HARRISONBURG, Va. — ��ݮ���� and Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community announced Monday, May 11, a strategic partnership that strengthens and expands their long-standing relationship, allowing VMRC to plan for future growth while providing EMU with the resources to advance its educational mission.

As part of the agreement, VMRC will acquire Park Woods, a 13-acre oak-hickory forest it shares with EMU, with a commitment to continue stewarding and preserving the urban green space as an enduring asset to the community. The partnership also includes a five-year plan for VMRC’s potential expansion through its purchase of the land upon which the EMU baseball field now sits, along with the construction of a new ballfield at another location on the university campus.

The partnership, which has been approved by each institution’s board of trustees, supports their long-term strategic goals by strengthening financial sustainability, expanding opportunities for intergenerational engagement, and reinforcing their shared presence as mission-driven organizations serving the public good.

Leaders of the neighboring Harrisonburg institutions describe the partnership as a “win-win,” supporting both VMRC’s capacity to serve current and future residents and EMU’s ability to invest in academic excellence, student access, and community engagement.

“This partnership honors our history while giving us the flexibility and capacity to plan for long-term vitality,” VMRC President and CEO Jake Bell said. “It allows us to continue providing high-quality care and community while strengthening our connection to EMU and the region we both serve.”

“This partnership reflects who we are and how we want to lead,” EMU Interim President Shannon W. Dycus said. “It builds on decades of relationship, shared geography, and common values, while positioning both institutions to respond thoughtfully and responsibly to the future.”

EMU and VMRC share a foundation of Anabaptist-Mennonite values and a commitment to community, service, and care for the whole person. The two institutions have long been neighbors and partners, and this agreement positions them to collaborate more intentionally on academic, cultural, and community initiatives that benefit students, residents, employees, and the greater Harrisonburg region.

Media Contact:
Ryan Cornell
Senior Writer & Communications Manager
ryan.cornell@emu.edu
(540) 432-4059

“I’ve always been conscious of how much money I’m spending,” he said. “I don’t want to have tons of debt I’ll have to pay back later, especially at high interest rates.”

And so for Vasquez, who works a part-time job at The Home Depot, financial aid from the Montgomery GI Bill, the Virginia Tuition Grant (VTAG), and a new National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM Scholarship has been a godsend in covering the full cost of his college education.

“Without the NSF S-STEM Scholarship, I would’ve struggled financially,” he said. “The scholarship really takes the pressure off my shoulders, because now I won’t have that debt looming over my head.”

Born and raised in Harrisonburg, Vasquez graduated from high school in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and attended Blue Ridge Community College while enlisting in the military. After completing recruit training, taking time to reassess his academic goals, and changing majors from business to computer science, he transferred to EMU last fall. 

He is among an initial cohort of EMU students receiving the NSF S-STEM Scholarship, which provides:

• Up to $15,000 in unmet financial need annually for the length of the degree
• A paid one-week Bridge to College program
• A STEM mentorship program
• An eight-week paid internship
• Free conference attendance
• Forest restoration opportunities in Park Woods (EMU’s on-campus woodland)

The scholarship is open to high-achieving, income-eligible students who are majoring in Biochemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Math, or Psychology (research/STEM track).

Applications for the S-STEM Scholarship
are due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026.

For more information, visit .

‘A welcoming community’

Forming friendships at a new school can have its challenges.

Along with other initiatives provided by the scholarship, a Bridge to College program helps new EMU students adjust to life on campus by moving them in a week early, introducing them to STEM faculty and staff members, and engaging them in activities to build camaraderie and form connections with one another. Students participating in the weeklong program receive a generous stipend for their time.

Ani Koontz, a first-year biology and secondary education double major from Newton, Kansas, is a recipient of the S-STEM Scholarship. She recalled traveling to Shenandoah National Park with students and faculty the week before classes, surveying salamanders and hiking trails, before bicycling around Downtown Harrisonburg on a tour led by city officials.

“That first week showed me how friendly and approachable my professors are,” she said. “They’ve done a great job creating a welcoming community.”

