The culmination of EMU鈥檚 athletic year and traditionally a banquet with catered meal, last year鈥檚 event was moved entirely into an online format. Fittingly, this year was a hybrid model. Only the seniors and other honorees were invited, along with the EMU Athletics staff, to physically distanced seating in Yoder Arena. No food was served. Masks were worn. And a late change to the schedule of the ODAC Track & Field Championships kept that team from being able to attend, leading to recorded videos from Coach Bob Hepler for the Athlete of the Year presentations.

But all the changes couldn鈥檛 dampen the simple joy of being together to celebrate the achievements of the EMU student-athletes.

As part of the evening, the EMU Athletic Department handed out athletic and academic awards from the 2020-21 season. All 39 of the senior student-athletes were honored during the show as well, as the seniors each received an EMU Alumni jacket.

Director of Athletics Dave King hosted the evening. 

As the highlight of the evening, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman presented the President鈥檚 Awards, based on academic achievement, athletic contribution, Christian commitment, leadership, campus involvement and service. They are the highest athletic award given out by the university.

A four-year starter as a defender for the women鈥檚 soccer team, Breidigan held a 4.0 GPA with a major of secondary English education along with a minor in psychology. She earned a select award to the Academic All-District Team as well as an Academic All-State Team. Breidigan played in 55 games over her career and helped the defense record 19 shutouts during that time.

Breidigan has been involved in many campus and community activities while at EMU.  These include Executive Royal Ambassador Tour Guide, Fellow of Christian Athletes Leadership Team, University Choir, and the Weather Vane, while most recently she was named as Teacher of Promise.

鈥淧laying soccer at EMU gave me the opportunity to meet some of my best friends and learn valuable lessons about teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution and resiliency,鈥� Breidigan said. 鈥淭he title of 鈥榮tudent-athlete鈥� carries with it responsibilities that I learned should be embraced, and not taken for granted. I am so grateful to everyone who invested time and effort in my growth as both a soccer player and a person.鈥�

Lee, the male recipient of the President鈥檚 Award, has been a four-year member of the baseball team as a center fielder. He has a 3.30 GPA as a recreation and sports management major, adding minors in kinesiology and coaching. Lee is a multi-tooled player for the Diamond Royals currently holding a career batting average of .313 with 19 home runs, 85 RBIs, 84 runs scored and 33 stolen bases. He has earned weekly and postseason awards from conference, regional and national levels.

On campus and in the community, Lee has been a manager for Paralympic Games, a student assistant at Stone Bridge Elementary School for kids with disabilities, an executive of EMU鈥檚 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and a faithful fan at any EMU sporting event he can attend.

Lee was very appreciative of being given a chance to be part of the EMU baseball program. 鈥淭he athletic department doesn鈥檛 just care about academics and athletics performance but they care about how we are as young adults,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 try to form you into someone we鈥檙e not, but allow you to grow and understand that it is okay to be yourself. EMU creates a lot of leaders that are able to step into big roles in the job force or whatever they plan to do.鈥�

The 2020 President鈥檚 Award honorees were invited to the night as well for an in-person celebration of their accomplishments: Leah Wenger (Broadway, Va./Eastern Mennonite) from women鈥檚 soccer and Bailey Hall (Daleville, Va./James River) from baseball.

The Athletic Department staff also voted for Athlete of the Year winners. Junior Allison Shelly (Collinsville, Miss./West Lauderdale) claimed the women鈥檚 honor while junior Isaac Alderfer (Broadway, Va./Broadway) was named the top male for the second year in a row.

Shelly earned All-Region status from both the indoor mile and 3000m, and landed on the All-State Second Team for middle distance. At the outdoor ODAC Championships, Shelly earned points in three different events for the Royals. She also participated on EMU鈥檚 women鈥檚 triathlon team.

Alderfer had aan unparalleled spring semester, as the middle distance runner broke EMU program records for the indoor 800m, indoor mile, outdoor 800m and outdoor 1500m. His mile time of 4:11.91 also broke the ODAC record, and he took down an ODAC Championships meet record in the 1500m at the outdoor meet. Alderfer finished No. 3 in the nation in the indoor mile, and is currently No. 4 in the nation in the outdoor 1500m. He ran in eight indoor and outdoor regular season meets and was named ODAC Athlete of the Week after seven of them. Alderfer also claimed numerous All-ODAC, All-Region and All-State awards.

Paris Hutchinson (Waynesboro, Va./Wilson Memorial) of women鈥檚 volleyball was named the Female Freshman of the Year while Ethan Spraker (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) earned the Male Freshman of the Year award for the baseball team.

