The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on educational institutions across the country – with students, instructors, and families seemingly in limbo as they try to navigate public health precautions and an increased migration to virtual learning. At ��ݮ���� (EMU), faculty have had to adapt their curricula to a semester that will begin and end online and accommodate in-person instruction in the middle. And fields that rely on practicum study have added challenges to face.

Some professors are finding this an exciting challenge.

“In many ways, this is an incredible time to be teaching students about public health and how medical and nursing research should influence practice,” said Professor Kate Clark. She’d normally be setting up clinical experiences with families and in other community health settings. Instead, a partnership with Harrisonburg City Public Schools will have student nurses assist with COVID-19 screening. The students will also perform a variety of nursing tasks at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic and at the Purdue poultry plant’s wellness center in Bridgewater.

These opportunities are the result of many years of relationship- and trust-building between the EMU nursing department and local agencies. Clark said she often hears from area healthcare providers “how ‘different’ our nursing students are – how professional, caring, broad-minded, culturally competent, et cetera. This is why they allow us to help in their work – because they trust our students to do this difficult work well and with great care and compassion.”

[Read more how spring 2020 nursing students gained unique experiences during the COVID-19 here and here.]

Future teachers also have a practicum-heavy course load. This semester, they’ll be learning through the same trial-by-fire as established educators, as they’re paired with local middle and high school teachers leading virtual classes for Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Public Schools . 

“With local public schools providing primarily virtual instruction, our EMU students will have important opportunities to learn and apply new strategies in the context of online education,” said Professor Paul Yoder. “As a professor, I will similarly have opportunities to engage new technology and instructional platforms like VoiceThread as part of classes I am teaching.”

VoiceThread is a software platform that allows users to interact with video clips and voice and text comments for a multi-media forum experience. It’s one of the many new technologies emerging as prominent teaching tools in the era of COVID-19, and one that was introduced in a summer course for EMU faculty titled “For Our Students: Fall 2020.” Professor Daniel Showalter helped design the course along with professors Mark Sawin, Tara Kishbaugh, Barbara Wheatley, and Steve Cessna.

“The primary motivation for the course was to equip faculty to provide positive learning experiences during the challenges and unpredictability of the pandemic,” said Showalter.

The course included a four-week module in course development, safe classroom configurations, resources for effective online teaching, and examples of creative solutions EMU faculty are employing this semester – like this introduction video Sawin made for his History 101 and 102 classes – which students can attend in person, via Zoom, or just complete the coursework asynchronously.

Kishbaugh led the module on course development. She said one of the biggest challenges this semester is the “cognitive load” of having to re-do, or at least reevaluate, every element of a class to make sure it fits in the new normal of COVID-19.

“It feels like nothing is on auto-pilot. This is true in other areas of our lives as well which leaves all of us with less energy,” said Kishbaugh. 

She drew inspiration for this semester from a training she took years ago on institutional transformation work to improve the retention of students in STEM. The training, which came as part of a National Science Foundation grant, focused on “increasing our teaching efficacy and learning to be more responsive in our classrooms,” Kishbaugh explained. “The principles we focused on in this training were the ones that we highlighted this summer. Empathy and checking our assumptions are key to the rest of the pedagogical tools being effective.”

Showalter said this summer’s course participants came with a number of concerns and anxieties. How would they build relationships with their students in an online setting? What if they encounter technical difficulties? Will important conversations on racial justice, microaggressions, and disabilities be lost in the chaos of COVID-19? Showalter and his team tried to address each of these questions with digital resources, knowledgeable guest speakers, and small-group troubleshooting. 

At the end of the day, everything we do, teaching college classes included, is “winging it” this fall – but in EMU’s classrooms, it’s done with particular care. 

“The main idea here is that this semester will probably be stressful and there will be plenty of mistakes, but amidst it all, the goal is to center ourselves on the students’ needs and those relationships,” Showalter said. 

This was neither the end of the semester we anticipated nor the graduation we expected, but it is the semester we have completed and the graduation we celebrate, said Dean David Brubaker this past weekend to a virtual celebration for graduates from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Those words encapsulate the whirlwind experience of the last nine weeks, as our semester was completely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was not the semester we anticipated, but it was the semester we completed.

And what choice did we have but to persevere, adapt, be flexible and patient, flatten one curve as we were being slung faster on an accompanying learning curve of what exactly to do with ourselves, our bodies and minds in this strange new world.

