our first 10,000 students to complete their BestSemester experiences. This kind of transformation runs deep and wide, affecting not just the individual, but spilling over into the lives of those around them as well. As you flip through these pages, you’ll travel from Hollywood to Siberia, from the pyramids of Egypt to the dreaming spires of Oxford, and beyond. Listen to these BestSemester alumni—many of them your own friends and classmates—as they share how changing their location changed their futures.

No doubt about it, these BestSemester programs teach you the skills you need for a leg up on your competition when it’s job-hunting time (see “I love technology,” p. 10). But they also guide you on your own journey of interpreting the faiths and engaging the cultures of our global society (see “Enter faith,” p. 14, and “Beyond ceremony and courtesy,” p. 18).

Choose your own BestSemester adventure, and count yourself in with the next 10,000 students to be transformed!

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Art Director Matt Pamer

Cover Illustration by Darren Booth

The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) is an international higher education association of intentionally Christian colleges and universities. Founded in 1976 with 38 members, the Council has grown to 109 members in North America and 72 affiliates in 24 countries.

The CCCU is a tax-exempt 501©(3) nonprofit organization headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. C C C U M I S S I O N To advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform the lives of students by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.

BestSemester magazine welcomes advertisements that are in line with the vision of the BestSemester programs and are mindful of the audience of BestSemester. For advertising rates and stipulations, contact the advertising manager at advertising@cccu.org.

BestSemester magazine also welcomes manuscript submissions and proposals. Please note that some submissions might not be accepted. For more information or questions, email info@bestsemester.com.

UPCOMING BESTSEMESTER APPLICATION DEADLINES — MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

April 1 - Fall 2010 Regular Application Deadline

May 3 - Spring 2011 EARLY Application Deadline

October - 1 Spring 2011 Regular Application Deadline

C A L L I N G A L L B E ST S E M E ST E R A LU M N I !

We want to hear about your BestSemester experience.

Visit www.bestsemester.com/tellusyourstory to share your adventure.

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DISPATCH CONTRIBUTORS

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Katelyn Beaty Katelyn (Scholars’ Semester in Oxford, fall 2006) is associate editor of Christianity Today magazine in suburban Chicago.

She graduated from Calvin College with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.

Abigail Bartels Abigail graduated from Wheaton 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in literature.

She and her husband moved to Uganda to start the Uganda Studies Program; the first USP group arrived January 2004.

Abigail has three children and works part-time with USP.

Shanley Knox Shanley grew up in Northern California, and became passionate about journalism in Haiti while writing home about the orphans with whom she was working. She loves traveling, trying new food and drinking really good coffee.

She currently lives in Long Beach where she is finishing her journalism degree at Biola University.

Dena Nicolai Dena (Middle East Studies Program, spring 2005) is a Dordt College graduate (political studies, 2006). She is originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is currently a program assistant with MESP in Cairo.

Mimi Wiggins Perreault Mimi (Summer Institute of Journalism, 2004) lives in downtown Washington, D.C., with her husband Greg. She graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 2005.

Kami L. Rice Since July 2007 Kami (American Studies Program, fall 1997) has been traveling the world as a freelance writer and loving it. She can be found online at www.kamirice.com.

Tara Jo Quinn In May 2009, Tara (Australia Studies Centre, fall 2009) graduated from Eastern University. In school, she studied writing and theater. Out of school, she’s focused on writing and playing folk music. She also serves coffee to the good people of King of Prussia.

Harley Wagler Harley Wagler is the director of the Russian Studies Program. He has a master’s degree and A.B.D. in his doctoral program in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Kansas. Wagler is fluent in Russian and has spent more than 17 years living and teaching in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Ashley Walker Ashley (Oxford Summer Programme, summer 2007) graduated in 2008 with a degree in English from Oklahoma Baptist University. She is currently working on a masters in English at the University of Oklahoma with an emphasis in 19th century British literature.

Tom Willett Tom Willett is assistant director for the Contemporary Music Center in Martha’s Vineyard. He has worked as a touring musician, songwriter, producer, booking agent, artist manager, A&R executive (Word Records, LA) and marketing VP (Sony Music, NY). Willett has been involved in the creation and marketing of more than 60 awardwinning records.

BESTSEMESTER.COM SPRING 10

Richard Potts Richard (Latin American Studies Program, fall 1996) resides in Austin, Texas, and is currently the associate director of The Media Project, a global network of Christians in journalism. He also teaches government at Concordia University Texas.

He holds an M.A. in political science from George Mason University (VA) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in political science.

See the Difference.

Be the Difference.

• Creative Writing (M.F.A.) • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: TESOL (M.A.) • Business Administration (M.B.A.) • Information Systems Management (M.S.-I.S.M.) • Nursing (M.S.N.) • Clinical Psychology (Ph.D.) • Marriage and Family Therapy (M.S.) • Industrial/Organizational Psychology (M.A. and Ph.D.) • Curriculum and Instruction (M.Ed.) • Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) • Alternative Routes to Certification (ARC/M.A.T.) • School Counseling (M.Ed.) • Literacy (M.Ed.) • Educational Leadership (M.Ed.) • Education, Doctorate (Ed.D.) • Counselor Education (Ph.D.) • Theology (M.A, M.Div.)

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PASSPORT TO P

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MAKE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR HOME STAY EXPERIENCE:

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ake quality time a priority. Although you’ll M be tempted to spend your time sight-seeing and hanging out with friends, make sure to hang out with your host family. What you will learn from them can’t be found in any guidebook.

Don’t give up when things get awkward.

Relating to your host family can sometimes be challenging. But the greatest reward comes through learning about different customs, traditions, and worldviews to appreciate your family for who they are (and vice versa).

3

View your house as a home, and not an inn.

Your host mom may say that she loves doing the dishes, but you could make her day by lending a

hand with the dish rag. Better yet, cook dinner one night and introduce your family to your favorite dish or take on some of the local fare yourself.

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Embrace the inconveniences. There are things that you have access to in America that you will have to live without overseas. Use this as an opportunity to get to know life in a different country and reflect on a new set of values.

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Keep in touch. Don’t let your semester be the end of your homestay experience. Often the host family grows just as attached to you as you do to them.

What does BestSemester/RSP mean to you?

Not everyone is blessed to find work that appropriates personal talent, deep conviction and spiritual fulfillment.

RSP has enabled me to pursue my daily activities with profound inner peace, because I believe in BestSemester.

Briefly describe your job.

I am responsible for academic oversight, so during the semester I am in the classroom almost daily, both as lecturer, discussion leader and translator. I also organize and accompany students on field trips to Moscow, Petersburg, Vladimir, Suzdal and Kazan’. The Friday service projects must also be organized and I try to visit every site.

Grading papers is important and time-consuming.

But in Russia good relationships are crucial. On a daily basis I work closely with the International Office at Nizhnii Novgorod University on academic, social, and host family issues.

HARLEY WAGLER DIRECTOR RUSSIAN STUDIES PROGRAM YEARS IN POSITION 16

OFF-CAMPUS Q & A 6

BESTSEMESTER.COM SPRING 10

Encapsulate your passion for off-campus study.

RSP is a serious academic program, but most students leave the program most impressed not with facts and

IN THEIR OWN WORDS “There are no words to explain how my experience at Oxford affected my life and will continue to change me. What began with Oxford has rippled out to affect a change in my approach to my studies, my friendships, and my spiritual life. I know better who I am now, and who I want to be.”

Z. BRYANT

—Dianna Anderson, SSO alumna, spring 2007

figures, but with the tapestry of Russian life. You can read about Russian history and know the great novels and follow the news on American television, but nothing can compare to touching a 12th century Russian church or the cobblestones on Red Square, or seeing a babushka tenderly kissing an icon, or walking through Dostoevsky’s apartment where he wrote The Brothers Karamazov.

RSP students live with their Russian peers every day--in the dormitory and with host families. They see the “Russian soul,” with the emotion, intelligence, spirituality, and culture fostered by numerous generations, and yes, with it, the melancholy, paradox, and cynicism that obtains. It is called life.

What advice would you offer for students preparing to study off-campus?

Bring an attitude of humility. It can be risky to open your intellect and heart to new ways of thinking, of experiencing God, and of perceiving life. BestSemester is fortunate to have God-fearing people who will help develop your talents, but students must evince appropriate humility.

NINETEEN The number of time zones in which BestSemester programs are located.

BY THE NUMBERS SPRING 10 BESTSEMESTER.COM

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PASSPORT BESTSEMESTER PROGRAMS You’ll read the stories in a few pages; but you also need the details.

The off-campus study programs offered by the CCCU are known as “BestSemester.” Eleven semester programs and one summer program are designed to serve the student academic program interests of CCCU member and affiliate institutions.

BestSemester programs allow member institutions to send students to programs that are reviewed by the Student Academic Programs Commission.

CULTURE-SHAPING: American Studies Program =1976 =16 max =internship =residence hall =public www.bestsemester.com/asp | page 32 Washington, D.C., is a stimulating educational laboratory for the American Studies Program (ASP).

Participants explore pressing national and international issues through enrollment in either the Public Policy Initiatives track or Global Humanitarian Enterprise track, which combine seminars led

by ASP faculty and Washington professionals with student projects. The internship (20-30 hours per week) is essential to the ASP experience. Students live in the Dellenback Center in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Contemporary Music Center =2001 =16 =practicum =student housing =car www.bestsemester.com/cmc | page 36 The Contemporary Music Center (CMC) provides students with the opportunity to live and work in the refining context of community while seeking to understand how God will have them integrate music, faith and business. The CMC offers three tailored tracks to students considering careers in the music industry: Artist, Executive and Technical. Each track includes coursework, labs, directed study and a practicum. CMC was founded on the concept of the artists’ colony, so students live and work in Martha’s Vineyard, MA.

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Los Angeles Film Studies Center

CULTURE-CROSSING:

=1991 =16 =internship =apt =public /car www.bestsemester.com/lafsc | page 42

Australia Studies Centre

The Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC) trains students to serve in various aspects of the film industry with professional skill and Christian integrity. The curriculum consists of two required seminars, Hollywood Production Workshop and Theology in Hollywood, focusing on the role of film in culture and the relationship of faith to work in this very influential industry. In addition, students choose one elective course from a variety of offerings in film studies. Internships in various segments of the film industry provide students with hands-on experience. The combination of the internship and seminars allows students to explore the film industry within a Christian context and from a liberal arts perspective. Students live in the Fairfax District in Los Angeles.

=2004 =18 max =home stay =public www.bestsemester.com/asc | page 46 CCCU partners with the Wesley Institute in Sydney, Australia, to offer the Australia Studies Centre (ASC). Students study theology, global justice issues, indigenous cultures and the arts. Additionally, students choose electives in theology/ministry, music, drawing/ graphic design, dance and/or drama. Home stays, service learning and travel around Australia are important components of the ASC. In order to experience the various aspects of Australian culture, students spend time in the Australian capitol, Canberra; travel to the edge of the Australian Outback; and spend the last week of the semester connecting with the Maori people in New Zealand.

