THE
6C AMPUS QUAD
New welcome center creates green space
10 C OMMENCEMENT
MESSIAH COLLEGE ALUMNI MAGAZINE
Celebrating graduates and undergraduates
SUMMER 2018
Long road back
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Civil rights bus tour inspires faculty, staff and students
INSIDE LOOK
ISAIAH SNYDER ’ 20
The Messiah Concert Choir traveled on tour to Europe in May, stopping in the port town of Omiš, Croatia. The group attended a workshop on the traditional Croatian singing style called klapa, which is a form of a cappella.
S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 , VO L . 1 1 0 , N O . 1
MESSIAH COLLEGE A LU M N I M AG A Z I N E
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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Office of Marketing and Communications One College Avenue, Suite 3020 Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 717.691.6027 | www.messiah.edu PRESIDENT
Kim S. Phipps V I C E P R E S I D E N T F O R A DVA N C E M E N T
Barry Goodling ’79 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF M A R K E T I N G & C O M M U N I C AT I O N S
Carla E. Gross EDITOR
Anna Seip C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R
Nancy Soulliard SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Cindy Agoncillo ’09 GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Kristy Tunnell DIRECTOR OF A L U M N I & PA R E N T R E L AT I O N S
Jay McClymont ’92 CONTRIBUTORS
Anne Burkley, Matthew Fenton ’13, MA ’16, Emily Koontz ’20, Jake Miaczynski ’20, Robyn Passante
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The Bridge (ISSN-0279-3938) is published quarterly by the Messiah College Office of Marketing and Communications for alumni and friends of the College, free of charge. Periodicals postage (USPS #342000) paid at Mechanicsburg PA 17055 and additional mailing offices. Please contact us at thebridge@messiah.edu or 717-691-6027. Items for the alumni news section should be identified by class year and sent to the Messiah College Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, One College Avenue Suite 3023, Mechanicsburg PA 17055. You may email them to alumni@messiah.edu or fax them to 717-796-5371.
F E AT U R E S
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As its name suggests, The Bridge connects alumni, parents and donors with Messiah College. It also serves to build the College’s image with these audiences. It does this by publishing accurate news about the College and about alumni and by offering interesting feature articles that are issue- or College-related for readers’ continued education. Messiah College accepts news submissions from alumni and the broader community but reserves the right to edit or decline to print materials at its discretion. Messiah College is a Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences. The College is committed to an embracing evangelical spirit rooted in the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions of the Christian Church. Our mission is to educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership, and reconciliation in church and society. Messiah College does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, disability and national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other Collegeadministered programs.© 2018 Messiah College
COVE R:
Messiah students visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Bridge is printed on recyclable paper: 50/25 PCW EFC
PHILLIP PARKER PHOTOGRAPHY
2 | SUMMER 2018 • THE BRIDGE • MESSIAH COLLEGE
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COMMENCEMENT
CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR
Check out the highlights of the 2018 Undergraduate and Graduate Commencement ceremonies.
Messiah faculty, students and staff took a 10-day “Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights” bus tour this summer on the road to reconciliation.
F R O M T H E E D I TO R THE BEST THING ABOUT INTERVIEWING PEOPLE FOR MAGAZINE STORIES IS THAT, SOMETIMES, YOU JUST CLICK WITH A PERSON. OR, IN MY CASE, SIX PEOPLE. DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, I MET WITH SIX MESSIAH STUDENTS SEVERAL TIMES EACH SEMESTER, DOCUMENTING THE INDIVIDUAL JOURNEYS OF THEIR MESSIAH EXPERIENCE.
The story idea started out quite selfishly. In 2014, my own son was heading off to college, and I was at a loss. Since he was living a couple hours from home, I knew I couldn’t witness his college experience firsthand (nor would he want me to). But, I could see it through the eyes of the students around me each day.
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D E PAR TM E NT S
ONLINE EXTRAS
4 FROM THE PRESIDENT
MESSIAH.EDU/THE_BRIDGE
5 ON CAMPUS 5
Brain Waves
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Heard Around Campus
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Faces and Places
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Campus News
9 Athletics
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OUR ALUMNI
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Alumni Profiles
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Class Notes
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From the Archives
We met for coffee at The Falcon. Rescheduled. Rescheduled, again. They’d stop at my office in between classes to give me quick updates. Over and over. Eventually, the firstyear versions of them morphed into more and more mature versions. Soon, they were busy with internships, interviews and first jobs. (One interviewee just texted me last week to ask if she should pick Comcast or Verizon for her first apartment.) I found myself asking them the same question I asked my son: “Where did the time go?” You can read about these 2018 grads on p. 16. They promised to keep in touch, so I’ll post updates on The Bridge Facebook page as they do great things.
Learn more about the Master of Education program. Read about the Kim S. Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center. Visit the Promoting the Common Good site. View the Graduate and Undergraduate Commencement videos.
Also, don’t miss our second feature, “The Long Road Back,” which chronicles another journey: the 10-day “Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights” bus tour that Messiah faculty, students and staff took in June. We hope you enjoy the summer issue of The Bridge.
Watch a video of the Collaboratory’s Clubfoot Brace project. Learn more about Emily LaBianca ’17 and her mission work in Germany.
A N N A S E I P, E D I T O R
MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 3
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Renewed reconciliation on the civil rights bus tour
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of the horrible crime. I was humbled by their spiritual maturity and grace, and I questioned whether my personal Christian faith is mature enough to follow Carolyn and Lisa’s examples. When I awoke the next morning, CNN was reporting that on the previous evening (as we were meeting to discuss reconciliation), Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston, South Carolina, church and murdered eight African-Americans who had assembled for
“As I boarded the bus for the next leg of the civil rights journey, I was overwhelmed by strong emotions, and I made a renewed commitment as a Christian and as Messiah’s president to faithfully and steadfastly work for reconciliation.” Bible study. The juxtaposition between the previous evening’s discussion and the hate-filled act of violence disturbed me deeply. As I boarded the bus for the next leg of the civil rights journey, I was overwhelmed by strong emotions, and I made a renewed commitment as a Christian and as Messiah’s president to faithfully and steadfastly work for reconciliation. What a privilege it is to join with the members of the Messiah College community to seek to incarnate Kingdom principles of righteousness, justice and love as we fulfill our educational purpose.
K I M S . PH I PPS, PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT’S PHOTO: RYAN SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY; CENTER: PHILLIP PARKER
At a time when there is so much division and polarization in our world, the need for reconciliation between God and humankind and among neighbors is of critical importance. A historic commitment to reconciliation is one of Messiah College’s greatest strengths. When the College community engaged a branding team of experts (resulting in our see anew campaign), the research identified Messiah’s distinction or “category of one” as the educational objective of preparing students for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation. Many colleges focus on the learning outcomes of service and leadership, but few address reconciliation. To deepen Messiah’s understanding of and passion for reconciliation, we have sent teams of faculty, staff, administrators, students and trustees on an annual “Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights” bus tour. (See article on p. 20.) This profound experience has fostered shared understanding and honest dialogue about the challenging work of reconciliation. In 2015, I joined Messiah’s team for the tour. After visiting iconic historical sites and listening to the testimonies of courageous participants of the struggle for equality in Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, tour participants gathered together to hear Carolyn McKistry, a survivor of the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, and Lisa McNair, the surviving sister of a victim of that same bombing. With candor and clarity, Carolyn and Lisa described their painful lifelong journeys toward reconciliation – even with perpetrators
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School of Graduate Studies adds new degree tracks in Christian education, intercultural studies MESSIAH PARTNERS WITH ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY FOR ONLINE EDUCATION THIS FALL Messiah College School of Graduate Studies is pleased to announce that it is collaborating with Kentucky-based Asbury Theological Seminary to offer two new online Master of Education degree tracks in Christian education and intercultural studies starting in this fall. “We are excited to work with Asbury Seminary on these new programs,” said Rob Pepper, dean of Messiah College School of Graduate Studies. “By collaborating with Asbury Seminary, we are able to provide
new opportunities for students seeking to serve and minister as educators in Christian schools, church ministries and in cross-cultural contexts.” The Christian education track will provide educators with the skills needed to evaluate and design curriculum and to deliver effective instruction in Christian educational contexts related to ministry. The intercultural studies track is for individuals who intend to engage in ministry in cross-cultural contexts overseas, whether that be teaching in
schools; developing educational programs to meet local needs in business or other fields; or teaching in higher education programs. The tracks are designed for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree, although it does not have to be in education. Graduate students in the programs earn core and capstone credits through Messiah College and track-specific credits from Asbury Seminary. In addition to a Master of Education from Messiah, graduates will receive a graduate certificate from Asbury Seminary. Coursework can be completed fully online, although there are in-class options. The collaboration also provides Asbury Seminary students in a degree program with the opportunity to earn a graduate certificate in TESOL or exceptional
children and youth online from Messiah College. These certificates consist of 12 graduate-level Messiah College credits. “Being a part of a collaboration with Messiah College is a tremendous opportunity for our students,” said Doug Matthews, Asbury Seminary provost and vice president of academic affairs. “As with Messiah College, Asbury Seminary wants to find ways to help students achieve their academic and ministry goals while saving time and money.” — Anne Burkley, graduate program marketing coordinator TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MASTER OF EDUCATION PROGRAM, PLEASE GO TO MESSIAH.EDU/EDUCATION.
