The minor provides an accessible way for students interested in music, but who might lack the formal training other music minors require, to follow their passion, said David Berry, director of the music program at EMU.

“We want everyone who loves music to feel like they have a home in our department,” Berry said.

There can be barriers to studying music in college. Requirements that they be able to read music or have a certain amount of training prevents many students from being involved in the music program, Berry said.

“The minor will focus on the kinds of popular music that a lot of people love and enjoy,” he said. Students can take classes in digital songwriting, taught by Professor Benjamin Guerrero, and lessons in songwriting, led by Trent Wagler ’02, EMU faculty member and singer-songwriter of roots music band The Steel Wheels.

“It’s really open,” Berry said. “You could be making GarageBand files (a music-writing software program) in your dorm room. You could be a history major who wants to be a DJ on the side. If you love music, this minor is for you.”

For more information about EMU’s music program, visit .

The traditional final concert on campus will also take place, but what better way to show off new skills and enjoy new friendships than to hop on stage with fellow violinist Eric Brubaker ’01 and one of the finest Americana roots bands in the country in front of hundreds of fans at a music festival.

The Steel Wheels Fiddle Workshop is a new addition to the program’s Suzuki Strings Day Camp, now in  its eighth year and typically attracting approximately 30 youth violinists. The strings day camp, from     July 29-July 2 on the EMU campus, has a range of classes depending on age and skill level.

Children ages 3-7 have two-hour lessons, while intermediate and advanced students can participate in a longer Day Camp, for ages 12 and under, or Multi-Styles Teen Camp, for pre-college musicians. Both of these camps include the special afternoon workshop, which youth musicians can also sign up for separately.

The collaboration between EMU’s preparatory music program, The Steel Wheels, and the Red Wing Roots Festival “came about very organically through a shared vision,” said Megan Tiller ’07, who teaches in the program and has been on the festival staff since its inaugural year in 2013.

Tiller also teaches Brubaker’s daughter in the preparatory music program, and Brubaker himself is an alumnus of the same program, which makes his participation all the more meaningful to young musicians, she said.

Benefits of camp participation are multifold, says preparatory music program administrative director , who also teaches violin. Playing for several hours each day with friends and with different teachers not only motivates and inspires students, but also causes “a new familiarity with their instrument that takes them to a new level,” she said.

The Steel Wheels workshop “will provide a window into what a band does and how they do it,” she said. “And just being around professional musicians, hearing their sound and watching their technique inspires students.”

During the workshop, Brubaker will guest instruct, joined by Trent Wagler ’02 and Brian Dickel, class of ’98. A special performance will be Thursday on campus with The Steel Wheels, followed by a jam session and performance on July 10 at the Red Wing Roots Festival (where fourth band member Jay Lapp joins). Admission to the festival and a t-shirt are included in the fee for students. Parents are offered a reduced-price day pass to the festival.

The deadline for registration is June 4. For more information, visit .

A yo-yo pattern was developing.

“I just didn’t feel like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, so I would drop out,” says Wert, who went on to spend time in South Texas and Central America during subsequent dropouts from college.

But Wert couldn’t quite shake EMU altogether. A 1996 to Ghana blew his eyes wide open. He made some close friends, got involved in peace and justice activism on campus, and was inspired by a handful of professors who raised provocative, poignant questions about what it meant to be Mennonite (he was raised in a Mennonite family and congregation in Florida).

By 2001, Wert had cobbled together enough credits to graduate with a and a slew of minors, including one in . As a freshman, he’d considered studying viola performance. By his super-super-super senior year, he was playing genre-bending shows around campus and Harrisonburg with The Red Wagon Band, alongside classmates Trent Wagler ‘02, Jaime Miller ‘01, and Nick Hurst ’01.

Fittingly, music will bring Wert back to campus once more on. He performs manic, foot-stomping folk, country and Americana music as a one-man band under the name .

The wanderlust that kept interrupting Wert’s college studies didn’t end with college. After graduation, he and his wife, Jenny, moved to New Mexico, then Texas. They lived in Maine for a time, then in Colorado, then back to Texas when their first son was born, to be closer to family. During that nomadic phase, Wert had mainly worked in the nonprofit world. After returning to Texas, he became a teacher – a career direction in which he’d always felt pulled. He is now a special education teacher at Curington Elementary School in Boerne, Texas.

Wert has been playing as Possessed by Paul James since 2006. He’d played a few dozen shows a year and thought it would always just be a side project. But then, to his surprise, his most recent album – – made a run on the Americana/Bluegrass Billboard charts (peaking at #12 in November of 2013). The following spring, Wert was , and at the end of 2014, a New York Times critic included a Possessed by Paul James show on .

“We were kind of dumbstruck with what the attention has been this past year,” says Wert. (It wasn’t the first time attention has been paid, though; Wert was featured in a 2008 documentary, The Folk Singer, by Slowboat Films, and a previous album, Feed the Family, won an Independent Music Award in 2011 for Best Alt Country Album.)