Washington Journalism Center

China Studies Program

=2006 =16 =internship =apt =public www.bestsemester.com/wjc | page 26

=1999 =18 max =internship =residence hall =public www.bestsemester.com/csp | page 44

The Washington Journalism Center (WJC) is a semester-long study program in Washington, D.C., created for students interested in the field of journalism. Students take classes focusing on their personal writing skills and on the history and future of the media. These classes—Foundations for Media Involvement; Reporting in Washington; and Washington, News and Public Discourse— combined with an internship (25-30 hours per week) at a top news publication, help students learn to integrate their faith in a journalism career.

Students live in the Dellenback Center in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, exactly eight blocks from the Capitol. Service learning opportunities are bountiful throughout the District and are a crucial piece of learning about the culture of D.C.

The China Studies Program (CSP) enables students to engage China’s ancient history and modern intrigue from an insider’s perspective.

While immersed in the city of Xiamen, students study the Mandarin language and participate in seminar courses on the historical, cultural, religious, geographic and economic realities of this strategic and populous nation. Students choose between completing a China Studies or a Business concentration, each with electives. To further introduce students to the diversity of China, the program begins in Hong Kong and also includes visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an, as well as incorporates service learning opportunities.

YEAR FOUNDED

CREDITS

INTERNSHIP OR PRACTICUM

SERVICE LEARNING

STUDY TRAVEL

HOUSING

TRANSPORTATION

PASSPORT REQUIRED

Latin American Studies Program

Scholars’ Semester in Oxford

Russian Studies Program

=1986 =18 max =internship =home stays =public www.bestsemester.com/lasp | page 30

=1998 =17 =student housing =public www.bestsemester.com/sso | page 40

=1994 =16 =home stays & residence hall =public www.bestsemester.com/rsp | page 34

Based in San José, Costa Rica, the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) introduces students to a wide range of experiences through the study of the language, literature, culture, politics, history, economics, ecology and religion of the region.

By living with local families, students become a part of the day-to-day lives of Latin Americans.

Students participate in one of four concentrations: Latin American Studies; Advanced Language and Literature (designed for Spanish majors) International Business (fall only); and Environmental Science (spring only). Students also take part in a practicum/internship and travel to nearby Central American nations, such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba and Panama (varies by concentration).

The Scholars’ Semester in Oxford is (SSO) designed for students who want to study intensively and to a high standard. Students develop their academic writing and research skills and explore the disciplines and interests of their choice. As Visiting Students of the University of Oxford and members of Wycliffe Hall, students study in the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

SSO students enroll in a primary and secondary tutorial, an integrative seminar (or thesis in the case of second term students), and the British landscape course. Students group their work in a concentration so that all elements of their programme work together. Applicants are generally honors and other very high-achieving students and must have a 3.5 GPA to be considered for the programme. Students may complete two semesters of the programme.

The Russian Studies Program (RSP) strives to give students a broad learning experience in the largest nation in the world. The majority of the semester is spent in Nizhnii Novgorod (Russia’s third largest city) where students live on the campus of Nizhnii Novgorod State University while they complete intensive language learning and live with a host family in the second half of the semester. Students are offered three seminar courses (History and Sociology of Religion in Russia; Russian Literature and History; and Russia in Transition) and receive instruction in the Russian language.

Middle East Studies Program =1993 =16 =apt & home stays =public www.bestsemester.com/mesp | page 28 Based in Cairo, Egypt, the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) offers students a unique opportunity to explore and interact with the complex and strategically important world of the modern Middle East.

Students explore diverse religious, social, cultural and political traditions of Middle Eastern peoples through interdisciplinary seminars. They also study the Arabic language and may work as volunteers with various organizations in Cairo.

Through travel in the region (typically Israel, Jordan and Turkey), students are exposed to the diversity and dynamism of many aspects of Middle Eastern culture.

Programmes in Oxford The CCCU Center for Scholarship & Christianity in Oxford (SCIO) offers two ways for students to study in Oxford: Scholars’ Semester in Oxford & Oxford Summer Programme:

Uganda Studies Program =2004 =17 =practicum =home stays and/or residence hall =public www.bestsemester.com/usp | page 38

Oxford Summer Programme =1991 =6 =student housing =public www.bestsemester.com/osp | page 40 The Oxford Summer Programme (OSP) allows students, as affiliate members of Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, to do intensive scholarship in the oldest university in the English-speaking world. During the five-week programme, students hone their research and writing skills while exploring the relationship between Christianity and the development of the British Isles. Seminars and tutorials are given on specialized topics under expert Oxford academics in the areas of English language and literature, history, including the history of art and history of science, philosophy, and theology and the study of religion.

The Uganda Studies Program (USP) provides students with both immersion in a local community and broad exposure to a variety of people and places in Uganda and Rwanda. Students in the Uganda Studies Emphasis (USE) live on campus at Uganda Christian University (UCU: an international affiliate of the CCCU) in Mukono, Uganda, sharing their lives with university students from Uganda and other parts of Africa. Students in the Intercultural Ministry & Missions Emphasis (IMME) live with host families within walking distance of the university. All USP students take classes from UCU professors and share meals with UCU students. Service projects and practicum opportunities are an integral part of USP, as are experiences in Rwanda and rural Uganda. In addition to the core experiential course, students choose from an approved selection of courses from the UCU curriculum.

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I LOVE

( A LWAY S A N D F O R E V E R )

Whether it is having the newest film camera or knowing how technology is changing the professional landscape, these three BestSemester programs help budding filmmakers, musicians and journalists navigate the technological terrain.

B Y S H A N L E Y K N OX

|

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y M AT T PA M E R

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INTERNET JOURNALISM

“[Technology] has changed everything completely,” said Danara Schurch, a former adjunct professor at BestSemester’s Contemporary Music Center (CMC) and the current campus relations coordinator for BestSemester. “It’s leveled all playing fields.”

Technology has not only wrecked the old model of doing things and created chaos in the media world; it has created an ever-changing world of opportunity. Now, students in BestSemester’s culture-shaping programs are able to teach themselves professional skills instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them.

“The technology has gotten a lot cheaper and more userfriendly,” said Patrick Duff, technology director and sound editing instructor at BestSemester’s Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC). “Most students who know the software technology have taught themselves.”

In a world where students can Google the instructions for using professional equipment, and market themselves for free on Twitter, it’s easy to claim to be a filmmaker or a journalist or a musician.

But new gadgets can’t cover a lack of skills.

Regardless of new developments, success in media still centers on the fundamentals, and BestSemester has focused its programs on the skills that lie beneath digital media.

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Web writing has provided journalists a forum for instant information and publishing, and at the Washington Journalism Center (WJC) that forum has changed the way students learn to write ledes and deadline news. YouTube videos of up-to-date speeches and events, along with almost instantaneous wire service stories about them, have provided students with a model for reporting about current events.

Jeremy Littau, a 1996 graduate of WJC’s predecessor, the Summer Institute of Journalism, has begun to use tools such as Twitter to advance conversation in his classroom.

“Students were reacting in real time to things I was saying,” said Jeremy, an assistant professor of journalism and communication at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. “It created a really interesting avenue of discussion, and eventually students were talking to each other on this feed as well and debating through things that we were talking about in class.”

Terry Mattingly, the director of WJC, promotes social media as a tool for practicing deadline news writing. While campuses used to be compelled to print campus newspapers, an expensive task, in order to provide their students with deadline writing experience, Facebook feeds and blogging have become free venues for producing deadline writing.

“It’s free. Do it. The most crucial skill in Internet journalism is deadline writing,” Mattingly said. He uses WJC’s collaboration blog, Inktank, as a way to teach students how to use social media as a tool for analysis, marketing and writing.

The 24/7 nature of Internet journalism has created a need for every journalist to produce Web stories almost instantaneously, or to be left behind by every other news organization producing stories online.

“We’re all wire services now,” Mattingly said. “Students compare their ledes with what professionals wrote a few days earlier. I think that’s a very good way of teaching lede writing in the Washington context. It’s surely much more relevant than passing out hand-outs or exercises like we used to do. Students get to ask, ‘Why did the media choose that one sentence to use?’ We really didn’t have a chance to do that in the past.”

SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR MUSICIANS New media has also changed the way marketing is taught at the Contemporary Music Center. Information available on the Web, coupled with the affordability of

professional equipment and the ability to self-market, has changed the way the classroom functions.

“I spend much less time giving out information than I do providing opportunities to create,” said CMC Director Warren Pettit. “My expertise is to show you how to use tools in a creative way. That’s really my new job. I’m a facilitator, not a lecturer. And that’s a direct cause-effect not just because of the Internet, but because of the time and energy people take to post on the Internet.”

Through her experiences as an international marketing coordinator for Epic Records and a marketing manager

In a world where students can Google the instructions for using professional equipment, and market themselves for free on Twitter, it’s easy to claim to be a filmmaker or a journalist or a musician.

BUT NEW GADGETS CAN’T COVER A LACK OF SKILLS.

for Columbia Records, Danara Schurch saw first-hand the changes that have permeated the entire music industry. During her time lecturing at CMC, she encouraged students to implement new ways of promoting their work, while she was busy teaching them the tools to create a product worth promoting.

Both Pettit and Schurch encourage students to see the Internet not only as an overwhelming global library of information, but as a free marketing tool that empowers them to share their music with more people than ever before.

“Students need to realize they have the power in their hands,” Schurch said. “Updating your Facebook status is marketing! Making a poster, hey! That’s marketing!”

In order to more fully engage the professional opportunities within the music industry, the CMC has created a technical track for students who study sound reinforcement, recording, lighting and video. These “tech track” students support the work being done by students in the artist and executive tracks. Fall 2009 was the track’s first fully instantiated semester.

STORYTELLING THROUGH YOUTUBE At the LAFSC, Duff teaches excellence in an industry that has become more and more accessible to amateurs.

His goal is to help students to write story lines with value and dimension to them, at a time when anyone can post their work on YouTube.

“People can learn how to push the button, but are not learning how to tell a story,” Duff said. “That’s where LAFSC comes in. We’re still relevant because, regardless of what the technology is, our focus is on storytelling, and that’s not something people necessarily teach themselves.”

In an age of lowered expectations, Duff pushes his students to aspire for great things. John Bucher, producing and directing instructor at LAFSC, said that the accessibility of technology has pushed filmmakers away from storytelling, and into producing technological films without any depth. Yet while the technological tools used for telling a story are constantly changing, the art of telling an excellent story stays the same.

LAFSC professors stress the importance of the skills that lie within a person, proving that it doesn’t matter what you own, but what you do with it. Though professional equipment is more affordable and easy to use than ever before, LAFSC teaches students the skills required to use a camera for the purpose of creating a worthwhile story that will stand out in a world of filmmaking amateurs.

“Certainly, the more technology you’re familiar with and comfortable with, the more ready you are for the job market,” Bucher said. “However, it’s also important to realize that technology is a tool like a pencil. You put a pencil in my hand, and you’ll get a stick figure. You put it in someone else’s hand and it’s a beautiful drawing.”

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INTERPRETING RELIGION ABROAD B

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Are Buddhists Satan worshippers?

