CHRONICLES

O F Dor M Lif E

Christmas cheer wasspread throughout campus with events such asChristmas Convocation,the Virginia Christmas Spectacular, Coffeehouse andon-campus favorite, open dorms During open dorms,students expressed their love forthe holidays by playing Christmas music,baking cookies andcreating lightdisplays in their own littlehome away from home.

students deck the halls for open dorms

Senior Laura Elliotfilled her room with lights, wrapped herdoor with paper and played Christmas music asoften aspossibleShe wanted toget a smile every time she walked intothe room at the sight andsounds of Christmas

"My roommates and I puttons oflightsall around ourbeds, and now we don't even have toturn theroom lightson anymore"Elliot said. "Wealso wrapped our door likea present and put a stringof stars around ourmirror to reflect the lightsall around the room."

Senior and Resident Assistant on Hall33-5, Katie Oldham, took decorating tothenext level. After brainstorming with some of her girls, they decided tousetheirwindows todisplay a message to the students and reach outtothose who drove on thehighway near theirbuilding

"We wrote 'Jesus Lives' on the windows facing thehighway and 'Merry Christmas'on the side facing therestofcampus," Oldham said "Our girlshad a lotoffun doing it,and it wasreally easy We gave each room theposter board andasked them tobuythelights Allthey had todo waspoke thelightsthrough theboard and keep them plugged inatall times."

The girls on 33-5 and many other students used the season as an outreach tothe community Senior nursing major Liberty Egloff baked cookies fora Christmas surprise for her patients.

"I made snowball cookies,and I gave them toall my patientson my floorat thehospital," Egloff said,"It wasa truejoy to see how such a small act could really make the difference in the livesof others."

A small present,lights inthe windows andeven asimple "Merry Christmas" helped spread theholiday joy Students seizedthe opportunity totalkabout Jesus tothose inthe community and share the story about His birth.

"Reaching out toothers is what Christmas is really about," Elliot said "It's not about the receiving but about the giving."

I/O ro

"I started celebratingthe holidaysby decorating my room I have also listened to Christmas music, which alwaysgetsyou in themood. I will celebrateby goingtoall of theeventssuch astheChristmas spectacular, Christmas coffeehouseand others Shopping isalsoamust becauseyou havetogetallof thepresentsfor yourfamilyand friends."

-Hannah

Salisbury,SO

"I am celebrating theholidaysby decorating my dorm room with a redand green present, a four foot Christmas tree, frost, over100feet ofwhite lights and probably about50 paper snowflakes danglingfrom theceiling Also, I'll begoing caroling for opendorms."

-Christina

Gregor,FR

"I watched ELF overand over whilegetting readyforfinals, Buddy the Elf nevergets old."

-Aaron

Smith,SR

"We decorated ourroom with 800Christmas lights We alsohave beenplaying Christmasmusic a lot, aswell as cuttingoutpaper snowflakes to decoratethe room. We're tryingtowatch agood amount ofChristmas movies too."

-TracyJohnson, SR

"My dorm had a doordecorating contestand mine wasthe best."

-Abby

Wilson,SO

t^ ProfessorBill Dewhurst and theCreativeDirectorforthe CenterforAdvanced Media Productions, EricPetersen. Theoriginalsegments were a productofathinktank and thefirst threeepisodes weretrialstosee how everything would fitand ifth production couldcontinue.

"ThepurposeofOption LU is toprovidestudentsan opportunity towork on a production and give them some real worldexperience," Dewhurstsaid

Roughly 15peopleare behind theoverallproduction rocesswho work withKelly D'ambrosiofrom theCenter forMedia Productions and sheputsall ofit together.

"Option LU hopefullywillbe a program thatwill highlight studentsatourschool and givethem entertainment HiBliliTi interested in,"Dewhurst and broadcaststudents careersthey

Q." Why was this production started?

Option LU is for students, by students and about students It is greatpractice forstudents majoring in broadcast, such as myself, tolearn how tousethe camera,learnabout being on camera talentandediting

Q' How much time do you spend working on your segment?

Ispend about threetofivehoursevery other week preparing my scriptand shooting forit.

Q." How does this program benefit

Thisis great forstudents on campu or even prospective students baa it around school

The "What's Your Story?"campaign from the Office of University Advancement was designed to show off our school byletting students telltheir story

"We were trying to decide how to market the school and we realized that the stories the students,faculty and stafftellabout the university sellsthe university better than anything else,"Mollie Yoder, marketing representative,said "We needed to gather those stories and give avoice to the campus community."

So the marketing team decided to create aliving room environment that could beset upallover campus, symbolized bythe blue couch,to offer a comfortable place for students to tellabout their experience These videos showed prospective students the impact ofthis university onitsstudents,such as senior T Elliot Welch and alumni Latoya Lockhart

Welch grew angry with God as hewatched people die Asa firefighter,he desperately wanted to help people, and his passion grew the more sadness he expierenced.

Welch chose to come to this university,even though he was not a Christian,so that he could learn how to help people Assoon as he arrived,he saw something different inthe students.

"The Christians onmy hall loved m e to thecross." Welch said as hetold his story from the blue couch "God radically saved me."

By being transformed and trained onthis campus, Welch prepared himself to help others inthe same way "The goal and passion of my lifeis to take the gospelto

Northern India and proclaim His name inacountry that has never heard the name of Jesus Christ before," Welch said Lockhart's lifewas changed bythisschool as well. She had gotten pregnant after finishing her firstyearof college at Virginia State University,and was losing hope of ever going to college again.

Lockhart's brother in law,aseminary student, helped lead her to get involved with the Godparent Home after finding out she was pregnant.

"Ididn't think I was going to be able to go to college after having a baby, but the ladies there [at the Godparent HomeJ really helped m e to get intothis university," Welch said during her video

She worked to balance school and raising her now four-year-old child.After achallenging four years, Lockhart walked across the stage and accepted her diploma with pride.

This campaign launched in May 2009 and since then, hundreds of people have taken part inthe campaign by telling their story and how this university has playei an key part inthat story according to Yoder. The videos,which have been made available to anyone on YouTube, have been used primarily for the recruitment of prospective students.

"Ihope that they see a littlepiece of what makes [this school] what it is," Yoder said.