“BY COLLABORATING WITH ASBURY SEMINARY, WE ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS SEEKING TO SERVE AND MINISTER AS EDUCATORS IN CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, CHURCH MINISTRIES AND IN CROSSCULTURAL CONTEXTS.” — Rob Pepper, dean of Messiah College School of Graduate Studies
ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
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HEARD AROUND CAMPUS
FAC E S A N D P L AC E S
WHILE MOST OF THE CAMPUS SETTLES IN FOR THE NIGHT, AN ENTIRE CREW STARTS LATE AT NIGHT AND WORKS UNTIL MORNING.
WHAT IS A TYPICAL “NIGHT IN THE LIFE” OF MESSIAH’S THIRD-SHIFT WORKERS? “ The students we do see late in the night are always appreciative of what we do. They thank us, offer their assistance, hold doors open and ask us how our night is going, which I greatly appreciate.” — Theresa Day, Department of Campus Events assistant manager
“ It is enjoyable and sometimes challenging to keep the campus clean and inviting for our students, staff and guests. Even menial tasks can be done to the glory of God.”
“ I enjoy working with my coworkers and working as a team.” — Joe Fechter, campus events worker
—D wight Allshouse, third shift supervisor
“ A typical night at Messiah consists of making sure that all of our buildings are secured; walking through the dorms and talking with students; doing routine patrols to look for anything suspicious or out of place; and handling any calls that might come in through the night. When a student or employee calls at night, we can assist them by walking them to their destination or driving them. Before ending our shift, we also take care of opening the buildings in the morning.” — Kevin Prest, Department of Safety patrol supervisor 6 | SUMMER 2018 • THE BRIDGE • MESSIAH COLLEGE
The Board of Trustees named the proposed admissions and welcome center in honor of Kim S. Phipps, Messiah’s president for the past 13+ years.
Trustees announce new Kim S. Phipps welcome center CAMPUS QUAD WILL PROVIDE GREEN SPACE For prospective students who have never visited Messiah College’s campus, finding the Admissions Office tucked away in Old Main can be confusing. At the direction of the Board of Trustees, Messiah has been exploring options for improving the admissions experience and have determined a new facility—the proposed Kim S. Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center—is needed near the current Hoffman Building. Led by Chair George Parmer, the trustees agreed unanimously this new facility should be named in honor of President Phipps in celebration of the excellent leadership and welcoming spirit she has exhibited during her 13+ years as Messiah’s president. Eunice Steinbrecher, current trustee and former board chair, said, “We couldn’t think of a
more fitting tribute than to name this facility in her honor. She has been visionary in advancing critical new admissions strategies for our institution ... and strengthening Messiah’s national brand and visibility.” The location, in the heart of campus, offers the opportunity to increase green space, creating a true “college quad” atmosphere. “Regardless of the program of study, every prospective student comes through the admissions process,” said John Chopka, vice president for enrollment. “Each year, thousands of visitors grace our campus to determine whether Messiah is the place for them to further their education. The proposed Kim S. Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center will help us extend the gracious hospitality for which we are known.”
The opportunity to build a new facility will help Messiah address its current admissions challenges and provide:
about financial aid and make the decision to join the Messiah community.”
• An inviting, centrally located admissions and welcome center near the heart of campus to make a strong first impression on families. • A window to the beauty of campus. Currently, Messiah’s admissions counselors meet with visiting families in small, windowless conference rooms. The proposed location on a hill overlooking campus will use glass and light to highlight the robust, vibrant campus life unfolding naturally in front of prospective students. • A centralized enrollment “shop.” New spaces will bring Admissions, Financial Aid and the Registrar – key components of the enrollment process – into one location. Prospective students and their families can have all their admissions questions answered in one building and, in some cases, one office. • Creating a campus quad. Messiah does not have a true campus quad. By focusing the center in the area near Hoffman, the College can orient the campus around the new building, Murray Library, Hostetter Chapel and Boyer Hall in a way that will provide green space, reduce traffic and promote a visually appealing center of campus. “It is so important that every student, every family and every guest receive this same hospitable welcome when they visit and attend Messiah College,” said Rachel Shenk, associate director of admissions. “Through the building of the Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center, our campus will provide a welcoming place to recruit students from the time they step foot on campus, where they can learn
Although $8.4 million has been raised already, the goal is to raise a total of $10 million to fully cover construction costs. All donors at the $1,000 level and greater will be listed on the honor roll of gratitude to be displayed in the new facility. A key part of the fundraising for the new Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center includes an emphasis on raising support for scholarship aid, thereby “opening doors” to the campus. In this way, gifts to support the hospitality that will be extended in the new center also will support scholarship aid, which helps keep a Messiah education affordable. Student Kate Wentling ’21, who serves as an admissions ambassador said, “Being part of our admissions team, I have the privilege of welcoming prospective students to campus and watching them walk through the process of joining our campus community. As they transition into current students, the affordability of college becomes important. Being a student myself that has benefited from the generosity of others, I can’t stress enough how donations make a huge difference in our lives for affording and attending college.”
HOW ALUMNI CAN HELP
GET INVOLVED AKE A GIFT AT M MESSIAH.EDU/DOORS.
MUTI STUDIOS ILLUSTRATION
WRITE A NOTE OF GRATITUDE TO PRESIDENT KIM AND KELLY PHIPPS FOR HER IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE AT MESSIAH.EDU/DOORS. MESSIAH COLLEGE IS GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO INVITE YOU TO JOIN THE CAMPUS IN REACHING ITS FUNDRAISING GOAL. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT JON STUCKEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, AT JSTUCKEY@ MESSIAH.EDU OR AT 717-796-5065.
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OUR
CAMPUS NEWS
MESSIAH TO HONOR ALUM WHO GRADUATED 100 YEARS AGO RACHEL FLOWERS EXHIBIT OPEN FOR HOMECOMING In the early 20th century, Rachel Flowers enrolled at Messiah Academy in 1916, the first African-American to attend Messiah. She graduated in 1918. In honor of the 100th anniversary of her graduation, Messiah celebrated this historic milestone in September with a three-day event, “Remembering, Rejoicing, Reflecting: A Centennial Celebration of Rachel Helen Flowers, 1918-2018.” Christina Thomas ’14, who returned to campus to give the keynote lecture for the celebration, began researching Flowers as a history student. “As an African-American student attending a predominately white institution,” said Thomas, “my research began as a simple curiosity about the first AfricanAmerican student to attend this institution.” As an undergraduate, Thomas
Christina Thomas ’14 (right) served as keynote for the Rachel Flowers 100th anniversary event. presented a lecture about the 1918 grad at the 2014 Humanities Symposium and then continued a three-generation Flowers family history as her senior project. “What started as a small project grew into a larger research project,” said Thomas. “Simultaneously, my love for African-American history grew even stronger.” Now a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University, Thomas is concentrating on 19th and 20th century U.S. and African-American history. Through Homecoming Weekend, an exhibit honoring Flowers will be open to the public in the Murray Library and Learning Commons. —Staff report
STRIVING FOR A BETTER SOCIETY NEW BOOK EXAMINES U.S., CANADA INEQUALITY Professor of Politics John Harles’ recent book, “Seeking Equality: The Political Economy of the Common Good in the U.S. and Canada,” explores the different economic outcomes of two countries that otherwise closely resemble each other. The book reveals the disparities in the distribution of income and wealth and the percentage of people in poverty are much
higher in the U.S. than Canada. What is Canada doing differently? Civic values and related public policies get a large part of the credit. “[Canadians] see the government as having a vital role in reducing the inequalities in the name of the common good,” explained Harles. Ultimately, Harles offers a defense of the ideal of equality: “This isn’t a religious book,
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Messiah kicks off annual theme COMMON GOOD EVENTS TO FILL ACADEMIC YEAR During the 2018-2019 academic year, Messiah College is engaging a campus-wide theme of Christian higher education for “Promoting the Common Good.” Join us for a yearlong calendar of programming and events that will explore how, in a rapidly changing and complex culture, Messiah’s mission as a Christian college contributes to the common good of church and society. We invite you to explore the Common Good website to learn how students, employees and alumni are already promoting the common good through economic
impact; educational, recreational and cultural impact; community and volunteer service; and sustainability and environmental impact. “Since its founding in 1909, Messiah College has been dedicated to promoting the common good—rooted in a Christ-centered commitment to the dignity, welfare and human flourishing of all our neighbors—in Pennsylvania and beyond,” said President Kim S. Phipps.
per se. But if we are fundamentally equal because a glimpse of the divine is in each of us, then I think certain things follow. One is that the political community should try to meet the basic material needs of its members—for food, shelter, clothing, education, employment, health care and recreation—resources, which at a minimum, are required for a fulfilling and self-directed life. And second, the political process must not privilege the interests of wealth.” What can the average person
in the U.S. do about this issue? “Perhaps the most fundamental thing is to care about the issue of economic inequality,” urged Harles. “When we participate in the political process, we should do so in the belief that we are all in this together.” —Staff report
TO LEARN MORE, VISIT MESSIAH.EDU/COMMONGOOD.
