A short documentary about the owners of Harrisonburg’s , co-directed by peacebuilding grad Mariana Martinez ’21, will premiere next week at Court Square Theater. 

The 20-minute film, titled ¡Hola, Paisano!, follows the owners, Hugo Hernández and Berenice Rodriguez, two immigrants from Mexico, as they build a life, family, and a business through baking. It traces their beginnings, introduces their family, and places their experiences within the broader context of today’s national conversations about immigration.

“In short, it’s a slice of life,” said Martinez. “It touches on themes of family, the immigrant experience, the American dream, and what it means to run a bakery in Downtown Harrisonburg. It feels like a niche environment to document in, but it truly is a channel where you can see the life of Hugo and Berenice, their story, and their life.”

Martinez is originally from Honduras and moved to Harrisonburg with her family when her father, Luis Martinez SEM ’15, began attending Eastern Mennonite Seminary to earn a master of divinity. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite School and attended Hesston College for two years before transferring to EMU. 

Along with Jess Daddio, co-director and director of photography for ¡Hola, Paisano!, and Sarah Golibart Gorman, producer, the filmmaking trio met for the first time and began hashing out the idea in March 2024. Gorman, a writer for Edible Blue Ridge who runs the popular Instagram account, had written a about Latino restaurants in Harrisonburg and had interviewed the owners of El Paisano.

“She had a connection there, which helped create a rapport with them and allowed them to tell their story,” Martinez said.

¡Hola, Paisano!  will screen with English and Spanish subtitles and will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to the screening are pay-what-you-will and can be reserved online at .

A panel discussion with the documentary team and bakery owners will be held after the film, followed by cake to celebrate the bakery’s seven years in business. Afterward, attendees can continue the celebration at Broad Porch Coffee’s Latin Dance Night, which lasts until 11 p.m.

The transition committee will help lay the groundwork of Spanberger’s administration, “focused on lowering costs, expanding economic opportunity, increasing business investment in Virginia’s economy, and creating a safer Commonwealth for all Virginia families,” a announced on Nov. 14.

“These Virginians not only bring together deep ties from across every region of our Commonwealth, but the experience, integrity, and know-how required to deliver the pragmatic and principled leadership that Virginians overwhelmingly voted for this November,” Spanberger said in the release. “These leaders are united for one purpose: putting Virginia first. They will help ensure my administration is ready on day one to begin saving Virginians money, protecting Virginia’s jobs and small businesses, and strengthening the security of our Commonwealth.”

Reed has served as mayor of Harrisonburg, Virginia, since 2017, when she was first elected to City Council. She is the first African American woman elected to the council and also the first to be appointed mayor. Last year, she was reelected to a fourth term, from 2025 to 2028. In February, she was named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Virginia for 2025 by Women We Admire.

“It’s an honor to work alongside other leaders from across Virginia to help advance the vision Gov.-elect Spanberger has for the Commonwealth,” Reed said. “This is an incredible opportunity for Harrisonburg, and I’m thrilled to share the work we’re doing here.”

Read our story below to learn how she motivates students to become civically engaged.

In addition to her role as mayor, Reed co-founded On the Road Collaborative, an afterschool program that empowers middle and high school students with educational opportunities and hands-on career experiences. 

She was EMU’s commencement speaker in 2020 and has been an active contributor to campus life, participating in convocations and special events such as the university’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. In 2023, she joined EMU as its regional advancement director.

Watch WHSV-TV3’s coverage of the news !

“Gasp!” exclaimed one former student. “Noooo,” said another. A third alum recalled his “two great years in that drafty old house.” Yet another: “Sad to see a part of my life is now gone.”

In the 1970s, Martin House was among several sites that became intentional communities for EMU students. Normally the communities were led by an older couple who lived in the house. In the case of Martin House, Loren and Pat Swartzentruber were early leaders. Loren is now .

The 86-year-old house, on the corner of a busy intersection at the edge of campus, needed to give way to a future traffic roundabout and a formal entrance to EMU. The is planning a solution to the awkward and dangerous intersection of Chicago Avenue, Park Road, and Mt. Clinton Pike. At the same time EMU asked an architectural firm to develop options for building a welcoming entrance for visitors who turn into Park Road.