Is the Orthodox Church really a Christian Church?

Why can’t anyone get along in the Middle East?

Some students arrive at off-campus programs with preconceived ideas about the beliefs of the people they’ll encounter. BestSemester’s culture-crossing programs work to guide students to develop more educated opinions about other religions.

Students become part of an interfaith, ecumenical and intercultural dialogue that they can bring home to their universities and communities. In the programs located in Russia, China and the Middle East, these concepts are routine.

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BESTSEMESTER.COM SPRING 10

In the past 20 years the Orthodox Church has begun a rebirth in Russia. Churches are reclaiming cathedrals that were defiled and used for other purposes by the communist government. Faith was literally covered up and in many cases hidden from the world in Russia.

Ovens were built in the most sacred of places, on the altar of the church, and icons were painted over and covered with bricks to create ovens for baking bread to feed the community. Since the fall of communism, Russians have begun to return to their culture and Orthodox believers have been granted the chance to reclaim their places of worship. Students are working alongside these believers to rebuild their churches and centers for worship and fellowship, helping the church to distribute the bread of life to the surrounding community instead.

“I have a great burden and a vision for Protestants and Orthodox to work together,” said Harley Wagler, the director of the Russian Studies Program (RSP).

Wagler said one surprise students have about Orthodox Christianity in Russia is the amount of mystery associated with its practice. Students are also often interested in Orthodoxy’s ties to the early church. Wagler said some students have attended the program because they are interested in Orthodoxy and some students who practice Orthodoxy have even become involved in local Russian congregations.

“I learned more about the structure of the Orthodox Church by being able to visit churches that were larger than my home parish, and I developed a habit of regular prayer,” said Jeremiah Vallotton, a student from Eastern Mennonite University who attended RSP in spring 2009.

“It also put me in contact with a variety of good, Orthodox people, youth and elders, whose friendship I value.”

Students might not understand Orthodoxy at first, but come to understand how icons can be tools for prayer and the importance of community and worship— characteristics that are highly emphasized in Orthodoxy.

However, just as there are many cultural Catholics and Christians, there are also cultural Orthodox believers who attend church mainly because it is part of their heritage.

Realizing Christianity does not look the same in all places and often reflects its culture is often an eye-opening experience for those in the program.

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“THE PEOPLE OF CHINA

are the same as people everywhere; they may have different laws to follow, but they still have beliefs and they still have ways to practice those beliefs.”

Students who attend the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) learn about Islam through friendships while taking a formal course from a Muslim instructor about the Koran, Islamic practice and Muslim traditions. One goal for the program is to arrange as many people-topeople encounters with young Muslims as possible. These encounters give students the opportunity to determine their own views about Islam.

“We also bring in speakers who discuss the interaction between faith and politics,” said David Holt, the program’s director. “Through their experiences, students are taught to distinguish between ideas and behaviors that are political, versus cultural and religious.”

Students often experience culture shock when their views are changed—especially if they don’t understand Islamic culture to begin with.

“It’s a mirror in which they can try to see themselves better,” Holt said.

“By gaining a better understanding of the correlations between faith, culture and politics they can understand why they act certain ways as well.”

Holt said for students he often uses the apple/orange comparison to explain what they see around them. Because cultural and religious Islam are often motivated by different things—they cannot always be validly compared or even linked.

Students are also encouraged to examine the actions done by those practicing Islam and reference the direct source of the Koran. It is the hope of Holt and others that teach in the program that MESP can provide a baseline from which students formulate their ideas about faith and culture.

In China, students are learning not only about ancient Eastern philosophies, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Confucianism, but also about the importance of Christian faith in China.

China Studies Program Director Jay O. Lundelius said students learn about these different religions and philosophies in several ways: by taking courses, interacting with the Chinese people and attending cultural events throughout China.

The elective course Eastern Philosophy & Religions focuses on the teachings, history and development of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and folk religion. Certain core concepts embedded in Chinese culture—Yin and Yang, and “the Five Phases”— help students look at life through an Eastern perspective.

At the program, students may learn about Tai Chi, painting, Chinese medicine and cooking—which all implement elements of Eastern philosophies and religion. Many values associated with Chinese philosophy—including care of the body through what you eat and meditation—can also be applied within the Christian faith.

“Before going to China, I thought that most people were either atheists or persecuted for their religious beliefs,” said Joni Miller, a Colorado Christian University student who attended the program in spring 2009.

“However, I discovered people from various religious backgrounds and found that registered churches are still churches. The people of China are the same as people everywhere; they may have different laws to follow, but they still have beliefs and they still have ways to practice those beliefs.”

Many students discover the challenges between the Three-Self Church and Underground Church in China.

Lundelius said that to many students’ surprise they discover there are committed Christians who worship in both.

“One of our goals here is to help them see that the situation of worship in China is much more complex,” Lundelius said. “By and large the Three-Self Church is as vibrant and committed as any church in America.”

The American perspective often places too much emphasis on a democratic view of religion—which, according to Lundelius, formulates the way people view religion and the government in China. Students visit different types of houses of worship and congregations throughout China, and discover the lengths to which Chinese people respect faith and care for those who have similar faiths.

“Compared to what students believe, they see those in China are often more passionate and willing to go out of their way for family and friends,” Lundelius added.

These three programs provide insight as well as a lens through which to view one’s personal faith. All three have one passion: submerge the student in the culture so they can transition their knowledge and faith from one culture to the next.

BEYOND CEREMONY & COURTESY The rules of [cultural] engagement B Y

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At its core, the story of cultural engagement is about listening.

It’s about living with and learning from. It’s about humility. And it’s about being willing to let go of deeply engrained assumptions about how Americans interact with the rest of the world. It’s about how these practices change our posture both abroad and at home. It’s not about helping others.

It’s about living well alongside them. ¶ This story of cultural engagement plays out in four of the BestSemester programs that make particular use of their varied contexts to guide students toward more faithful relationships with other cultures and the people who inhabit them.

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LISTENING AT THE AUSTRALIA STUDIES CENTRE uring their visit to New Zealand in spring 2009, Ty Tuin (Azusa Pacific University ’11) and his fellow Australia Studies Centre (ASC) students were hosted overnight by a Maori family, members of New Zealand’s indigenous people, at the family marae, a sacred meeting place. The students learned a traditional greeting, exchanged songs and speeches, ate (way too much) and laughed with the family, growing from strangers to friends. They listened to the Maori describe their spirituality, their interactions with Christianity, the process for creating their traditional facial moko (like a tattoo) and more.

“Our time at the marae was an interesting image of what it means to listen,” Ty said. “Of course we were kind to each other, but we didn’t hesitate to ask tough questions of each others’ cultures. It was brilliant.”

This theme of listening and being changed by what we hear runs throughout the ASC experience. For the majority of the ASC semester, students have numerous opportunities to listen to members of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples

describe their experiences. From protesters demanding land rights to members of the Stolen Generations (who were removed from their families as children through efforts to “breed the black” out of society) to social workers who work overtime to reunite those who were taken with their families, each story is precious.

Krystal Robinson (Messiah College ’11), a fall 2009 ASC student, who spent time at her internship with people in Sydney’s largely Aboriginal suburb Redfern said, “It changed things for me, to tangibly see their experience and not just read about it on paper . . . It didn’t really hit me until I was there [in their homes] the ramifications of what happened to them.”

Spring 2009 student Laura Costerisan (Trinity International University ’09) agrees, “A major lesson that I took away from that experience was the power of our stories . . . By simply listening and engaging in their story and hence their culture, walls between us are destroyed and friendships can begin.”

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BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IN LATIN AMERICA at LASP learn that culture-crossing is challenging and requires flexibility, humility, an open mind, and a willingness to change.

The importance of relationship-building is relevant for Kara in Mongolia every day. “Building a relationship might require many different things: learning to speak another person’s language, learning another culture’s belief system and values, or eating their food to show respect and gratitude, even if that means paying for it later when your digestive system revolts,” she explained, noting that relationship-building and being able to form a community in a new culture are essential for success as a Peace Corps volunteer.

“As Christians, we need to engage those around us in positive ways because that is the example we are called to by Jesus,” said Laura Frey, LASP program assistant for 2009-2010. “Jesus walked among all peoples, from different religions and social classes and races, and we are called to live by that example. By engaging people from different walks of life, we often see how interconnected we are, how our decisions can affect the quality of life another person may be able to have.”

y experience at the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) taught me how to look at another culture in a different way: not to simply judge it from the eyes through which I had previously viewed the world,” said Kara Bradley Estep (Seattle Pacific University ’06), a LASP student in fall 2005. “My experiences in Latin America forced me to analyze my own culture and my own belief system.”

Now serving as a Peace Corps community youth development volunteer in Mongolia, Kara finds it challenging yet very necessary to try to view this cultural context through new eyes. And she feels better prepared for doing that in Mongolia because of what she learned at LASP. LASP helps students enter the real life of the cultures the program inhabits. “If we can encourage our students to build relationships with their host families and in their service project placements, they will be significantly better prepared to engage others who are different from them in the future, in their home towns, churches, universities, or internationally,” said Laura Barnard, LASP faculty member. “And that openness will in turn make them better global citizens and peacemakers.” Students

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LEARNING [ NOT HELPING ] IN UGANDA all 2009 Uganda Studies Program (USP) student Kelsey McLaughlin (Olivet Nazarene University ’10) admits it was difficult to enter her Uganda experience as a learner. “I did not realize how much my higher education in America led me to believe that I automatically have something to share, especially with less educated people,” she said. “In most cases, people [in my Uganda contexts] already have solutions that work better in their context than any solution I could come up with.”

Coming as a learner is just what the USP staff encourages students to do. “Someone coming to help has expectations placed on them

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by themselves, by those sending them, and by Ugandans, that affect their interactions,” said USP Director Mark Bartels. The role of learner opens doors for students.

He points to the students’ home stays with Ugandan families. Many people who come to Uganda to help are hosted in Ugandan homes, but they don’t become adopted members of their hosts’ families because “they don’t need to be and they don’t ask to be.” However, he said, “Students coming as learners are communicating that they need something, which means they might actually be given something by the Ugandans they meet.”

During her semester at USP, Kelsey worked at Salama Primary School for the Blind in rural Mukono. “Working at Salama is not like any other volunteering experience,” she said. “I feel more like an intruder who is there simply to observe how the teachers raise responsible, self-sufficient children.” The students helped her experience their lives at their special school and “taught me that I do not always have to be the doer. I can simply be present and gain valuable relationships with some truly remarkable children.”

The USP staff hopes students will learn Ugandan solutions and cultural values and take those gifts back to the United States with them, but not uncritically. The program views cultures as created in God’s image, as an extension of his creation of man in God’s image, but also as fallen.

Students are encouraged to engage Ugandan culture through the lens of Christian identity, seeking to discern which parts of a culture reflect the nature of God and which ones are corruptions rooted in the fall.

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CONSIDERING NEW SOLUTIONS AT THE AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM n contrast to traditional models for alleviating poverty, Dano Jukanovich, a fall 2009 guest speaker for the American Studies Program’s (ASP) new Global Humanitarian Enterprise (GHE) track and husband of ASP alumna Jennifer Jukanovich, and his partners established Karisimbi Business Partners in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2009.