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50 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES HONORED KATIE WINGERT ’18 RECEIVES NCAA SCHOLARSHIP The 2017-18 academic year saw 403 Messiah student-athletes earn grade point averages of 3.2 and above in their playing seasons and, as a result, claim Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Honor Roll nods. Fifty were named Academic All-MAC, an award that honors student-athletes in the conference who exhibit excellence in the classroom and their sports. The MAC also honors one senior from each sport across the 17 member institutions as the
MAC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year. This year, eight Falcons were honored as the MAC Senior Scholar-Athlete, including Carissa Gehman ’18 (field hockey), Kirby Robbins ’18 (men’s soccer), Kaitlyn Hoff ’18 (women’s basketball), Kaitlin Wingert ’18 (women’s swimming), Ben Swarr ’18 (wrestling), Tim Dunn ’18 (men’s tennis), Carly Dove ’18 (women’s tennis) and Travis Hoover ’18 (men’s volleyball). Outside the conference, Robbins, Erin Cressman ’19
ACADEMIC ALL-MAC (softball), Jeff Hojnacki ’18 (wrestling), Hoover and Wingert were named First Team Academic All-District. In addition to their All-District honors, Robbins and Wingert were both named Academic All-American, marking the seventh-straight year Messiah has had multiple student-athletes honored as Academic AllAmericans in the same year. Wingert has been an often-heard name through the 2017-18 awards season on the conference and national levels.
Included in the swimmer’s litany of honors and awards, Wingert earned a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which she will use to pursue an M.Ed. in language and literacy from Harvard this fall. Wingert, the 2018 Donald and Anna Zook Alumni Merit Award winner, will represent Messiah and the MAC as a nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. — Matthew Fenton ’13, MA ’16, director of athletic communications
Volleyball kicks off season SPORT TRANSITIONS TO NCAA VARSITY PROGRAM In front of a packed house in Hitchcock Arena Jan. 27, 2018, Brad Nase ’19 set Logan Hunsberger ’18 for the first point in Messiah men’s volleyball program history as an NCAA varsity program. Hunsberger’s kill came on the first point of the match and ushered in a new era. In 2016, Messiah announced the elevation of men’s volleyball to the intercollegiate ranks beginning with the 2018 season after the program had tremendous success during 20+ years as a club sport, winning conference titles and National Championships in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016. After a 5-3 start to the year, a five-match winning streak in the middle of the season highlighted the freshman campaign for the program and helped Messiah to a 15-10 overall record. Under the guidance of first-year Head Coach Justin Beachy ’13, MA ’15, Messiah went 9-3 in conference play and earned the second seed in the conference tournament. “Our guys were eager,” said Beachy of the transition. “Since
most of the roster had experience on the club team, they knew how special this moment was. People had been wanting this transition to take place for years. The upperclassmen who knew how awesome this opportunity was never took it for granted. “For a first-year program, we ended with a solid season. To be able to compete in the conference right away is something not a lot of first-year programs get to do. And we competed.” The 2018 campaign resulted in numerous end-of-season awards for the Falcons. Beachy was named the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Coach of the Year while five Falcons filled the All-Conference teams. Nase and Hunsberger were named First Team All-MAC while Brendan Warren ’18, Caleb Weaver ’20 and Travis Hoover ’18 earned Second Team accolades. For his performance on the court and in the classroom, Hoover was also named the MAC Senior Scholar-Athlete for men’s volleyball as well as First Team
Brad Nase ’19, named First Team All-MAC, led his team in 823 assists this season.
“ FOR A FIRST-YEAR PROGRAM, WE ENDED WITH A SOLID SEASON.” –Justin Beachy ’13, MA ’15, men’s volleyball head coach
CoSIDA Academic All-District following the 2018 season. “The foundation for the culture has been laid,” said Beachy, “and that’s what we were really hoping to accomplish this past year. We
have a great group of guys who love the Lord, love each other and love playing volleyball. And as a coach, that’s all I could ask for.” — Matthew Fenton ’13, MA ’16, director of athletic communications
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2018 COMMENCEMENT
Graduate Commencement AT THE GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY, 148 GRADUATE STUDENTS FROM THE MESSIAH COLLEGE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES RECEIVE THEIR MASTER’S DEGREES MAY 12. RYAN KEITH ’02, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF FORGOTTEN VOICES, DELIVERED THE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS.
PHOTOS BY MARTI AIKEN PHOTOGR APHY
TO VIEW THE GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT VIDEO, VISIT MESSIAH.EDU/GRADCOMMENCEMENT
“TOGETHER, USING THE GIFTS AND NETWORKS WE HAVE, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” — Ryan Keith ’02
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Nancy Patrick, director of the graduate program in education, received the Harry and Nancy Preis Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award.
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN NURSING
SERENA SHIREY MSN ’18 After working as a clinical instructor for Messiah’s undergraduate nursing program, Serena Shirey MSN ’18 decided to become a student and pursued the Master of Science in Nursing: nurse educator degree. “I had two children while in the master’s program and found that the online environment provided the flexibility I needed,” she said. “I could watch PowerPoints while feeding. I routinely did work while my babies napped or went to bed.” She said she initially feared the online environment and was concerned about what she would miss from an in-class program. “Looking back now, I don’t know how I would have completed a program that required me to meet in class twice a week,” she said. As an employee, she already appreciated the caring and supportive environment of Messiah’s professors as colleagues. As a student, she felt their compassion on
another level. “The team at Messiah is really incredible,” said Shirey. “The professors are understanding and supportive. They also provided motivation when I felt unsure of myself.” In trying to maintain a balance in work and family life, Shirey said she put God first. “School and work are important, but, in order to best meet those challenges, it is important to meet your spiritual and family needs. When things are tougher at home, it is harder to perform well outside. There were times with two babies, work and school, home life got stressful. I found that Sunday church and family time always put things back in perspective.” She encourages others to reach for their dreams, particularly education. “It can be done, even if it is one hour at a time,” she said. “It’s a challenge, but it enriches your life and those around you. Your education will not depreciate like a car but will continue to grow.” B
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COURTESY OF SERENA SHIRE Y MSN ’ 18
“ SCHOOL AND WORK ARE IMPORTANT, BUT, IN ORDER TO BEST MEET THOSE CHALLENGES, IT IS IMPORTANT TO MEET YOUR SPIRITUAL AND FAMILY NEEDS.”
2018 COMMENCEMENT
PHOTOS BY MARTI AIKEN PHOTOGR APHY
UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT
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In 2018, Messiah College celebrated its 109th Commencement May 19, conferring degrees on 651 graduating seniors in Brubaker Auditorium. Commencement speaker David Kim, violinist and concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, said, “I hope and pray for every success for you, graduates. In your careers, in your relationships and in your daily witness of God’s love.” TO VIEW THE UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT VIDEO, VISIT MESSIAH.EDU/UNDERGRADCOMMENCEMENT
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2018 COMMENCEMENT
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In her charge to the Class of 2018, President Kim S. Phipps said, “This is a glorious moment. Years of diligent work have led to this milestone; you have reason to celebrate your significant accomplishment. As graduates of Messiah College, may you continue to fulfill God’s calling in your lives as you represent the ideals and aspirations of the College’s Christian educational mission.”
Katie Wingert ’18 received the Donald and Anna Zook Alumni Merit Award. An English major with a secondary education teaching certificate, she received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and began studies at Harvard University this fall.
endell Witter, coordinator of cocurricular adventure W programs, received the Outstanding Cocurricular Educator Award for his positive impact on students.