Wert’s friends from EMU who have followed his music are less surprised by the critical praise.

“Konrad is pure energy, pure heart,” says former bandmate Trent Wagler, who now fronts the widely acclaimed Americana band, . “I have never been around a more passionate performer or artist. He is an inspiring, creative force.”

Professor recalls Wert’s large impact on EMU “with his energy, commitment to peace, and outsized personality.”

“He plays with a joyful, soulful intensity. His stage name, Possessed by Paul James, indicates something of his out-of-left-field sensibility. Konrad does his music his way, following his own muse. It’s exciting to see him meet with success.”

As that musical success grows, Wert finds himself confronted with decisions about the future. He loves teaching, even though he gets “real rowdy” about the unrealistic demands placed on teachers and public schools across the country, and the growing gap between what’s needed in schools and the resources allocated to them – topics that find their way into much of his songwriting.

(Wert has also been recognized for his work in the classroom, having recently been named Teacher of the Year at his school.)

He and his wife have two sons now, ages 4 and 6, and the family loves to travel. Every summer they load up the van and wander. The recent success of Possessed by Paul James has them wondering whether they could wander more full-time from show to show, visiting schools along the way to perform, talk, listen and stay engaged.

“If you leave [education], you kind of give up on the process of changing it,” Wert says. “And if you stay in it, you internalize it, and it can make the quality of life pretty hard.… It’s hard to find a balance where you’re passionate and positive day after day after day.”

Maybe Wert’s unexpected recent musical success will offer a shot at that sort of balance, though there are lots of “ifs” to figure out. Wert and family are looking at Winnebagos, thinking about their next adventure. Wert plays a show in Washington D.C. on Friday evening. Then it’s back once more to EMU on Saturday and quickly away again for class on Monday. The future is uncertain, exciting, but for now there are still lessons to plan and progress reports to write.

Close to 3,000 people attended each day of the festival, July 11-13, 2014, at Natural Chimneys Park in Mt. Solon, Virginia. First held in the summer of 2013, the Red Wing festival is hosted by The Steel Wheels, a nationally known roots music band that features three alumni: Trent Wagler ’02, Eric Brubaker ’01 and Brian Dickel, class of ’98. (The fourth band member, Jay Lapp, attended EMU’s sister Mennonite school in Indiana, Goshen College, for a time.)

After enjoying performing at other festivals across the country since they started touring seriously around 2010, members of The Steel Wheels began thinking about ways to create a new festival in the Shenandoah Valley.

“We wanted it to be rooted in community and informed by our upbringing,” said Brubaker after Red Wing ended this year. “We wanted a family-friendly event where we would be proud to bring our own children and expose them to many different kinds of authentic musical expression.”

The band partnered with Black Bear Productions, a local event production company, and began planning well over a year in advance for the first event. Their vision was realized in a multi-generational, community-focused festival that has brought dozens of performers and thousands of visitors for a long weekend of music on four stages at Natural Chimneys, about 20 miles south of EMU’s campus.

“The exciting thing is that all [our] dreams and more are already being fulfilled,” Brubaker added. “It’s amazing that so many people from our community are investing time, creativity and resources to make the festival a true success.”

Jeremiah Jenkins, a managing partner of Black Bear Productions, said the welcoming, friendly atmosphere at the festival is one of its special characteristics.

“Red Wing has fans of all ages. This sets a certain tone of respect and appreciation among the crowd, and that collective enjoyment really fuels us all weekend,” he said. “Red Wing brings out both the seasoned festivarian and the first-timers, and together we create our own festival culture. We’re proud of the Red Wing fans, volunteers and staff that treat the park and each other with such conscientiousness.”

After noticing how many EMU alums attended the first festival, the university signed on as an official sponsor in 2014. Throughout the weekend, advancement staff passed out tea and connected with hundreds of alumni, prospective students and other festival-goers.

EMU and Red Wing organizers also collaborated to minimize the amount of trash generated at the festival. The festival banned the sale of plastic water bottles and required visitors to bring or purchase a reusable steel cup to use at the free water station and in the beer garden, Jenkins said. Food vendors were also required to use renewable, recycled or compostable materials for all service items.

Aware of EMU’s commitment to sustainability, Black Bear Productions hired EMU sustainability coordinator Jonathan Lantz-Trissel ’00 to oversee trash and recycling collection during the weekend. He and his team of volunteers collected well over 1,000 pounds of recyclable materials and 500 pounds of food waste to add to EMU’s compost piles.

“When people congratulate me on the festival, I always say that it takes a village,” Jenkins said. “We’re so glad that EMU is part of ours, from the alumni office and sustainability team to the many EMU alumni that bring their families each year.”