The following collection of photos and text is a snapshot of the semester, collected in real time and revisited now, for those of you who are more peripheral to EMU. It might help to give a sense of how faculty, staff and students responded in and out of classroom — in true EMU fashion, with resilience, empathy and commitment.

Here we go (online)!

Some of the first on campus to sense an impending switch were employees in Information Systems. They began thinking about remote learning during EMU’s spring break the first week in March, and in anticipation, beefed up their HelpZone articles on a variety of relevant topics.

By March 12, when EMU announced a move to online learning, IS had reviewed and increased capacity of all systems and equipment (including webcams, laptops and Chromebooks) necessary for online teaching and campus operations. Needless to say, they were busy.

Two graphs from Jenni Piper, director of User Services, tell the story:

First Helpdesk Tickets. The green line shows last year’s demand and the blue line this year’s.

And second, the number of daily Zoom meetings hosted through the campus account, beginning in early March.

After hosting a training for faculty March 13 and the shift to online the classes the next week, IS handled 64 tickets on March 16, something of a watermark that shows when faculty and staff began to engage with the reality of a move to remote work.

Pedagogues thinking positively

About 10 days into the online shift, I asked a few professors how things were going. Some of their answers are included below. I was particularly struck by the positive perspective of veteran educator Carolyn Stauffer, professor of applied social sciences:

In reality, what we’re experiencing now is the presence of hybrid education. We’ve had the chance to meet in-person for the first part of the semester and now I get to know each participant’s online presence as well. It’s wonderful to be able to build on the assets of both sides of that equation!

Solo field trips

Professor Doug Graber Neufeld‘s “Natural History of the Shenandoah Valley” course syllabus was packed full of fantastic field trips to local natural wonders and lab experiences (like taxidermy practice below).

With his students scattered in mid-March, the field trips turned into independent explorations, such as Katelyn Dean‘s below. Here she holds morel mushrooms she and her dad found in the George Washington National Forest, just one find shared during class time.

“It’s the highlight of my day to hear students who daily recount the joy they find in now recognizing the animals, plants and rocks around them,” Neufeld said. “In such unusual times, experiencing the beauty and complexity of the natural world together has been a unique source of hope for us.” Read more about this class.

Conversations continue

In Professor Marti Eads’ class “Ways of War and Peace,” students met virtually with Reverend Masayuki Sawa, the pastor of a Reformed (Calvinist) congregation in Japan.��He spoke of his perception of contemporary Japanese attitudes toward World War II and Japanese perceptions of the US and our own military actions, then and now, among other topics.

The class was slated to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Instead, guest speaker Gillian Steinberg, an educator at the Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy in the Bronx, and her students from the Modern Orthodox Jewish tradition met online with EMU students.

This conversation and the de-brief afterwards held richness and nuance, Eads said, with several classmates opening up about their own religious experiences, choices and identities. Recognizing the common humanity, despite labels — “just the idea of all of us sitting together talking and all of us from different groups” was a moving experience, said one of her students. []

Creating community with virtual high fives

Engineering professor Esther Tian (pictured above at top right) continued teaching synchronous classes, preferring the structure and the presence of students. “It is also good for students to see each other and talk to each other before class as they would in a classroom.

We do high fives, thumb-ups (and downs) during class, we find out new features of Zoom and use them right away. It has been fun. I also found that one-on-one and small group Zoom sessions were working really well in answering students’ questions as well as advising..”

Senior Collin Longenecker, visible below Tian in the photo above and also at right, was an embedded tutor with a first-year engineering course. Though initially he wasn’t sure how Zoom sessions would work, he adapted well: “The students pop in and out and they can share their screen with me. It is almost like I am in the engineering lab looking over their shoulder trying to help them troubleshoot the problem. I have been helping a few students that I had not helped before we went to online school which is cool.”

Read more about EMU tutors at work during online classes.

The power of community to enhance learning was the top tip in a blog post titled ” by Dean (and chem prof) Tara Kishbaugh for fellow organic chemistry teachers using the same texbook. “Community Matters,” she began. Use the relationships that have already been built to help students continue asking questions and learning in small peer groups. And she reminded readers, you can still greet each student individually when they enter your Zoom classroom.

Tech fails/wins: ‘chipmunky’-ness and new relationships

Professor Mark Sawin teaches U.S. History 103, from World War I to the present, with a focus on “power and paradox.” Sawin tried to do a synchronous class on Zoom and “it rather hilariously and spectularly failed,” he reported.