Erik Lindquist, professor of biology and environmental science, received the Dr. Robert and Marilyn Smith Award for Outstanding Teaching, awarded to a Messiah faculty member who has demonstrated a commitment to one’s students and the content one teaches.
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2018 COMMENCEMENT
OUR GRADUATES
In this group, you’ll meet an engineer landing a dream job at Goldman Sachs, a soon-to-be occupational therapist, a field hockey player making a tough choice at a critical moment, an accountant who traded baseball for music and more. They discuss how their Messiah experiences shaped them along the way.
AC C O U N T I N G
REGAN HERSHEY ’18 “If you’d told me I’d be graduating with a degree in accounting and be way more into music than athletics, I’d be like, ‘Yeah right.’ And that’s how it turns out, in a good way.” Regan Hershey ’18 transformed during his four years at Messiah—spiritually and academically, day by day. Entering campus as an international business major, he thought he had everything figured out. He played on the baseball team, traveling with AROMA to do missions work in Panama. Then, he became interested in the Powerhouse House Band and the larger worship community at Messiah. That’s when he realized there are only so many hours in a day. “I could either do baseball and nothing,” he decided, “or do all these other things and pursue some things with music and the Student Activities Board.” By his sophomore year, he had changed his major to accounting. Soon, he was serving as the SAB concert executive and as the president of Powerhouse.
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He then spent a summer traveling to 13 countries—including China, India, and Russia, just to name a few—with the International Business Institute. “One thing I noticed that was significantly different was the time spent on meals,” he said. “We would spend hours eating, sitting and talking. For the first week or two, that was odd for us. The one night in the Czech Republic, we spent four hours at the dinner table. Order an appetizer, eat it, sit and talk, order a main course, eat it, have dessert, sit, sit, order coffee, sit. Very relaxed.” During his senior year, he began interning for Ernst & Young in Baltimore, Maryland. The company soon offered him a full-time job, which he began after graduation. As he makes his way in the world as a new grad embarking on his career, he’s pondering the age-old dilemma of money vs. time. “How much more important is money versus that extra time to volunteer to coach a baseball team?” he asked himself. “It’s something that I have wrestled with and will continue to wrestle with as those opportunities begin to present themselves.”
MATTHEW TENNISON
THROUGH A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, THE BRIDGE STAFF FOLLOWED SEVERAL STUDENTS. FROM THE FIRST WEEKS ON CAMPUS IN THE FALL OF 2014 TO THEIR 2018 UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT, WE CHRONICLED THEIR ACADEMIC CAREERS, FAITH TRANSFORMATIONS, UPS AND DOWNS.
“ THIS IS DEFINITELY MY DREAM JOB, TO BE ABLE TO WORK FOR A BIG COMPANY IN THE MANHATTAN AREA.”
SANDRA SNOZZI ’18
COURTESY OF SANDR A SNOZZI ’ 18
Growing up, Sandra Snozzi ’18 lived in Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Spain and the U.S. Her father is Swiss. Her mother is Mexican. So, what language do they speak around the dinner table? “Whichever one we start with,” she said. “We mix Spanish, German, English and sometimes French. It’s pretty crazy.” As a first-year student, she joined the Collaboratory, the student ambassador program, the International Student Association/ MuKappa, Koinonia and the Society of Women Engineers. “I was able to settle very quickly into Messiah,” she said. “Traveling a lot has helped me adapt to being in a place by myself.” An engineering major, she led the Intelligent Water Project for the Collaboratory, building a monitoring system inside water pumps that detects whether the pumps are working properly.
ENGINEERING (WITH CONCENTRATIONS I N B I O M E D I C A L A N D M E C H A N I C A L)
VY HO ’18 As an international student from Vietnam, Vy Ho ’18 first heard of Messiah College while attending Lancaster Mennonite School. She wanted a school where she could major in engineering and take violin lessons—which she did—but she also accomplished so much more during her four years on campus. With biomedical and mechanical concentrations, she worked on prosthetic projects through the Collaboratory. As part of the BioSTEP group, she studied transfemoral prosthetics and received a grant to present her research at the LIMBS Summit in El Paso, Texas. In her junior year, she worked with the Collab to develop a clubfoot brace using the College’s 3-D printer. In between her engineering classes, Collab work and work-study position in the Intercultural Office, she always added violin playing to her schedule as a stress reliever, in the form of private lessons and the Messiah College Symphony Orchestra. “It would be heartbreaking for me not to play the violin,” she said.
Her junior year, she recalls a week when all the deadlines collided: “Everything I was involved with piled up—the fall retreat, exams, projects due, a presentation for the Collab, another retreat I was organizing. I don’t know how much sleep I got.” The next semester, she scaled back the extracurriculars and focused on schoolwork, while also interning at WEC International and Stanley Black and Decker. She spent her last semester interviewing for jobs. In July, she moved to Jersey City, N.J., to work as an analyst in the technology division at Goldman Sachs in New York City. “This is definitely my dream job,” she said, “to be able to work for a big company in the Manhattan area. This will be an amazing start of the next stage of my life.” What’s her takeaway from Messiah? “Messiah showed me a more intimate approach to community. I moved around a lot as a child. Every three years, it was time to go. This is the largest chunk of time I’ve spent in one place. It built meaningful friendships and long-lasting memories.”
As part of the orchestra, she had the opportunity to perform with David Kim, violinist and concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, when he was in residence at Messiah in March of 2017 as part of the Performing Arts series. She found leadership opportunities by joining the International Student Association (ISA)/MuKappa. Serving as vice president and then president of the organization, she was responsible for planning the annual International Banquet, a 550-person dinner and show. She credits her ISA/MuKappa cabinet and advisors with the event’s success. “Without them,” she said, “there is no International Banquet.” After Commencement, she and a group of friends traveled to Vietnam so she could show them her home country. “After that, I went on a solo adventure to Japan as I have been dreaming to go there for a really long time,” said Ho. In June, she started a new job as an electro-mechanical engineer at Stanley Black and Decker in Towson, Maryland. TO SEE A VIDEO OF THE CLUBFOOT BRACE, VISIT MESSIAH.EDU/CLUBFOOTBRACE MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 17
MATTHEW TENNISON
COMPUTER AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING WITH A BUSINESS A D M I N I S T R AT I O N M I N O R
2018 COMMENCEMENT
C O M P U T E R I N F O R M AT I O N S C I E N C E
She had dreamed of being a mechanical engineer since fifth grade, planning to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Then Kelly Hopkins ’18 realized something very important after she started college: She didn’t want to be an engineer after all. So, the next semester, she followed her own path and switched her major to computer information science. “My mom was really supportive of me, sympathetic and understanding,” said Hopkins. As she shifted gears academically and took 18-hour course loads—which included classes such as calculus, physics and circuits—she found a routine as a student and an athlete. She competed on the tennis team, a sport she’d enjoyed since she was 9. “I had to manage my days hour by hour— class, practice, homework, take a nap,” she said of her busy schedule. When it came to deepening her faith, she took the same approach—step by step. Although raised in the church, she worried about being “Christian enough” for Messiah. However, during her college experience, she says her perception of God has been shaped. “I definitely feel I have all the tools to have a relationship with God. He cares about every aspect of your life,” she said. “Some people think they’re too far gone for God to want them, but there’s that whole Prodigal Son thing. I still don’t feel comfortable putting my hands up (during worship), but you do your thing. I’ll do my thing.” What was the most difficult part of her college experience? Networking. “I’m an introvert,” she said, “but I’ve gotten a lot better at public speaking—reluctantly.” Further honing her networking skills, she served as the Student Government Association vice president for diversity affairs. Before graduation, she landed a job as a technology and solutions analyst at Deloitte in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. “God gives you infinite chances. No human would do that. The point is to not abuse that, but it’s comforting,” said Hopkins as she embarks on her career.