In addition to The Steel Wheels, about 40 other bands performed this year at Red Wing, including The Walking Roots Band, first formed under another name at EMU. Six of the eight members are EMU graduates: Lauren ’09 and Mitch Yoder ’09, Jackson Maust ’09, Kristina Yoder ’09, Adam Schmid ’09 and Seth Crissman ’09, MDiv ’15. Crissman also said the welcoming feel to the festival was important to the group.

“Something we care about a lot is being able to create and share music that is fun for everyone. There was a broad range of ages at Red Wing, and music brings all these people together,” he said. “In making music in this roots-folk tradition, we draw nourishment from those who have come before and, hopefully, pass it on to those who will come after us. It was a lot fun to be able to listen to and enjoy other musicians doing the same thing at Red Wing. It was exciting to see so many people excited about roots and folk music, especially local music.”

Another band performing at Red Wing, Ragged Mountain String Band, featured Reuben Miller ’00 on fiddle.

The third Red Wing Roots Music Festival will likely be held on the second weekend in July 2015, with exact dates to be announced soon on the festival’s website and Facebook page. In the meantime, Brubaker said, The Steel Wheels will be recording a new album that will be ready in time for next year’s event.

Close to 3,000 people attended each day of the festival, July 11-13, 2014, at in Mt. Solon, Virginia. First held in the summer of 2013, the Red Wing festival is hosted by , a nationally known roots music band that features three alumni: Trent Wagler ’02, Eric Brubaker ’01 and Brian Dickel, class of ’98. (The fourth band member, Jay Lapp, attended EMU’s sister Mennonite school in Indiana, Goshen College, for a time.)

After enjoying performing at other festivals across the country since they began touring seriously around 2010, members of The Steel Wheels began thinking about ways to create a new festival in the Shenandoah Valley.

Family friendly, honoring community roots

“We wanted it to be rooted in community and informed by our upbringing,” said Brubaker after Red Wing ended this year. “We wanted a family-friendly event where we would be proud to bring our own children and expose them to many different kinds of authentic musical expression.”

The band partnered with Black Bear Productions, a local event production company, and began planning well over a year in advance for the first event. Their vision was realized in a multi-generational, community-focused festival that has brought dozens of performers and thousands of visitors for a long weekend of music on four stages at Natural Chimneys, about 20 miles south of EMU’s campus.

“The exciting thing is that all [our] dreams and more are already being fulfilled,” Brubaker added. “It’s amazing that so many people from our community are investing time, creativity and resources to make the festival a true success.”

Jeremiah Jenkins, a managing partner of Black Bear Productions, said the welcoming, friendly atmosphere at the festival is one of its special characteristics.

“Red Wing has fans of all ages. This sets a certain tone of respect and appreciation among the crowd, and that collective enjoyment really fuels us all weekend,” he said. “Red Wing brings out both the seasoned festivarian and the first-timers, and together we create our own festival culture. We’re proud of the Red Wing fans, volunteers and staff that treat the park and each other with such conscientiousness.”

EMU was official sponsor

After noticing how many EMU alumni attended the first festival, the university signed on as an official sponsor this year. Throughout the weekend, advancement staff passed out tea and connected with hundreds of alumni, prospective students and other festival-goers.

EMU and Red Wing organizers also collaborated to minimize the amount of trash generated at the festival. The festival banned the sale of plastic water bottles and required visitors to bring or purchase a reusable steel cup to use at the free water station and in the beer garden, Jenkins said. Food vendors were also required to use renewable, recycled or compostable materials for all service items.

Aware of EMU’s commitment to sustainability, Black Bear Productions hired EMU sustainability coordinator Jonathan Lantz-Trissel to oversee trash and recycling collection during the weekend. He and his team of volunteers collected well over 1,000 pounds of recyclable materials and 500 pounds of food waste to add to EMU’s compost piles

“When people congratulate me on the festival, I always say that it takes a village,” Jenkins said. “We’re so glad that EMU is part of ours, from the alumni office and sustainability team to the many EMU alumni that bring their families each year.”

Dozens of bands on four stages

In addition to The Steel Wheels, about 40 other bands performed this year at Red Wing, including , first formed under another name at EMU. Six of the eight members are EMU graduates: Lauren ’09 and Mitch Yoder ’09, Jackson Maust ’09, Kristina Yoder ’09, Adam Schmid ’09 and Seth Crissman ’09, MDiv ’15. Crissman also said the welcoming feel to the festival was important to the group.

“Something we care about a lot is being able to create and share music that is fun for everyone. There was a broad range of ages at Red Wing, and music brings all these people together,” he said. “In making music in this roots-folk tradition, we draw nourishment from those who have come before and, hopefully, pass it on to those who will come after us. It was a lot fun to be able to listen to and enjoy other musicians doing the same thing at Red Wing. It was exciting to see so many people excited about roots and folk music, especially local music.”

Another band performing at Red Wing, , featured Reuben Miller ’00 on fiddle.

