Groundskeeping staff  – including up to six full-time work-study students – continue to pull weeds, mow lawns, care for trees, plant flowers and edible landscaping, repair buildings, and perform general maintenance. In the words of grounds supervisor , “It’s not like the grass takes a break.” Work-study student Shay Whetzel says he enjoys getting to the end of the hard day’s work, then realizing he helped make the campus “look amazing.”

Other vital contributors include library staffers who take care of one of the best places to study, housekeeping crew members who make sure the facilities stay clean, and dining hall workers who take care of the people taking care of everything else. All these groups have student workers to help out while caring for each other, the campus, and the events that visit the campus.

, with three full-time and eight work-study and/or temporary employees, handles the events that use the EMU campus by coordinating with leaders, communicating with various departments, setting up furniture for use, and making sure everything needed by a visiting group is available.

“We stay extremely busy over the summer,” says , assistant director for auxiliary services. Generally speaking, he says EMU hosts three kinds of large events, as well as a number of small events. The large events include church, youth, and athletic groups. Churches come to campus for meetings, retreats, and conferences. Youth groups come to worship and learn. Athletic groups come to practice and learn using EMU’s equipment and fields. Many of these events go on for days at a time, so visiting groups must use the dorm buildings.

Blue Ridge Running Camp is largest

The largest athletic event is , involving 40 to 50 coaches from NCAA Division I, II and III schools across the country. The biggest church group is , involving several Apostolic churches from across the Eastern United States and Canada. These two groups, with populations reaching several hundred each, run back to back.

Auxiliary services prepares for Apostolic Eastern Camp to fill every single dorm room for a week in July, and then spends the weekend afterwards preparing the rooms again for Blue Ridge Running Camp. This weekend might be the most stressful time on campus during the summer.

The largest youth event is a summer camp held by , a Baptist group that involves several youth groups. This event runs early in July.

The events calendar linked to the auxiliary services section of EMU’s website lists 32 major events running from the first of May to the ninth of August this year.

Outside of church, youth, and athletic events, EMU serves family reunions, wedding receptions, travelers, and other one-time events by renting out Lehman Auditorium, the gymnasium, dorm buildings, or other facilities. Some traveling groups simply need to use the dorms for one night, or some performing groups, such as , may need Lehman Auditorium for a few shows.

Site of four Augusta school graduations

EMU serves Augusta County Public Schools by renting out the University Commons for the graduation ceremonies of four county high schools. Over the course of two days, 8,000-10,000 people pass through the Commons to attend these graduations.

The main EMU-sponsored events after spring graduation ceremonies are the , , the , classes, and the . This year, especially, construction workers are on campus, and renovating Roselawn into office and classroom spaces.

Veurink points out that EMU hopping over the summer is “a matter of stewardship – by using your facilities you generate revenue.” If EMU didn’t invite others to use the campus, it would be wasting the potential of the campus. The revenues, which hit an all-time high gross of approximately $600,000 in 2012, says Veurink, support EMU’s general fund. More than that, many of these groups form intimate connections with the EMU community, as about 80 percent of the groups are returning groups. Veurink described the connection by saying that “they kind of become like family to us.”

Tonight, I want to reinforce that EMU is truly a Christian University like no other. Three and a half years ago, I was poised with making a life-altering decision: Where was I going to attend college? I had received acceptance from five universities. How was I going to choose? Which school would fit? Which school would provide me the best opportunities to excel?

Little did my 17-year-old self know how much of an impact that choice would make on the rest of my life. I stand before you to declare that I made the best decision – that this Christian University, like no other, has transformed me into not only a scholar, but into an individual like no other.

Multiple factors congealed to make EMU rise above Virginia Tech or UVa, in my eyes. First, my mother, the first in my family to receive a college education, had graduated a few years earlier from the . She had shown me the core values of caring and compassion that EMU’s professors instill in the minds of their students. Second, my dream was to become a doctor and and boasted medical school acceptance rates far beyond any public university I had considered. And, third, was the amount of financial support I would receive, making EMU more of a realistic possibility. EMU just seemed to fit.

The fit seemed more like home as I began my studies three years ago. As I reflect on my years burrowed deep inside the bowels of the , I have had multiple defining experiences. While some of my cherished moments are of classes, most are of the connections I made with faculty and fellow students while learning. Whether I was discovering how to set up a silica-gel column in the organic chemistry lab, determining what distinguishes a mockernut from a pignut hickory, or dissecting in the cadaver lab, these defining moments could have never happened without the resources that EMU provides its students.

At this small private Christian university, I have had experiences that my high school classmates yearn for. Most have never sat down in a professor’s office to discuss not only class material but how the semester is going and what challenges they’re facing. Almost none has been provided the opportunity to dissect a cadaver as an undergraduate student.