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MARTI AIKEN PHOTOGR APHY
KELLY HOPKINS ’18
“ IT’S DEFINITELY BEEN A TRANSITION, GOING FROM GRANTHAM TO THE CITY.” B . S . , A P P L I E D H E A LT H S C I E N C E , M S OT
SAM BROCK ’18
HDFS
ALLY MORGRET ’18 With a passion for children, Ally Morgret ’18 planned to be an elementary school teacher. Through that passion, however, she found another calling. She and friend Dani Kepner ’18 created Art Beyond the Classroom (ABC), an arts program for children in limiting settings. After launching ABC at Penn State Children’s Hospital, she changed her major to human development and family science (HDFS) with a minor in children and youth services. “Doing ABC in the hospital, I saw the work of the child life specialists,” she said. “I’d never heard of that job. I realized that I wanted to work in a hospital. That was something I’d never thought of before.” To focus on ABC and her new major, she stepped away from the field hockey team. In 2016, after years of practices, camps and living with the team, she cheered from afar. Then the Falcons won their first national championship in program history. “I was so excited for them and proud of them,” she said. “It was a little bit hard. I wish
I could’ve been a part of their awesome success, but at the same time they made me feel like I was a part of the team.” Meanwhile, ABC expanded, adding staff and locations such as Northwestern Human Services Autism School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Morgret said one of the biggest takeaways from creating ABC is that “undergraduate” does not equal “underqualified.”
“ WE WORKED HARD, GOT CREATIVE AND LEAPED!” “I’m often asked the question—after mentioning that ABC’s first location was Penn State Children’s Hospital—‘Oh, how did you land that gig?’ My answer is much simpler than those who ask expect it to be: We just asked. We worked hard, got creative and leaped!” said Morgret. In August, she returns to Penn State Children’s Hospital to begin a 160-hour child life internship—a requirement for those planning a career as a certified child life specialist. “I’m eager to continue to pursue my dream career,” she said. B MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 19
KRIST Y TUNNELL
COURTESY OF SAM BROCK ’ 18
Sam Brock spent three years at Messiah instead of four. Sound odd? He’s part of the 3+2 master’s program, which provides students a chance to streamline their undergraduate and advanced degrees. Students spend three years at Messiah working toward a bachelor’s in applied health science and then two years at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to receive an MSOT in occupational therapy. Although he spent his entire “senior year” at Jefferson, he returned to Grantham to receive his B.S. at Commencement. “I was excited to come back, because it meant a lot to me, being able to walk with my class and share that day with them,” he said. What does he miss about Messiah? Spontaneous excursions with friends. “If you needed a study break or were bored, you could always find someone who was
doing something fun and interesting: going for hikes, participating in pick-up games or Messiah-sponsored events, or just playing a round of campus golf.” One year away from becoming an occupational therapist, and he’s reflective about the duality of his 3-2 degree. “It’s definitely been a transition going from Grantham to the city, in an apartment, into a secular environment,” said Brock. “Academically, it’s a different type of focus, too, because it’s all occupational therapy, focusing on application. Everything is focused into one class.” Brock is busy working through his level one clinical field work, a series of exposures to the multidimensional fields of occupational therapy. “You gradually get patients on your caseload that you’re responsible for,” he said. “It’s an interesting transition. There’s a sense of community within our major and our cohort at Jefferson, but there’s a little less cohesion overall. The campus is only a couple city blocks.”
F E AT U R E S T O R Y
CREATIVE COMMONS
THE LONG ROAD BACK
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ANNUAL CIVIL RIGHTS BUS TOUR MOVES, INSPIRES By Robyn Passante
D
ereck Kamwesa, assistant director of admissions for Messiah College, was born in Kenya and immigrated
to the midwestern U.S. with his missionary parents when he was a teenager. There he found people looked at and treated him differently based on a single superficial characteristic he had barely noticed before: the color of his skin. MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 21
CIVIL RIGHTS
I make the joke that I didn’t know I was black until about a year after I was in the U.S.,” said Kamwesa. “I vividly remember looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Wow, I truly am black, and that means something different here.’” What it means — and what it has meant — is one of the compelling subjects of the “Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights” bus tour, which Kamwesa and a handful of Messiah colleagues and students took in June. The 10-day tour of civil rights sites is organized by Todd Allen, special assistant to the president and provost for diversity affairs, through his nonprofit The Common Ground Project. For the past 17 years, Allen has led people to the historic places and introduced them to the brave voices that helped to alter the course of U.S. history. And for the past seven years, Messiah staff and students have joined him. Why? “Messiah’s commitment to reconciliation includes beliefs about the value of all persons, the importance of justice and the corresponding evils of racism,” said Provost Randy Basinger. “On the tour, racism no longer stands as an intellectual issue we objectively discuss and debate. It becomes a devastating reality we experience and cannot deny. The evil of racism changes from an abstract belief we intellectually affirm to a conviction we live. The tour is experiential learning at its best — it changes lives. And changed lives help shape Messiah into a community of reconciliation we hope to be.” For Kamwesa, the tour was largely about perspective. “Being part of the civil rights tour continues to put to life what that journey of being black in America has been for other people,” he said. “What I’ve gone through in the last 20 years pales in comparison to what other people went through.” It was equally eye-opening for Messiah student Gloria Igihozo ’19, a biochemistry major from Rwanda who lost much of her extended family in the 1994 genocide there. Igihozo serves as the student chair of the Multicultural Council.
“I did feel kind of detached from the whole civil rights movement, because it had been in a different century and I wasn’t born yet. How we learned about it made it seem like it was so far back that we could not relate to it,” she said of what she had been taught about that era of history before the tour. “But on the tour I realized that the civil rights movement is so near and dear to me. It reflects some of the injustices that I’ve known and that I’ve seen.” Igihozo says she was particularly moved by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a new site in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to the lynching and mass incarceration victims across the U.S. “I was reading nameplates ... and how they were lynched. And I remember getting to one nameplate, the name of a man who was actually lynched in Pennsylvania. I kind of froze for a second. Because this is where I live right now,” she said. “It reminded me of the genocide in Rwanda, because people were killed in the most brutal way possible. It was just really surreal to me.” Allen says the day the tourgoers visited the lynching memorial was “definitely a Kleenex day.” The group started at the Southern Poverty Law Center, hearing stories of people whose lives were taken, and then went to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) offices, where they met Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent nearly 30 years on death row before finally being exonerated with the help of EJI founder Bryan Stevenson. Then the group toured the lynching memorial. “Bryan says, ‘On the road to reconciliation, we’ve got to have some truth telling.’ And it smacks you in the face with the truth,” Allen said of the stark and moving memorial. Another highlight of the tour included a chat with Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, one of the four young girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham in 1963. McNair, who visited Messiah in 2017 as a speaker during the campus Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities, says speaking to Allen’s annual tour group is always a pleasure. “Daddy used to speak to them, every year they came,” said McNair, who took over for her parents in 2013 to tell groups about the
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effects of the bombing from her family’s perspective. She says her sister’s death is her first memory. “Sadly, this country, I think, has done a disservice to the civil rights movement and those who lost their lives and participated in it. We know about Selma and the march on Washington and Dr. King, but there’s a whole part of our shared American history that is still not covered in history books like other parts of American history are covered,” she said. “So I think sharing that with young people is important, because they’re not going to get it anywhere else if I don’t share it.” It’s those face-to-face, intimate stories from people such as McNair and Hinton that bring history alive and move the hearts and minds of tour participants.
PHILLIP PARKER
This summer, Messiah students Ben Baddorf ’21, Gloria Igihozo ’19, Logan Buffington ’20 and Horacia Carryl ’19 participated in the ‘Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights’ bus tour, a 10-day journey to historic landmarks such as the National Civil Rights Museum, Edmund Pettus Bridge and Bethel Baptist Church.