Lewis and Cora Martin built the house in 1927 when they moved from Maryland to the edge of campus to operate what was known for many years as Martin’s Store. It was located across Mt. Clinton Pike from them. EMU eventually acquired the store, turning it into a snack shop. Today the former store is part of complex.

Martin House was still structurally sound but needed a new roof, windows, wiring, and plumbing to bring it up to current standards for student housing. “Basically the house needed everything,” said , assistant director of . “It wasn’t worth the cost of investing in Martin House, knowing that its future was uncertain.”

For the last two years, the house stood empty, and its condition deteriorated further. “It’s amazing what happens when a building is not breathing,” said , longtime physical plant director.

The future traffic roundabout will take more space than a normal intersection, but it will be safer, more sustainable, and won’t need stop lights, say Harrisonburg city officials. Roundabouts are common in Europe and becoming more popular in the United States.

But don’t look for the roundabout at Homecoming 2013 or even Homecoming 2014 or 2015. Such major changes occur on a long timeline, involving the coordination of the city, university and multiple other parties.

To make room, in addition to demolishing Martin House, EMU has already torn down Village House on the intersection and will demolish Redmond House as well as one of the Village apartments in the near future.

The biggest drawback to the demolitions, according to Kurtz, is the loss of student housing options, especially for intentional communities.

One solution circulating on campus is to transfer an academic department or two from houses to a three-story former residence hall named Roselawn. The departments’ houses would then be available for student housing. Another solution is for older EMU students to create intentional communities off-campus, as is already happening.

In the meantime, EMU continues to purchase private homes that become available near campus. An entire residential block adjacent to the campus to the north, for example, is now owned by EMU, with the exception of two homes. Kurtz and others dream of a “sustainable neighborhood development” that would be a mix of renters and owners who are students, faculty, retirees, and others. The development would include common shared areas.

“We need to continually assess all the spaces we have on campus so that we can use them more efficiently and sustainably,” said Kurtz.

It won’t be long until lights up again with comments on new initiatives.

By Dan Wright, Daily News-Record

EMU spends millions of dollars in the Shenandoah Valley, provides hundreds of jobs and helps hundreds of people improve their business skills.

Of its $28 million budget for fiscal 2005-06, EMU pumped $20.6 million into the Shenandoah Valley

By Melvin Mason, Daily New-Record

Students in a class at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř this semester will unearth some of the area’s past.

, an American history teacher at the university, will guide students in his "methods of history" course to learn and record information about black people who live in Harrisonburg and the Shenandoah Valley.

The students, he says, likely will find themselves sifting through papers and talking with families to uncover more about black history.

Overwhelming Quest Awaits

The students will have different areas of focus, Sawin said. It will involve looking for documents and artifacts about neighborhoods and talking with descendants of black communities.

One group will research Zenda, a community north of Harrisonburg where former slaves settled after the Civil War. Sawin says students will try to talk to descendants of former Zenda residents to find out more about the life and times of that community.

The class traveled to Long’s Chapel Brethren Church, an old wooden church building considered the center of the Zenda community. Al Jenkins, who lives in South Carolina, bought Long’s Chapel last year and plans to restore the building and turn it into a historical center for black history.

Sawin says his students will also look into an urban development project in the 1960s that removed several black-owned homes. Students also will examine the life of Lucy Simms, a former slave born in 1855 who taught in Harrisonburg and the surrounding area from 1877 to 1934.

Sawin expects his students may find out more about blacks in Harrisonburg and the Valley, so the topics will not be limited.

The teacher sees a lot more interest in local history and hopes the project will spur others into uncovering more about black life in the Valley.

"We don’t want the information to sit in an office," he said.

Students Looking For Answers

For Sawin, the project to find information about the people living in Zenda and elsewhere is "overwhelming to all of us."

"The students are excited," said Sawin, a teacher at EMU for five years. "It’s taking what they’ve learned abstractly in the books, and it makes it real. It’s making history more complex."

Jonathan Alley, 20, a junior in Sawin’s class, looks forward to gathering more information so it can be used for study of black history. He already has gathered information from the gravestones in the Long’s Chapel cemetery, he says.

