On the Cover: President Eckman stands in front of the oldest surviving original structure on the York College campus - Hulitt Hall. The iconic structure is being renovated and updated thanks to a $3 million gift. See pg. 10
INSIDE 2 Reflections 4 A Decade of Service 6 Campus News 8 Dry Bones 10 Redeeming Hulitt 14 Extra Ordinary Things 16 Class of 2020 18 Campus Update 19 President's Council 20 Alumni News and Notes 22 The Other Door 24 Panther Athletics 26 YC Prepares Principal for the Unknown 27 Campus Spotlight 28 Memorials 29 Pay It Forward 30 Homecoming 2020 Heritage — Summer 2020
Vol. 23, No. 2
Heritage is a semi-annual publication for alumni and friends of York College. The magazine is available online at www.york.edu/alumni. Heritage Staff
Steddon Sikes ’84 Director of Publications 402-363-5668 slsikes@york.edu
Eryn Conyers ’16 Communication Officer 402-363-5607 econyers@york.edu
Emily Lutz ’14 Alumni Relations Officer 402-363-5657 elutz@york.edu
Heritage Contributors Gayle (Savage ’75) Davidson Bob DeHart ’95 Joanna Hall ’22 Trent Hinton ’02
Brent Magner ’79 Hannah Parker ’18 Corey Sanner ’91 Marissa (Bressler ’20) Tyler
In a landscape dominated this spring by the coronavirus, it would be easy to dwell on all we have lost because of the pandemic. Performances and athletic seasons were canceled, and many springtime traditions were lost. In perhaps the starkest demonstration of how rapidly things changed in early March, our women’s wrestling team had traveled to Jamestown, North Dakota, for NAIA nationals, settled in and were ready to compete when the meet was canceled. Cancellation of events that began in March has continued into the summer months. We still anticipate hosting Alumni and Friends Work Days in late July as regularly scheduled. But, as in every hardship, there has been a silver lining. God has blessed us throughout this ordeal. My colleagues across campus have risen to the challenge of teaching, serving and loving our students. Faculty immediately went to work teaching remotely and successfully ended a semester like no other. Staff waded through details with students caught in a wide variety of situations - packing student belongings when needed, working through personal details, mitigating financial hardships and much more. A combination of federal dollars and years of fiscal restraint gave us the ability to not only make plans for the fall but also to provide refunds and relief dollars to our students nearly equal to the price they paid for the half semester of room and board they lost. Moving forward, we find ourselves in a rare position in higher education at the moment with no plans to furlough any employees. While our fiscal year was badly hurt by all the events, including the downturn in the stock market, God has provided for York College in amazing ways. For prospective students, our admissions office and coaching staff have worked through myriad details to engage and help these young people and their families. Amazingly, despite the difficulties, we are on track to set a new enrollment record this fall as we make plans to reopen the campus. Thanks to strategic partnerships we have forged in our online programs, we are able to take advantage of some of the changes in academics that will define education moving forward. We are positioned to not only survive but to thrive. To resume our oncampus programs this fall, we have assembled a task force of campus leaders, local health experts and professionals outside the community to determine the protocols needed to assure safety while giving our students a collegiate experience defined by opportunities to learn and grow, rather than be smothered by the fear that has defined 2020.
