Sponsored by the, the event encourages students to learn about farming practices while gaining important information on how to live and farm sustainably.

“Food and Farming week provides EMU students the chance to engage area farmers, enjoy locally grown foods and even learn methods for preserving and preparing foods, skills that will last a lifetime. said , professor of biology at EMU.

Baking Bread — Monday at 6 p.m., Cedarwood, second floor kitchen

Learn the art of making and baking bread from , associate professor of chemistry. If you plan on attending, contact Katie Jantzen at katie.jantzen@emu.edu. Bring bread pans and mixing bowls if you have them.

Food, Faith and Culture — Tuesday at 8 p.m., Common Grounds coffeehouse

Hear several EMU professors with cross-cultural experience explain the perspectives of various religions and cultures on food, nature and the environment. A discussion and snack consisting of Monday’s homemade bread will be provided.

Local Farm Tour — Wednesday, 5:30 p.m., meet outside University Commons

Tour Season’s Bounty Farm and CSA, operated by Radell Schrock, class of ‘01.

Local Meal — Thursday, 5-7 p.m., Northlawn dining hall

Enjoy local fare from area farms and gardens.

Canning with Sustainable Food Initiative — Friday, 7 p.m., Cedarwood second floor kitchen

Learn how to can your favorite fruits and vegetables to enjoy year round.

About Earthkeepers

Earthkeepers’ mission is to act in and around the EMU community to encourage, simplify, and implement environmentally friendly practices, such as recycling, composting, reducing waste, and monitoring water quality in the Harrisonburg area.

Earthkeepers club members also participate in many other events and activities throughout the year, such as hiking trips, field trips, and organizing guest speakers.

For more information on Food and Farming Week, contact EMU students Katie Jantzen at katie.jantzen@emu.edu, or Josh Kanagy at joshua.kanagy@emu.edu.

“The meal was amazing,” said Leah Risser, a sophomore liberal arts major from Greencastle, Pa. “It was among the best that I have had at EMU. Real mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables are always a good choice.” Charlotte Wenger, a sophomore theater and English major from Lancaster, Pa., agreed.

Charlotte Wenger (l.) and Leah Risser sample locally-grown fare at a “harvest meal” in university dining hall. Photo by Lindsey Roeschley

EMU’s dining hall and Creation Care Council sponsored the meal, which featured ribs and pork from a pig fed on EMU dining hall scraps, to raise awareness about where food comes from. More than 400 students, faculty, staff and local farmers shared the meal; a typical Wednesday night sees about 200 patrons in the dining hall.

“Most people expect to eat all the variety of fruits and vegetables year-round,” noted Evan Showalter, a Port Republic, Va., Mennonite farmer who provided broccoli for the meal. “It just doesn’t work that way.”

Showalter, his wife Judith and young son enjoyed the meal and their first visit to campus. “I’ve been looking for people to supply locally so it is good to find out EMU wants to purchase local food,” he said.

Bruce Emmerson, Pioneer Catering director at EMU, spearheaded the meal together with student workers and Dr. Peter Dula, assistant professor in the Bible and religion department.

“I appreciate that students are interested in making our dining hall as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible,” Emmerson said. “It’s not always the most convenient, or even cheapest, to do things like eat locally grown food, but we’re committed to support EMU’s efforts to be as green a campus as possible.”

Pioneer Catering production manager Monica Becks and service manager Ramona Lantz “put a tremendous amount of energy into making the meal happen,” Emmerson noted.

Other ‘Green’ Initiatives

Currently, Emmerson is working with student leaders who are advocating for the campus dining hall to go “trayless.” Cutting, or at least limiting, the number of trays used at each meal would significantly cut the amount of water used to wash the trays, which often aren’t even dirty after use.

In addition, studies at other universities have shown that eliminating use of trays cuts down on food waste as students take only what they can easily carry in their hands, thinking twice about grabbing that extra item.

More information on EMU’s efforts to “be green,” and a video featuring the EMU garden, a green design class and a class on composting dining hall Waste are available at www.emu.edu/begreen.

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

He appreciated so much what he received at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø 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.

Some area children will open Christmas packages who may otherwise not receive any gifts, thanks to the efforts of several ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø students.

For the second year, EMU social work majors sponsored a project to buy gifts for a holiday drive coordinated by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Department of Social Services (DSS). The students raised more than $800 toward this year’s drive from EMU faculty, staff and fellow students.

The project benefits about 460 clients, most of them children of needy families.

DSS gave the students 24 clients’ first names and a Christmas wish list for each.

majors Heather M. Hernley, Megan R. Yoder, Emiley F. Wagler, Sarah G. Yoder and Gabrielle S. (Gabby) Lewis spent more than four hours shopping, then returned to campus and spent an evening wrapping and labeling the gifts.

EMU social work professor Jane Wenger Clemens helps deliver more than $800 in gifts.
Photo by Gretchen Hostetter Maust

Jane Wenger Clemens, assistant professor of social work, and Gretchen Hostetter Maust, office coordinator, delivered the gifts to DSS on Dec. 7 for a Christmas party held Dec. 11.

“As social work students, we feel a connection to the community and wanted to respond to a local need,” said Heather M. Hernley, a senior from Luray, Va. “It felt good to support this project, and we were pleased with the response in financial gifts from the campus community.”

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 EMU�s hospitality. “Everybody greeted me with a smile on their faces, which at other colleges I didn�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.

“It�s one thing to be involved in service activities overseas. It�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.

The ensemble, directed by Dr. Stephen W. Sachs, professor of music at EMU, will give a program on the theme, “The Fantastic.”

Selections will include “I’ve Made My Plans for the Summer,” written by John Philip Sousa and featuring Eric Dicken on trumpet, “The Winds of Poseidon” by Robert W. Smith, “Gandalf” by Johann de Meij, “Tocata” and “La Tumba de Alejandro Garcia Caturla” by Shelley Hanson, “Prelude on ‘My Lord, What a Mornin'” by Carl Strommen, and “Raise of the Son” by Rossano Galante.

The Wind Ensemble is comprised of 63 instrumentalists, including EMU students and alumni, local community players, high school students from Broadway, Harrisonburg, Eastern Mennonite and Robert E. Lee, and a student from Shelburne Middle School.

Admission to the concert is free; however, a $5 donation at the door will be accepted – but not required – for the EMU music student scholarship fund.