Alley says he has plenty of questions, including what the freed blacks did after emancipation and how many Zenda residents were slaves.

The project "drew me in right away," said Alley, who lives outside of Harrisonburg. "There’s mystery behind it, the thought that these people were all here and played an important role" in shaping the Valley.

Melanie Pritchard, a 20-year-old junior studying communications, wants to know more about why Zenda was all but evacuated in the 1920s.

"From what I understand, it’s going to be a lot of research," Pritchard said. "I like it and love getting into local history. I can’t wait to find out what’s happened here and finding out about local history."

Some 230 first-year and about 35 transfer students at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř spent Saturday afternoon, Aug. 27, learning about some of the 47 languages and cultures represented in the greater Harrisonburg area as part of their orientation to the campus and larger community.

Activities began with a welcome ceremony at Court Square Theater in downtown Harrisonburg that included comments from Harrisonburg mayor Larry Rogers and Vaunda Brown, coordinator of an International Festival held at Hillandale Park each September. Students then fanned out into the community in groups of 15-20 for the afternoon.

Representatives of more than 30 participating groups, agencies and churches gave information on their programs, shared personal stories of how they got involved, identified needs they see among the people they serve and talked about how students can get involved.

In extemporaneous remarks, Mayor Rogers commended the students for choosing EMU as their place to study, while noting that they will be "part of the greatest little city in the U.S." for the next while.

He invited interested students to sit in on city council meetings, which are open to the public, to see local government in action firsthand.

"I want you to be careful, to look out for your own safety while you’re here, Rogers said, "But I also expect each of you to be successful in your studies and whatever careers you choose."

Photo by Jim Bishop

Organizations that students visited ranged from the Salvation Army, Blacks Run Greenway and Harrisonburg Children’s Museum to Mercy House, Camp Still Meadows, Our Community Place and A World of Good: Gift and Thrift, Artisan’s Hope and Booksavers. Two groups joined a family reunion of one of the deacons of First Baptist Church in the Northeast neighborhood. EMU students were invited to get acquainted, eat and join the celebration.

EMU alumnus Steve Shenk, director of the being developed west of Harrisonburg, told a student group stories of the Mennonites and Church of the Brethren precarious situation as pacifists during the Civil War period, noting that "the Shenandoah Valley became one of the most devastated areas of the South." He identified possible volunteer opportunities for students to get involved with the heritage project.

First-year student Emily Sims from Perkasie, Pa., said she "enjoyed being able to learn about Harrisonburg right at the outset," adding that "it’s easier to get to know people in the small group setting."

Student Joshua Mann, Suffolk, Va., echoed Sims’ sentiments, noting that the experience "put us outside the box, exposing us to new people and ideas that we can go back and talk about."

Students learn about Shenandoah Bicycle Co. in downtown Harrisonburg.
Photo by Emily Huffman

"We wanted students to get acquainted with the complexity of living here

He appreciated so much what he received at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř as a student that he is returning to his alma mater with a "thank you" gift of music.

Marlin Rosado, a 2000 music education graduate of EMU, will bring his Shen-Valley Jazz Quartet to campus for a concert to benefit the EMU student scholarship fund.

The jazz ensemble – Tom McKenzie, trombone; Marlin Rosado, piano and vocals; Lew Morrison, bass; and Eric Preston Nolley, drums – will play a variety of selections and do improvisation, including some tunes on a Valentine/love theme, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.

"I benefitted so much from my experience at EMU and received some financial assistance for some of my music lessons as a student, and now this is payback time," Rosado said. "I look forward to the opportunity to do something positive through music by coming back and playing [at EMU]."

Rosado currently teaches Spanish at Thomas Harrison Middle School, Harrisonburg. He previously taught four years at Robert E. Lee High School, Staunton.

The Chicago native has composed two songbooks for McDougall Littel’s "En Espanol" Spanish textbook series. He wrote all the words and music and recorded all the music and vocals using digital technology. Earlier, he composed original arrangements for 132 songs and produced music/vocal recording masters and a hard-disk recording system for Scott-Foresman’s "Phonics Songs and Rhymes" project.