Another S-STEM Scholarship recipient, Mara Carlson, is a first-year psychology major from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “Many of us have become close friends,” she said. “I’ll see the other scholarship recipients around campus and we’ll say hello to each other.”

Through the scholarship, each student is paired with an academic advisor specific to their major, who can answer questions and help guide them forward. Carlson said she meets with Kathryn Howard-Ligas, assistant professor of psychology at EMU. “We discussed a four-year plan, and I was really grateful for that,” she said. Part of that plan includes gaining invaluable experience through internships and conferences, additional perks of the S-STEM Scholarship.

Carlson said she already knew she wanted to attend EMU, and that receiving the S-STEM Scholarship was “a nice surprise.”

For the Kansas-born Koontz, EMU had always been on her radar, but she also considered attending in-state schools that normally would’ve been cheaper. When she learned she had been offered the S-STEM Scholarship and that it would lower her college costs to “a very affordable amount,” her choice to attend EMU became an easy one.

“It’s 100% the reason I came,” she said. “When I got that, it meant I could completely afford to go here, and it honestly made EMU more affordable than any other college in my area. It’s my joy to share how grateful I am because this is truly just an amazing thing that EMU has.”

5 — Stroll through the East Garden

Located just across the pond south of the Suter Science Center’s greenhouse, a short walk across a wooden bridge and through some lush greenery reveals a plentiful patch of produce. The fruits, vegetables, and herbs grown on the campus gardens by the student-run Sustainable Food Initiative are used to supply the EMU Free Food Room, which supports members of the campus community experiencing food insecurity. 

Bonus tip: For an air-conditioned and educational detour, duck into the nearby D. Ralph Hostetter Natural History Museum and browse the displays of fossils, insects, birds, and wildlife inside the science center’s main entrance. 

4 — Practice your pickleball

Bring your paddle and your A-game out to the six new pickleball courts on Park Road, which were installed at the end of last year. The enhanced outdoor courts space, which also includes four new tennis courts, is the result of a partnership between EMU, Eastern Mennonite School, Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, and other organizations and private donors. “A lot of people in the Harrisonburg community come out to play on the EMU pickleball courts—people of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels,” said Levi Clymer ’25, former co-president of the EMU Pickleball Club. “That’s the beautiful thing about pickleball.”

Bonus tip: After the game, stretch out those calf muscles with a lap around the neighboring EMU track, which was dedicated in October. During the summer, track lanes 5-8 are open to the public from 6-10 a.m. and 6-9 p.m. daily, except for special events. Or take a stroll along the , a paved shared-use path that stretches from EMU, passes by picturesque fields and streams, and will eventually connect to Downtown Harrisonburg.

3 — Walk through the Park Woods

Take advantage of the shaded paths that wind their way through Park Woods, a 13-acre oak-hickory forest that adorns the northeast corner of campus between Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community and Eastern Mennonite School. Walk along the recently completed Weaver Loop perimeter path and breathe in the scents of the native trees and understory. The paths are regularly used by walkers of all ages, from children at the K-12 school to retirees at the senior living community.

Bonus tip: See if you can find the rustic cabin located in the clearing at the heart of the woods. Built as a gift by the classes of 1946 and 1950, the cabin was the central hub of socialization and recreation on EMU’s campus for more than 40 years…Read more about it here.

2 — Toss some discs

Play a round of disc golf on EMU’s nine-hole, par-27 course. The stomping grounds of 2025 college disc golf national champion Jesse Longenecker, the course is dedicated in honor of his late brother, Nathan. Try to keep your cool while sinking your putt at some of the course’s tougher holes—we think the basket perched on top of the tree stump is awfully tricky!

Bonus tip: After finishing the eighth hole, wander over to the , a spiral-looking maze just up the hill above the Seminary Building. The feature offers those at EMU a unique way to connect with God.