The third Red Wing Roots Music Festival will likely be held on the second weekend in July 2015, with exact dates to be announced soon on the festival’s and page. In the meantime, Brubaker said, The Steel Wheels will be recording a new album that will be ready in time for next year’s event.

Walk For Hope unites students from Blue Ridge Community College, Bridgewater College, ��ݮ���� and James Madison University to raise awareness about depression and suicide. The walk and all afternoon activities are free and open to the public. People whose lives have been affected by mental illness, either personally or through friends and family, are especially encouraged to attend.

Organizers predict this year’s event will be especially powerful. The Steel Wheels, which include Eric Brubaker ’01, Brian Dickel ’98, and Jay Lapp, are also bringing that special friend on stage to share the story of his struggles with depression and past abuse, and how he came to make a different, life-saving choice. Keith Morris ’83 is past president and current board member of the , which addresses child sexual abuse in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

“The prevailing message of the event is hope,” said planning committee member , who mentors EMU students in her positions with and . “It’s really moving to be a part of it, to see everyone supporting each other.”

The event kicks off at 11:30 a.m. with a 2.2-mile walk from JMU’s Memorial Hall in downtown Harrisonburg along High Street/Virginia Avenue to the EMU campus. In the past, walkers and an administrator from each school marched separately to a common location, but this year, in a show of solidarity, all will walk together. Walk For Hope T-shirts, free to pre-registered participants, will be brightly tie-dyed in school colors.

Organizers expect close to 1,000 participants to congregate at EMU’s Thomas Plaza around 12:30 p.m. for an afternoon of music, creativity, and sharing. The concert begins at 1 p.m. Other activities include children’s face-painting and games, drumming, and opportunities to create remembrance art. As in past years, participants can decorate and take home personal garden stones and add squares to the “Symbols of Hope” quilt. This year’s special community project will be decorating large wooden letters that spell “Walk for Hope.”

Since it began in 2012, Walk for Hope has increased in size each year. That growth may come as the result of a tragic fact: Most college students know someone who has suffered from depression or anxiety, contemplated suicide or died by suicide. The second leading cause of death among college students is suicide, according to a 2012 study by the . reports that depression and anxiety are more common among college students than back pain, sinus ailments, and allergies.

Raising awareness and providing support are two goals of the , which co-sponsors Walk for Hope and also funds an innovative mentoring program at EMU called CoachLink. The program began after Austin Frazier, a junior at James Madison University, died in 2009 after a long battle with bipolar disorder.

“This CoachLink program and Walk for Hope were concepts presented to local colleges by his father, Bibb Frazier,” says Hostetler, one of five coaches in the CoachLink program. “Both are ways to honor Austin’s memory, to acknowledge that there is hope for all those who experience the effects of depression and suicidal thoughts, and to provide support and resources to students who may need it.” Bibb Frazier is the owner of the nearby , which supplied limestone seen on EMU’s buildings and grounds.

In 2010, CoachLink began with 15 students and three mentors. Now five coaches are paired with more than 50 students, some of whom probably would never see a counselor because of “stigma and anxiety or past history,” says coach Crystal Horning, a counselor with more than 25 years experience in the mental health field. “The informality of our meeting places and the kind of supportive relationship we have is almost more freeing, I think, for a student to talk about really challenging issues.”

Hostetler says Walk for Hope has successfully created a similar informal and positive atmosphere for educating and raising awareness. “From that first year, we wanted the focus to be on hope,” she said. “We wanted to create the right atmosphere that is comfortable, so people feel free to walk for someone they’ve lost or someone who considered suicide, but didn’t do it. We wanted people to leave feeling hopeful and comfortable talking about depression and suicide, because it’s not something people talk about or admit they’ve struggled with.”

The event is co-sponsored by the Austin Frazier Memorial Fund, EMU, JMU, Bridgewater College, and Sentara RMH Behavioral Health.

To receive a free t-shirt, pre-register at .

He didn’t know it yet, but the assignment sparked an interest that was to become his life’s work.

After graduating from EMU in 1979, Baker-Shenk worked for two years for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs before earning his law degree at Catholic University in D.C. He then returned to working on issues affecting Native American tribes, including three more years as an aide in the U.S. Senate. Now a partner in the Holland & Knight law firm, for the past 25 years he has been representing tribal governments across the country facing a variety of challenges to their sovereignty and self-governance authorities. It all goes back to that formative year he spent in Washington, which almost didn’t happen in the first place.

The idea of an EMU-sponsored academic program in D.C. began with Nelson Good ’68, who spent two years after graduation in D.C. as a conscientious objector volunteering at a community center. He later became an administrator of two Mennonite-run voluntary service units in Washington and soon became convinced that a service-year experience would be improved if a formal academic component were added.