Karisimbi Business Partners seeks to alleviate poverty by developing key Rwandan entrepreneurs and their mid-sized businesses. “[Rwandans] don’t want donated time or money. They want human and financial capital investments,” Dano Jukanovich explained. He, his business partners and their families see this work as a way to live out the gospel. “For us the connection [to the gospel] is very direct in that we are aiming to honor the poor. Our hope is that the work we do will create jobs for Rwandans, thus helping to lift them out of poverty.”

Fall 2009 GHE students spent the track’s inaugural semester listening to speakers like Jukanovich as they investigated ways governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations can collaborate to improve food security and access to clean water in Africa.

Gerry Hartis, program faculty and director for the GHE track, explained, “We’re looking at stakeholder collaboration to address issues of international development.” The relevance of the GHE track is rooted in shifting approaches to international development practices. “There’s a

growing frustration with the amount of money spent in the developing world [by traditional aid models] with seemingly so little effect,” explained Hartis.

“We’re creating the groundwork for students to recognize that business is going to be a track along which the gospel runs, the gospel as truth being told through service.”

The GHE is about seeking systemic change. For example, economies have to be developed in order for businesses to have long-term sustainability, and a sustainable economy can’t be developed in a country that doesn’t have access to economies outside itself.

Hartis said the goal is to get beyond the compassion instinct that has taught us to simply send money or go build a school. Instead, there’s an appropriate analytical response that should balance the emotional appeals we’re used to. Compassion cycles back into it ultimately, said Hartis, but it’s informed compassion rather than knee-jerk compassion.

From this perspective, cultural engagement is essential. “We spend every day in our work with Rwandans,” Jukanovich said. “We have been blessed with wise and trusted Rwandan advisors who have helped us to navigate numerous cultural minefields.

Our business commitments have been conducive to successful cultural integration: we are committed to being accountable to Rwandan leaders in the clients we serve; we are committed to adding value from day one via the relationships with these Rwandan leaders.”

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11 MILLION BOOKS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND THE BOD CARD. BY TARA JO QUINN WITH JOCELYN GREEN

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t first glimpse, it’s just a piece of plastic the size of a credit card. But for students in BestSemester’s Programmes in Oxford, it’s their key to academic success for the semester, the one thing they must not lose. The golden ticket which will open new avenues of crucial information. ¶ It’s a University of Oxford identity card, an all-access pass to the libraries in the university system. Students in the Programmes in Oxford each get their very own “Bod card,” named for the massive and much-used Bodleian Library. Whether you’re studying English literature, science and religion, or ancient philosophy, you’ll find what you’re looking for (and so much more) right here.

“If I came across a reference to a book or article in my research, I was, almost without exception, able to locate and use it,” says spring 2008 Scholars’ Semester in Oxford (SSO) alumnus Jonathan Wilcoxson, LeTourneau University. “Lack of resources couldn’t be an excuse as long as I was holding my Bod card. The card grants access not only to the Radcliffe Camera, where undergraduates usually work in the Bod, but also to special reading rooms like the incredible Duke Humfrey’s.

Finding a book rare enough to be housed there was worth my while, if only for the experience of studying in such an inspiring and fabled place.”

Bod cards are fundamental to any student’s success at Oxford.

As Trevor Simmons, Colorado Christian University graduate and SSO alumnus (fall 2006 and spring 2007) now studying for his doctorate at UT Austin, said: “You know you’re at Oxford if . . . you’re more worried about losing your Bod card than your bank card.”

While spending hours at a time in your library back on campus may not conjure up your favorite memories, here, it’s different.

Here, you can’t help but fall in love with the incredible wealth of the written word, the intellectual giants who wrote them, and the magnificent architectural treasures which make up the city’s 100+ libraries.

“Hours and hours spent at the Bodleian Library was more like heaven, than a chore, and I would love to go back to Oxford just so that I could spend a day there again,” said Sarah Choi, a 2009 alumna of Oxford Summer Programme (OSP) and a student at The King’s University College.

Whenever Dianna Anderson, an SSO alumna (spring 2007) from the University of Sioux Falls, tells people about Oxford, she starts with the libraries. “Being a copyright library, the Bod has in its stacks pretty much every book ever printed, and so the sheer vastness of such collections is mind-boggling,” she said. “I spent most of my time in the Lower Radcliffe Camera, which has huge windows stretching from floor to ceiling. During a break

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from trying to understand Schleiermacher or Kant, I would look over at the windows and admire the handiwork that it took to make the building.”

For students in SSO, the Bod card also allows them to attend Oxford faculty lectures and computing and sporting facilities.

Getting assistance from Oxford’s tech support system when Dianna’s computer broke was, in her own words, “a huge blessing.”

Other students might take interest in visiting the sports center on Iffley Road: Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile here in 1954.

Bod cards also grant students access to all of Oxford’s 45 colleges and halls for free. Many students have tutorial meetings in these colleges, including Christ Church College, whose chapel houses the cathedral to the Diocese of Oxford, and Magdalen College, whose Great Tower is the highest point in Oxford.

Whether you’re studying in the Oxford Summer Programme or the Scholars’ Semester in Oxford, your Bod card is sure to be your most valuable possession.

ABOVE LEFT: Radcliffe Camera is the oldest circular library in England. ABOVE RIGHT: Sara Choi, OSP 2009

INSIDE OXFORD’S LIBRARY SYSTEM TOGETHER, THE CITY’S LIBRARIES contain more than 11 million books and an expansive collection of other media. Some books in Duke Humphrey’s Library (part of a larger collection of libraries known as the Bodleian Library) are so rare they are chained to the shelves.

How rare is rare? Take these for example, all of which are housed (and occasionally on display) in the Bodleian Library system: » earliest surviving manuscript of La Chanson de Roland » four official 13th-century exemplars of Magna Carta » the Clarke Plato (MS. E. D. Clarke 39). Written in Constantinople in 895 AD, this is the oldest surviving manuscript for about half of Plato’s dialogues. » the monumental Romanesque Bible from Winchester (MSS. Auct. E. inf. 1-2) » 12th-century Codex Ebnerianus of the New Testament » John Locke’s personal library (yes his entire library!) of 800 printed volumes plus manuscripts Altogether, the Bodleian is composed of about thirteen

different buildings, with a history winding back to the 15th century. By 1914, the Bodleian contained one million books, and since then its collection has continued to grow. Whenever a book is published in England, a copy must be sent to the Bodleian. All the while, the library continues to accumulate texts and resources from around the world. Underground, the Bodleian is also made up of miles and miles of restricted storage libraries.

One of the most popular of the Bodleian’s libraries is the Radcliffe Camera. The Camera, located in Radcliffe Square, is the oldest circular library in England and houses a large collection of philosophy and theology texts. These books sit on shelves that line the Camera’s walls from top to bottom. Stacks of shelves also converge towards the center of the room like spokes on a bicycle wheel.

When asked to describe the atmosphere of the place, Dianna said, “It was always nearly funereal quiet, but it was the type of quiet that had a sort of peace to it. If I can say so without being sacrilegious, the place was like an old church for books.”

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CELEBR ATING a legacy of transformation in the lives of 10,000 BestSemester students. .

IN THE FALL OF 2009, BestSemester celebrated enrolling 10,000 students in its eleven life-changing programs around the globe. Join us now on a journey from the halls of power in Washington, D.C. to the barren beauty of the Australian outback as we honor the legacy each program has had both in the lives of those students and in the world around them.

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THE TWO FROM TENNESSEE he Washington Journalism Center (WJC) has the distinct honor of being the only BestSemester program to exist in two forms. It debuted as the Summer Institute of Journalism in 1995, a four-week, intensive journalism boot camp. In 2006, BestSemester introduced WJC as a semester-long program. JoEllen Werking Weedman, a 1998 SIJ alumna, is now a journalism professor at Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee. Natalie Lester, a spring 2009 WJC alumna, is finishing up her time at Carson-Newman College and is figuring how to get back to Washington. ¶ Here’s what happens when you put two journalists from Tennessee on IM chat.

JOELLEN WEEDMAN: So, tell me about yourself and how

you got to WJC. NATALIE LESTER: I’m a senior at Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, TN with a major in Communications: Journalism and a minor in Literature. A professor mentioned the program to me my freshman year and I immediately started looking for as much as information as possible. I applied the spring of my sophomore year for my junior year. Within my first few weeks there, President Obama was inaugurated.

JOELLEN: Oh my. Did you get to go to any events, parties, balls, etc?

NATALIE: We left our apartment at 4 in the morning and spent all day on the Mall [the National Mall, that is], but we were too exhausted by 8 o’clock to attend any of the balls.

I did, however, spend a day at the White House as a correspondent.

JOELLEN: Where did you intern?

NATALIE: The Washington Times. What about you?

JOELLEN: When I did the program (a long time ago in 1998) it was a summer “boot camp.” We didn’t intern in the city like you all do. I worked for the Elizabethton Star as their “Washington Correspondent.” Hilarious.

NATALIE: Really?

JOELLEN: The Star has a circulation of maybe 12,000 people, but it was near where I went to college so they let me be their “D.C. stringer.”

NATALIE: We heard a lot of stories about the 4-week boot camp, what was it like?

JOELLEN: It was a blast. I mean, it was fast. I think we wrote something like 4-6 stories for our home papers in

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those four weeks.

NATALIE: I can imagine. We were lucky to have two in a week, but we were at the paper Tuesday through Thursday and in class on Mondays and Friday. So, for being in the newsroom for three days, two stories in the paper were victories for sure.

JOELLEN: I wrote about tobacco legislation, a local spelling bee contestant who made it to the Scripps National Bee, veteran’s benefits. You know, all those things 21-year-olds are so good at writing about.

NATALIE: I hear you! I had to cover the National Monopoly championship.

JOELLEN: Did you feel prepared when you got to the Times or were you in way over your head?

NATALIE: I think it was a mixture of both. I knew I would be able to handle what they threw at me, and if I couldn’t

“DON’T OVERLOOK LOCAL JOURNALISM. LOT’S OF PAPERS ARE ACTUALLY EAGER TO HIRE YOUNG, BRIGHT WRITERS.” — JOELLEN WEEDMAN, SIJ ALUMNUS

JoEllen Werking Weedman (right), an adjunct professor at Trevecca Nazarene University, working in a lab there with Morgan Daniels (WJC fall 2009), one of her students.

Terry [Mattingly, director] or Greg [Perreault, WJC coordinator] could help me, but the anxiety of waiting for that first assignment was a little unnerving.

JOELLEN: What story are you most proud of?

NATALIE: I wrote an 80-inch front page feature that went in the Sunday reader as part of a series. It was about embryo adoption and very confusing. It consumed the last part of my internship and that was frustrating, because I was so focused on the number of bylines I had instead of the quality. This clip has turned into one of my most treasured memories from D.C. It was the longest article published by an intern at The Times and a student in WJC. What was your favorite?