“So, since then, I’ve been pre-recording all my lectures on Panopto so students can watch them asynchronously, and with that program, you can adjust my speed. At 1.5 speed, I start to get rather chipmunky… at .5 speed I sound like the television show ‘Drunk History.’ I’m not sure if that amuses students, but it certainly amuses me.”

With the lectures available at any time, he began using normal class time as an open forum where students could drop in and ask questions.

“I’ve had some wonderful 1-on-1 conversations with students that I would never have had in our normal class setting. In this sense, our ‘social distancing’ has actually provided some closeness that wasn’t there before, and for that I’m grateful,” Sawin said. “I’ve also been pleased and touched by the grace that students have extended to us as we struggle to move our classes online. And I believe we, too, are showing that grace, focusing on the learning objectives and the big important ideas, and allowing a lot of latitude when it comes to the many wifi issues, isolation stresses, and general quarantine chaos we’re all learning to live with.”

Grace and connection

That grace is something education professor Paul Yoder has also experienced. Students in his classes are pre-service teachers and as a pedagogical specialist himself, the shift to online classes provided ample room for discussions around topics related to the digital classroom.

He wrote: “The key word in my planning for weekly class sessions via Zoom has been connection. We have taken time for each of the 18 students to rate how they are doing on a scale of 1-10 and then share with the group. Last week I sent individual emails as a follow up to the few students who placed themselves on the low end of the scale. I have also been excited to hear from some of my advisees who have shared their affirmations of how professors are providing flexibility as needed.  Particularly as we recognize that not all of us have the same level of internet access, I know that living into an ethic of care is essential.”

Nancy Heisey, seminary dean, also used check-ins with her classes, which often included adult students who juggled many responsibiliities, including pastors working in ministry settings.

“We take time every period to share ‘how it’s going’ and encourage one another. Some students are struggling with a household where everyone is working on line in a crowded space—spouse tele-working, children trying to do homework, and seminary student worrying about class work and how to get a video service up for their congregation’s Sunday service.

“I’ve been amazed, though, at the depth of engagement—this morning, my New Testament students each did a creative rendering of a parable of Jesus. They were funny, sobering, and encouraging!”

Hearing some of those needs led seminary professor Sarah Bixler to host an April 1 online gathering that drew 32 pastors, including 22 alumni, from four denominations and eight states. This has led to a free online series for pastors. Check it out here.

A wider global market for CJP

Innovation happened quickly during the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s facilitation class, co-taught by Professor Catherine Barnes and Amy Knorr. Students usually practice skills they’ve learned in person by helping clients with a planned discussion, strategic visioning or group dialogue. With face-to-face options limited and practice still required, students moved online.

Above, one group produced an online strategic planning for Shenandoah Green, a local environmental group, including a circle process, a historical reflection using a digital timeline that folks could fill in, and a card sort, a way of getting ideas out into the open and then grouping them together. “Board members at Shenandoah Green were delighted,” said Knorr, who helps coordinate practice settings for CJP students.

In the midst of the pandemic, CJP also hosted several online gatherings for alumni to connect and share resources.

And significantly, center staff moved quickly to adapt the Summer Peacebuilding Institute to online classes, expedite a new hybrid graduate degree program in transformational leadership, and prepare upcoming semester classes for online delivery.

The massive disruption and accompanying move towards online learning and programs have created new opportunities, said Executive Director Jayne Docherty, especially in a previously untapped market of prospective participants who could not have afforded to travel or would not have been issued a visa in the current environment.

“In the face of the pandemic, many people are waking up to the fact that our societies have become more unequal and unjust and that we are teetering on the edge of violent confrontations between social subgroups. Some of those people are saying, ‘This can’t continue. This is just wrong. What can I do? I want to be part of the solution.’ By moving our programs online quickly, we have helped channel their energy and impulse to help others in ways that prevent violence and address injustices.”

’12 hours ahead of our students’

As daily reports arrived into faculty in-boxes about the closure of practicum and internship placements to students, the nursing department focused on making sure their seniors could graduate on time and join the fight against covid-19.

For one cohort, that meant three 12-hour shifts at a local hospital. For others, they logged clinical hours (and their supervising professor also took calls) at a special covid-19 public health hotline.

“The faculty were meeting hour to hour, staying 12 hours ahead of the students as we were making decisions,” said Professor Melody Cash.