“To me, that’s what really makes the tour powerful,” Allen said. “Because you can go to museums and monuments, but to be in those places with the people who actually made history happen … .” Susan Shannon, director of Learning Technology Services, says she was moved shortly after she boarded the bus for the first time June 9. Listening to then-strangers discuss real, difficult issues respectfully and thoroughly in those first hours of a 10-day ride apart from her family, friends and daily duties made her realize what a transformative journey it would be. “It removes you from your current reality,” she said of the trip, which is loaded with
museum visits, monument stops, talks and other experiences in states such as Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. “It takes you to a different place. The immersiveness, just being together … it’s the full experience.” A self-described activist for social justice issues, Shannon says the trip confirmed for her the importance of the convictions she already holds and bolstered her confidence to continue to put her energy behind them. “The trip gave me the courage and strength to stay on my journey,” she said. That type of reaction is exactly what Allen says he hopes for each year. “It’s called ‘Returning to the Roots of Civil
Rights.’ We call it that for a reason. We tell people that when you go back to wherever you came from, I want you to ask, ‘What was going on here in the 1950s and 1960s around race?’ And also ask yourself, ‘What’s going on right now? And how involved and engaged am I?’” In that light, Igihozo’s eyes have been opened to a truth that’s been right under her nose since arriving in this country to begin her education at Messiah a few years ago. “I came here during the Black Lives Matter movement,” she said, “and being on this trip showed me that not much has changed. There’s an assumption that the civil rights movement ended. But the reality is that it just
MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 23
PHILLIPPHILLIP PARKER PARKER
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“ TO SEE PEOPLE MY AGE BE THE FIGURES OF THIS MOVEMENT, IT REMINDED ME THAT I HAVE A VOICE, I HAVE
SCHEDULED TOUR STOPS:
POWER AND I NEED TO
Greensboro, N.C. International Civil Rights Center & Museum
USE IT FOR THE GOOD.” – Gloria Igihozo ’19
continued but under a different image.” In reflecting about those who risked or gave their lives in the fight for equal rights, Kamwesa says he sees not only the possibility for him to make a difference for the next generation, but also the responsibility to do so. “The job I have now was probably not a possibility for them,” Kamwesa said of those freedom fighters from decades ago. “What does that look like for somebody coming after me? If somebody comes into Messiah 20 years from now, will my presence here have made any difference for them?” The tourgoers’ emotions upon returning were not shades of despair but of hope, love and reconciliation. Igihozo says the most powerful thing she learned was seeing the kind of people who nonviolently forced change for the good of this country. “Most were college students my age,” Igihozo said of history’s protesters and organizers. “So many times, it’s easy to feel helpless and think that I can’t do anything, I can’t get anything done. To see people my age be the figures of this movement, it reminded me that I have a voice, I have power and I need to use it for the good.” B
Atlanta, Ga. MLK Center Albany, Ga. Charles Sherrod Civil Rights Park Albany Civil Rights Institute Montgomery, Ala. Holt Street Baptist Church First Baptist Church Alabama State Capitol Building Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church Rosa Parks Museum Edmund Pettus Bridge Viola Liuzzo Memorial Freedom Ride Museum (Greyhound Bus Terminal) Civil Rights Memorial & Visitors Center National Memorial for Peace & Justice The Legacy Museum Birmingham, Ala. Bethel Baptist Church Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Kelly Ingram Park Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Memphis, Tenn. Stax Records Museum of American Soul Music National Civil Rights Museum Withers Collection Museum & Gallery Nashville, Tenn. Civil Rights Room/Nashville Public Library Canton, Ohio Clearview Golf Club
MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 25
Ad Deum Dance Company Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, 2018
invites you to the
Calvin and Janet HIGH CENTER for WORSHIP and PERFORMING ARTS
2018-2019 SEASON
A Farewell to Arms Sept. 16, 2018 Nancy Tomes Sept. 27, 2018 Thomas Friedman Nov. 1, 2018 Ben Bliss Nov. 3, 2018 The Tempest Nov. 8–Nov. 18, 2018 How to Meet an Angel: Ilya and Emilia Kabakov Nov. 10, 2018 Dan Forrest Choral Festival Concert Nov. 16, 2018 Messiah College Christmas Concert Dec. 2, 2018 Susquehanna Chorale Holiday Concert Dec. 14, 2018 Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia Jan. 22, 2019 Marian Wright Edelman Feb. 21, 2019 Mendelssohn Piano Trio Feb. 24, 2019 Trio Atlantis and the Messiah College Symphony Orchestra March 1, 2019 Chanticleer March 29, 2019 Messiah College Concert Choir March 31, 2019 Tim Warfield and Jazz Ensemble April 12, 2019
“To the Eternity” – choreography by Alan Hineline, photo courtesy of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Additional details on the 2018-2019 season of the Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts may be found at messiah.edu/highcenterseason.
Susquehanna Chorale Spring Concert May 11, 2019
OUR
ALUMNI NEWS
“ It’s amazing to see such an expanse of water on all sides, watching a pod of intelligent killer whales feed off the catch four or five feet from where I’m standing! It’s all amazing, scary, beautiful and powerful.” V E R O N I C A F R A N S ’ 07
TRAVELING SCIENTIST PURSUES PH.D. AFTER STUDYING ANIMALS AROUND THE GLOBE, SHE RECEIVES TWO FELLOWSHIPS Imagine studying baleen whale populations in the Falkland Islands or the endangered colonies of sea lions in New Zealand. Based on her scientific research papers from these exact travels, Veronica Frans ’07 recently received the Michigan State University Enrichment Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. at Michigan State University. Her first experience with traveling the globe began at Messiah.
With a dual major in environmental science and French, Frans also minored in Spanish. As an undergrad, she studied abroad five times, traveling to Belize, Ecuador, France, India and Guadeloupe. “I wouldn’t have been able to do as much as I did if I attended any other school,” said Frans. “I was also blessed to have an incredible mentor, [Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Science] Joseph Sheldon, who has encouraged me and supported me through every step of my career, from my first day at Messiah to now.” After graduating from Messiah, she worked as a fisheries observer for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Alaska, spending 30-60 days at a time at sea. “It’s amazing to see such an expanse of water on all sides,” she said, “watching a pod of intelligent killer whales feed off the
COURTESY OF VERONICA FRANS ’07
— Veronica Frans ’07
While researching whales in the Falkland Islands from 2015-2016, Veronica Frans ’07 encountered many animals in the wild, including the king penguin population at Volunteer Point.
catch four or five feet from where I’m standing! It’s all amazing, scary, beautiful and powerful.” The flexibility of the job allowed her to complete two master’s degrees through a dual-degree program at Georg-August University Gottingen in Germany and Lincoln University in New Zealand. Though most of her studying was spent in Germany, she also interned for a semester in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Dolphin Conversation Society. Although she’ll be studying in Michigan for the next five years, don’t expect her to stay in one
place for long. “The NSF offers a Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) program, so I can do a year of research abroad, if I wish,” said Frans. “There will also be chances to attend international conferences and workshops. My group—the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability—also does research abroad. If I come up with a good plan, maybe I’ll end up in China for my project—or somewhere else!” — Emily Koontz ’20
MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 27
OUR
ALUMNI PROFILES
“ For years, I tried to understand the burqa, yet misunderstood it. I wrestled it, detested it and grieved it. But this time the burqa took me another step into the world I was coming to know more intimately. It assured me we were not enemies.” — excerpt from “Beauty Beyond the Walls”
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M I N DY A B R A H A M ’ 0 5
Finding beauty beyond walls ALUMNA SERVES AS VESSEL FOR STORIES OF AFGHANISTAN Last year, biblical and religious studies major Mindy (Harmeling) Abraham ’05—under the pen name Sonora Brown—wrote “Beauty Beyond the Walls,” a book about her journey through Afghanistan and how her interactions with the women who lived there strengthened her relationship with God. Before becoming a published author, she enrolled at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, to pursue a Master of Business Administration. While in the program, she learned of an opportunity to intern at a non-governmental organization (NGO) and to help start an importing business in Afghanistan. After much consideration, she remembered something her religion professors at Messiah College had said: Travel to a Muslim country to see the world in a different context. So, she packed her suitcase and boarded a plane for Afghanistan. Once she arrived, Abraham connected with female survivors of war. One of those women worked as a janitor at Abraham’s office. On her small salary, the woman supported seven children, an ill husband and a disabled sister. The two women began meeting for lunch weekly, where Abraham listened to stories of the Russian invasion and living in constant fear of the Taliban. This connection, and others like it, inspired her to write a book about her experiences in Afghanistan. “Once I had the title ‘Beauty Beyond the Walls,’ I began
Mindy (Harmerling) Abraham ’05 walks outside her home in Afghanistan.
reshaping the book around the theme of finding beauty in Afghanistan beyond the physical walls there and the invisible walls we as Westerners put between ourselves and places we don’t understand, like Afghanistan,” she explained. Today, she works overseas in the country of Lebanon as an international development and humanitarian worker. She heads a support department that helps provide health care, clean water and shelter for Syrian refugees. Reflecting on her Afghanistan experience, Abraham said, “Jesus took me to a place where I was totally alone and broken. He was more than enough. Experiencing this changed me.” — Emily Koontz ’20
TO BUY “BEAUTY BEYOND THE WALLS,” GO TO AMAZON.COM.
ALUM MINISTERS TO WOMEN IN GERMANY NONPROFIT WORK BRINGS CHALLENGES, REWARDS IN BERLIN When God puts Germany on your heart, you listen. History major Emily LaBianca ’17 says her German heritage combined with a desire to work for a humanitarian organization led her to ReachGlobal, an international service organization that serves alongside church planting leaders to bring training, resources and encouragement to cities and regions around the globe.
