Though icons are a tradition of the Orthodox Church, Fenton has transplanted this genre into the context of Mennonite theology. The seven abstract paintings represent the Trinity, the dual nature of Christ, Scripture, Salvation, the Sacraments, Discipleship, and Nonviolence, respectively.

“We have been really blessed by Kathryn’s artwork,” says the church’s associate pastor, Jake Lee. “To have her portrayals adds another level of both attention to the divine and diversified expression of worship.”

One of Fenton’s goals is to continue finding new spaces in which to share her art. Beginning Aug. 30, the icons can be viewed in the sanctuary at (see below for more information).

Urges acceptance of art

Fenton specifically sought an enriching foundation of religious history and theology at the seminary. This foundation in turn informed her project: the exploration and creation of art and iconography, in the context of Mennonite history and theology. The use of art in Mennonite worship or religious activity has historically been negatively viewed, yet this view has shifted in the 20th century.

“Art, like music, dance, and the spoken word, is a form of expression and worship that embraces our embodied nature, glorifying God’s creation,” says Fenton. “The Mennonite church needs to recognize the benefits of bringing art back into the church, using the gift of creativity to profess the word of God, instead of fearing the gift of creativity.”

That fear has never prevented Fenton from making art, from her childhood love of her Lite Brite toy to enrolling in Messiah College, and then transferring to EMU, to study fine art.

Advisor: ‘Art can give expression to Christian faith’

Through acrylic paint, a shattered mirror, symbolic color schemes, and intensive study of various Anabaptist confessions of faith, Fenton illustrates her interpretation of the “seven pillars of Mennonite theology.”

Each of these tenets focuses on the Christian’s interaction with God and active spirituality: scripture is authoritative directly to readers without clergy’s intermediation; salvation is a light universally available; discipleship is an active, collaborative effort to model the Messiah. Fenton’s theology, much like her views on worship, emphasizes hands-on participation.

“She sketched her intended study as building on the understanding of the incarnation as an important tenet of Christian faith,” says her advisor, professor of church history . “Kathryn works from the premise that art can give expression to Christian faith in ways that echo the meaning of the Word becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.”

Integrating legacies of art and expression

Wood panels serve as canvases, a symbolic nod to the Mennonite folk art of woodworking. Her aesthetic inspirations – Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko – are echoed in bold, expressionistic style.

“I chose abstract instead of the traditional style of icons to honor our tradition of prohibiting representational religious images based on Exodus 20:4,” says Fenton.

Color holds as much if not more significance than form in these paintings – gold representing holiness, white the transfigured Christ, red the body and blood of Christ, and blue heaven and cleansing water. Fenton explains that her “color choices are inspired by the tradition of symbolism in religious images throughout history.”

“Her exploration of icons from traditions associated with Eastern Orthodoxy was particularly poignant as it grounded her own artistic expression in a deep tradition rooted in centuries of development,” explains Yoder.

Artwork and education continues

When not working at the Dayton office of Park View Federal Credit Union, Fenton is in the midst of several new art projects.

She’d like “to continue working with local churches on bringing art and theology together,” and would like to see her icons continue to tour area Mennonite churches.

Fenton is still exploring how to best use her art to supplement the church’s repertoire of spiritual expression.

“My hope is to be able to serve the church as an artist by creating art and creating a space for art to be valued and to enrich the life of the church,” she says. “I believe it is my duty to serve the church with the gift God has given me.”

From Aug. 30-Nov. 22, the icons will be displayed in the sanctuary of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Churches interested in exhibiting Fenton’s work can contact the artist at lkathrynfenton@gmail.com.

The choir hosts a benefit concert June 22, 7:30 p.m., at . A freewill offering will be taken during the event, which features 10 selections from the choir and a presentation about Nepal.

The Ghales’ hometown is Barpak, a mountain village formerly of 1,200 houses. Ninety percent of those homes were destroyed, as the town was the epicenter of the earthquake. Barpak residents are now staying under tarps and in temporary shelters; rebuilding awaits resources and the passing of the monsoon season.

Most Barpak residents are subsistence farmers, and have little savings with which to rebuild. Donations will go to construction materials, and the villagers can provide their own labor. “They are very dependable people,” says Dhanraj, “hard workers.”

When Hostetter visited the Ghales’ Harrisonburg home after the earthquake, she suggested a benefit concert to assist fundraising efforts.

Esther Ghale, who recently graduated from , has raised $5,000 thus far from a gofundme.com campaign and fellow students and faculty. The Barpak school, in the center of the village, was completely destroyed. Esther hopes the funds she has raised can help rebuild the school.

“We are very blessed and appreciative of the way the community … is supporting us,” says Dhanraj. The family will travel to Nepal for three weeks in October to meet with village leaders. The country’s damaged roads will require a four or five days’ Jeep ride from the capital, Kathmandu. The Ghales will take tents to stay in during their visit.

“My goal in presenting this concert is to help members of SVCC make a tangible difference in the world,” says Hostetter. “My desire is to see SVCC succeed, not only musically, but socially as well.”

“You can ask me questions later,” she called as she climbed into her friend Robin Lyttle’s car. “Let’s go!”

Allen, who last year published a memoir “The Way It Was, Not the Way It Is” about her experiences in the Newtown area during the 1930s and ’40s, spent the evening with 28 students teaching, sharing and interpreting African American history, culture and experience.

Why a cross-cultural course in Harrisonburg, Virginia?