Eventually, a waiver allowed faculty to substitute simulation hours for live clinicals and all 16 seniors finished out the semester in good standing, ready to join the workforce.

It’s the small things…

Marci Frederick (above), director of Sadie Hartzler Library, and Professor Kevin Seidel dressed in academic regalia in honor of their senior seminar students for their last Zoom class meeting.

Congratulations, EMU family, on the end of the semester we did not anticipate.

We celebrate.

A political science major and revised minor and a global studies major and minor will be offered beginning this fall.

“These new majors reflect an expanding awareness that community, which EMU has long emphasized, also happens at national and global levels,” said Provost Fred Kniss. “With these new majors, students will develop knowledge and skills that will help them effect positive change in diverse settings.” ��

Political science

The political science major will train students to apply their research and analytical skills to current political affairs and offer students real-world learning through internships. It will prepare students to pursue further studies and careers in fields such as law and public policy.

“This major will closely align with EMU’s core mission,” said Professor Mark Metzler Sawin. “While many universities offer political studies, our program will be distinctive in its embodiment of our university’s values.”

Students will learn to think critically and analytically about power, authority and legitimacy, examining “the traditional role of relevant political actors, institutions, and mechanisms through a critical lens,” said Professor Ji Eun Kim. In addition to developing theoretical and moral ways of understanding political events, they will gain critical oral and writing skills for “speaking and understanding the language of these key actors” based on rigorous reasoning and dignity and respect for others.

Its interdisciplinary approach and diverse curriculum includes course topics such as human rights and dignity, political reconciliation, international relations, American politics, and peace and security in East Asia.

The major also requires a term at the Washington Community Scholars’ Center in Washington DC, where internships offer real-world extensions to classroom learning and vocational experience in policy, politics, advocacy and law. WCSC internship sites in these fields include working on Capitol Hill with the Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK or Mennonite Central Committee’s Washington Office;��and working to increase civic exchange political dialogue with the Faith and Politics Institute. [Learn more about internship sites in these fields.]

Global studies

The global studies major is fitting for a university that for 35 years has required students to have cross-cultural experience. In the program, students will identify a regional and language focus to prepare them for cross-cultural engagement, in addition to further study and careers in fields such as international development, human resources, intelligence and research analysis, and education in public and private sectors.

“EMU’s identity and history positions us to create and offer a global studies program to undergraduate students in a unique way,” said Professor Tim Seidel, who helped develop the major with vice president and undergraduate academic dean Deirdre L. Smeltzer, cross-cultural program director Ann Hershberger, and professors Adriana Rojas, Jim Leaman and Ji Eun Kim. “Graduates will be equipped with solid knowledge and relevant skills – and be equipped for postgraduate study and for professional opportunities including working in governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.”

With three areas of concentration – sustainability, justice and peacebuilding, and societies and cultures – the major will focus on intercultural communication and the role of faith in global studies while exploring global political and economic actors beyond the state.

The curriculum will include course topics such as globalization and justice, biblical theologies of peace and justice, and cultural anthropology. Region-focused studies may include, for example, history and culture of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

The major was developed with funding from a United States Department of Education Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages grant.

“Do you know what an EMU graduate should do and be when you are no longer on campus? Think of these things, of the people who invested in you because they believed in you. … Be a very good ambassador,” he urged.

Though many of students present perhaps thought beyond impending finals to consider their future plans, the ceremony was the first time to put on their caps and gowns and the first inkling of the celebration to come. During the May 6 Commencement ceremony, each of the 33 will wear a special stole, some made of kente cloth but others of satin fabric symbolizing heritage, roots within one or various communities, or citizenship.

The formal presentation of these stoles was the reason for coming together with family, friends and EMU community members Wednesday evening. The ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of graduating students of color as well as the history of black students’ and students of color achievements at the university, according to Multicultural Student Services Director Celeste Thomas, who started the first event three years ago.

See this event and more in EMU’s Centennial timeline chronicling diversity on campus.��

“We gather here to honor these students, some of whom are the first of their family to graduate from college, and to wish them well on their way forward,” she said in her welcome. “For those of you who our graduates have selected to place the kente cloth over their shoulders, it is a great honor.”

Micah Shristi, co-director of international student services and advisor to the International Student Organization, and M. Esther Showalter, advisor to the Latino Student Alliance, also co-hosted the event.