Good approached EMU with his idea, but it was not immediately embraced by the administration. The college was facing a period of financial uncertainty in the mid-’70s, and was hesitant to start such an innovative program. This came as a disappointment to Baker-Shenk and a group of students who had become excited about Good’s proposal. They decided to take matters into their own hands in the spring of 1976.

“We organized together, and said to the administration, ‘We’re going to go elsewhere unless EMU starts this program,’” remembers Baker-Shenk.

Their effort paid off, and the university took a gamble on the idea. Good became the first director of the Washington Study-Service Year (WSSY), a position he would hold for the next 11 years, and Baker-Shenk was one of the first nine students in the first WSSY program during its initial year, from 1976 to 1977.

“Thanks to EMC’s vision, and thanks to WSSY and Nelson Good, I stumbled into a life-long passion and vocation that I would have never predicted ever happening to a little Mennonite farm kid from Pennsylvania potato fields,” Baker-Shenk said.

From the beginning, the WSSY program (renamed the , or WCSC, in 2002) was structured much like it is today. Students lived together in a group house and split their time between internships and academic courses, either taken at universities in the D.C. area or taught by EMU faculty staffing the program. Throughout its history, the program has afforded students the opportunity to live, study and gain valuable, real-world work and cross-cultural experience in the middle of one of the world’s most important cities.

“It was just such a thrilling year on multiple levels for me,” said Rolando Santiago ’79, a student during the second year of the WSSY program, beginning in the fall of 1977. “When I look back on it, I’m not sure that I’ve ever had such a rich, stimulating year since.”

Now the executive director of the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Santiago said his internship with Ayuda, a legal aid agency that primarily served Hispanic immigrants, gave him “deep appreciation for, and understanding of, the role that community-based organizations can have in enriching the life of an entire population.”

He said that mindset also heavily informed his work in mental health for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and as executive director of Mennonite Central Committee U.S. from 2004 to 2010.

Originally from rural Puerto Rico, Santiago got his first taste of urban living in Washington, and intentionally stretched himself by taking courses at the University of Maryland that weren’t available then at EMU. He also became involved in the Hispanic Mennonite Church in D.C. and capitalized on the spontaneous learning opportunities he encountered, such as a course he took on Marxism and Leninism taught by a person he’d met through Ayuda.

“It was a bit scary for me because I was always taught that that was not something you touch, intellectually or otherwise,” said Santiago, who later expanded his housemates’ horizons by arranging for the teacher to give a lecture on Marxism to the entire WSSY program.

One of his classmates that year, Dawn Longenecker ’80, also described the experience as one that stretched, challenged and transformed her in important ways.

“It’s a really wonderful place where people can struggle and grapple and build community all at the same time,” said Longenecker, director of Discipleship Year, a voluntary service program in Washington D.C. run by the Church of the Saviour.

As a WSSY student, Longenecker discovered a lifelong passion for advocacy and social change through her internship with the Gray Panthers, a grassroots organizing and advocacy group for elderly people. Longenecker recalls wrestling with the other WSSY students over questions of faith, justice and application of the Gospel, and said her mind was “blown on multiple levels.”

“It was an incredible year,” said Longenecker, who has remained in Washington ever since, mostly doing social work. “My whole life journey came from WSSY. My whole life was transformed.”

The formal academic component of the program includes classes taught by WCSC faculty, plus the option of studying at a number of different universities in the Washington D.C. area. At the beginning of the program, the University of Maryland was the main partner institution; today, students can enroll at Trinity University, the University of the District of Columbia, the Corcoran College of Art and Design and others, including Howard University and Catholic University.

Students are also required to take a weekly academic seminar. Until recently, WCSC director Kimberly Schmidt taught some seminar topics, while former associate director Doug Hertzler ’88 focused on others. (At the end of the fall 2012 semester, Hertzler departed WCSC for another job.) Schmidt and Hertzler – whose academic specialties are history and anthropology, respectively – used the city as a giant textbook as they examined issues of race, class, urban life and faith.

“The cultural and historical studies at WCSC have greatly informed my life,” said Mark Fenton ’10. “Looking at the gentrification of D.C. and issues of race and politics during the history of the city, has made me a more informed and better-rounded person.”

WCSC also represents EMU’s longest running cross-cultural, established several years before cross-cultural education found its way into the university’s required curriculum. When the program began, about 70 percent of Washington D.C.’s population was African-American, giving many students – particularly in the early days of the program – their first extended experience surrounded by people whose race and culture were different from their own, which tended to be largely white, rural populations.

“I remember the moment when I realized I wasn’t seeing race when I was working with kids,” said Dwight Gingerich ’81, who coached basketball at a predominantly African-American school during his year in the WSSY program. “Our neighborhood was 99 percent African-American, and it was a great cross-cultural experience for me.”

While many WCSC students today also participate in other cross-cultural programs offered at EMU, the program in Washington still fulfills that requirement for students.

Many alumni recall the importance of the informal, day-to-day aspects of the experience.