The “Local Context” cross-cultural course is just one way EMU students can fulfill the university’s . While many students choose the traditional semester-long international travel, other students find that a semester living at the (WCSC) and interning in Washington D.C. fits their needs. There are also shorter trips that work better for students with less flexible schedules, including and the local cross-cultural experience.

“If it wasn’t for the program, there’s no way I could have completed the requirement,” said Kristy Wertz as the group left the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center. A nursing student, full-time patient care technician at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, wife and mother, Wertz noted the impracticality of leaving her family and job behind for a full semester, or even three weeks.

“Here I’m learning about the wide variety of populations that live in Harrisonburg, and the resources available to them. As a nurse, it’s crucial that I know how to best serve my patients. Like the parenting program we just saw,” she said, pointing back at the Simms Center. “How great was that?”

Outside Broad Street Mennonite Church, one of several historic Mennonite church plants in the northeast neighborhood, the group was greeted by Harold Huber. Huber, who began attending Broad Street in 1968 and at various times has served as administrator, secretary, trustee and historian to the congregation, passed around photos of the congregation’s early years. Allen hooted when she spotted her ten-year-old self in one of the pictures. A clutch of students gathered about her as she pointed out the bright-faced young girl.

, assistant professor of applied social sciences, and her husband are teaching the course this summer. The group is divided into two sections for classroom discussions and folded into one group for field trips. Durham first led a local cross-cultural in 2007; this is her fifth time teaching the course.

Like all cross-cultural trip leaders who escort students on trips, the couple are experienced inter-cultural navigators. Before coming to EMU, they spent years living and working in inner-city Washington D.C. as well as four years with Mennonite Central Committee in El Salvador. Peachey has led several cross-cultural trips to Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico, including one during the previous spring semester.

The most transformative aspect of the course, Durham says, is that students living in the Shenandoah Valley begin to think of their home differently. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had students say, ‘I had no idea this place, this community, this challenge…existed right here!’” she said, gesturing at the front of First Baptist Church, where the group had just listened to Judge Anthony Bailey give an impromptu talk on his role in the local justice system. “In some ways, the students in the Local Context course have a more difficult time settling back into a comfort zone once finished with their cross-cultural because it’s right in their face every day.”

Reflecting on the difference between groups that go abroad and those that stay close to home, Peachey pointed out that there are many benefits in the experience of global travel. “However,” he added, “there is great value in deeper learning about the people and places that surround you on a daily basis. Becoming familiar with various immigrant populations, learning about how Harrisonburg has grown and changed over the past half-century, these are experiences that will help these students greatly post-graduation, in their work, and how they approach interacting and engaging with the communities they are a part of.”

Peachey also noted that students on the recent Guatemala trip, which started on the U.S.-Mexico border, learned about the political clashes of immigration policy and reform and explored the personal struggles of those affected by immigration. “Those same struggles are happening right here in Harrisonburg,” said Peachey. “We just need to be willing to see them.”

A rich and surprising diversity

Additional field trips bring students on explorations into the rich diversity of the Shenandoah Valley. The African-American focus continues with trips to Zenda, a community started by former slaves in Rockingham County, and to the Franklin Street African-American Art Gallery. The gallery visit is hosted by owner , founder and director of the at James Madison University. (Luminaries in the African-American poetry world flock to conferences and poetry summits hosted by Furious Flower, and the center offers a slate of workshops, readings, slams and lectures.)

Students also discuss immigration issues with Harrisonburg resident ’07, a nationally-known activist for DREAM Act immigration reform who founded the youth-led National Immigrant Youth Alliance.

One Friday, the students meet with Dr. Mohamed Aboutabl at the mosque, the only place in the region for Muslims to worship. Friday prayers draw a diverse group of Muslims from around the world, with Sunni and Shia participating together.

Students also delve into the Old Order Mennonite culture, with a visit to a home for meal, accompanied by professor and Mennonite historian Nate Yoder.

At the end of the tour, the group enjoyed a meal of barbecue and deviled eggs prepared by the congregation of John Wesley Methodist Church. Allen stood in the center of the room and fielded questions from the students. They listened attentively as she described growing up in Newtown and her involvement in the civil rights movement, and how she found herself just feet away from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1963 March on Washington as he delivered his famous words.

“Having Doris talk to us was one of the best parts of the night,” said student Kaitlin Roadcap. “This program is teaching me to be more culturally receptive, and has really opened my eyes to the diversity in this area. I have lived here my entire life and am finally realizing just how much I didn’t know.”

“We are delighted to partner with a business program with similar interests and motivations, especially sharing a unique perspective on how business can be successfully carried out with a value-based sensitivity and outlook that considers more than just dollars and cents,” says Gordon Zerbe, CMU academic vice president. “Future leaders, more than ever, will be expected to direct entrepreneurial spirit, but also with a heightened appreciation for social responsibility, sustainability, and stewardship.”

The Collaborative MBA is an accredited online program based on the concept of “,” emphasizing six values – spiritual growth, honoring community, leading as service, upholding justice, planning for sustainability and global citizenship.

“Leadership for the common good is a concept that pays attention to the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profits,” said , program director and dean of graduate and professional studies at EMU. “The common good is established each time a person, organization or community reaches beyond individual self-interest for the sake of the greater whole.”

The addition of CMU’s faculty of business experts expands both the vision and resources of the program, Smucker added.

Students are organized in cohorts – – and move together through 12 courses that are typically completed in 22-24 months. Nine core courses are augmented by three courses directly related to one of the eight concentration areas: health care management, leadership, accounting and financial management, leading non-profits, conflict transformation, sustainable organizations and intercultural leadership.