Read 2017 and 2016 coverage of the event.��

Donning of the Kente participants

Eyman Alasbali is graduating with an MA in education. Her father Ghorm Alasbali and mother Abdiah Alshebri presented the stole. She plans to take additional classes for a second concentration and then return to help her community.

Genesis Arzu ��is earning a degree in digital media and��plans to work in a production studio as an audio engineer after graduation. Celeste Thomas presented her stole.

Natasha Bridge is earning a degree in kinesiology and exercise science. Carolyn Stauffer, professor of sociology, presented her with the stole. Natasha plans to move home and work and further her education within the next two years.

Jazmine Carter is earning a degree in business administration, and plans to attend graduate school in the spring. Andrew Miller, instructor of business, awarded her stole.

Kevin A. Clark is earning a degree in Spanish with a minor in digital communications. Ann Hershberger, professor of nursing, presented his stole.

Phoebe Coffie is earning a degree in biology. After graduation, she plans to take the MCAT and continue shadowing and volunteering, working towards medical school entrance. Micah Shristi presented her stole.

Kimberly Daley is graduating with a degree in nursing. Marcia Pusey, instructor of nursing, presented her stole. Her goal is to be debt-free within three years.

Drew Diaz is earning a degree in biology and hopes to go to medical school His mother Pam Diaz awarded the stole.

Fabiana Espinal has earned a degree in liberal arts with a concentration in psychology. Amanda Styer and Alex Bowdey presented the stole. She plans to continue to be involved in the community following an internship related to Title IX and restorative justice. She’ll begin graduate school in fall 2019.

Denait Gebretsadik is graduating with a degree in history and a minor in Spanish. She was gifted her stole by Asmait Asgedom, and it was presented by Mark Sawin, professor of history.

Jerome Jones will graduate with a degree in psychology and plans to pursue a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Melody Pannell, professor of sociology, presented his stole.

Maleke Jones is graduating with a degree in psychology and a minor in pre-law. He will work for a local police department. Melody Pannell presented his stole.

Emmanuel Kampanga earned a degree in biology. He plans to take the MCAT and apply for medical schools in Europe. Micah Shristi presented his stole.

Keyri Lopez-Godoy is graduating with a degree in liberal arts and a PK-6 elementary education endorsement. She will teach in Harrisonburg City Schools. Mentor Louise Gallagher presented the stole.

Luisa Angel Mallard is earning a degree in communication. She hopes to eventually earn a master’s degree in restorative justice. Micah Shristi presented her stole.

Lania McKoy will graduate with a nursing degree and a psychology minor. Lamarr Wharwood presented her with the stole. She plans to celebrate this accomplishment, study for the nursing boards and then be the best nurse she can be.

Mandy Miller is earning a degree in social work. She wants to work for two years and then return for a master’s degree. Celeste Thomas awarded her stole.

Kennedy Okerere is earning a degree in business administration. He will return to his home state of Maryland to begin a new job.��Celeste Thomas awarded his stole.

Louisa Quaynor will graduate with a degree in nursing. She plans to work in a Richmond area hospital after graduation. Marcia Pusey, instructor of nursing, awarded her stole.

Alejandra Tejada Rivera is earning a degree in nursing. She plans to work at Sentara RMH in the orthopedic unit. David Diaz presented her stole.

Da’Jahnea Robinson is earning a degree in psychology. Charisse Robinson presented her with the stole. Da’Jahnea will continue her studies in the MA in Counseling program at EMU.

Chang Tan will graduate with an MA in biomedicine. He will work as a research coordinator while preparing medical school applications. Fellow graduate student��Thi Do Lovo presented his stole.

Delight Tigoe has earned a degree in accounting. Her stole was presented by Lana Miller, undergraduate campus pastor, and Andrew Miller, instructor of business.

Myneshia Walker is graduating with a degree in sociology and a minor in coaching. She plans to return to her hometown and begin working. Sandy Brownscombe, professor of physical education, presented her stole.

Adila Wahdat graduates with a degree in digital media. She will work in marketing for a jewelry company. Friend Asmait Asgedom gifted her stole and was also the presenter.

Aminata Wallet-Mohamed will graduate with a degree in sociology. Friend Asmait Asgedom gifted her stole and was also the presenter.

Alexa Weeks is earning a degree in liberal arts with licensure in elementary education. Lana Miller, undergraduate campus pastor, presented her stole. Alexa hopes to find a teaching job in the Harrisonburg area after graduation.