If these highlights weren’t enough to set EMU and its science department apart, this summer I was blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Bolivia and the Galapagos Islands on an EMU sponsored cross-cultural. Under the guidance of EMU biology professor and his wife Christina, I had the opportunity to discover biology outside of a textbook. I was drenched by rain in a rainforest, I had a monkey steal my water bottle to drink from it, I swam in Lake Titicaca, I fed the Galapagos Island giant tortoises, I observed Darwin’s finches, and best of all I made connections and built friendships that will transcend generations.

Today an article was posted to , EMU’s intranet system, highlighting EMU’s graduating class of ’62 and their life experiences and accomplishments. From this article, it became evident that EMU, or EMC [in 1962], was a catalyst transforming each of these young minds to prepare them for the future. I can only hope that I can share the same sentiment when my 50th reunion from EMU occurs.

Without the contribution of donors, like everyone in the audience, my education and the education of future students would not be possible. Thank you for allowing my education to be like no other.

In traditional undergraduate population, there was a 2 percent increase, from 912 to 929 students, based on head counts in early September 2012 and 2013.

“I am especially proud of the fact that we attracted a high number of ethnic and racially diverse students,” said Luke Hartman, PhD, vice-president for enrollment. “I believe EMU may be heading toward being one of the most diverse liberal arts institutions in the state. Greater diversity will, of course, enhance the university experience for all of our students, developing their critical-thinking abilities and emotional intelligence.”

Older students seeking graduate degrees or returning to school to finish their undergraduate degrees were the most significant area of enrollment growth for EMU.

The older-adult group was heavily concentrated in graduate education outside of the seminary, with the total number of students in six master’s programs increasing by 27 percent, from 271 to 343 students.

Two new master’s degree programs – in and in – contributed heavily to the increase, with the former accounting for 61 students, 74 percent more than the previous year, and the latter accounting for 22 students, three times more than were enrolled the previous year, its first year of operation.

Close behind the graduate programs in growth were those serving adults who wish to complete their bachelor’s degrees. There’s a caveat in reporting the adult-program enrollment statistics: these adults study within cohorts that start at irregular intervals throughout the year, rather than being synchronized to the typical two-semester academic calendar. This makes it problematical to compare enrollment at the same point in time for successive years.

Being mindful of the caveat, EMU officials are cautiously optimistic that the fall 2013 enrollment statistics may prove to be a harbinger of a jump in total adult enrollment for the coming academic year.

As of Sept. 10, 2013, was 121; last September, it was 79. The Lancaster students are all upgrading their RN degrees to degrees. On the main Harrisonburg campus, enrollment was 102 this fall, compared to 98 last fall. Harrisonburg offers the , as well as a . With 223 students enrolled altogether, these two sites are showing a 26 percent increase in enrollment.

For coursework that is not counted as college credit, has seen a dramatic increase in enrollment, necessitating a move to larger quarters on the Harrisonburg campus in 2012. Since the fall of 2012, IEP enrollment has jumped from 61 to 85, a 39 percent increase.

enrollment has been flat for a number of years, a trend that likely reflects the shrinkage in the membership of traditional churches in wider society.

Among the vehicles he encountered that night was an ambulance, which continued to advance slowly despite Lauro’s commands to stop. Intelligence reports had been warning against possible attacks from emergency vehicles filled with explosives, and Lauro began to run down the rules of engagement checklist: verbal commands, flashing lights, warning shots. The ambulance finally stopped, but a man climbed out and continued to approach on foot, carrying something in his arms. Lauro was preparing to exercise his final, lethal option when he saw that the man was weeping, carrying his badly wounded son, in a desperate search for help. Lauro waved the ambulance on its way and radioed back to the convoy for medical help. The boy died, Lauro later learned.

Months later Lauro returned home to his family in Virginia, but he continued to be troubled by the incident, especially by the way he’d nearly shot another man who was simply trying to save his son.

The and the war that Mark Lauro helped fight in Iraq can both trace their origins to the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. They were very different responses by very different institutions to unprecedented traumas in modern American history. More than a decade after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, public concern is growing about the psychological cost of those conflicts on American soldiers. In early 2013, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported that 22 veterans commit suicide every day. As a result, the STAR program has increasingly looked for ways to work with veterans still struggling on the home front.

One of those closely involved with the issue is Beverly Prestwood-Taylor, executive director of the , a Massachusetts-based organization that promotes trauma-healing and peacebuilding. She was familiar with by way of graduate classes she’d taken while pursuing a doctorate at Hartford Seminary. Seeking ways to prepare church congregations and veterans’ families to support soldiers after their return home, Prestwood-Taylor took the week-long STAR training at EMU and began to incorporate its methodology into her work.

The result: a program called the , a specialized STAR workshop designed for veterans and people in their families, communities or congregations looking for ways to support them. Prestwood-Taylor led the first Journey Home from War workshop in 2009, and has since spun off a variety of similarly designed programs aimed at specific audiences like the clergy and women veterans.

More recently, the Brookfield Institute has also provided trauma-healing and resilience training to a group of United Church of Christ congregations in Massachusetts that were looking for ways to support returning veterans. The participating churches have since launched their own programs, including several support groups and a yoga class for veterans.