Most courses are offered through interactive video conferencing and practical projects. Synchronous interactions delivered through video are complemented by asynchronous learning, in which students contribute and interact on their own time. A one-week international residency provides students with a global perspective and emphasizes interdependency and mutual accountability, values at the heart of today’s global economy. This approach accommodates different styles of learning, as well as demands of employment and family.

The students are rising junior Jeremiah Knott and rising seniors Daniel Barnhart, Rachel Schrock and Wes Wilder.

“I’m excited about the unique gifts and talents of each MIP student, and about the opportunities for experiential learning they will encounter,” said , MIP director and instructor of at EMU. “Ministry gifts and skills are best tested and learned within the context of real life, not simply in a classroom. MIP provides a safe way for students to explore their interest in ministry.”

More than 300 students have participated in the MIP program, a partnership that includes the student’s respective Mennonite college, the student’s home congregation, the student’s home and host area conferences, the congregation where the student is in ministry, and Denominational Ministry.

At the end of the program, each student receives a scholarship of up to $2,000 toward tuition costs at a Mennonite college or seminary for the next academic year, along with a $500 stipend for living expenses from the host congregation.

A student’s placement depends on “his or her own interests in size and type of congregation, the availability of a congregation and pastoral mentor, and a fit between the intern and the host congregation,” said Schrock-Hurst.

Taking action on their calling           

This summer’s MIP participants include three students enrolled in religious studies at EMU.

Daniel Barnhart, from Grottoes, Virginia, is a congregation and youth ministries major who will serve with his home congregation of in McGaheysville. He has been interning this last semester with , a United Methodist faith community in Harrisonburg.

Barnhart says he is participating in MIP “for the simple reason that I feel this is a call from God, but like any of us, I am tempted by the outside world,” he said, adding that this summer will “help me determine if I want to be a pastor.”

He looks forward to returning to his home church with the new intellectual skills and knowledge he’s acquired at EMU, he said, and with a new interest in liberal and conservative biblical views.

Wesley Wilder, of Hesston, Kansas, is a double major in psychology and Bible and religion. The firsthand experience he’ll gain at in South Hutchinson, Kansas, will help him discern his path, he says. Wilder knows he’ll be working primarily with youth, joining them for the trip to the Mennonite Church USA convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I look forward to preaching a sermon and jumping into whatever the congregation asks of me,” he said. “I am most looking forward to finding my own niche in ministry and learning more about what I have to offer the church.”

His home congregation is in Hesston.

Jeremiah Knott, of Elkton, Virginia, will serve at his home congregation, , as well as the church he was raised in, Bethel United Church of Christ. For many years a professional musician, Knott plays guitar, sings and writes songs on the Faith Alive worship team.

A Bible and religion major who plans on going into the ministry and pursuing graduate studies, Knott says the MIP opportunity appeared while he was waiting to visit a professor during office hours.

“I saw the flier [for MIP] and I had a hunch and I listened to my hunch,” he said. “I’ve always known since I was about 13 that I was supposed to go into ministry, so I’ve had a calling, but now I’m taking action on a calling.”

Fresh lens in a spiritual setting

Rising senior Rachel Schrock, an art major, says her interest in MIP came from a “Divine moment,” while speaking during a winter break church service about her cross-cultural experience.

“It felt electrifyingly right,” Schrock said, adding that the decision to explore ministry was encouraged by her family and close friend Hanna Heishman, who participated in MIP last summer.

Schrock will head to her home state of Iowa, dividing her time between in Washington and her home congregation of of Iowa City.

“It will be a new experience for me – entering a community that I am already familiar, with a fresh lens,” she says. “I want to see the ins and outs of leadership within a spiritual setting.”

Schrock looks forward to mentorship from two female leaders she already knows well, the spiritual director at the camp and the pastor of her home church. She’ll spend her summer organizing a children’s peace camp, working in the office, giving a few sermons, and making visits to people in hospitals, retirement homes and home care.

Gehman, a senior kinesiology major, looks forward to running every day. When he’s running, he feels free, happy, at ease in a way that he often isn’t. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 4, Gehman has dealt with severe anxiety his entire life. Sometimes he can hardly make it out the door of his room. Sometimes he sits himself in the chair in Coach’s office to ride out another panic attack. Sometimes Gehman thinks that if he could just run all day, every day, that would keep things under control. But his homework won’t do itself, and he has classes to attend and all sorts of other basic life things that make that impractical.

He describes living with Asperger’s as follows: most people have buckets to hold all the little stresses and details and things that daily life throws at them. On stressful days when enough of those little things collect, the bucket overflows and the carrier is overwhelmed. Gehman has a thimble instead of a bucket. It gets full quick. When he was younger, full-blown panic attacks struck every day, leaving him breathless, terrified, stuck in place. Though he’s gotten better at fending them off, they’re never far away.

When he runs, it’s a different story. He has a bucket and it all feels easier.

‘Good but not great’ at first

Gehman was 13 the first time he went for a run – one mile from his house to the high school nearby, and one mile back. His parents made him take a walkie-talkie just in case. He didn’t need it. When he was 14, his family hosted a guest who was training for a marathon. Gehman cinched on his Velcro-strap shoes, tagged along with the guy for seven miles and was hooked.

For the next four years, he was a good but not great high school runner. After graduating from (earlier, he’d also attended a public high school), he put in another year of good but not great running at and then, transferred to Montreat College in western North Carolina. His coach there was more of a zealot for hard training and high mileage, and Gehman responded well. He qualified for the NAIA national cross country meet. In indoor track, he ran a 16:12 5k – not jaw-dropping, but certainly not pedestrian.