Rosado operates a 24-track recording studio in Harrisonburg, where he records and produces CD’s for two local bands.

Admission to the concert is a suggested $5 donation at the door.

By Jeff Mellott, Daily News-Record

Webster Contreras might have been attending college in San Antonio now, but the EMU freshman decided to stay close to his home in Harrisonburg.

Maria Monroy, also a freshman, could have left town to go to college. But she decided to remain in the city, where her family lives.

They decided to attend EMU, in part, because of a university initiative to attract Hispanics from the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area. The 10 students in the program contributed to a 5.3 percent rise in overall enrollment from one year ago.

Recruitment Initiative

Last spring, EMU announced a program designed to bring local Hispanics to the campus by making the $24,000 annual tuition more affordable.

The initiative discounted tuition on a sliding scale, based on the students� expected family contribution as determined by the application for federal student aid. The discount combined with the possibility of federal assistance was expected to make EMU�s tuition competitive with state-supported schools.

Those financial considerations played a role in the decision by Monroy, 18, and Contreras, 18, to come to EMU.

Friendly Surroundings

Financial considerations were only part of the decision-making process for the freshmen.

Monroy, who arrived from Guatemala four years ago, was also impressed by EMUďż˝s hospitality. “Everybody greeted me with a smile on their faces, which at other colleges I didnďż˝t get,” she said.

Monroy is the first in her family to go to college and is aware of that she could be a role model for her younger brothers, Heiber, 15; and Erick, 12.

She likes being so close to her family. “I can go home, and I can come back,” she said.

Community Service

Contreras was almost lured away to Texas to go to college at San Antonio. He has relatives there, and he likes the weather.

Contreras, who is studying nursing, said EMU�s financial incentive played a role in his decision to stay in Harrisonburg. While still a student, Contreras is called often called upon by others Spanish-speaking people in the community to go with them to the doctor and dentist as a translator.

“I see here in our Spanish community we need help in the medical field,” he said.

Encouraging News

Contreras and Monroy are two of the six Hispanics from the city. Two more Hispanics who enrolled at EMU live in Rockingham County, and one each from Augusta County and Albemarle County increased the total to 10. No Hispanics from the local area attended EMU one year ago. The university considers the local area to be Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and the counties that adjoin Rockingham.

Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing Shirley Yoder is very encouraged by the enrollment of the local Hispanics.

“We had Spanish-speaking persons from other states and other parts of the state,” she said. When EMU realized that no local Hispanics attended EMU, Yoder said the university knew something was wrong, especially with the growth of that population in the area.

“Itďż˝s one thing to be involved in service activities overseas. Itďż˝s another,” she said, “to be a service in your own community.”

Enrollment Bump

The group of Hispanic students from the area helped EMU increase its overall enrollment from one year ago, which saw a record 406 graduate.

The school has 1,513 students compared to 1,436 students, both full-time and part-time, Yoder said. Of those, 933 are undergraduates.

The campus has 880 full-time undergrads compared to 882 last year.

The overall enrollment includes an increase of first year students, 208 compared to 196 one year ago. This year�s number is a step back toward the 240 first-year students EMU enrolled two years ago.

The 10 local Hispanic students also helped EMU increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the campus, Yoder said. U.S. minorities make up 21 percent of the freshman class, which Yoder said is a doubling of the previous class.

Contreras said he could recommend EMU to his friends.

“They help you learn,” he said of EMU, “and you also learn spiritually.

First-year students set foot on campus one day, and the next, they stepped out in service to the local community.

For the first time, as part of their orientation program, some 300 EMU students with their orientation leaders spent Saturday, Aug. 28, volunteering at 17 non-profit organizations in and around Harrisonburg.

“It makes sense to me,” said student Terianne Kauffman from Paradise, Pa. “Mennonites believe that service is an important part of being a Christian, so why not start off the year [at EMU] with an experience like this.”

Debbie Keiser, Pioneer, Ohio, slices bagels for serving at the Our Community Place “fun festival.”
Photo by Jim Bishop

Ms. Kauffman and some 14 fellow students spent the afternoon stacking wood, pulling weeds and leveling gravel on a parking lot at the Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center west of the city as part of the “Community Learning Day of Service.”