Brittany Williams is earning a degree in recreation, leadership and sport studies. She plans to stay in Harrisonburg and work. Celeste Thomas presented her stole.

Isaiah Harris-Winn is earning a degree in business administration. Carolyn Stauffer, professor of sociology, presented his stole. He hopes to continue his basketball career overseas.

Elizabeth Witmer is earning a degree in social work with minors in sociology and Spanish. Ann Hershberger, professor of nursing, presented her stole. She will complete her social work practicum this summer in Guatemala and then continue working as office coordinator in the Intensive English Program.

Ryan Yates is earning an MA in interdisciplinary studies and a graduate certificate in transformative leadership. He plans to move to Los Angeles, California, and “create opportunities that will live on well beyond my years.” Deanna Durham, professor of social work, and Celeste Thomas presented him with his stole.

Brianna Zook is earning a degree in kinesiology and exercise science with minors in business and coaching. Kevin Griffin, head women’s basketball coach, presented her with the stole. She plans to attend graduate school.

]]> /now/news/2017/washington-community-scholars-center-visit-showcases-student-internships/ Thu, 14 Dec 2017 20:46:41 +0000 /now/news/?p=36099 A contingent of ��ݮ���� administrators and faculty recently got a taste of what (WCSC) program participants gain: a sampling of the culture and history of Washington D.C. coupled with practical, on-the-job experience.

Based in the Nelson Good House in the Brookland neighborhood, WCSC hosts students each semester and over the summer from EMU and other partner institutions. It’s been a valued program since the 1970s.

The event was an opportunity for President Susan Schultz Huxman, in her ninth month in office, to meet program faculty and staff and hear from alumni about its impact. Undergraduate Dean Deirdre Smeltzer, as well as five faculty members, also made the trip.

The day included a presentation by WCSC director , visits to internship sites, a Nelson Good house tour and a meet-and-greet evening with university and program alumni. ��

Living and working in D.C.

Lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant on the H Street Corridor ended with a quick history lesson from Schmidt, offering a peek into the urban seminar courses that students take at WCSC. Schmidt described the stretch of businesses now gentrifying nearly five decades after riots decimated the African-American commercial hub. ��

The group then made visits to two intern sites. In a plaza near the Capitol, social work major Peter Dutcher described his 5:45 a.m. runs with , an organization that supports those experiencing homelessness through an innovative running program. EMU visitors formed a circle reminiscent of the program’s routine morning member circle while Dutcher and his supervisor described the organization’s impacts and the broader world experiences that such internships offer.

At the historic E, Bluffton student Anna Cammarn has been applying her majors in both music and psychology in a unique music therapy role serving students with behavioral needs.

“From the time I was a freshman in college, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a music therapist or a clinical psychologist,” Cammarn told the group. “Interning at this institution has made me realize that even though I am not a music therapy major, this profession is something I can do with my life.”

Program alums continue their support

After a meet-and-greet with local alumni, the group moved to the Nelson Good House for hors d’oeuvres and continued conversation.

Phil Baker-Shenk was a participant in 1976-77 to Washington Study Service Year, a year-long program that was the precursor to today’s WCSC.

“I haven’t stopped dreaming big out-sized dreams about building and nurturing institutions,” he said. “Without WSSY, this path and these dreams would not have been possible for me. WSSY and its younger sibling WCSC is surely one of the gems in the Mennonite crown. […] Let’s all guard this crown jewel.” ��

Recent alum Kiersten Rossetto Nassar shared how visiting the Nelson Good House during her college search process impacted her decision to attend EMU. She spent a semester in the program, which eventually led her to make her home nearby in the city. ��

Alums and supporters also heard updates from Associate Director of Development about the growth of the new WCSC and the potential to start awarding program scholarships to break down cost of living barriers to students with financial need. ��

“Hello, HHS,” flashed the blinking LED lights.

“Wow!” “Genius!” “I want one!” came the feedback.

“One of the neat things about our engineering classes,” said Ben Zook, a junior engineering major at ��ݮ����, “is that we work on practical problems while we get to know people we may not have met before. I’ve really enjoyed that part of my college coursework.”

Packed into a lab in the Suter Science Center, about 20 high school students were enjoying a showcase of projects created and programmed by and students. Soon, they’d be off across campus to another 30-minute mock class.