While Gehman’s running was going better than ever, managing his anxiety wasn’t. Transferring to EMU, he found a more supportive environment on the track and cross-country teams for which Lewkowicz had set the expectation that “there’s a shared responsibility to care for one another.”

Lewkowicz was one of his earliest and biggest supporters. Lately, his teammates have become more and more important. Not that the thimble isn’t a problem anymore. It’s been a hard and anxious winter for Gehman. When things aren’t going well, sometimes there isn’t anything his teammates can say to fix things. What they can do, said Hannah Chappell-Dick, a standout runner on the women’s team who has qualified for nationals in both cross-country and track, is simply be present, be there, with and for him. And so that’s what they’ve done.

Overcoming anxiety and dropping time

Gehman’s performances have continued to improve. In his junior cross-country season, he made the All-Region team and barely missed qualifying for the NCAA D-III national meet. On the track the next spring, he dropped his 5k time down to 15:26. Back in cross-country last fall, he lowered his 8k personal-best to an elite 24:15 that left his good-but-not-great past in the dust. At the South/Southeast Regional meet, he took first place among the 200 best D-III runners between Virginia and Texas. It was the best race of his life. His teammates cried.

“It’s powerful to see people overcome things, and Ryan has done a lot of that this year,” said Chappell-Dick.

(On the NCAA race course the following week, Gehman felt like circuit breakers tripped inside him during the wild, stampeding chaos of the first half-mile. He finished in 237^th place, more than two minutes off his best time.)

It has been a tough and injury-plagued winter, and Gehman sat out the conference championship on March 1. But in January, he ran a very promising indoor 5k in 15:49. He’s logging miles and building up a base. He will approach outdoor track with his usual determination.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever coached anyone who works as hard as he does,” said Lewkowicz.

Sharing his hard work

Hard work is part of any good distance runner’s life. In Gehman’s case, though, the hard physical work of training follows the heavy emotional lifting it sometimes takes just to lace up his shoes and show up at practice. He works hard in order to work hard.

After graduation, Gehman plans to race longer distances – half-marathons, marathons. His biggest love is for the quiet and calm of trail running. He thinks he’ll try to go pro. When Coach Lewkowicz lets him, he criss-crosses the rocky slopes of Massanutten Mountain with Dan Nafziger ‘13, an admissions counselor who qualified for the national cross-country meet in 2011.

Since emerging as a top-flight runner, Gehman has begun tackling another difficult challenge: talking about the obstacles he’s overcome. It hasn’t come easy, but then again, lots of things haven’t come easy for him. And perhaps, he figured, his story could inspire others who face similar challenges.

Last year, with the encouragement of Lewkowicz and the athletics department, he gave an interview to the local TV station about his life with Asperger’s syndrome. In February, he was invited to speak to a Rotary club in Salem, Virginia. Talking in front of news cameras and rooms full of people was a lot to ask of his thimble, but not enough to stop him.

After the TV interview aired, Gehman received a Facebook message from a couple who’d seen it. Their 11-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with Asperger’s, and they were curious if they might meet with him to hear more about what it’s like. They came and talked with him for an hour in the Commons. Gehman was thrilled at the opportunity to help the parents understand their daughter better. It feels great, he says. He uses the exact same words to describe his running, but there’s a difference.

“Running is something I do for me,” he says. “Talking about my disability is something I can do for other people.”

Ryan Gehman has known for nearly a decade now that running makes him feel good. He’s just now finding out that telling others about why that’s the case makes him feel even better.

In the center of Thomas Plaza, burning candles were placed on a pile of ice. A nearby sign proclaimed the vigil’s theme: “Melt ICE,” a reference to the unrelenting, and some would say, disturbing policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that have recently separated Villatoro from his family.

A Honduran native who has lived without citizenship in the United States since the early 1990s, Villatoro was detained on March 3 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported last week [March 27].

Despite a past criminal record of two misdemeanor charges, supporters say Villatoro had changed his life, becoming a Christian and devoting himself to his family and his congregation. According to supporters, he would be an appropriate candidate for the reprieve offered by President Barack Obama’s deportation policy if an immigrant does not jeopardize national security or public safety.

‘Pastor Max’ known among EMU students

Two student organizers of the vigil, senior Aliese Gingerich and junior Rachel Schrock, are among many in the EMU community who have a strong connection to Villatoro. He is a co-pastor, with his wife, Gloria, of Iglesia Menonita Torre Fuerte, a small Hispanic congregation based at in Iowa City, Iowa. Gingerich and Schrock attend First Mennonite Church.

Villatoro “was someone who cared about the space and the people in it,” said Schrock. “He would ask you how you’re doing, and he would really listen. He cared about people, and he was a strong presence in the church.”

Gingerich, who spent this last summer working with Villatoro, mentioned the anxiety she felt for him during that time. Villatoro made no secret of his lack of citizenship, even in which he recounted his story of moving to the United States for a better life, meeting his wife, and starting a family. He and Gloria have four children, all U.S. citizens. Gloria, who is from Mexico, is living legally in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Schrock’s fear was realized when she was on a in Georgia, learning about issues that immigrants face in the United States. Ironically, she, along with sophomore Diego Barahona, were visiting a detention center when they learned the news.

Barahona, also a Honduran native, spoke at the vigil in English, with his remarks translated into Spanish. He expressed appreciation for the Mennonite community and their strong support of Villatoro.