“I’m much more confident in finding my way around places, because I biked all over the city, and finding my way around transit systems isn’t so daunting,” said Fenton.

Amy Smith ’90 Mumbauer remembers learning about the challenges of sticking to a tight budget while shopping for her 12-student house at the Shoppers Food Warehouse and Glut, a food co-op. Like most WCSC groups, hers shared cooking and cleaning duties. They ate together around a long wooden table beneath a ceiling occasionally dangling spaghetti – the result of tests for pasta done-ness.

By the late ’90s, the WSSY program was beginning to have trouble filling all its spots, facing competition from EMU’s growing cross-cultural program and increasingly rigid academic requirements that made it difficult for students to spend an entire year off campus. Even with a handful of students from other Mennonite colleges entering the program each year, low enrollment was a significant concern when Schmidt became director in 1999.

After two more lean years, Schmidt and others at EMU made a difficult decision to reduce the program from a year to a semester in length. With the “year” part removed from the WSSY equation, a name-change was also in order. They chose the term “Community Scholars” to emphasize the academic rigor of the program – one of its major distinguishing factors from the many other college internship programs that exist in Washington D.C. “Community Scholars,” Schmidt says, also connotes an emphasis on social justice, which has always been a focus of the program. Finally, “Center” was chosen to emphasize the partnership EMU has with other Mennonite universities that regularly send students to the Washington Community Scholars’ Center, or WCSC.

Today, Bluffton University in Ohio is EMU’s biggest partner school in the program, sending up to five students per year. In addition to two semester-long sessions each year, WCSC also offers a 10-week summer program that places more emphasis on the internship experience and allows students to accumulate the same number of internship hours as those who spend the whole semester in Washington.

“I really admire how EMU took a longstanding program and wasn’t afraid to redesign it in a way that more people would benefit from,” said Fikir Tilahun ’00 Sanders, a member of one of the last groups of students to spend two semesters in the WSSY program.

In 2006, the newly revamped WCSC program underwent another change. Faced with expensive and cumbersome renovations to the original building in northeast Washington, the program moved a relatively short distance to a new building on Taylor Street. The new home gave the program more space and more convenient access to a Metro station.

The location also sits in an ideal neighborhood, neither sheltered nor unsafe. It is characterized by mixed incomes and ethnic diversity, said Hertzler. The diversity immediately surrounding the house, he added, made it very easy for students to conduct the direct participant-observation projects he assigned for the urban anthropology courses he taught.

The building is called the Nelson Good House, named in honor of the program’s founder and first director who was diagnosed with cancer as he was overseeing renovations of the new WCSC building in D.C. Good passed away in 2005, soon before the move was made.

Schmidt noted that the concept of “servant-leadership” remains at the heart of the WCSC experience and has been a core emphasis of the program since its inception. Servant-leadership, she explained, entails following Christ’s example in vocation by aligning faith and values with career goals; it characterizes the best leaders as motivated by a sense of service. In Washington D.C., she added, students have the additional opportunity to explore and apply Anabaptist values of servanthood and nonconformity in the geographic and figurative seat of American power.

“I came to understand in WSSY that institutions, and positions of leadership within institutions, are opportunities for serving,” said John Stahl-Wert ’81, who studied in the program during the 1977-78 school year.

The author of several books, including The Serving Leader, Stahl-Wert said that WSSY’s emphasis on servant-leadership, and a book the group read – Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by Robert Greenleaf – became the basis for his work today. In addition to writing, Stahl-Wert is also a leadership coach and speaker based in Pittsburgh.

“Criticizing institutions and leaders is one of the weaker – if sometimes necessary – acts of contributing good to the world,” he said. “We must step into difficult positions of responsibility.”

Stahl-Wert interned with the Juvenile Probation Office of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He recalls feeling immediately at home in the city even though he grew up in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. During his WSSY experience, he said Washington D.C. became the first of many cities he now loves.

First exposure to big-city life is another important element for many in the WCSC program.

“I came to WSSY with very little experience in an urban setting,” said Trent Wagler ’02. “The first lesson I learned was that I’m a very, very small blip in this huge journey. . . . Coming from a small Kansas high school to a small Mennonite college campus, it was pretty easy to get an inflated sense of my importance in the world. My year in Washington put that into some perspective.”

Wagler interned with the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. That opportunity led to work as an actor and musician at a professional theater in rural Virginia, which later inspired his career now fronting his nationally touring band, The Steel Wheels.

With its interconnected emphases on learning and service, diverse opportunities for students to explore career interests, and location in the heart of a major city, the program exerts an impact on students in multiple ways, say alumni.

“My D.C. semester was one of the best choices I made at EMU,” said Fenton, who is now a media specialist with the Gravity Group in Harrisonburg. “It helped me focus my goals and work toward them, building myself as a person, as a professional, and more. I am very glad for every way that my time in Washington changed me. It has all been for the better.”  — Andrew Jenner ’04

The program will feature a variety of different musical styles, including folk hymns, spirituals, classical church music and some original compositions.