JOELLEN: Wow. JOELLEN: My favorite was probably the tobacco legislation stuff because I think it finally occurred to me that I could, in fact, think and report and write like a “real” journalist. I think you wonder about that, you know, when you attend a small Christian college and have been the “big fish in a little pond.” I didn’t know if I could hang with other “big fish.” Turns out, I could.

JOELLEN: When I got back to the Elizabethton Star (which turned into my first full time job, btw) I found that covering school boards and city councils and the like was not as scary as I thought it would be before being in D.C. NATALIE: Besides the confidence, how do you feel your D.C. experiences factored into your success in the field?

JOELLEN: Well, most basically, I had clips. And, the paper I worked for while I was in D.C. hired me as soon as I got back and I worked there my senior year of college and the first few months of my married life. And then, because I

got to write SO much at that little paper, the big paper in town offered me a job. So yes, D.C. launched me into work for sure.

JOELLEN: And, my experience with a CCCU program makes me a better professor now. I actually know exactly how my students feel when they call me in tears or send me the link to their first clip. Such highs and lows and lots of emotion! I remember that. What do you hope to do after graduation?

NATALIE: I would love to go back to D.C. but I am waiting to see what doors God opens. I am planning to apply at The Times, but times are hard so I am trying to focus on accepting God’s will as I wait to discover it.

JOELLEN: Don’t overlook local journalism. Lots of papers are actually eager to hire young, bright writers. I have always worked for smaller, local papers and I think that’s where the good journalism is happening right now.

NATALIE: What do you do now and what has been the path you have taken to get where you are?

JOELLEN: Let’s see, my path... Spent three years writing for papers in east Tennessee after graduation from college.

Then got a master’s in journalism at the University of Illinois. Spent three more years at a wonderful awardwinning local newspaper outside of Indianapolis. Then ended up taking a full-time faculty position at Olivet Nazarene University. I now teach part time at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. Oh, and I got married, had four kids and adopted a dog along the way!

NATALIE: What a wonderful life!

What advice would you give to students getting into the field?

JOELLEN: Read. Read. Read.

JOELLEN: Continue building your clips. Do the hard stories at your college now. Write stories that matter--that serve the community you work for.

I sound like tmatt? Really?

NATALIE: With the reading -- oh definitely!

JOELLEN: The reading thing is for real. I think editors feel like they can help young reporters become better writers, they can catch them up/train them on whatever technology they use. What they can’t do is teach you to think like a journalist. That comes from reading journalism.

NATALIE: So true, the more I read the better I write. I completely agree with that. It was very nice talking to you!!

I’m glad the program has so many great alumni.

JOELLEN: Likewise. Blessings on you and your job search.

I know it’s a scary time, but you’ll look back on it as such an exciting time one day. God’s best to you!

NATALIE: Thanks. Talk to you soon.

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MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROGRAM

BECOMING “REAL”

BY DENA NICOLAI

n the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit, the rabbit asks his friend about becoming “real”: “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up . . . or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” says his friend. “You become. It takes a long time.”

Thus begins the rabbit’s journey to “becoming real”—to growing, to learning and to changing.

Students in the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) are on their own journeys of transformation, as well. And just like the rabbit, they all begin with asking questions.

“Knowledge consists of two parts, questions and answers,” said Micah Schuurman, a MESP fall 2006 alumnus and Dordt College graduate. “Prior to coming on the Middle East Studies Program, I felt that I had a solid grasp of the answers as they related to the Middle East. It turns out that I didn’t even know what questions I should have been asking.”

So began Micah’s journey, starting with two months in Cairo, and continuing on through MESP’s study travel component through Turkey, Syria, Jordan and IsraelPalestine. Micah adds, “MESP brought me into contact with students and speakers who forced me to ask serious questions about my political and religious beliefs. What drives the foreign policy of the United States? Who was Mohamed? What is fundamentalism? Is violence the only way (or the best way) to deal with terrorism? What is

terrorism anyway?”

Aimee Niles, a MESP spring 2007 alumna and graduate of Northwest Nazarene University, echoed similar sentiments. “My misinformed views of Islam and Muslims were quickly—and permanently—changed as I was introduced to the warm and beautiful hearts of the Egyptian people,” she said. “Long discussions of politics and religion with my [one-week] Muslim host family opened my eyes to how the rest of the world—especially the Arab world—viewed my country, politics and religion.”

Not only does MESP challenge its students to start asking more questions about the Middle East, but about themselves as well, compelling them to look deeper into their own culture and values.

“Our program director continually reminded us that MESP is about looking into the mirror,” Micah explained.

“Sure, we learned about Egyptian culture, history and language. But, far more than that, we learned to begin to see ourselves and our beliefs more clearly. I was forced to prune away presuppositions which did not fit the facts which routinely confronted me. I am no longer able to proclaim glibly that all of Israel’s actions regarding the Palestinians can be justified on the basis of security and anti-terrorism. I am no longer able to believe that the United States government acts in a strictly altruistic way in dealing with foreign countries.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE CROSS-CULTURALLY? JIM WRIGHT, a British international lawyer and long-time resident of Cairo, encourages students to live cross-culturally according to the following markers which include: » Living courageously » Living teachably » Living locally » Living coherently

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» Living in community » Living sustainably » Living with conviction » Living in Christ

Elias Chacour, Archbishop of the Melkite Church in Israel-Palestine with spring 2007 MESP students. Left to right: Kara Burkey Goode, Iman Mahli, Archbishop Elias Chacour, Sarah Krzymowski and Dena Nicolai.

Students study the politics, religion and culture of the Middle East region, but they also begin a healthy examination of their own countries’ governments and the way in which the culture of where they were raised affects their faith. “Growing up in post 9/11 America, it always seemed like America could do no wrong,” Aimee said.

“Presidents could, but the country was this perfect pillar of light and understanding in a chaotic world. MESP changed that view. I quickly saw that my America is far from perfect. Traveling throughout the rest of the Middle East, especially in Israel, further illustrated the complicated relationship America has with the Arab world.”

While students learn to think critically about their home countries, they experience enough distance during the semester for positive reflection about the home front.

Aimee explained that while MESP “helped me see the problems in American policies and involvement (in the Middle East), it also gave me a new and sophisticated appreciation for how truly blessed I am to be an American.”

At the same time that MESP asks students to reexamine their worldview with all its cultural influences, it also pushes them to see the beauty in the way Christianity and other faiths look in the Middle East. “As a Christian, my eyes were opened to stunning and different modes of worship,” said Aimee. “As an American and a Christian, MESP helped me learn what it truly means to be a

global Christian and what it means to be a part of the international body of Christ.”

The MESP community is made up of approximately 30 students and four main staff in addition to visiting speakers—diplomats, authors, experts and other locals.

Students become closely bonded through processing common (experiential) learning in a safe environment while living and traveling together throughout the semester. As North American students, they are challenged to become “lifelong learners” and consider what it truly means to live cross-culturally, even if only for four months.

Like the Velveteen Rabbit, MESP students begin the lifelong process of “becoming real” of moving beyond simple answers, cheap grace, unfair comparisons and beliefs based on stereotypes. Because MESP students routinely fall in love with the Middle East and its many cultures, many return to Cairo and the region as alums to continue the journey—as interns, service volunteers, students of Arabic, etc. After graduating from Dordt, for example, Micah spent an additional year in Egypt teaching English.

But even for those who do not return, MESP remains unforgettable. As Micah added, “I am back in the States once again, at seminary. But even here, I am finding innumerable ways in which to apply my experience in the Middle East. MESP truly changed my life.”

“PRIOR TO COMING TO THE MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROGRAM, I FELT I HAD A SOLID GRASP OF THE ANSWERS AS THEY RELATED TO THE MIDDLE EAST. IT TURNS OUT THAT I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS I SHOULD BE ASKING.” — MICAH SCHUURMANN, MESP ALUMNUS

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LASP

T 30

LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

01 THE DOOR TO NICARAGUA

BY RICHARD POTTS

he cornerstone of the LASP experience is the trip to Nicaragua. Rich Potts, the former BestSemester student programs advisor and administrator for both the Summer Institute of Journalism and the Washington Journalism Center, recounts his time in Nicaragua during his LASP semester in 1996.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis tells of a magic castle that seems very normal on the outside but whose rooms inside are almost without number. I have come to see LASP the same way: it was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Even 13 years after my semester in Central America, I’m still amazed at how much my view of the world, and my thinking on how I fit in the world, changed in such a short time.

The linchpin experience for me was our 10-day tour of Nicaragua. The poverty there was so stark and pervasive.

The lack of opportunity was palpable and suffocating. The

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legacy of the Cold War still dominated Nicaraguan politics in baffling and malignant ways.

I grew up in the Midwestern middle class, and the grinding poverty of Nicaragua felt like a different universe.

I recalled Eli Wiesel’s comment that, after the excruciation of the concentration camps, words like “hunger” and “cold” meant something entirely different for him than they did before. In the same way, Nicaragua taught me that context shapes meaning (of words and lives) in ways I hadn’t considered before.

For example, a hard-core Sandinista I befriended

1 Megan Brask’s (LASP, fall 2009) host mom’s extended family (mother, brother, sister-in-law, nieces/nephews) in Cuatro Esquinas (Ticuantepe), Nicaragua.

2 The same little boy that made a heart out of palm leaves for Marissa.

3 M egan’s host dad, Marvin, cutting down some red bananas.

4 Megan’s

host parents’ one-room house in Cuatro Esquinas that I stayed in for 6 days.

04 02 03 spent half his day’s wages to buy me, a gringo capitalist, a Coke. The political and cultural layers of that moment are a bit breathtaking, though it takes being there to really appreciate them.

The whole experience started a lifelong, existential wrestling match that directly affected my professional and personal choices. LASP is an important reason why I now work with college students and journalists from around the world and why I’m working on my third language. A lot of important, if not magical, processes started in my life when I walked through that ordinary-seeming castle door.

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ASP

AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

NEW DIRECTION

W

hen you enroll in the American Studies Program (ASP), the benefit will last far beyond your semester on Capitol Hill. With the creation of its brand new Alumni Advisory Council, ASP has not only renewed its commitment to its students, but established a new way to serve its 2700 (and growing) alumni.

At any given time, between 250-400 ASP alumni work in the D.C. area. Eleven of these well-established alumni sit on the Advisory Council, bringing a wealth of experience and perspective to keep the program as relevant as possible. While you’re a student with ASP, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to interact with these alumni and pick their brains on issues of faith integration or professional development. The alumni also help the program improve the quality of internship placements and mentorship matches.

As an alum of ASP, you’ll benefit from new initiatives recommended by the Advisory Council to help you network with ASP alumni across all semesters. Already, ASP alumni can use a Facebook page and LinkedIn.com to connect. You can search by professional category, region, looking for work or looking for employees.

“This is part of our expanding vision to allow ASP to serve as a continuing resource for its alumni in the areas of professional networking and vocational encouragement and exploration,” says ASP Director Peter Baker. “The Alumni Advisory Council tells us what would be most helpful for them, so these initiatives are demand-driven. We’ve been very excited already about what’s come out of that.”