Several protests and vigils have taken place over the past several weeks. Congregations in the Central Plains Mennonite Conference – the conference in which Villatoro’s church belongs – have actively showed their support for Villatoro and his family. The conference collected more than 40,000 signatures, including 8,000 from clergy members, from around the United States. Those documents were delivered to the ICE office in Omaha, Nebraska, just one week after Villatoro’s detention. The conference has also started a .

Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined the grounds for Villatoro’s deportation by citing his criminal record – a drunk-driving conviction in 1998 and record tampering, after purchasing a Social Security number in order to get a driver’s license, in 1999. Villatoro has since had a clean record and according to media sources, was unsuccessful in appealing a past deportation order.

Common ground with vigil supporters

In his speech, Barahona also addressed the plight of child immigrants, recalling his arrival in the United States at age 4 and a childhood visit to Walt Disney World, seemingly a paradise at the time.

“In contrast,” Barahona told the assembled crowd, “tens of thousands of child immigrants were not received by a magical kingdom. They were received by a kingdom that supposedly stands for the liberty of the oppressed, but hesitates to take in the youngest victims of the conflict they help create.”

Hannah Mack-Boll, a junior, who works at in Harrisonburg, said she appreciated the “poignance” of Barahona’s speech. She hears many stories similar to Villatoro’s, and remarked on how helpful it is that “we can now gather together to understand the importance of Villatoro’s story in the context of a broader issue.”

“It was encouraging to see such a strong turnout of students, faculty and staff to express our solidarity with Pastor Max and others who have been separated from their families,” said EMU president Loren Swartzendruber, one of at least two university administrators to attend the vigil. “The stories shared by several immigrants were important for all of us to hear.”

Getting the word out about that story and rallying support has been one of Gingerich’s recent concerns. She spent two days before the vigil passing out 380 Spanish-language flyers to local organizations, businesses, clinics, grocery stores, and even taco trucks. She wanted to the community to be involved, and to provide a space for healing and reflection.

“Max’s story is a platform for all the other stories like his that don’t get coverage,” Schrock said.

It will be extremely difficult and complicated for Villatoro to regain entry to the United States, according to his attorney.

Shantz had two choices: tear it down or renovate it. After consulting with, as Shantz puts it, “the one-man maintenance department of Gordie Shantz,” the decision was made.

Under his direction, youth group volunteers gutted the building, put on a fresh coat of paint, and turned it into a storage shed. The oldest permanent structure at Highland Retreat still stands.

This is a common problem among many camps with long histories and old buildings, Shantz realized. Maintenance teams must keep an eye on budgets and eco-friendly choices, while still being sensitive to architectural history.

Thus came the origin of a recent workshop, “New Wine in Old Wineskins,” for maintenance teams from camps in the eastern region of the (MCA). The informative visit to ��ݮ���� to learn about sustainability initiatives was facilitated by Ed Lehman, assistant physical plant director.

MCA, which was founded in 1960, is, “a clearinghouse for directing and promoting Christian camping among Anabaptist/Mennonite conferences and congregations around the United States and Canada.” Thirty-one North American camps are members, including Camp Men-O-Lan, the first Mennonite camp, located near Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

While the scale of EMU’s renovations are much larger than that required by the camps, EMU representatives, including building automation coordinator Greg Sachs ’03 and sustainability coordinator l ’00, could provide general trends that translate to a smaller scale.

After a Powerpoint presentation highlighting significant renovation projects at Roselawn, Suter Science Center, and the two LEED-certified dormitories, participants had a brisk discussion about issues related to their specific facilities: , which first began hosting guests in 1935, in New York; Highland Retreat, dating from 1958; and the newest facility to be represented, in Toano, Virginia, which started in 1984. A representative from also attended.

Camp Deerpark, which includes new buildings as well as some older structures that predate the current organization by several years, has a heating system fueled by a large wood stove and generators that run on overdrive during the cold northern winters, said maintenance director Sean McConaghay.

Among the valuable bits of information that Shantz gleaned from the visit is EMU’s 20 percent cost model on new projects. For example, if a new building costs $100, then renovation for an old building should only be considered if the total cost is $80 or less.

Shantz also favored EMU’s five-to-seven-year payback model, in which new equipment is expected to return the investment within a range of five to seven years.

For Shantz and others involved in the important but often overlooked job of keeping camps functioning and aesthetically attractive, the time to sit down, learn and share with other professionals was valuable – regardless of whether the discussion was about replacing a lightbulb, he said, or installing new toilets.

As is the case with some rural camps, the opportunity to acquire adjacent new property sometimes comes with old buildings – and a price tag. That is the case at Highland Retreat, which has recently been offered a nearby property at a favorable price, but with an old but solid building that may need renovation. Shantz has formed a committee to discuss potential uses, he said, adding that EMU’s sustainability initiatives could be a helpful model for Highland Retreat in this instance, and in any future construction project.

Shank replaces outgoing director Doug Nyce `86, who after 11 years with EMU, will become resident services manager for Park Village at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.

“We are very pleased that Jeff Shank is joining our advancement team,” said Kirk Shisler, vice president of advancement. “He brings significant experience and vision for engaging our students, alumni and parents in ways that will energize them as advocates and supporters of EMU’s mission and vision.”

Shank, who has served on the EMU Board of Trustees, looks forward to contributing to the EMU community in a different way.

“As an alumnus of the school, I have always valued my education, the professors, friendships, and experiences I had at the university,” he said. “It will be a joyful experience to relate to other alumni and parents who appreciate EMU as well, and I hope to enhance the alumni and parent experience in ways that keep everyone connected.”