Hutchinson led EMU with 156 kills this year, averaging 3.55 per set. Both numbers were top-4 in the ODAC. She was also second for the Royals with 108 digs and 15 service aces. She had double digit kills in nine of 13 matches, including a season-high 19 against rival Bridgewater. Hutchinson was also named the ODAC Player of the Week during the season.

On a senior-laden team, Spraker earned a starting spot at second base and was one of only four Royals to play all 19 games during the regular season. He has a .220 batting average with 12 runs scored and seven RBIs. Spraker tied for the team lead with three sacrifices and added a solid .963 fielding percentage.

As part of the celebration, four seniors gave short reflections: Tim Jones (Forestville, Md./Central) from men鈥檚 basketball, Rachel Sauder (Lyndhurst, Va./Stuarts Draft) from women鈥檚 soccer, Hannah Johnson (Staunton, Va./Wilson Memorial) from women鈥檚 basketball, and Leiyan Kariuki (Nairobi, Kenya/St. Patricks) from men鈥檚 soccer.

Carrie Bert, assistant director of athletics, presented the Academic Achievement Awards to each team鈥檚 individual junior or senior with the highest GPA. Those awards went to: 

• Gage Riddick (Gates County, N.C./Gates County) in baseball, 
• Eli Roeschley (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby) in men鈥檚 basketball, 
• Chyna Roberts (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) in women鈥檚 basketball, 
• Caleb Hostetler (Marshallville, Ohio/Smithville) in men鈥檚 cross country, 
• Allison Shelly (Collinsville, Miss./West Lauderdale) in women鈥檚 cross country and track & field, 
• Skylar Hedgepeth (Smithfield, Va./Smithfield) in field hockey and women鈥檚 lacrosse, 
• Jonas Beachy (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) in men鈥檚 soccer, 
• Megan Breidigan (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) in women鈥檚 soccer, 
• Emily Campbell (Broadway, Va./Broadway) in softball, 
• Isaac Alderfer (Broadway, Va./Broadway) in men鈥檚 track field, 
• Elizabeth Miller (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) in women鈥檚 triathlon, 
• Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) in men鈥檚 volleyball, and 
• Bethany Shultz (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) in women鈥檚 volleyball.

On Tuesday evening, just a short time after the verdict was announced, I sent a message  to our campus community. I named the value of a cathartic, collective exhale on the swift verdict, and our shared witness around a faith-informed justice on the occasion of this historic moment. Indeed, the trial was a long-awaited step towards repair in our country鈥檚 long and awful legacy of racialized violence. 

I also expressed support of deep listening and bold collaborative action: We especially surround our BIPOC students, faculty and staff tonight with care and compassion. We commit ourselves to continuing to hear their voices, to stand with them, and to do the hard and necessary work to extend the movement to expand racial justice and equity in our nation, our community, and on our own campus. We will work together to make our community of learners more and more fair and equitable inside and outside the classroom. 

The Black Lives Matter movement has taught me many things. Saying the names of our black citizens senselessly killed or injured at a shockingly disproportionate rate at the hands of law enforcement is a powerful reminder of my own white privilege. And so again I say his name: George Perry Floyd Junior, to remind myself this is not an ending at all.

As educators, we still have much work to do. Here is a brief summary of some tangible steps our university has taken recently on issues of racial and social justice, with special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of our community of learning:

• Diversity objectives are featured in the President鈥檚 Annual Report and EMU鈥檚 2020-25 Strategic Plan.
• A new fund to support DEI training and related initiatives benefited from nearly $93,763 in current and pledged donor support this spring.
•  EMU鈥檚 Board of Trustees is led by Manuel A. Nu帽ez, professor and faculty director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Villanova Business School. The board remains deeply committed in specific ways to diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes in learning objectives, campus climate, and representation.  
• More than 10 newly established endowed scholarships and direct grants to increase access and opportunities for BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students have been cultivated just this year.
• We continue supporting, building relationships, listening to and learning from leaders of our student organizations, including Black Student Alliance, Latino Student Alliance, International Student Organization, SafeSpace, and the newly established Asian Pacific Islander Student Association.

And finally, we are delighted with an important addition to our team: Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzm谩n. She started as our executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion just a few weeks ago, and has already made connections with our Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, and among our student groups and their leaders. We look forward to her leadership as we make our actions toward racial and social justice more concrete. 

Below, Dr. Font-Guzm谩n shares a short reflection on the verdict. Continue on to read reflections from our student leaders, and leaders of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. 

No one person can enact the kind of dramatic change our schools, communities, and country needs. We must listen together and lead together. Each member of our university has a contribution to make. We welcome your support and your prayers on the journey ahead.

From Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzm谩n, executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion

The murder conviction in the case of Mr. George Perry Floyd Jr. has been unprecedented in many ways. It is a rare event in the history of the United States that a White policeman is found guilty of murdering a Black man. 

At the personal level, I have mixed feelings about the verdict. Although I felt encouraged by it because it held the perpetrator accountable, justice did not triumph. True justice requires giving each person their due. Mr. Floyd should be alive today. 

And yet, I do not despair. I am hopeful that this verdict can move us to take the needed crucial steps towards transforming 鈥� and when necessary 鈥� dismantling the systems that allow for this violence to continue. There is no better act of subversion than building relationships and communities. This verdict was possible thanks to all the organizers, peaceful protesters, students, and people willing to 鈥� as John Lewis said鈥� “Get in trouble, good trouble.”

Here at EMU, we are committed to peace, social justice, and community. We will continue to work together with love and compassion to create an environment where everyone can be their true selves, belong, and be safe. 

A joint statement from two leaders of the Student Government and Black Student Alliance

Ma鈥橩hia could have been any of us. In the span of two hours, our collective conversation had shifted from a tense relief that Derek Chauvin had been found guilty in the murder of George Floyd, to the overwhelming grief and anger that we know so intimately. 

After George Floyd鈥檚 murder this summer, the Student Government Association sent an email affirming protests and demonstrations being carried out in the name of justice. We also named that many of our clubs that serve as affinity groups for marginalized voices unfairly bear the burden of providing programming aimed at educating our broader campus community. Weeks later, the Black Student Alliance presented a list of demands, calling our campus community to live more fully into our self-proclaimed values of justice and peace. 

Now, after the verdict has been read, we as student leaders continue to commit ourselves to standing alongside those who fiercely speak truth to power, uprooting systems which cause harm, including those within our university. We will rage until LGBTQ+ communities feel safe, until ICE is abolished and the prison industrial complex is destroyed, until families are no longer torn apart on the border, and the ongoing Indigenous genocide is stopped.

We know that there is much work to be done. We envision a community that rejects notions of scarcity,  where justice is abundant and freedom is genuine. This is a vision that EMU says it shares, and so we call EMU to answer, to act: 

To create and hold spaces for BIPOC students, faculty and staff. To offer tangible support through meals and offer extensions on deadlines. To compensate the unpaid labor of those who have consistently borne the brunt of liberation work within EMU. To show up for your students in the classroom, at our events, in this nation and this world. Show up for your marginalized  students in the ways we鈥檝e been asking of you. This is how we live into our mission. 

Anisa Leonard, co-president of Student Government Association; Maya Dula, secretary and past co-president of Black Student Alliance

Eastern Mennonite Seminary

In the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, we believe that the mutual flourishing of relationships is essential for faith. We belong to one another as members of the human family. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the body of Christ, 鈥淚f one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it鈥� (1 Cor 12:26). When one person, family and community suffers injustice, the harm impacts us all. 

A verdict from our national justice system may provide some clarity, but that alone cannot restore human dignity and wholeness. We commit fully and collectively to this restorative work: to practicing justice in compassionate relationships as a learning community and in the communities in which we participate throughout the world.

Learning how, within our own faith communities and our university community, we can truly resist the systemic racism made so visible in this moment impels us to deeper prayer and richer action. We thank God for leaders in many communities of color in the United States, and some of our own community members, who have long modeled the discipleship of work for justice.

Dr. Sue Cockley, dean; Dr. Nancy Heisey, associate dean; Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, incoming associate dean.

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

The United States was built on a mixed message 鈥� all men are created equal and only white men who own property count as full citizens. The territory of the United States was created through displacement, genocide, and war against indigenous peoples and a neighboring country, Mexico. Wealth was amassed by white men who exploited enslaved peoples from Africa and violently suppressed attempts to organize for labor rights. As a country, we have struggled with these tensions since our founding. Our history cannot be ignored in our move toward a different future.

Rooting out and transforming the original sin built into the United States is a long, hard, slow process and once again we are being challenged. Do we settle for order masquerading as peace or do we demand justice that supports authentic peace, healing, and equity? As the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, we have answered that question. Now, we must actualize it in our current context. As a predominantly white institution, this work is deeply personal for each of us and for CJP and EMU as organizations. Thankfully, the jury in Minnesota has held Derek Chauvin accountable for his actions. Let us continue our work to grow justice with humility and integrity. That means listening to and following leaders who have experienced the violence and injustices of our current systems.  

Dr. Jayne Docherty, executive director