1 — Gaze out from the EMU Hill

Take in the majestic vista of Massanutten Mountain and the city of Harrisonburg from the summit of the EMU Hill. If the trek doesn’t take your breath away, the view surely will (note: parking is also available at the top of the hill by the Astral Hall recording studio). No matter how long you’ve been at EMU, it’s one sight that never seems to get old. 

Bonus tip: Want a similar view without the hike? Head to the Campus Center balcony—a favorite spot for Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17, director of EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. She remembers falling in love with EMU the first time she looked out from that very spot. “All it took was one look at those mountains, and they seemed to tell me, ‘You belong here,’” she said. And, according to Macson McGuigan ’17, campus photographer and resident lover of lightning bugs, the overlook offers prime firefly viewing after sunset.

What are your favorite places on campus to capture its breathtaking beauty? Leave a comment below!

The grant, awarded through the NSF’s , will fund up to $15,000 annually for each scholarship recipient throughout the length of their degree. Overall, the S-STEM Scholarship will fund a quality undergraduate education for 23 EMU students among three cohorts over the next six years, beginning with first-year students entering the Fall 2025 semester.

The scholarship is open to academically talented students with financial need who are majoring in the following fields: Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Math, and Psychology (research/STEM track).

Applicants for the S-STEM Scholarship must submit their application and reference forms by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. For more information about the program and how to apply, visit: emu.edu/stem/scholarship

In addition to scholarships, the program offers students a paid one-week Bridge to College experience, where they can meet professors, learn material from their discipline, acquire study skills, and become better prepared for college.

EMU Biology Professor Dr. Kristopher Schmidt said that some first-year students can struggle to adjust to life on campus, and that the grant aims to ease that adjustment.

“We want to create a sense of belonging,” said Schmidt, who is principal investigator for the grant program.

The program also provides funding for embedded tutoring services and paid tutoring opportunities for students, specialized advising, and guidance from professional STEM mentors.

“This would be a person outside the university in their field of interest who can encourage them, help them, and connect with them along their four-year program,” Schmidt said about the mentors. 

The S-STEM Scholarship program offers innovative opportunities for place-based learning and funding for an eight-week paid internship. Students can use grant-funded resources to conduct research on forest restoration in the Park Woods space, which serves as a key learning lab for STEM students.

This latest grant builds on the success of a similar STEM grant that wrapped up in 2023.

By leveraging grants like these, EMU lives into its mission and vision, outlined in its 2023-28 strategic plan Pathways of Promise of opening new pathways of access and achievement, and can help the NSF achieve its goal of diversifying the STEM workforce.

“We were thrilled to receive this,” Schmidt said. “We’re excited and grateful the NSF has chosen to invest in our students at EMU.”

Faculty members Kristopher Schmidt, Jim Yoder, Daniel Showalter, Stefano Colafranceschi and Dean Tara Kishbaugh wrote the S-STEM grant proposal.

These 10 headlines drew readers’ attention in the past 12 months:

1.

By far the most viewed story of the year, with 15,000 reads and nearly 600 Facebook likes, was President Swartzendruber’s December reflections on attacks in San Bernardino, Paris, South Carolina, and elsewhere. “Our campus community continues to prayerfully discern what the peace position means to us in a world beset by violence,” Swartzendruber said. He called everyone to practice Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies and to engage in dialogue with those who come from different backgrounds, while pledging that EMU would work locally and regionally at Muslim-Christian dialogue and continue to train students and others with world-changing tools and principles.

2. Amish teacher, 98, returns to alma mater

Amos Yoder ’54 waited a long time for this trip. Yoder, who is Amish and lives in Minnesota, spent his career teaching and farming in the Midwest and Great Plains and never returned to Virginia—until daughter Rebecca Barbo brought him to campus last year. A group of former classmates and EMU alumni relations representatives greeted Yoder on his visit. Yoder said the campus looked very different, but he treasured the opportunity to return to a place so important to him, calling his years at then-Eastern Mennonite College “one of the high points of my life.”