Through ReachGlobal, she recently accepted a short-term staff position to work in Berlin with the ministry Alabaster Jar, which serves and empowers women in prostitution. “Many of the women are immigrants and find it difficult to navigate the system, to get a residence permit, to find insurance. We offer that help to them. We also affirm that they matter,” she said. “We encourage them in exploring other lines of work, pray for them and just love on them.” If the women are in need of more urgent care, Alabaster Jar also can refer them to shelters, safe houses and clinics that don’t require insurance. While rewarding, this type of ministry is far from trouble-free. “It definitely is not easy work,” she said, “but God is doing
COURTESY OF EMILY LABIANCA
E M I LY L A B I A N C A ’ 1 7
Through the organization ReachGlobal, Emily LaBianca ’17 works for Alabaster Jar, which ministers to women in prostitution in Berlin, Germany. incredible things in Berlin. I have seen miracles happen on the streets of this city, and I am learning just how powerful my prayers and obedience can be. Light is conquering darkness. I am excited to be even just a small part of that.” During her time at Messiah, LaBianca served as a work-study and research assistant in the history department. James LaGrand, professor of American history, said of her, “In all my years at Messiah College, Emily has been one of my most favorite students. She’s smart, funny, multi-talented and incredibly caring. For me, she
represents the best of Messiah College.” LaBianca will complete this two-year assignment in 2020. Until then, she will continue to serve the people of the city of Berlin. — Jake Miaczynski ’20 and Anna Seip
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LABIANCA’S MISSION WORK, SUBSCRIBE TO HER NEWSLETTER BY EMAILING EMILY. LABIANCA@EFCA.ORG. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO HER WORK, VISIT EFCA.ORG/GIVE AND ENTER LABIANCA 2196 IN THE SPACES PROVIDED.
Earn your
in Christian education or intercultural studies Messiah College is collaborating with Asbury Theological Seminary to offer online M.Ed. degree tracks in Christian education and intercultural studies. The Christian education track equips educators with the skills needed to design curriculum and assess instruction in educational contexts related to Christian ministry. The intercultural studies track provides individuals who intend to engage in ministry in cross-cultural contexts with a solid background in education.
Discover if you qualify for a tuition discount at messiah.edu/graddiscounts
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MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 29
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CLASS NOTES
1970s Esther (Dourte) Spurrier ’70 retired as a missionary from BIC U.S. World Missions in 2017.
1980s David Fulmer ’80 works as a co-pastor for Summit View BIC Church in New Holland, Pa. Eloise Hull ’83 works as a rideshare driver for Uber and Lyft in Nashville, Tenn. She recently was promoted to the position of VIP driver for Uber.
Eric Miller ’84 works as a credit manager for Tyndale House Publishers in Carol Stream, Ill.
degrees to African students from Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Douglas Baitlinger ’85 works as a pastor for Mantua United Methodist Church in Mantua, N.J.
Dale (Sippel) Williamson ’86 works as the senior vice president of human resources at NewsBank, Inc. in Chester, Vt.
Debbie (Green) Rutter ’85 works as a merchandiser for Nabisco in Carlisle, Pa.
Kelly (Criste) Goshorn ’87 works as a novelist in Purcellville, Va.
Glen Sykes ’86 serves as the senior pastor for Grace Brethren Church in San Diego, Calif. He also works as a teacher for Ambassador International University, which offers bachelor’s
1990s Lucinda Graybill ’90 works as the church organist and choir accompanist at St. Paul’s Union Church in Hanover, Pa.
Elizabeth Cooke ’91 works as a registered nurse for Lower Cape Fear Hospice in Wilmington, N.C.
for the Children’s Garden in Shiremanstown, Pa. She completed her M.Ed. from Messiah College in 2017.
Matt Stine ’92 works as the human resource delivery center manager for five state agencies: Banking and Securities; Insurance; State; Revenue; and Labor and Industry.
Amy (Keefer) Schreffler ’97 works as an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Department of Behavioral Health in Baltimore, Md. She also continues her work at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Tonya (Forbes) Wheeler ’95 works as a kindergarten teacher at Dayspring Christian Academy in Greeley, Colo. Marie (Coles) Gewiss ’96 works as a group supervisor
Justin Sentz ’98 works as the executive director of Web technologies, campus media support and instructional design at Shippensburg
S AV E T H E DAT E! Longwood Gardens and Brandywine River Museum of Art at Christmas Time Bus Tour
Heritage Society Bus Trip FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 LONGWOOD GARDENS
• $129pp Roundtrip from Mechanicsburg/Lancaster • $65pp Meet group at Brandywine River Museum of Art
BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM OF ART
Join us for our next Messiah College bus trip, sponsored by the Heritage Society. Teaming up with Bob Neff Tours, we will travel to Brandywine River Museum of Art and Longwood Gardens on Friday, December 7, 2018 for a day of art and natural beauty! For more information, contact Emily Lint at elint@messiah.edu.
HERITAGE SOCIETY
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One College Avenue Suite 3013 Mechanicsburg PA 17055 www.messiah.edu 717.796.5051
Address Service Requested
University. He completed a Ph.D. in instructional design and technology from Old Dominion University and is the 2018 recipient of the Alan Mandell Endowed Award. Delight Yokley ’98 works as the dean of the learning commons at the University of Mount Olive in Mount Olive, N.C.
2000s Amy (Grovatt) Brewin ’00 works as a special education teacher in Tabernacle, N.J.
University in May.
Lorraine, Feb. 15, 2017.
Jonathan Stueckle ’04 and his wife Rebekah announce the adoption of Ismael, May 30, 2018. Jonathan works as an air command and staff college student for the U.S. Air Force.
Lauren Bupp ’08 works as an occupational therapy assistant at Genesis Rehabilitation in Middletown, Pa.
Miriam (Litman) Worth ’04 and her husband Tanner announce the birth of Samuel Graham, May 4, 2017. She works as a school psychologist for Las Virgenes Unified School District in Calabasas, Calif.
Erin Emenheiser ’08 works as the recreation coordinator at Bethany Village in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Lauren Maupin ’08 works as an education and program manager at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville,
“When I spend the first few minutes of the day sitting quietly at my desk, reading His Word and praying, I am reminded of His sovereignty, and the entire day goes more smoothly.” — Tonya (Forbes) Wheeler ’95, kindergarten teacher Chris Evans ’00 works as an informational technology specialist for Access Services in Fort Washington, Pa. He received the Innovation and Change Award for Access Services. Stephanie (Smith) Long ’01 and her husband Michael announce the birth of Arianna Joy, July 8, 2017. Clark Davenport ’02 works as a mechanical engineer and project manager for Mueller Associates in Baltimore, Md. Ryan Glenn ’03 works as director of statewide initiatives at Ben Franklin Technology Partners in Harrisburg, Pa. He completed an MBA from Penn State
Megan Strausbaugh ’06 works as the director of marketing for the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, Inc. Jennifer (Cummings) Fischer ’07 her husband Curtis announce the birth of Eleanor, June 12, 2017. Michelle (Bomboy) Knight ’07 works as the director of advancement services for Keystone College in La Plume, Pa. Sarah Maddox ’07 works as a graphic designer for White & Case LLP in Tampa, Fla. Mandy (Hoffman) Milner ’07 and her husband Nathan announce the birth of Esther
Va. She also teaches art history at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Jenna (Kehrly) ’09 and Keith Johnson ’09 announce the birth of Weston Alan, Sept. 17, 2016. Allison Petry ’09 and Simon Pratt married July 22, 2017, in Newville, Pa.
2010s Anna (Repp) Foster ’10 works as an occupational therapist at the Laramie County School District Number One in Cheyenne, Wyo. Elizabeth McVey ’10 and Danavin Calunod married
Jan. 14, 2018, in Key West, Fla. Jessica (Gould) Dye ’11 and her husband Ashton announce the birth of Easton Ryan, June 8, 2017. She won the 2016-2017 Teacher of the Year at Hartwood Elementary School in Hartwood, Va. Justin Erb ’11 works as the owner of and licensed professional counselor for Greenleaf Counseling Center LLC in Waynesboro, Pa. John ’11 and Shalee (Soliday) Forsythe ’11 announce the birth of Avonlea Jane, Nov. 11, 2014. John works as a software engineer at Train Control Systems in Blooming Glen, Pa. Josiah ’11 and Stacy (Matson) Rider ’11 announce the birth of Judah, June 23, 2017. Stacy works as an athletic trainer at Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va. James ’11 and Becky (Crossman) Strangfeld ’11 announce the birth of Meredith Joy, July 6, 2018. James works as the associate manager of Web services at Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission in Philadelphia, Pa. Alice Worrall ’11 and Jed Shambeda ’10 announce the birth of Odin, Sept. 16, 2017. Mary Higgins ’12 received the 2018 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Association for Professional Development Schools. She recently
graduated from Penn State University with a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. Mary Kate Stone ’12 and Matthew Kelly married Aug. 27, 2016, in Essex Fells, N.J. Catherine (Joseph) ’13 and Andrew Dowling ’13 announce the birth of Matthew Bryan, Jan. 3, 2018. Angela (Klaczak) Horst ’13 and husband Logan announce the birth of Joseph, March 15, 2018. Rebecca Kharajian ’13 and Christopher Abruzzese married Aug. 17, 2017. The couple live in Arlington, Mass. Elise Pure ’13 works as an occupational therapist at Geisinger Holy Spirit Hospital. Her recent research article was published in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine journal. Caryn Watson ’17 and Michael Crawford married Aug. 19, 2017.