The campus visit — which included opportunities to interact with college students, visit informally with faculty and staff, eat in the cafeteria and take a campus tour — was part of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs program, also known as GEAR UP.

Harrisonburg High School (HHS) is one of 27 schools in Virginia to be awarded the U.S. Department of Education grant, designed to significantly increase the number of students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

HHS’s GEAR UP program was open to any student who signed up as an eighth-grader. Nearly 300 students joined the program three years ago. Members of the cohort will receive support through their first year of college. Tutoring, mentoring, parent activities and workshops on college readiness/financial aid are primary components.

Paired with student mentors

Forty-four high school students attended the day-long visit to EMU, said , professor of and co-director of EMU’s .

Leaman coordinated the visit with Honors Program co-director and history professor Mark Sawin; Matt Ruth, EMU admissions director; and grant site coordinator Rachel Linden, a counselor at HHS.

A unique twist paired high school students with 38 mentors from the Honors Program, the , and the Student Government Association, said Leaman. The students stuck together through the day, building rapport and opening up channels for real conversations about college life and the students’ future plans.

“Our goal was to give back to our Harrisonburg community in a way that made sense to our 10th graders: peer-peer conversation to encourage each of our young people to consider going to college, whether that be EMU or somewhere else,” Leaman said. “The day was truly collaborative, with students sharing their stories and our students, faculty and staff learning from them at the same time as they offered information. The interactions between the HHS students and our EMU students and staff were full of energy, with real questions about college peppering the supportive conversations throughout the day.

Informal conversations help students learn more about college opportunities

Thirteen faculty opened their doors during “office hours” to speak with students, and three faculty, with seven student volunteers, offered short classes in education, photography and engineering to give the visitors an idea of what they might learn and explore in their future coursework.

After lunch in the cafeteria, students chose special topics to investigate in informal, roundtable discussions with EMU coaches and various staff members about athletics and intramurals, financial aid, academic preparation and residence life.

Linden said afterwards that students were excited by the opportunity to explore the college and interact with college students throughout the day. “On the bus ride home, students were commenting how they hadn’t realized all that EMU had to offer and that it was now more than a place they just drove by to get home.”

Ariel Barbosa, a sophomore Honors Program and Latino Student Alliance member, enjoyed seeing the students get more and more comfortable on the campus as the day went on: “Feeling the energy that the HHS students naturally brought on this day paired with the warmth that EMU students gave — this was beautiful. I would do this day over again and again if it ensured that at least one of those students could one day go to a college where they could light up as easily as they did while they were on our campus.”

The campus visit hasn’t been the only chance EMU students have to meet with GEAR UP students. Several clubs, including the Psychology Club, Pre-Professional Health Sciences Club, and Student Education Organization have offered after-school activities and workshops.

“Some of our students have really tapped into opportunities to learn more,” Linden said. “It’s been really fun to see them explore possibilities.”

Professors and presented a historical overview, a personal account and general observations relating to diversity titled “Shifting Paradigms, Shifting Power: Diversity and a New Radical Anabaptist Community.”

Before presenting highlights from a that shows EMU’s increasing diversity, Sawin noted that as a historian, he is “keenly aware” that once a history is written, it is codified and becomes the story. But no historian knows everything or can include every story, he said, and so crafting a historical narrative inevitably silences countless voices and leaves out their experiences and perspectives.

With that limitation in mind, Sawin described aspects of the university’s struggles — and the context of the local and broader Mennonite communities’ struggles — with racial integration and inclusiveness. In 1925, for example, Virginia Mennonite Conference disapproved of marriages and close friendships between races. In the 1930s, though, Eastern Mennonite School students began crossing racial boundaries in their community involvements. In 1949, the first black student enrolled full time at Eastern Mennonite College. Ultimately, EMC would become a forerunner of college integration, and when in 1959 The Richmond Times Dispatch ran a story on six Virginia colleges accepting black students, EMC was declared the first to do so.

Sawin pointed out that tumultuous times such as the Great Depression or after World War II spawned change, which was often initiated not by established leadership but by students and faculty activists.

Fellow presenter Melody Pannell’s own story is very much a part of EMU’s widening diversity. Pannell graduated as one of 70 American students of color from EMU in 1997, and would go on to become the director of the university’s multicultural services and a professor. In her presentation she traced her own story as , Nw Yr.