Shank’s extensive experience contributes to his readiness to fill what is essentially a new position in EMU’s advancement division focused on enhancing the advocacy and annual giving of alumni and parents.

Since 2009, Shank has been superintendent of Sarasota Christian School, a pre-K-12 academy, where he oversees a $3.6 million budget, approximately 60 employees, and 420 students. Under his leadership, the school earned several awards, including “Family Living” magazine’s Best Private School award; Florida High School Athletic Association’s Floyd E. Lay award for the top 2A program in Florida; and the Sister Cities One World Award for development of global partnerships.

Prior to that, Shank served in a variety of positions at LMS in an association that spanned 14 years and several promotions. He began his career at LMS as a special education teacher from 1995 to 1999, then worked the next four years with Baltimore County schools, and returned to LMS in 2002 to take an administrative position as the K-12 special education coordinator.

Over the next seven years at LMS, Shank was also a development associate and alumni relations director and internal coordinator for accreditation, before serving one year as assistant principal of the Locust Grove Campus and finally becoming executive director of development/alumni relations.

During that time, he also earned an MA in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in leadership from Penn State University. In 2014, he was elected to the executive committee of the Mennonite Schools Council.

Shank and his wife Julie Litwiller Shank ’95 have three children: Ryan, 12, Tyler, 9, and Emilee, 5.

The 16-member group, led by assistant professor of music , specializes in madrigals, jazz, and modern and contemporary concert literature, both secular and sacred.

EMU’s newest ensemble is comprised of the “best of the best,” said Keebaugh. “I needed singers who could learn music quickly, were strong musicians, and able to balance this time commitment among their many other involvements.”

The son of an organist and a Brethren minister, Keebaugh is an experienced choir director and a widely traveled and oft-performed composer. He earned his DMA at The Catholic University of America, and was previously choral director at Mary Baldwin College and director of choral activities at Clarke County High School.

Keebaugh praised this particular group for their dedication. “These are incredibly hard-working and passionate musicians, who are also very strong representatives of ��ݮ���� and .”

Paying tribute to musical roots, Keebaugh noted that Emulate includes nine graduates and former participants of two strong high school music programs.

Sophomore Jon Bishop joins Abby Bush and Jaclyn Kratz in representing . A tenor majoring in vocal performance and composition with a social environmental sustainability minor, Bishop calls this new group “focused” and “well-rounded.”

Junior Jeffrey Smoker, a business major who sings bass, is an experienced choral performer, having toured while at (EMHS) and. Fellow EMHS graduates in the group include Hannah Shultz, Caitlin Holsapple, Michaela Mast, Eli Wenger and Perry Blosser.

“Emulate is a group of talented singers who have been able to come together very quickly and sing challenging music,” Smoker said. “I was very impressed that by the end of our first rehearsal, we had sight-read four or five pieces, and they sounded pretty good. I am really excited to see and hear what we can do over the next few months.”

Local ties make this tour especially appealing, said senior Erin Hershey, who is among six Pennsylvania natives in the group. She and junior Luisa Miller are members of Slate Hill Mennonite Church, which hosts Emulate on March 5.

Rounding out the group are Heather Evans, of Alexandria, Virginia; Mischa De Jesus, of Kalona, Iowa; Jake Rhine, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Guilio Garner, of Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Nathaneal Ressler, of Mount Vernon, Illinois.

The Pennsylvania tour is a prelude to a longer two-week tour this summer through the midwest, with final performances at the June 30-July 5 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Schedule:

March 5 – 7 p.m., Slate Hill Mennonite Church, Camp Hill, PA

March 6 – 6:30 p.m., James Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, PA

March 7 – 7 p.m., Martinsburg Memorial Church of the Brethren, Martinsburg, PA

March 8 – 9:30 a.m. worship service, University Mennonite Church, State College, PA

Hostetter, who was not a co-author on the recent paper, called the results exciting because they “could lead to new or improved medications for treatment of mood disorders.”

About 30,000 members of the Old Order Amish community in Lancaster County trace their descent exclusively from 32 people who immigrated from modern-day Germany to Pennsylvania in the 1750s. Genetically distinct from other Amish communities in the country, this “closed gene pool” presents a unique opportunity to study the genetic components of mental illness. In some families within this group, both bipolar disorder and EvC are more prevalent than in the general population.

According to the recent study, statistical analysis of these two conditions within the study group shows that a person with the genetic mutation that causes EvC is prevented from developing bipolar disorder. Linking that genetic mutation – which affects a protein called Shh – directly to bipolar and other affective disorders represents a breakthrough in understanding the genetic basis of these conditions.

Hostetter has been involved with the project, known in the field as the “Amish Study,” since it began in 1976. When he was invited to participate, Hostetter was working in private psychiatry practice in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he regularly saw Old Order Amish patients. Hostetter had a further connection to that community because his grandfather had been a moderator of and was well-known to local Amish leaders.

“Dr. Hostetter brought to the Amish Study his special expertise based on a life-long exposure to the cultural setting and religious traditions of the Old Order Amish, as well as his experience as a practicing psychiatrist and hospital medical director involving Amish-Mennonite patients,” writes Dr. Janice Egeland, the director of the Amish Study and professor emerita at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

At Egeland’s invitation, Hostetter joined a group of psychiatrists that established specific criteria for diagnosing bipolar disorder in members of the Amish study group. They eventually identified more than 100 patients with the disorder. In 1987, Egeland, Hostetter and six others published the first research connecting bipolar disorder to a specific gene, in a paper that has since been cited hundreds of times.

“But just identifying a gene doesn’t cure anything,” said Hostetter, who approaches the research with a practical focus. “Now this recent finding is showing what one of the genes does. That’s the next important step.”