“ASP WAS THE MOST FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE OF MY UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE YEARS - EXPANDING MY WORLDVIEW AND GIVING ME LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIPS.” — DAVID CUMMINS, ASP ALUMNUS

MEET THE CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE ASP ALUMNI ADVISORY COUNCIL

ONE-OF-AKIND RESUME BUILDER The Alumni Advisory Council isn’t the only new thing about ASP. Whether you participate in the Public Policy Initiatives track or the Global Humanitarian Enterprise track, plan on coming away with something to show from your research that you’d never get anywhere else. Here’s how it works: the first five weeks are spent learning research methods and attending seven professional briefings from experts in D.C. on the issue you study. But during the second half of your semester, your class time will be blocked out for field work, a.k.a. conducting interviews with working professionals, attending Congressional hearings and briefings and going to conferences at think tanks or international organizations.

When it comes time to apply for a job after college, you’ll not only have a unique research product, but you’ll have a wealth of experiences to share in your cover letter and interview that will set you apart from the competition.

ANTHONY CAMPAU Associate Manager of Donor Relations, The Heritage Foundation ASP: Fall 2004 Southeastern University “Experience matters. You might be bright, but what have you done? ASP helped me to gain the real-world experience I needed to gain footing in Washington.”

DAVID CUMMINS Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, ACS, Inc. (Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.) ASP: Fall 1992 Messiah College “ASP was the most formative experience of my undergraduate and graduate school years – expanding my worldview and giving me lifelong friendships. Specifically, three of my roommates at ASP and I have been getting together each year since the fall of 1992. We have been groomsmen in each other’s weddings. Most importantly, we have been writing letters to each other over the years to raise difficult issues we are dealing with and to receive written advice from our three friends.”

DARREN DICK Manger, Government Relations, EMC Corp.

ASP: Spring 1992 Sterling College “While I certainly enjoyed my time as an ASP student in the spring of 1992, I did not begin to recognize the full importance and value of that experience until the past couple of years. It’s for that reason that I am happy to serve on the ASP’s Alumni Advisory Council.”

DENISE DICK Personal trainer ASP: Fall 1992 Taylor University HEATHER GONZALES Association Director, National Association of Evangelicals ASP: Fall 1999 Huntington University “My ASP experience greatly influenced my life path – without it I wouldn’t be married to my wonderful husband [Nathan Gonzales] or living in Washington DC.” NATHAN GONZALES Political Editor, The Rothenberg Political Report ASP: Fall 1999 Vanguard University of Southern California “ASP is an integral part of my life. I wouldn’t live where I do, work where I do, or be married to my wonderful wife without my semester in Washington. Besides my wife, I still talk to other ASP friends almost every day and it’s been 10 years.”

ROBIN LANDAUER Associate Director for Outreach, Mercatus Center ASP: Fall 2001 Vanguard University of Southern California

importantly, ASP indelibly molded and continually validates how I evaluate, and wrestle with, my personal and career decisions-from mundane to life changingwith a Kingdom-focused perspective.”

TOWNSEND MCNITT Strategic Consultant on Education Policy ASP: Fall 1987 Gordon College AARON MERCER Project Director, National Association of Evangelicals ASP: Fall 1999 Cedarville University “ASP enriched my understanding of the Church by connecting me with fellow Christians from across the country and across denominational lines. In addition, ASP allowed me an in-person introduction to the world of Washington, D.C., and it helped grow my thinking about Christian engagement with both the power and poverty evident in that world.”

JULIE PETERSON Vice President, American World Services, Inc. ASP: Fall 1987 Dordt College

JAMES MCCAMENT Chief of Office of Congressional Relations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security ASP: Spring 1996 Mount Vernon Nazarene University “ASP was a critical gateway in my professional development and opened the way to future career opportunities. Most

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RSP

RUSSIAN STUDIES PROGRAM

THE INCARNATION

S

BY HARLEY WAGLER

ince its inception in 1994, the Russian Studies Program (RSP) has sought to emphasize long-term relationships. Russian culture has traditionally favored the visual and palpable over the abstract and theoretical, hence the Orthodox love for the Incarnation.

Students who come on RSP are subjected to the academic rigors that assail students everywhere, as they encounter linguistic conundrums, books to read and scholarly articles to digest, but their academic experience extends willy-nilly into the world of life.

The Russian Orthodox Church emphasizes the Incarnation as a central doctrine. God, the Creator of the universe, came to earth as child, borne by a holy woman who Russians reverently call “The Mother of God.” For God, this is risky business, and understandably Mary “kept all these things in her heart.”

One cannot unduly emphasize the importance of the Mother of God in Russian culture; the ancient name “Rus’” is feminine, and the almost sacralized words for soil and the Motherland hint at Russia’s spiritual heritage. The main pedestrian street in Nizhnii Novgorod is called “Pokrovka Street,” which refers to the Intercession of the Virgin, who cast her veil over her people. This feast day is celebrated in mid-October, when typically, the first snow covers the mother earth.

Of course, the Incarnation centers on Jesus. Every village and every street of Rus’ celebrate the Christ figure, in architecture, in art, in frescoes and icons; a Martian (or an RSP student) coming to Russia can see this proclamation without deciphering the puzzling convolutions of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Russian culture infuses the person of Jesus Christ

Former RSP Intern Joanna and her husband Vadim Chapaevsk delight in a Russian winter

with life, with image, with palpable reality. With Simeon in Luke’s gospel, Russians say that “their eyes have seen” the salvation of the Lord. Fedor Dostoevsky, in a letter from 1854 says that Christ is so central to his faith that, if forced to choose, “I should prefer to remain with Christ than with the truth.”

The Incarnation is awesome and risky because it presupposes equal awesomeness and risk for humans.

The persons of the Godhead counseled among themselves before they undertook the task of creating humans.

Educators see that as the first faculty meeting in history.

The West frequently criticizes Russia for its perceived retreat from democratic processes; the Russian defense reflects a culture of incarnational thinking. Vladislav Surkov, a close advisor to President Dmitrii Medvedev, contends that in Russia, “the personification of political institutions is obvious . . . in our country personality displaces institutions.” Ideas, including political ones, are seen in images and embodied in people.

To truly appreciate Russia, one must experience her people. And over the years, the qualities of warmth and hospitality, with the genuineness and the flaws of our generous Russian hosts has most impressed RSP students.

The program came to a city that had suffered half a century of its own Iron Curtain within the Soviet Union; even today her inhabitants show a fresh enthusiasm and interest in American guests.

Michael Rykhtik, today a university professor, remembers how in the early 1990s, when Nizhnii Novgorod was first “opened” and he met with CCCU students. “I was struck by their rigorous moral standards, but at the same time they were students just like everyone else.” He participated in the first Russian delegation to visit Taylor University, which opened the door for creating RSP. Elvina Kalinina, a Russian language professor, remembers how in the early years American students often had negative stereotypes of Russia: Stalin, the Iron Curtain, the lack of freedom, and atheism. They had no hint of Russia’s traditional love for the Incarnation. But she also remembers RSP students as, usually, well motivated and “less aggressive” in personal behavior than their Russian counterparts.

So coming to Russia with RSP means to take seriously personal relationships—as you learn about the country by living in community and drinking endless cups of tea, you too make an impression.

Galina Muravskaia, the long-time director of the university’s International Office, for 15 years has gathered Russian students, who every semester commit

TO TRULY APPRECIATE RUSSIA, ONE MUST EXPERIENCE HER PEOPLE. AND OVER THE YEARS, THE QUALITIES OF WARMTH AND HOSPITALITY, WITH THE GENUINENESS AND THE FLAWS OF OUR GENEROUS RUSSIAN HOSTS HAS MOST IMPRESSED RSP STUDENTS.

themselves to serve the visitors. They prepare the daily tea breaks between the Russian language classes, help with translation and homework, organize sports events and parties, visit schools and orphanages, and are available for any need. Muravskaia demands that these students evince the qualities of “honor, service, commitment,” to reflect the Soviet world of Young Pioneers, but also the values cherished by RSP students. In the educational process, the Incarnation cross-pollinates culturally.

In a brilliant story by Anton Chekhov, “The Student,” a young seminarian meets several women out in a field on a cold Good Friday, and recounts for them the liturgical readings of the day. They are deeply moved; “The old woman had wept . . . because Peter was near to her, because her whole being was interested in what was passing in Peter’s soul.” They are educated not by the profound theological nuances of the story, but because they have “met” and “experienced” the power of Peter’s betrayal, both in the intensity of the liturgy and in the power of a living icon, a student.

Since 1994, RSP has combined the experience of Russian life with academic rigor to help young people appreciate the beauties of Russian culture and the enduring power of the Incarnation.

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CMC

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CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CENTER

RIGHT ON TRACK

BY TOM WILLETT

s the perpetual motion machine formerly known as the record industry continues to shudder with the aftershocks of the digital revolution (digital recording, digital copying, digital distribution), one thing has not changed—the need for new artists with something to say in a memorably melodic way.

The consigliere of Nashville got it right years ago when they said, “It all begins with a song.” But where can up-and-coming artists find the inspiration and support they need to become tomorrow’s great contemporary songwriters?

Most college music courses focus on the theory and practice of classical, choral and church music. Students who are interested in rock, pop, folk and hip-hop also have the option of spending a semester at the Contemporary Music Center (CMC) on Martha’s Vineyard. Since the fall of 2001, more than 600 students from 90 different

1A » Ashley Albritton Southeastern University Fall 2007 www.myspace.com/ ashleyalbritton

Kegan Swyers John Brown University Fall 2008 www.myspace.com/ floorplanmusic

2A » Ben Lundquist Bethel University Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/ benlundquistmusic

3B » Fundamental Elements Joe McGill Greenville College Fall 2002 www.myspace.com/ fundamentalsmusic

3A » Berry Joey Lemmon Greenville College Fall 2002 Paul Goodenough Greenville College Fall 2002 www.myspace.com/berry

4B » Gretel Reva Williams Residence Life Director Fall 2003 – Spring 2005 Melissa Myers Bryan College Fall 2003

4A » Centrevol Peter Guinta Gordon College Spring 2003 www.myspace.com/centrevol

Phil DuPertuis California State University at Fresno Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/gretelmusic

5A » Chris Jacobs Abilene Christian Spring 2004 artsandexhibitions.com

5B » Hot Chicks on Pogo Sticks Drew Appel Biola University Spring 2009 www.myspace.com/hcops

1B » Emrys Peter Behrevesh Eastern Nazarene College Fall 2005 www.myspace.com/emrysmusic 2B » Floor Plan Caleb Swyers John Brown University Fall 2008

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1C » Jenny McIntyre North Greenville College Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/ jennymcintyre 2C » Jewly Hight Palm Beach Atlantic University Fall 2001 www.myspace.com/jewlyhight

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3C » Jill and Kate Jill Pickering Gordon College Spring 2003 Katie Rapier Biola University Spring 2003 www.myspace.com/jillandkate 4C » Joel Gragg Greenville College Spring 2002 www.myspace.com/joelgragg 5C » Kate York Adjunct Faculty Spring 2009 www.myspace.com/kateyork 1D » Katie Chastain Taylor University Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/katiechastain

colleges and universities have been awarded four monthlong residencies at the nation’s only artists’ colony for musicians, engineer/producers and music industry entrepreneurs. Imagine spending an entire semester on an island doing nothing but writing, recording, performing and promoting music with a cadre of creative companions who share your passion for the Lord and great music. And all the while earning 16 credits.