Pannell’s mother was a plain-dressed conservative Mennonite from a German-Swiss, Pennsylvania Dutch community in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Her father, from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, was an African American who was introduced to the Mennonite church through Newlinville Mennonite Church as a teenager. Later he became the first African American ordained pastor through Lancaster Mennonite Conference at Seventh Avenue Church. They married in 1964 while serving in Harlem.

While her father’s dreams of attending EMC were never fulfilled, Pannell would become “a loyal, supportive, dedicated and active member of the campus community.” It wasn’t easy being biracial at EMU, half “ethnic Mennonite” but still noticeable in Lehman Auditorium in “the sea of straight brown and blond hair, and blue eyes,” and still often treated as “other.” But her admissions counselor had told her, “You need EMU, but EMU needs you,” and she began to believe that her role here would be “an exchange.”

And it would be an exchange. Her professors, she said, cared about her life and trajectory — which is now part of African American people’s own legacies in the story of EMU.

Sawin and Pannell closed the session with several observations about the the EMU community:

• The EMU student body and constituency has changed and will continue to change, and these changes will bring greater diversity.
• EMU is a Mennonite institution with many values and traditions that are important. We have a unique and important voice and mission.
• Progress comes from change, and change has most often been driven by those outside the central power structures.
• Groups that feel comfortable and confident in their identity are better able to engage and embrace new ideas and new groups.

The final blessing, offered by Undergraduate Campus Pastor , included a prayer for each attendee, the students from all faiths and backgrounds who would begin arriving on campus that day, and — in acknowledgement of — for courage to confront “systems of racism that destroy rather than build the Kingdom of God.”

This year’s theme��—��“Expanding the Legacy, Enlarging the Tent” — emphasized integrating EMU’s history and traditions with a vision for its second century; the conference also officially launched EMU’s celebrations.

Strong vision

President donned three different types of eyewear during her keynote address to illustrate the “special kind of seeing we do in Anabaptist Mennonite schools … more clearly, deeply and widely.” [Listen to the .]

EMU is well-poised with “strong vision and high purpose” for the future, she said.

Merging perspectives of hindsight and foresight with Anabaptist-inspired insight, she noted EMU’s strong and vibrant historic legacy; a robust, holistic and distinctive education that includes cross-cultural study and faith formation; and a cohesive, faith-filled community of faculty and staff.

“We have just begun to promote a vibrant future of counter-cultural Mennonite education, one that prepares our students for relevant and in-demand careers and meaningful spiritual lives shaped by the reconciling love of Jesus,” Huxman said.

While praising EMU’s entrepreneurial spirit, epitomized in pioneering professor emeritus and philanthropist Margaret “Speedy” Martin Gehman and Alumnus of the Year , Huxman noted new academic offerings: the program, offered collaboratively with Goshen (Indiana) College, as well as the new four-year and a neuroscience minor.

Approximately 380 new and returning employees participated. The fall semester begins Monday, Aug. 28.

��Many voices

A panel of respondents to Huxman’s speech included , , and . The final session of storytelling, a much-loved tradition, included , , , and .

Special guest Donald B. Kraybill provided a one-hour preview of his forthcoming Centennial history, ��ݮ����: One Hundred Years of Counter-Cultural Education (Penn State Press, 2017) to be released at the Oct. 13-15 .

Four breakout sessions highlighted influential programs, themes and concepts:

• — Professors and traced the history of racial-ethnic diversity at EMU, with special attention to current diversity trends and shifting paradigms. They asked, “How could and should paradigms and power structures shift? How can and should our new diversity help us more fully understand and realize the radical nature of our Anabaptist values?” Click here to .

• Drinking in Knowledge at the Source: EMU’s Cross Cultural Program — A panel of five experienced cross-cultural program leaders discussed one of EMU’s most unique academic programs and included , professor and interim cross-cultural program director; , program assistant; , emeritus professor; , cross-cultural leader and adjunct instructor; and professors and .
• Creating a Beloved Community at EMU: Organizational Culture as Blessing and Barrier — Professor discussed culture and sub-culture identities as both assets and liabilities. He invited the group to list both blessings and barriers to EMU’s culture (and multiple sub cultures), noting that you must first understand your own organizational culture before you can��interpret for��—��and thus fully integrate��—��newcomers.
• “Thy Word is Truth”: Old Song, New Tune — Professor , associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Professor discussed “word” and “truth” as the biblical writer imagined these words, and engaged with ways that the motto speaks to��EMU at 100 years.