Service Notes Carole (Kolodziej) Erickson ’83 volunteers for YoungLives Delaware Valley in Berwyn, Pa. Lauren (Merkley) Powell ’06 moved to Guatemala to begin missionary service with Missionary Air Group, a nonprofit Christian relief organization, in July. Megan Strausbaugh ’06 serves on the board of directors for RASE Project, a recovery community organization, in Harrisburg, Pa.
MESSIAH COLLEGE • THE BRIDGE • SUMMER 2018 | 31
OUR
MESSIAH COLLEGE ARCHIVES
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Named for sisters Clara and Mary Hoffman, the Hoffman Building was built in 1949 and originally served as a women’s residence hall.
Sisters’ legacy holds special place in Messiah’s history HOFFMANS TO BE HONORED IN NEW SPACE It’s the 1940s. You walk out of Old Main and pass two women. Their warm and welcoming personalities greet you as the younger pushes the older in a wheelchair. You just passed Clara and Mary Hoffman, otherwise known as the Hoffman sisters, two very important women in the history of Messiah College. Return to the present and check out the Hoffman Building at the center of campus. Remember those women? This is their story. In Morris Sider’s “Messiah College: A History,” the sisters are said to be “as much a part of the campus as the buildings and trees themselves.” In fact, the Hoffman Building, situated between Murray Library and the Eisenhower Campus Center, was the first building to be named after women in College history. Mary, the younger of the two sisters, worked as a curator for the Archives of Messiah College and the Brethren in Christ Historical Library Archives. She
taught in local schools before coming to Messiah. According to Sider, she wrote articles praising women who entered any career formerly occupied by men. Clara, the elder sister, worked as the College’s first librarian. Sider says she possessed a forceful personality, a keen sense of where trouble might be brewing and yet a warm heart. Originally a women’s residence hall, Hoffman opened in 1949, a symbol of the progress and success of Messiah College. The
32 | SUMMER 2018 • THE BRIDGE • MESSIAH COLLEGE
“[The Hoffman sisters] served always at tremendous sacrifice of money and time, but, to judge from the record and oral testimony, without complaint.” — Morris Sider, author of “Messiah College: A History”
campus master plan originally presented an option that a new welcome center could be added to a renovated Hoffman. However, the Board of Trustees commissioned a study in 2017 and found—due to the building’s age and renovation limitations—it would be more cost-effective to build a new freestanding facility for the admissions and welcome center and raze Hoffman. Removing Hoffman and then building the new admissions center closer to the circle of Eisenhower Campus Center also will allow the College to meet the master plan’s goal of creating a larger, centrally located “green space” in the middle of campus. Toward this goal, the College is
planning to relocate the parking currently in the circle of Boyer Hall, Hostetter Chapel, Murray Library and Hoffman Hall. The campus will stay parking-space neutral, but parking will be relocated to various places in conjunction with township governance and planning. The College will identify an opportunity as a part of the admissions center project to continue to recognize the legacy of these two important sisters of the Messiah community. As Sider wrote in his book, “[The Hoffman sisters] served always at tremendous sacrifice of money and time, but, to judge from the record and oral testimony, without complaint.” — Jake Miaczynski ’20
MESSIAH COLLEGE
CALENDAR OF EVENTS HOMECOMING 2018
OCT. 19 Class of 1958 Reunion
FRI.
10–11:30 a.m., Oakes Museum
Class of 1968 Reunion 9:30–11:30 a.m., Jordan Atrium
Check-in and Golden Grad Luncheon 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., Martin Commons
Lecture Series 2–3 p.m., Martin Commons
Young Alumni Reunion (2008–2018) 7–11 p.m., Federal Taphouse (Harrisburg)
OCT. 20 Homecoming Check-in and Registration
SAT.
20-Year Cluster Reunion (Classes of ’97, ’98, ’99) 10 a.m.–noon, Hostetter Chapel
25-Year Reunion (Class of 1993) 10 a.m.–noon, Martin Commons
Earthkeepers Nature Walk
Homecoming Weekend OCT. 19–20, 2018
10:30 a.m., Departs from Oakes Museum
Celebrating our Multicultural Heritage Brunch 10:30 a.m.–noon, Boyer Hall, Howe Atrium
Alumni Softball Game 11 a.m., Starry Softball Field
Alumni Baseball Game 11 a.m., Starry Baseball Field
Alumni Men’s Volleyball Game Noon, Hitchcock Arena
Li’l Falcon Zone 12:30–4 p.m., Eisenhower Lawn
Varsity Field Hockey vs. Arcadia University 1 p.m., Anderson Field
Alumni Swim Meet
8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Eisenhower Campus Center Commons
Symphony Orchestra Concert
Falcon Fun Run/Live Color 5K Check-In
11 a.m., Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts, Parmer Hall
General Reception for School of the Humanities
Campus Tour/ Sustainability Tour
1–2:30 p.m., Boyer Hall, Howe Atrium Various department reunions to follow
8 a.m., Starry Athletic Fields Complex (by Falcon Hut)
Men’s Club Soccer Alumni Game 8:30–10:30 a.m., Rec Field #1
Falcon Fun Run 9 a.m., Lower Starry Athletic Fields
Live Color 5K 10 a.m., Lower Starry Athletic Fields
Alumni Field Hockey Game 10 a.m., Anderson Field
Archives Open House 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Murray Library
Oakes Museum Open House/Craft Time 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Oakes Museum
15-Year Cluster Reunion (Classes of ’02, ’03, ’04) 10 a.m.–noon, Jordan Atrium
11 a.m., 1 p.m. Departs from Eisenhower Circle
Prospective Student Pizza Reception 11:30 a.m. –1 p.m., Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts, Steinbrecher Atrium
College Honors Program Reunion noon –1 p.m., Boyer 131
Instrument Petting Zoo Noon, Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts, Sawatsky Lobby
Alumni Women’s Lacrosse Game Noon–2 p.m., Lacrosse turf
1 p.m., Natatorium
General Reception for School of Science, Engineering and Health
40-Year Cluster Reunion 2–4 p.m., Hostetter Chapel
MCPC 50th Anniversary Celebration 2:30–4 p.m., North Complex Lounge
Women’s Soccer vs. Widener University 3 p.m., Shoemaker Field
Alumni Men’s Lacrosse Game 3:45–5 p.m., Lacrosse turf
Concert Choir and Alumni Concert 4–5 p.m., Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts, Parmer Hall
Eyas Whiteout March 5 p.m., Hostetter Chapel
1–2:30 p.m., Jordan Atrium Various department reunions to follow
Men’s Soccer vs. Widener University
Rafiki Open House
Messiah College Jazz Ensembles Concert
1–3 p.m., Rafiki House
Alumni Co-ed Ultimate Frisbee Game 1 p.m., Lower Starry Field Women’s and men’s games to follow
Alumni Women’s and Men’s Tennis Match 2 p.m., Criste Courts
30-Year Cluster Reunion 2–4 p.m., Martin Commons
6 p.m., Shoemaker Field
7 p.m., Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts, Parmer Hall
SAB Coffeehouse 9 p.m., Brubaker Auditorium
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT MESSIAH.EDU/HOMECOMING.
office of Marketing and COMMUNICATIONS
One College Avenue Suite 3020 Mechanicsburg PA 17055 717.691.6027 www.messiah.edu
Opening Doors of OPPORTUNITY Messiah strives to be a place of gracious hospitality, extending a warm welcome to all prospective students and their families from the very start. As students journey through their undergraduate education, we desire to continue our hospitality by making each student’s Christ-centered education more affordable through the generosity of donors like you. By financially partnering with Messiah College, you are joining us in the commitment to care for our students
Kim S. Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center initial rendering, building subject to change
from start to finish. Your gift today supports the hospitality that will be extended in the new Kim S. Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center as well as scholarship aid, which helps keep a Messiah education affordable. Your generosity changes students’ lives, and, in turn, they have the opportunity to change the world. Visit messiah.edu/doors to give today.