3. Jackson and Katie Maust with the Harrisonburg Rescue Squad

Titled “Married alumni couple spends spare time saving lives,” the story of Jackson and Katie (Lehman) Maust was one of the top five most-read of the year. They work as a physical therapist and emergency room nurse, respectively, but spend much time away from work among the ranks of the 160 HRS volunteers (including many other EMU alumni). Katie says it’s a calling. “It’s a way that we serve God,” she says.

4.

Loren Swartzendruber began the end of an era in April when he announced he would retire at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year. EMU’s eighth president, Swartzendruber will have served for 13 years in the role and 33 years total in Mennonite higher education. A national search for EMU’s next president began in June.

5. The Yutzy family and their dairy’s new solar installation

Sustainability on campus and off are always popular reads. The Yutzy family, which includes several EMU alumni, was featured by the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record for innovations at their Windcrest Holsteins farm in Timberville, Va. This past year the farm’s barn and milking parlor were covered with nearly 1,800 solar panels. The $1.3 million system, made possible via a grant, tax credits, and depreciation allowances, is expected to pay for itself within five years and eliminate the farm’s power bill. It is Virginia’s largest privately owned solar installation.

6. Articles honoring faculty of note and moments of historic importance

As we approach the Centennial celebration of 2017, EMU readers enjoyed and shared articles about former faculty members Abraham Davis, who started what is today Multicultural Student Services, and ’59, who spent a quarter-century teaching at EMU before retiring in 2001.  Articles on Park Woods Cabin and the Bard’s Nest, as well as the radio station garnered a good number of hits. The celebrated 25 years in March.

7.��

Good news abounded in EMU’s student numbers in 2015. The incoming traditional undergraduate class included 257 students—up from an average of 205 in the previous decade and increasing in diversity, as well. Graduate enrollment jumped, with the master’s in education program showed the most growth. A total of 1,908 students were registered across all EMU programs, including EMU Lancaster, at the beginning of the fall semester.

8.

If you missed Konrad Wert ’01, this photo alone will make you wish you’d caught the show. Wert, performing as the one-man band Possessed by Paul James, returned to EMU. His album There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely hit No. 12 on the November 2013 Americana/Bluegrass Billboard charts. Wert graduated with a degree in liberal arts and now teaches special education in Texas — when he’s not on the road.

9. Harrisonburg’s new restorative justice initiative

Restorative justice articles always draw excellent reader numbers, but this article about the new Harrisonburg initiative garnered a record number of hits and Facebook shares. The new program, the first of its kind in Virginia and more than two years in the creation, involved restorative justice practitioners from EMU and James Madison University, Harrisonburg Police Deparetment, representatives of local law practices, the Commonwealth’s attorney and the Fairfield Center.

10. Any sports story!

EMU news blog readers love their sports! There’s always great coverage available at , but sometimes EMU news and your former sports-writer editor can’t resist the urge (with permission from Sports Information Director James De Boer) to “break” a sports story.

Whether finding articles at EMURoyals.com or EMU News, sports fans read, like and share them, from profiles of former athletes like pitcher-turned-Mets group sales director Kirk King ’07 to features on athletes in action, such as , Hannah Chappell-Dick and Kat Lehman at the indoor track NCAA championships, and a history-making baseball trio.

The editor’s favorite in this category was coverage of a charity basketball game that resulted in the photo above and the following headline: “Black Student Union fundraiser game pits the (victorious) Streetball Kingz against the hometown Wreckin’ Royals.”

Here’s wishing you happy reading in 2016. Send news tips to editor Lauren Jefferson at lauren.jefferson@emu.edu.

But more likely, you know and remember…

Built as a gift by the classes of 1946 and 1950, Park Woods Cabin was the central hub of socialization and recreation on ��ݮ����’s campus for more than 40 years. But over time, as recreation options diversified and Harrisonburg itself expanded, the cabin fell into disrepair, and eventually disuse.

In 2013, students hoping to preserve the cabin and use it again for recreational activities headed up a revitalization effort, including hiring a contractor to pull up asbestos floor tiles, installing a wood stove and fixing the leaky roof. In early fall 2015, the cabin was once more full with students fulfilling the cabin’s original intention: fellowship and socialization around good Mennonite food.