Before the students swarmed to area non-profits, they were hosted by and treated to lunch at a number of locally-owned restaurants. Transportation to and from assignments was provided by Harrisonburg Transit and EMU vans.

At Booksavers, student volunteers looked up donated books on the Internet to determine prices for the used volumes that in turn are sold at discount prices to raise funds for relief programs.

“I’ve never done this before, but it’s kinda fun,” said student Jason Hostetter of Harrisonburg, working next to fellow student Maggie Parker from Wichita, Kan. “I’m amazed at how many books they have here.”

Another student group assisted at a “fun festival” sponsored by Our Community Place on N. Main Street across from The Little Grill, a unique restaurant that operates as a worker-owned collective. The group helped make and serve food, did face painting, played volleyball and interacted with festival participants.

(L. to r.): Marc Yoder, Belleville, Pa.; Paul Rutt, Luray, Va.; and Chris Lehman, Chambersburg, Pa., sort donated housewares at the Thrift Shop.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Some 15 students sorted through contributed toys and clothing at Mercy House’s thrift store, which helps raise money to support the homeless shelter.

Other students unloaded donated merchandise and sorted and priced clothing at the local Thrift Shop.

“I’ve never done this before (sorting clothes),” said student Kristi Kolb from Spring City, Pa. “I think it’s cool to help out in this way, and it benefits a lot of people in need. It’s interesting to see what people bring in,” she added.

“I think this gives freshman a better idea of the many different opportunities for service available in the local community,” said sophomore orientation leader Shannon Yoder from Harrisonburg. “If they are interested in getting involved in a certain project, they’ll know how to get in touch with the right people.”

The day began with welcoming speeches from Harrisonburg Vice-Mayor Rodney Eagle; Ron Copland, an Eastern Mennonite Seminary student and founder of The Little Grill restaurant; Adam Starks, a 2003 EMU graduate and manager of Panera Bread, which donated food to the event; and Sylvia Romero of the Shenandoah Valley Migrant Education Agency.

Deanna Durham
Photo by Jim Bishop

, community learning coordinator at EMU, felt that the event was “successful,” adding: “We wanted students to realize from when they first arrive on campus that they are not coming just to a college campus, but to a real community that has both needs and opportunities for learning.”

Look out, Harrisonburg, the college students are coming.

EMU wants to introduce its newest group of first-year students to the community by some direct involvement in local service programs.

For the first time, as part of its orientation program, some 300 new EMU students and student orientation leaders will spend Saturday, Aug. 28, working with non-profit and other social service agencies.

“We want our students to understand that they are not coming just to a college campus, but to a real community that has both needs and opportunities for learning,” said Deanna F. Durham, community learning coordinator at EMU.

“We require all first-year students to do 15 hours of community service their first semester. This ‘Day of Service’ is designed to introduce them to the many non-profits and social service agencies in our communities and to accomplish some much-needed work in our community just before school starts,” she added.

The program will begin at 10 a.m. in Lehman Auditorium with a welcome and comments from Vice-Mayor Rodney Eagle, Ron Copeland, an EMU student and former owner of The Little Grill restaurant; Adam Starks, a 2003 EMU graduate and manager of Panera Bread; and representatives from local non-profit agencies.

In addition, locally-owned restaurants and Panera Bread have agreed to host and provide lunch for the students or donate food for lunch. Local non-profits will host the students for an afternoon of community service. Transportation will be provided by Harrisonburg Transit and EMU vans.

Participating restaurants include Little Grill, Chanello’s Pizza, Lil’ Italia, Calhoun’s, Mr. J’s Bagels, Panera Bread, Bombay Indian Restaurant, Taste of Thai and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) cafe.

The organizations where students will work include Black’s Run Greenway, The Children’s Museum, Gift and Thrift, Artisan’s Hope, Booksavers, A World of Goods, Salvation Army Thrift Store, Camp Kaleidescope, Camp Still Meadows, WVPT, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Glen Eco Farm, Our Community Place, Highland Retreat, Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Crossing Creeks, Mercy House, VMRC and Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center.

Activities will run through 5 p.m. that day.