Not long after his return to Virginia, Lauro enrolled in the to earn a degree in management and organizational development. Among his final assignments was a paper about his difficulty readjusting to life back home. The style of discipline Sergeant Lauro used for 20-year-old Army privates in Iraq didn’t translate well to a household with two young children. One night, driving to Washington D.C. for a getaway with his wife, a pair of approaching headlights on the interstate triggered a flashback to his reconnaissance patrols in Iraq.

The professor who read Lauro’s paper told him about the STAR program and connected him with STAR director , who was looking for ways to reach out to veterans. Barge invited Lauro to a STAR training, and in 2011, he went, intending to do nothing more than provide her with feedback from a veteran’s perspective. To his surprise, the experience became intensely personal. He talked about the night he met the ambulance, and in doing so, explored the grief and remorse he’d held ever since.

“I felt free of that burden I’d been carrying.” Lauro says STAR has brought considerable healing to his life, though he still deals occasionally with the effects of his experiences in combat.

In November 2012, Lauro returned to STAR as a speaker at a Journey Home From War workshop led by Prestwood-Taylor on EMU’s campus.

“What STAR offered that we didn’t receive from the military was an explanation of the trauma process. It helped me to understand the technical side of trauma, to understand its actual dynamics, and how these can affect the different parts of the brain,” says Lauro, who works in human resources for the Virginia Department of Transportation. “It wasn’t just theory and concepts. It was science.”

Prestwood-Taylor says STAR is unique in integrating a physiological understanding of trauma with a broader view of its impact on one’s spiritual and social health.

“When most programs look at post-traumatic stress disorder, they deal with body-brain dysfunction and try to help the veteran manage that,” says Prestwood-Taylor. “But there are other aspects of healing that are crucial to finding wholeness.”

She also notes that the majority of veterans who commit suicide today have been home for years (69 percent are over 50 years old, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs), meaning programs like Journey Home from War need to take a long view.

“The need for the community to reach out to veterans and provide support isn’t a short-term need,” Prestwood-Taylor says. “My hope is that there will be something sustainable for 10 years from now, 20 years from now, when it is needed just as much as it is today.”

Article originally published in magazine, Spring/Summer 2013.

“The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us that those who serve most effectively are not typically the most respected among us, nor do they often come from the ranks of those with obvious power,” said Swartzendruber. “Servant leaders are those who frequently did not seek leadership roles but act out of deeply held values which are often then noticed by others.”

Swartzendruber linked his message to several alumni who have made an impact as servant leaders across the world, including: , a 2007 graduate of and a ; Eliza Barnhart Burkholder, a 2009 nursing graduate who received the first in Harrisonburg; , a 2007 graduate and DREAM Act advocate; and , a 2007 graduate who is leading an environmental effort in Borneo to stop palm oil producers from taking over the rain forest, among others.

In distinguishing EMU from its peers as a “Christian university like no other,” Swartzendruber noted its diverse program base.

“There are five Mennonite colleges in the U.S. and EMU is the only one that embodies a seminary, a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, a , and with the advent of the new this fall, a total of ,” said Swartzendruber.

EMU also includes an to prepare non-native speakers for futher academic study and a popular .

In closing, Swartzendruber issued a promise to students that an education at EMU is more than just a one-way “dissemination of information” that can be found on podcasts and mass lectures.

“Our promise is that for your tuition payments, you will have every opportunity to become an educated person, one who will be prepared to serve and lead in a global context. And we will fulfill that promise by seeking to be ‘like no other.'”

Cross-cultural sending

The convocation closed with a commissioning for students who left campus Wednesday on fall semester cross-cultural seminar to New Zealand and .

, professor of , and his wife Kathy, will lead a group of 22 students to New Zealand to explore the variety of sustainability issues facing the island country.

The program will have two themes—cultural and environmental. The cultural studies will center on homestays and the book, “The Sociology of Everyday Life in New Zealand.” They will spend time in urban and rural areas, focusing on specific environmental issues and applying them to their particular interests and fields of study.

The majority of the stay will be in the mountainous and agricultural environments of the South Island.

The South Africa and Lesotho group, led by Harlan de Brun, instructor in physical education and recreation, and assisted by EMU alumni Denay Fuglie and Kelsey Yoder, will study the values and norms of South African culture, learn about the African Independent Church movement, do elementary Sesotho language study and focus on community development and projects with particular attention given to AIDS issues.

The group of 21 students will read, hear lectures and journal about the history and culture of Southern Africa, including the Apartheid era and how religious beliefs affected government policy. They return to campus Dec. 5.

‘Shenandoah Welcome’

Returning students, faculty and staff gave new members of the EMU community a traditional “Shenandoah Welcome” as they wended their way through a human “tunnel” of smiling faces and clapping hands accompanied by Appalachian bluegrass music.

EMU’s fall semester ends Dec. 14.

(President Swartzendruber speaks at 12:50)