This female singing group is comprised of recent graduates of EMU.

“Shekinah” means “the presence of God among them” (Romans 9:4; Exodus 16:10).

For more information, visit or contact Shekinah at info@shekinahmusic.net.

Ted Swartz (l.) and Trent Wagler in a scene from Ted & Company TheaterWorks’ original play, “I’d Like to Buy An Enemy.”

The play, starring Ted Swartz, Trent Wagler and Peter Nelson with original music by Wagler, is both hilarious and poignant. It allows us to laugh at ourselves while raising important questions about the place of the U.S. in the world, why fear is such a large part of our culture and asks the question: How can we honestly work for peace and justice in this country … and just maybe in the world?

Sketches include: “I’d Like to Buy an Enemy,” “Why Can’t I Get My Money Back?”, “The Reptilian Brain Speaks: We’re late! We’re late … are we late?” and “You Started it! – a treatise on the cycles of violence.”

CJP representatives will lead a discussion after the play.

Ted Swartz lives in Harrisonburg when he’s not on the road presenting workshops, sermons, solo shows or performing with the variety of actors that make up Ted & Company TheaterWorks. Perhaps most well-known for finding the humor and humanity in biblical stories (“Fish-Eyes,” “Creation Chronicles” and “DoveTale”), created with Lee Eshleman during their 20-year partnership, Swartz has recently begun creating plays about peace and justice (“I’d Like to Buy an Enemy”), the meaning of church and faith (“What Would Lloyd Do?”) and acting with Ingrid De Sanctis, Trent Wagler, Jeff Raught and others.

Trent Wagler is a freelance actor and musician from Harrisonburg. He has recorded four full-length albums and toured across the country with his band, The Steel Wheels and in duo performances with Jay Lapp. Wagler has played the role of Gabriel in Ted & Lee’s “DoveTale” show and worked with Swartz to create “What Would Lloyd Do?” and “I’d Like to Buy an Enemy.”

Pete Nelson is a 2008 graduate of ��ݮ����.

Tickets are available at the door only (no advance tickets will be sold) for $12/adults; $6/students. Call 540-574-4877 for more information.

For those who’ve asked, “What Would Lloyd Do?”, some possible answers to this not-so-rhetorical question are provided in a new play with music written by and starring Ted Swartz and Trent Wagler, that will premiere homecoming and parents weekend.

In the two-act, 90-minute play, a struggling inner-city church recruits a new pastor, Mike (Swartz), and music director, Jeff (Wagler). Coming from different generations, the two discover conflict and commonality – well, some commonality.

As their relationship grows, they wrestle with issues of doubt, disappointment and hope. On top of all this, they take over a tired radio show that must be broadcast each Sunday morning.

The cast includes special guest artist Jay Lapp from Goshen, Ind., and Wagler’s band, The Steel Wheels, along with local acappella groups Shekinah and Sons of the Day.

“The play has great original music and lots of humor as it examines important themes for life and the church,” Swartz noted. The director is Ingrid De Sanctis, who has worked previously with Swartz and the late Lee Eshleman (Ted & Lee). She has rejoined the theater department at EMU and also teaches part time at James Madison University.

Ted Swartz

Swartz has been experimenting with the intersection of humor and faith ever since his seminary days – when he thought his search would lead to a pastorate. Instead, his journey led him to creating and performing dramatic plays that tell the biblical story for more than one quarter million people across the U.S. and into Canada, Kenya and Japan.

The first 20 years of this work included the creation of Ted & Lee TheaterWorks with Lee Eshleman and development of plays such as “Armadillo Shorts,” “Fish-Eyes,” “Creation Chronicles,” “Live at Jacob’s Ladder” and “DoveTale” (with Ingrid De Sanctis).

Ingrid De Sanctis

De Sanctis is a freelance director, actor and playwright. She spent four years as an associate director of drama at Willow Creek Community Church, creating, performing and directing. In 2006-07, she served with AmeriCorps in Apopka, Fla., using the arts to empower young Hispanic students and their families.

De Sanctis has created edgy, challenging plays on such topics as refugees in the Balkans (“Torba”), survivors of violent crime (“A Body in Motion”) and stories of faith created with inner city youth (“WhaChaGonnaDu?”).

Trent Wagler

Wagler, a freelance actor and musician, has recorded three full-length albums and a DVD and has toured extensively with his band, Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels or in duo performances with Jay Lapp. His studies in theater and justice, peace and conflict studies took him to Palestine where he taught English, theater and music in a secondary school in the Gaza Strip.

Wagler currently works at a Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Harrisonburg, where he integrates theater and music into the education and prevention programming of The Collins Center.

Swartz, Wagler and De Sanctis are all theater graduates of EMU.