1950: Socials and meetings

In the late 1940s, before the cabin was built, “there wasn’t much doing in Harrisonburg for students,” said Laban Peachey ’52 who later served as dean of students. “The cabin was a very important place for social events.”

Around campus (EMC wasn’t actually in Harrisonburg in the ‘40s) there was little but cornfields and dirt roads. Most students didn’t have cars and even if they did, there wasn’t anywhere to go.

D. Lowell Nissley was senior class president in 1950. He and Jacob A. Shenk drew up the plans for the cabin, which included a native limestone fireplace built by a Harrisonburg local. “We [both the college and high school graduating classes] wanted to do something significant for the school,” he said. “The whole class worked on it on Saturdays when we had a chance.” The class named the finished structure Oakwood. Several years later, the college asked if they could use the name for a new men’s dorm and the cabin became simply “the cabin” and then Park Woods Cabin.

Laban Peachey was a freshman in 1949 and one of the first classes to actually use the cabin.

“In those days there were only about 250 students at EMC,” he said. “Groups of 10, 20, 30 people would use the cabin for class meetings and college socials. We would have marshmallows and hot dogs too – not very often, but sometimes.”

1960s: ‘The Bard’s Nest’

In 1966, the cabin began to be used as EMC’s first coffeehouse. The students, perhaps as a reflection of the folksy vibes of the ‘60s, named it “The Bard’s Nest.” Twenty years later, when (now) EMU English professor was a student, the cabin was still used for that purpose.

“We would have open mic sessions, read music and host musical performances,” he said. “It was kind of like what Common Grounds is today, but cooler.”

Gusler likened the Bard’s Nest to a “dive bar” with regulars to whom they served birch beer or homemade hot chocolate. In the early ‘90s, the Nest added an espresso maker. Tables were lit with candles stuck in empty bottles and old burlap sacks served as backdrop to student artwork on the walls.

But by the time Gusler was on the scene, the building already had problems. There was no sewage or drainage tank on site and so no bathrooms. When it rained, the building sometimes flooded. The fireplace took more heat than it put out.

2000: the shift to University Commons

By August of 2000, the first phase of the University Commons was finished and Park Woods Cabin temporarily closed.

“University Commons shifted the focus of the university,” said , director of the physical plant. “The Snack Shop was built with a stage in the corner intended to replace the Bard’s Nest, but it was never really used.”

In part that’s because shortly after, in December of 2001, EMU received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to build what is now the coffeehouse known as . “When Common Grounds came around, that met the need the Bard’s Nest had been meeting,” said Kurtz.

It also made the facilities issues down at Park Woods Cabin a little more glaring. But other projects, namely building new residence halls, took priority over the cabin and it was left empty for over a decade.

2013: New life

In February of 2013, EMU News published a plea: “We need your help in deciding the next step for Park Woods Cabin. There is student interest in improving the condition of the cabin, which is currently not in use.”

A carpenter’s guild, made up primarily of EMU alumni, stepped in and helped refurbish the cabin free of charge. The physical plant provided most of the materials; the students fundraised for the rest.

The cabin now boasts new flooring, a weatherproof roof, a woodstove instead of the fireplace and a clean chimney. A plaque in the wood paneling above the stove commemorates the cabin as a gift of the classes of 1946 and 1950. There is no longer running water (it was too difficult to maintain) and no plans to install pipes or a sewer system.

But on any given weekend, light can be seen spilling from the windows, once more giving the old building a feeling of new life. The most recent use: the hosted a jam session over Homecoming weekend.

Editor’s Note: Some alumni have reported that the original “Bard’s Nest” was located in a building called the Guild, and that the coffeehouse didn’t move down into Park Woods Cabin until the mid-1970’s. Please feel free to comment on this. We’re eager to learn more. –10/15/2015

We need your help in deciding the next step for Park Woods Cabin. There is student interest in improving the condition of the cabin, which is currently not in use. Share how would you like to see the cabin used (if it can be improved) in the comments section!