Below is a small sample of some of the original music written and recorded at the CMC. We’ve got alumni signed to major labels, on the road with national artists, working in state-of-the-art studios, and serving as executives at labels, management companies and marketing firms.

Learn what a typical week at the CMC is like by visiting www.thecontemporarymusiccenter.com. Follow the links below and discover some great new music. And start your application today at www.bestsemester.com.

4D » Midnight Hour Brad Lodge California Baptist University Spring 2005 www.myspace.com/ midnighthourrock

1F » Scott Tyler Scott Henrichs Biola University Fall 2007 www.myspace.com/ scotttylersongs

3G »With Walking Trees Ben Brown Eastern University Spring 2008 www.myspace.com/ withwalkingtrees

5D » Nikki Pierce Southern Nazarene University Fall 2002 http://www.myspace.com/ nikkipierce

2F » Scratch Track Jason Hamlin Union University Spring 2003 www.myspace.com/scratchtrack

4G » Wolfy Greg Johnson Taylor University Spring 2002 www.myspace.com/wolfymusic1

1E » Paul Wright Northwest Christian College Fall 2001 www.myspace.com/paulwright

3F » Stephen Sebastian Greenville College Spring 2006 www.myspace.com/ stephensebastianband

5G » Zach Vinson Cornerstone University Fall 2007 www.myspace.com/zachvinson

2E »Phil DuPertuis California State University at Fresno Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/phildupertuis

2D » Last Tuesday Carl Emmons Messiah College Fall 2002 www.myspace.com/lastuesday

3E » The Pragmatic Karl Kling Greenville College Fall 2006 http://www.myspace.com/ thepragmatic

3D » Liza Day & the Northbound Trestle Singers Lindsey Czechowicz Olivet Nazarene University Fall 2005

4E » Rachel Zylstra Calvin College Fall 2001 http://www.myspace.com/ rachelzylstra

Ben Abney Cornerstone University Fall 2006

5E » Samantha Crain & the Mignight Shivers Samantha Crain Oklahoma Baptist University Spring 2006 http://www.myspace.com/ samanthacrain

Natalie Rivera Northpark University Spring 2002 http://www.myspace.com/lizaday

4F » Tami Hinesh Greenville College Fall 2001 www.myspace.com/6060501 5F » Tina Parker Warner Pacific Fall 2003 www.myspace.com/thetinap” 1G » Tirzah Lemmens Northwestern College Spring 2008 www.myspace.com/ tirzahlemmens 2G » Will Gray Union University Spring 2002 www.myspace.com/willgraymusic

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USP

I

UGANDA STUDIES PROGRAM

A PLACE OF PRESENCE

BY ABIGAIL BARTELS

f there is an enduring and profound lesson that almost all Uganda Studies Program (USP) students observe— and most internalize—it is the African value and practice of “presence.”

In The Primal Vision, one of the primary texts for the Faith and Action class, John Taylor describes an early memory of his life in Uganda. A young school girl greets him and when he invites her in, she sits quietly by the door on a mat and keeps him quiet company while he irons.

“It is an unfailing wonder and delight, this tranquility of human relationships in Africa,” says Taylor. “One can enjoy the other’s presence without pressure or fuss, in conversation or silence whatever the mood dictates. Whether the task in hand may be continued or must be left depends on a score of fine distinctions which the stranger must slowly learn; but one thing is certain—a visitor is never an interruption.”

But it is the application of this “presence,” this “tranquility of human relationships” that reveals the unique legacy of a student’s time in Uganda. While the lessons below are relevant in a vocational sense, many USP students would have a non-quantifiable sense that this African reality of “presence” is very close to the Incarnation of Christ, is very close to an eternal truth that is often overlooked in the pace and purpose of our American culture.

Here is what three USP alumni shared when asked, “How has the truth of ‘being present’ impacted the manner in which you serve in your personal life, in relation to your colleagues, or in relation to the population you serve?”

1

Sarah Riggs (Wheaton College, USP fall 2007) with children on her rural home stay

The odds are against Sudan, a country torn apart by war, a place living with daily violence, a nation looking into an uncertain future. I have come here to help, but there are times when, looking at the breadth and complexity of problems in Sudan, it feels like I have nothing to give. It is in those moments that I realize I do have one thing which I can impart, it is something which was imparted to me under the metal roof of a Mukono home, in the common rooms of UCU dorms, and beneath the shade of trees in rural Uganda. I can give my presence.

Understanding the power of presence shapes how I go about my work, when I am helping partners to develop programming I recognize the need to sit with people from the community we are trying to support. When I am helping to document and analyze a program that is drawing to an end, I understand why it is so meaningful for recipients when someone comes to hear their stories.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned through USP was that presence can add tremendous value to any endeavor.

– J ACOB MATHRE (Warner University; USP spring 2006) Working with Mennonite Central Committee in Juba, Southern Sudan

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2

American culture does value “presence,” but it requires a level of comfort and confidence shared only with one’s closest friends and family. Outside of this inner circle, we build relationship by doing and by talking.

One year after being immersed in Ugandan culture, I moved to Clarkston, GA, near Atlanta. It is here that my husband and I live, work, and worship among refugees who have been resettled from countries and conflicts the world around— Russia, Bhutan, Burundi, Iraq, Cuba.

The value of “presence” is one of the lessons I learned at USP that applies to these many cultures. With language barriers, a tight budget, and limited transportation, I must build relationships by ‘being’ and not by ‘doing.’ Sitting quietly for two hours drinking all the tea I am served while everyone around me speaks mostly in another language will do more to build my relationships than giving people things or putting on wonderful events and programs. This is the power of being present.

The longer I am away from Uganda, from being immersed in this other rhythm of life, the more my eye is drawn to the clock and my mind to the task. But whenever I choose to engage in the practice of being present, I find that just showing-up remains the key to meaningful ministry and relationship here.

– ANNIE CHRISTENSEN BOLLINGER (John Brown University; USP fall 2006) Working with World Relief near Atlanta, GA

“PERHAPS THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON I LEARNED THROUGH USP WAS THAT PRESENCE CAN ADD TREMENDOUS VALUE TO ANY ENDEAVOUR.” — JACOB MATHRE, USP ALUMNUS

Learning to milk cows on rural home stay

3

I would like to say that I have found presence in the eyes of an eager child. I would like to say that I have experienced presence in the handshake of a homeless man. I would like to say that I am, in fact, the Mother Teresa of Tulsa. But I’d also like to tell the truth. The truth is that I am currently managing a Gap Inc. clothing store. It’s not quite what I had in mind as a USP alumna. Some days I awake and think, “Really? I’m getting up to sell clothes?” And what I have learned is that the answer is always the same: “So what?”

If presence and community are the calls of Christ—and I believe they are—then no corporation, no commercialization, no clothing store can negate it.

Authentic presence keeps us human. Whether it be the colleague in the middle of a divorce, the boss struggling with immense pressure, or the family of five shopping for coats and socks, how I remain present shapes my daily life.

How I respond to my neighbor, how I delight in the human experience, these are the traits to desire. Who I am is at stake. And I choose to be a human being intent on existing fully with my fellow man, whether it be in the market places of Mukono or the shopping malls of America. I have found the lessons of presence and compassion that I learned in Uganda relevant to my daily life.

– ANNIE CARTER ( Olivet Nazarene University; USP fall 2007) USP 2009 Intern; Gap Inc. Customer Experience Expert since June 2009

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OSP SSO

PROGRAMMES IN OXFORD

ONLY AT OXFORD

BY KATELYN BEATY AND ASHLEY WALKER

Alumnae of BestSemester’s Programmes in Oxford share the legacy they brought home with them from the city of dreaming spires. For both of them, Oxford made a difference in their lives that could not have happened anywhere else.

A

TWO ANECDOTES AT ACADEMIC BOOT CAMP: THE SCHOLARS’ SEMESTER IN OXFORD

by Katelyn Beaty longside a newly minted passport and a durable raincoat, I packed away two anecdotes about Oxford, England, to begin the fall 2006 term through BestSemester’s Scholars’ Semester in Oxford. As an undergraduate at Calvin College, I had discovered a love for theological reflection stirred by the school’s broadly reformed tradition. But the discovery didn’t come until my junior year, when I was deep into a communications degree. In adding the Scholars’ Semester to the end of four years of intellectual rigor, I wanted to see if this theological thinking-and-writing pursuit belonged in the category of bookish flirtation or of vocation. Academic boot camp at the oldest university in the English-speaking world would surely help.

I knew little about Oxford or its university, save the two anecdotes. One was from my grandfather, who had traveled through the city as a soldier during World War II. He remembered surveying a section of the city’s walls, built by the Saxons of the 10th century, now attached to New College. In Oxford, New meant only 600 years old.

I CAME HOME FROM THE SCHOLARS’ SEMESTER IN OXFORD WITH PLENTY OF MY OWN ANECDOTES, MANY ENTIRELY UNRELATED TO COURSEWORK.

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My grandfather’s story highlighted a historical depth unknown to most Americans, and one that our program’s British Landscapes course and field trips helped us grasp during our first month. Our instructors focused on the intersection of Christianity and English history. We learned, for example, why the 14th-century Christian mystic Julian of Norwich had wrestled with the meaning of suffering (the Plague had taken some 30 million of her countrymen); or how the Book of Common Prayer was as much about political aspirations (those of King Edward VI) as it was about major shifts in laymen’s thinking on Rome (Thomas Cranmer and other English reformers). The course reminded me that wise theological reflection did so with history in mind, so as to keep the faith connected to a living tradition and to not repeat mistakes from the past.

The second anecdote I packed away was from a mentor who had studied in Oxford during her time in college.

“You’ll find it hard to work in the Bodleian Library,” she said. “I just wanted to sit there and look at all the books.”

This mentor, now a librarian, tipped me off to the treasure trove of information available in Oxford’s 100-plus libraries. In researching the work of 20th-century Swiss theologian Karl Barth for my primary tutorial, that trove would have debilitated me had I navigated it alone. But our program guides and my tutor provided all the information needed to use the libraries well and complete biweekly papers. In the days spent in the Theology Faculty Library, which housed Barth’s 14-volume Church Dogmatics, I realized that good scholars never approach their work in isolation, but always rely on scholarly communities present and past to inform their research. And good theologians never start and end reflection with the self, but look to the foundations of the church and its thinkers before saying anything about God. I came home from the Scholars’ Semester in Oxford with plenty of my own anecdotes, many entirely unrelated to coursework. I also returned realizing that the semester had crystallized my budding theological interests into part of my vocation. Academic boot camp can reveal what you are made of. It revealed to me what I was made to be.

Ashley Walker, OSP 2007, pictured here at Edinburgh Castle.

OSP students have the opportunity to travel around Great Britain and Scotland during their program.

FIVE REASONS I WENT TO OXFORD INSTEAD OF CAMP In the summer of 2007, Ashley Walker (Oklahoma Baptist University) took a break from working at camp, her usual summer employment, and exercised her brain at the Oxford Summer Programme (OSP) instead. In her own words, here’s why she’s glad she did, and the difference it made:

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New perspective.

As an English major, I participated in seminars focused on Shakespeare and Literature in the Christian Tradition.

They furthered my studies, counted toward my degree, and most importantly, gave me a new perspective on literary studies that differed from my home university. In particular, I appreciated the tutors’ vast knowledge of literary and biblical traditions that informed our class discussions.

LASTING IMPACT: The

questions my tutors encouraged me to ask and their comments on my ideas and writing have continued to shape my work.

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Preparation for grad school.

I am currently working on a Masters degree in English, focusing on eighteenth and nineteenth-century British literature. My time in Oxford aided in my choosing this focus, and the production rate required by the Oxford Summer Programme did a lot to prepare me for the rigor of graduate school.

LASTING IMPACT:

OSP was an important stepping stone for me to get into grad school and be successful here.

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Privilege. As a student with OSP, I had the privilege of studying at the Bodleian Library, one of the best (and oldest) research libraries in the world. I found real excitement simply sitting quietly in a space that represents both current and past scholarship.

Fantastic field trips. We went on several group field trips, but I especially enjoyed visiting St. Albans and Wells Cathedrals.

The intricacy of the craftsmanship in the cathedrals from the arches to the windows was especially astounding.

LASTING IMPACT:

LASTING IMPACT: I was

Knowing that I was a participant in the production of knowledge, insight and analysis was exciting, and a special experience I will cherish long into the future.

reminded repeatedly of the importance of incorporating all elements of my humanity, especially aesthetic sensibility, in worship.

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English tutor style. Another experience that stands out as especially meaningful and lasting was when the tutor for my Shakespeare seminar invited the class to his home for tea. My classmates and I were able to see a different side of life in Oxford as we walked through this more residential area.

His quaint home was full of relics of his family’s history and paintings that corresponded with his own creative writing.

LASTING IMPACT: The

conversation and ritual of taking tea in the afternoon was rich with reminders to stop and reflect on life and on work.

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LAFSC

LOS ANGELES FILM STUDIES CENTER

SNAPSHOTS OF SUCCESS

S 01 42

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ince the Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC) launched in 1990, the one-of-a-kind program has developed a legacy of professional careers in the entertainment industry. These photos represent a sampling of LAFSC alumni’s work in Hollywood and beyond.

02 1 Tabitha (Folkerts) Blanski, LAFSC fall ‘06, Calvin College.

Currently a production associate at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., pictured working on a documentary on poverty in Rwanda. Here, she is putting make-up on Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. “My LAFSC semester was a Hollywood reality check — the film making business is first and foremost a business!” she says. “Not only did my productions skills grow in ways my college campus couldn’t have prepared me for but I gained so much tacit knowledge about what it takes to be a successful filmmaker.”

2 Regina Sullivan, LAFSC spring ‘05, Grace College. Regina works in video production for New Tribes Mission, Sanford, FL. Pictured filming “Awayo: Fear to Faith” with the Moi Tribe of Indonesia. “My semester was an incredible time interacting with creative people and learning the tools needed to tell stories through video,” she says.

3 Windell D. Middlebrooks, LAFSC fall ‘01, Sterling College; MFA in Acting, University of California, Irvine. Pictured on the set of Disney’s Suite Life in the recurring guest star role of Kirby.

Windell is an actor in Los Angeles.

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CSP

CHINA STUDIES PROGRAM

Grace Royer with the terracotta soldiers in Xi’an.

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APPETITE FOR ADVENTURE or students in the China Studies Program (CSP), getting a good taste of China requires a sense of adventure. And yes, that does involve trying exotic food—at least once. But even beyond the “taste treat,” China offers students food for thought that leaves them hungry for more. Here, three alumni of this fascinating BestSemester program share how China developed their appetites for adventure, from the food they ate to the futures they plan.

TRINITY HOKAMA, WESTMONT COLLEGE (CSP FALL 2009)

One of my most memorable nights in China was at the food market bizarre in downtown Beijing. Yi! Er! San! My friends counted to three in Chinese, getting me pumped to eat the deep fried critter on a stick. The fried scorpion

BESTSEMESTER.COM SPRING 10

with its stinger looked ten times as unappetizing up close. So, closing my eyes, I took an aim and chomped down. It tasted like a well-seasoned French fry, crunchier with its spindly legs but not altogether bad tasting.

After my friends and I had more than our desired share of scorpions, we went on to try new and better things!

(Not that the dog fillet or cat meat skewer were any more delicious than the fried bugs . . .)

My semester with the China Studies Program was an adventure of a lifetime! Through language learning, traveling and spending time with new Chinese friends, my enthusiasm to learn about this fascinating country only grew during my time abroad. As a business undergraduate, I am thankful for how easy it was to find an “in” with Chinese businesspeople through my internship writing

and editing at Common Talk Weekly (CTW) with the Xiamen Daily newspaper, and to connect with the local Chinese community. My hope is to stay in contact with CTW as an overseas correspondent upon going back to the U.S. My CSP internship in China has be invaluable to me as a business student, and it’s a great feeling to know that I have contributed in a small way to this local business.

Having gotten a taste of China and upon witnessing God’s powerful presence among the dedicated believers here, I hope to revisit China after graduating to better equip myself in Mandarin. With its blend of travel, sightseeing, internship opportunities, classes in international business, language and history, CSP has given me an incredibly rewarding semester abroad.

GRACE ROYER, SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (CSP SPRING 2009)

During a large family dinner I told my Chinese friend Vanessa’s father I’d never eaten octopus. He was stunned, but once he recovered from the initial shock, he very kindly made sure that I ate an entire plateful of it. The first few pieces were a little rough, but after I became more familiar with the unusual texture, it wasn’t so bad.

Another memorable experience during CSP was during our student teaching in Lan Tian, a small town outside of Xi’an. The culminating event of our time there was a basketball game put on by the school. I volunteered to play, thinking it was only a friendly pickup game. I was wrong! When we arrived, the court was surrounded by approximately 400 Chinese students. We played the game and even had a surprisingly fun time doing it.

Before my time in China, I would NEVER have even

“THE PROGRAM GAVE ME A TASTE OF HOW I CAN GROW AND DEVELOP WHEN COMPLETELY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE.” —GRACE ROYER, CSP ALUMNA

considered playing a basketball game with even 20 people watching. CSP taught me to test the boundaries I had previously lived in and grown contented with. Many times I was well outside of my comfort zone—those experiences made me a more confident person much more willing to try new things and partake in new adventures.

CSP made me hungry for more international experiences and traveling opportunities--preferably a long-term commitment like a job or internship. The program gave me a taste of how I can grow and develop when completely out of my comfort zone. Now I look forward to further enriching challenges and opportunities post-graduation.

JOSHUA BARNARD, COLORADO CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (CSP SPRING 2004)

When I first arrived in China, I was adventurous and confident that I could try anything. Well, within the first two days I hit my limits when I found dried squid. With just one bite I almost threw up. I tried to eat the rest of it but couldn’t. I had to desperately search for something else to eat so I could get the taste out of my mouth. I haven’t stopped trying new things, but I have definitely steered clear of the dried seafood.

One misty day during our trek [a history tour] we went out into the countryside of Xi’an. As we walked along a muddy, twisting road to reach a Nestorian pagoda, we saw a lady herding goats across a bridge, others working in their courtyards, while small children were playing in the mud. School children on their long journeys home toted umbrellas and bulging backpacks, their shoes caked with mud and their cheeks red from cold. They were smiling from ear to ear and laughing. Even in their simple lives, their hearts were filled with joy, which brought joy to my heart. It was here that I knew I was supposed to come back and serve these children. I have now dedicated four years of my life to help children and adults get a better education and to rise out of poverty.

I work in Southern Sichuan with a Humanitarian Organization called IDEAS. We are doing humanitarian projects in villages and running a consulting company, teaching English to hotel employees. The CSP was an amazing experience that equipped me to do the work I am doing now. The cultural lessons I learned during the CSP have helped me in my business negotiations and have also helped me to build stronger friendships. The CSP gave me a deep appreciation for China, through helping me understand their history, culture, arts, and language. With that well-founded appreciation I have been able to come back to China with a servant’s attitude.

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ASC

AUSTRALIA STUDIES CENTRE

VIEWS FROM THE HARBOUR

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ince the Australia Studies Centre (ASC) began in 2004, more students have taken photography classes than any other class offered at Wesley Institute in Sydney. Experienced photographers and beginners alike develop their technical knowledge and skills in order that they might be able to use photography as a visual language, one that communicates personal and cultural stories. Here are just a few glimpses of ASC students’ “views from the Harbour.”

1 The sun sets over the city of Sydney, Australia, with the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge highlighting the skyline. Will Pitney (Fall 2009, John Brown University) took this shot on his second day in Australia during the harbor cruise that is part of ASC Orientation. When students arrive, the new and daunting city towers over them. As the semester progresses they fall in love with its different moods and colors, from somber, steely blue to warm, luminous gold. By the time they leave, they have a collection of stories about the people they’ve met waiting for the bus; they know exactly how to get to Bondi beach, which park has the best view of the harbour and where to find the best Thai food near campus. For ASC students, it’s only a matter of months before this great city becomes their backyard.

2 Allen lives in the R.J. Williams Lodge, a low-income retirement home in the Sydney suburb of Glebe. Once a week, Kate Gazaway (Fall 2006, Toccoa Falls College) visited the lodge as part of her service placement with the ASC. She said that though Allen was extremely hard of hearing and soft-spoken, he always smiled when people would take time to visit with him. “I just fell in love with his quiet demeanor, his unique nose, and the wellplaced smile wrinkles all over his face,” Gazaway said.

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3 Her face stained with dripping make-up, Eastern University student Haylee Garner eyes the white, expressionless mask used in the dramatic arts. Garner posed for Katelyn Pollet (Fall 2007, Montreat College) in a portrait shoot at Wesley Institute. Students taking drama classes at the ASC may be found reenacting the final day of the life of Christ in front of large crowds and news cameras on the streets of downtown Sydney. They may be found manipulating a giant dinosaur around a sandbox stage. Or, they may be found with their arms inside hand-crafted puppets that they designed and created themselves.

4 Hundreds of miles from the nearest skyscraper, students’ favorite bus driver and outdoorsman Ian Johnston allows the fine, red dirt of the Australian Outback to slip through his fingers. Charlie Balch (Spring 2009, Biola University) captured this moment during a tour of a sheep station in Outback New South Wales. A place of barren beauty, the Outback has a sense of timelessness in what pastor and author David Millikan calls its “ancient rolling mystery.” Yet this harsh, expansive land has played a key role in the development of the Australian character. As Millikan says, “There is no triumph, no final victory to show the glory of the human spirit. There is dogged, persistent survival.”

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m.a. in Christian formation & ministry

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