“What Would Lloyd Do?” will be presented 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10-11, in EMU’s Lehman Auditorium. Persons do not have to attend homecoming weekend activities to see the play.

Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5 for students and are available in advance at Red Front Super Market and at the door.

"WWLD: What Would Lloyd Do?", is a musical comedy written by and starring Ted Swartz ’89 and Trent Wagler ’02, and directed by Ingrid De Sanctis ’88). The play, with guest artist Jay Lapp and featuring music groups The Steel Wheels, Shekinah and Sons of the Day, will be presented 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., Oct. 10-11 in Lehman Auditorium. Tickets, at $7.50 for adults and $5 for students, are available in advance at Red Front Super Market and at the door.

Ted Swartz (l.) and Trent Wagler will premiere a new theater piece, "WWLD (What Would Lloyd Do??), as part of homecoming weekend at EMU, Oct. 10-11. Photo by Jon Styer

A symposium, "Forgiveness in the Face of Tragedy: The Amish of Nickel Mines," will take place 10-11:30 a.m. Friday in Lehman Auditorium. Featured speakers will be Donald B. Kraybill ’67 and Herman Bontrager ’72, both of whom played key roles with the Amish community following the tragic shootings in a schoolhouse October, 2006. A question and answer period will follow.

Ken J. Nafziger, professor of music, will lead a worship celebration of song and scripture 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 12 in Lehman Auditorium. Recipients of the alumnus of the year award, distinguished service award and lifetime of service award will participate and be recognized in the service.

Reunions and Breakfast Meetings

Traditional homecoming features will include reunions at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 11 for graduating years ending in a "3" or "8," from 1963 to 2003. The "Jubilee Alumni," persons who attended EMU 50 years ago or more, will hold a luncheon and program at 11:30 a.m. that day in Campus Center Greeting Hall, where members of the class of 1958 will be formally inducted.

Breakfast meetings will be held Saturday morning for alumni and friends of the business and economics department; nursing, education, the sciences, athletics (Loyal Royals), Bible and religion (Haverim).

The language and literature department will host a reunion 9-10 a.m. for all staffers formerly associated with the ".

See the full Homecoming schedule for more detail.

Oakwood Gathering and Science Summit

Former residents of Oakwood residence hall are invited to gather near the site of this "once-beloved dormitory," which has been demolished to make way for a three-story, environmentally-friendly, 120-bed facility, at 11 a.m. Saturday to share stories and jog memories. Read more about the recent demolition of Oakwood and see the web-cam to track progress.

At a mini science "summit" 10 a.m. Saturday, EMU science faculty and students in environmental classes will share research projects and give updates on plans to renovate and expand the 40-year-old facility.

Arts and Athletics

An art exhibit featuring works by EMU visual arts and communication professors Barbara Fast, Cyndi Gusler ’93, Jerry Holsopple ’80 and Steven Johnson will be on display in the third floor gallery of Hartzler Library. Media will include mixed media fiber art, drawings, photography and digital images. A gallery talk and reception will be held 4 p.m. p.m. Saturday.

Varsity field hockey, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer games are scheduled on Saturday, preceded by a Loyal Royals "fun run" 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the EMU track.

The Paul R. Yoder, Sr., Memorial Golf Classic will be held Fri., Oct. 10 with start times at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the Spotswood Country Club in Harrisonburg.

More Information

Special activities for children (kindergarten through fifth grade) and youth (grades 6 through 9) are scheduled at various times Saturday, and childcare for infants through age 5 will be provided during reunions and at other designated times.

During the weekend, a documentary video produced by alumnae Tiffany Horst ’07 and Carrie Keagy ’07, will be shown several times, featuring historic images and interviews that help to interpret the growth and changes that EMU has seen over the years while remaining true to its vision, according to Douglas J. Nyce ’86, director of alumi/parent relations.

The registration desk in the University Commons will be open 3-8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 10 and 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 11.

For more information, go to www.emu.edu/homecoming, call the alumni office at (540) 432-4245 or e-mail alumni@emu.edu.

A play evoking the agony experienced by victims of violence is hitting people hard on both sides of prison walls.

“I’ve read about how victims feel and I’ve been through counseling,” one Pennsylvania prisoner told actors after they performed “A Body in Motion” at his medium-security state prison. “But this is the first time I’ve really felt it. This is the first time I felt the rage. This is the first time I’ve stopped thinking about my own victimhood.”

“A Body in Motion” is based on the book “Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims” (Good Books, 2001) by Howard Zehr, co-director of EMU’s Conflict Transformation Program.

Three of the five principals involved in the play – the director and two of the actors, Trent Wagler and Lisa White – are EMU alumni, as is Barb Toews, the Pennsylvania Prison Society official who marshaled the resources necessary for the play to tour through eight Pennsylvania prisons in late April and May.

Playwright and director Ingrid DeSanctis pieced together a touching, often wrenching, play from the 39 profiles in Dr. Zehr