Hostetter attended EMU for two years before transferring to the pre-med program at Goshen College, another Mennonite college in Indiana. After graduating in 1953, he went to Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While collaborating with Egeland and other colleagues on the Amish Study, he continued in private practice in Pennsylvania until retiring in 2003. He now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, but remains involved with the Amish Study as it approaches its 40th year.

In addition to linking bipolar disorder to a specific human gene, Hostetter and his colleagues have also used their research to identify childhood risk factors that suggest an eventual bipolar diagnosis.

“There’s been a real move toward earlier identification of the problem,” he said. “Misdiagnosis is one of the big problems in dealing with this illness, and this study has been recognized as having led the way in greater accuracy and specificity of psychiatric diagnoses.”

Over 40 years, lots of data piles up, and there’s always new insight to tease out. Another paper Hostetter says he and his colleagues might try to tackle would demonstrate inheritance of specific sub-types of bipolar disorder that variously manifest with symptoms like violence, grandiosity, hypersexuality and others. This spring, he plans to pay clinical visits to some of the families that have participated in the study. It’s an extension of what Egeland describes as an unusual degree of concern for individual subjects of the ongoing research.

“Numerous patients have benefitted from ‘Dr. Abe’s’ personal efforts to improve understanding and reduce the stigma so often inherent in mental illness,” she wrote.

Ten Thousand Villages, too, has mission roots. It was founded in 1946 by Edna Ruth Byler, wife of an MCC administrator, during a trip to Puerto Rico. Still a nonprofit partner of MCC, the company is a fair trade organization that brokers artisanal crafts from disadvantaged people around the world.

Working mainly with inventory and accounting systems, Rutt customizes both to meet the business’s changing needs. He designs reports and extracts data, as well as providing troubleshooting services.

“A tremendous amount of information is needed to import goods from 30 different countries and then distribute them to almost 80 branded retail stores and other wholesale accounts,” Rutt said. “We would not be able to do what we do without computers and the programs that run on them.”

He is one of eight people in the company’s IT department (see page 18 for a profile of alumnus LeVon Smoker, who was the first IT employee for SELFHELP Crafts of the World, as the organization was known until 1996).

Rutt actually had little computer training at EMU, arriving on campus when the technology was in its infancy in the early 1980s.  Attracted to the rigor and discipline of the hard sciences, Rutt double-majored in chemistry and math (his non-Euclidean geometry course was what really taught him to “think outside the box,” he remembers). His two computer courses were electives in an otherwise busy schedule.

But when doing voluntary service with Eastern Mennonite Missions at University of Alabama in Birmingham, he began handling and extracting data for research projects and when his year of service ended, he was hired at UAB, eventually becoming a programmer.  “They were glad to have someone who understood the nature of the research, even though I didn’t have a degree in programming.”

Six years later, he was still at University of Alabama when he met future wife, Michelle, also working on a voluntary service assignment. Together, they ran a Ten Thousand Villages Festival Sale each December for five years.

In 2000, wanting their two children closer to both sets of grandparents, the Rutts moved back to Lancaster County and Rutt began work at Ten Thousand Villages. Both daughters attend Lancaster Mennonite High School. Katie, 17, is a senior and Joy, 14, is a freshman.

The Rutts attend Landisville Mennonite Church. Rick, a former Sunday school teacher and superintendent, recently began serving as assistant treasurer.

One-fifth of the U.S. population and one-third of adults under 30 do not identify with a particular denomination or church. Yet many signal deep spirituality through belief in God, prayer or a connection to nature or the earth.

What does it mean for churches if a growing number of U.S. residents claim “none of the above” when asked about religious affiliation? The  at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS), Harrisonburg, Va., helps to address this question with a Jan. 19-21, 2015 workshop titled “A Church for All Generations in an Age of ‘Nones.’”

, vice president and dean of EMS, calls the training an invitation to explore “how we connect Christian faith, churches and communities with the millions who are actually passionate about faith but often equally passionate in their conclusion that institutional/denominational structures of the day have lost or betrayed integral, authentic connection with the deep journeys of the soul.”

In addition to workshop leaders presenting on a variety of practical topics, speakers include Lauren Winner, assistant professor of Christian spirituality at Duke Divinity School, and Dan Aleshire, executive director of .

Winner, a historian and author, provides reflections on life in a small parish and addresses spiritual practices for the 21st century.

Aleshire will address “The Christian But Not Religious Church for the Spiritual But Not Religious: The Shifting Role of Religion in American Life.”

Participants will also take part in worship experiences “to help us celebrate the healthy tension between deep roots and new branches reaching for new horizons,” said worship planner .

This event will be helpful for church leaders, youth workers and anyone who wonders about the future of the church.

“I’m excited about attending this event because it speaks to what many youth workers are observing in their congregations,” said John Stoltzfus, conference youth minister for and of and campus pastor at . “Youth are engaging in church and expressing their faith and spirituality in different ways. A key part of our task as youth workers is to be attentive to these shifts and to empower youth to be attentive to the new movement of the Spirit in our world. What are the spiritual longings of the next generation and how can we help them create faith communities to respond to these longings?”

Registration and more information can be found at .

On the morning of Oct. 2, 2006, Charlie walked his two school-aged children to their schoolbus stop, kissed them, and told them he loved them. Charlie then departed to (presumably) drive his usual milk route in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

From the :

Five young Amish girls are dead, and five more are seriously injured, after being lined up in their one-room school Monday and shot “execution style” by a heavily armed milk truck driver who then took his own life, police said.

Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, was armed with three guns, two knives and 600 rounds of ammunition when he burst into the schoolhouse, forced the girls to line up against a blackboard and shot them at close range in the back of the head, police said.

Pennsylvania State Police commissioner Col. Jeffrey B. Miller, who described the crime scene as “horrendous,” said Roberts apparently was motivated by rage over a long-ago incident unconnected to the school or the Amish community.

Deduced from a letter Charlie left for Marie to read, he was twistedly depressed and angry at God, dating back to early in their marriage when the couple lost a daughter at 26 weeks, followed by an ectopic pregnancy. Perhaps following a psychotic breakdown, he took out his anger on the Amish girls in the schoolhouse.

In the , followed by an in the student-run coffee house, Marie spoke about growing up in a devoutly Christian home in rural Lancaster. She was a quiet, shy girl whose only aspiration was to be a good wife and mother – never, ever, conceiving in her worst nightmare of becoming known around the world as “the shooter’s wife.”

That horrible day, after the police had come to her home and told her what Charlie had done, she felt she had to choose between two options: (1) to turn away from God in whom she had always trusted, while she and her children went down “like the fastest sinking ship” or (2) to continue believing that God keeps his promises to walk with those suffering. “God spoke to my heart on that day of the shooting… ‘I’m not going to fix it, but I am going to redeem it.’”

The God-sent miracles began with a visit of Amish community members to her home, where they met first with her father and hugged him and assured him that they were praying for the Roberts family, with forgiveness for what Charlie had done. At Charlie’s funeral service and burial site, Amish men and women formed a wall in front of the media’s cameras, helping to shield Marie and her family from the glare of publicity.

“They live compassion and they live grace and they live love,” Marie said in an article by Elizabeth Tenety, published by “They just do it so seemingly effortlessly, but it’s a choice that they make.”

Marie, who is now happily remarried with the last name of Monville, is the author of One Light Still Shines: My Life Beyond the Shadow of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting, published in October 2013. She is part of a blended family; her eldest child from her first marriage attends as a sophomore. She is still a stay-at-home mother – active in the family’s church, running to her children’s extracurricular activities, volunteering at their schools. But God has also transformed her into a motivational speaker and about his presence in everyone’s lives.

“God has a beautiful plan and a destiny for all of us,” she told the hundreds who turned out for her . That doesn’t mean we won’t face pain and loss, she added. But God will also give us everything we need to cope with that pain and loss.

“He transforms broken places into whole places,” she said. She described the “faith walk,” as “trusting that something beautiful will come out of this [grief].”

“The love of God is a light,” she added, “that will never go out, no matter how dark.”

“The opportunity to work with children with autism was not the result of a deliberate plan or any previous experience with autism,” says Oswald. “Grafton School in Berryville, Virginia, was just beginning the program for students with autism and I was fascinated by the children and intrigued by the opportunity to work with them individually.”

Oswald’s fascination with the emerging field of autism diagnosis, combined with the strong foundation he received as a major at EMU, helped launch his productive career.

Raised on a Nebraska farm, Oswald chose for his first two years of college. EMU’s innovative psychology department, led by John Hess, attracted him for his junior and senior years. A young had just started his long teaching tenure. And in one psychology class, Oswald met Jean Miller, the woman who became his wife.

Of his non-psychology professors, Oswald names Willard Swartley as “perhaps the most memorable. His Old Testament course made a lasting impression because of his commitment to scholarly integrity.”

Within the newly built , Oswald was introduced to scholarly research first-hand. “I recall the pleasure I got from spending whole days in the library tracking down sources, and reading and integrating the material I found. I no longer remember the topic, but the process made a real impression and the experience whetted my appetite for independent research.”

Whetted may be an understatement. Oswald’s 19-page curriculum vitae lists more than 12 pages of academic articles, book reviews/editorials/abstracts, books/chapters, grant-related products, and workshop presentations which he authored, co-authored or produced.

After graduating magna cum laude in 1975, Oswald received a master’s in education in school psychology from James Madison University in 1981. Two degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University followed: master of science in psychology in 1987 and doctor of philosophy in psychology in 1989.

Among his peers, Oswald is known for his willingness to share knowledge and research. He is director of diagnostics and research at in Richmond, Virginia.

Of his work there, Oswald says, “About 15 years ago, I had the opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary diagnostic assessment clinic for young children for whom there was a question of a diagnosis of autism. The clinic was established on the principles of using the best evidence-based diagnostic tools available, working together collaboratively across disciplines, and actively seeking to integrate parents as essential and equal partners in the process.”

He has served as director of the clinic ever since, guiding it to its mid-Atlantic status as a model training site for interdisciplinary teams that wish to provide similar diagnostic services.

Oswald is also clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s department of psychiatry, mentoring psychologists-in-training.

His wife, Jean ’74, has just retired from her position as director of a preschool where she spent 20 years. Oswald is active at , leading music and worship. His hobbies are reading, bicycling, and singing.

Music unites Oswald’s EMU years with his present life, recalling that he sang in the touring choir under Lowell Byler. “I still sing with a community chorus, One Voice Chorus. Our mission is to foster harmony between people of African-American and European-American descent.”

Oswald will be honored with the Alumnus of the Year award during Homecoming and Family Weekend 2014 at EMU, Oct. 10-12. Celebrations include: class reunions for years ending in “4″ and “9″; community picnic on Saturday, Oct. 11, for all members of the EMU community; sporting events; !

Distinguished Service award: 

Young Alumnus of the Year award: