Finals and projects are flying left and right, bludgeoning passersby. I am not enrolled in a single class, and I have seven presentations, four essays and 13 bibliographies to complete, just because of my proximity to the college campus.

As we get nearer and nearer to the day of caps and gowns, I suggest that we do more than reflect on the past year. We will have the rest of our lives to wallow in nostalgia with respect to our college days. Let us instead begin building figurative blueprints for the Goshen College of the Future.

What would you like Goshen College to look like in five years? Of course, when I say “you,” I mean me. After all, I’m the one writing the article.

Here are some things for which Goshen College should strive.

1.    Complete Energy Independence.

The solar panels on the roof of the Recreation-Fitness Center are a fantastic start. However, I have plenty of less-feasible ideas to add to the mix.

Every sidewalk should be an enormous treadmill that powers the Connector. Squirrels should be made to run in those little hamster wheels and hooked up to generators. Choirs should always have to sing at little windmills and propel them with their collective breathiness.

I don’t see any reason why these ideas wouldn’t work, and if you do, perhaps you just need a hug and a tendency to disregard facts.

2.    More Core Values.

Goshen College was a trendsetter in finding five “funky-fresh core values” (alliteration points!). Unfortunately, other jealous colleges will soon be cramping our style and creating their own “copy cat core values.”

We should anticipate this and create more core values. Some of them can be very specific: Dedicated Spelunkers, Monty Python Quoters, Reggae Enthusiasts. Others can be vague and impressive sounding: Proactive Self-Enablers, Effective Co-Actualizers, Posi-tastic Go-Getters. (These are also excellent things to put on your resume!)

If we still need more, we can begin repeating the original five, but in interesting fonts.

3.    Located Somewhere Sunny.

This will lead to less complaining on the part of college students. It will also help with our pesky vampire infestation.

4.    A Better Use for the Train/Tracks.

The train is always passing from campus to and from, and – as far as I can tell – never does anything useful. This seems wasteful. We should have a big catapult that flings water balloons whenever a train smacks into it. This would be hilarious and keep people cool in the summer.

We could also be making better use of the track. If we hoisted parts of it off the ground, we could make a Goshen College roller coaster as easy as sneezing. Then students wouldn’t need to go to Cedar Point.

5.    Acquisition of the Surrounding 17 Goshen Blocks.

This will put an end to the rage about four-year residency. If Goshen College owns most of the town, students can “stay on campus” while living wherever they want. They can use Munch Money to eat at Universal Tamal or Kelly Jae’s Café.

Granted, there might be some opposition to this proposal. Some families currently living in the neighborhoods might object to suddenly being under the college’s rules and expectations. Open house hours in particular, might cause some do-goodniks to grouse. We would have to explain to them compassionately and patiently that they are better off being in the Goshen College bubble – and possibly write them up.

6.    All-You-Can-Eat Gummi Bear Fountains.

I think this is fairly self-explanatory.

These are just six of the thousands of steps Goshen College could take in the future. The possibilities are literally brain-exploding. No one knows for certain what the Goshen College of the Future will look like, except of course Jesus and possibly President Jim Brenneman.

And I have a really good feeling they both want to see a group of Posi-tastic Go-Getters powering their rollercoasters with squirrel generators.

Photo by Chase Snyder.

In February, I had the opportunity to attend one of the four marketing presentations by Mindpower. In attending the first and earliest presentation, I was a little grumpy and a ton skeptical. And I mean a ton. I went to the presentation with the expectation that Mindpower was absolutely not going to win me over.

Perhaps it was my 8:00 a.m. grumpiness, but the whole room seemed to align with me. The audience seemed a little tense and apprehensive, almost holding a collective breath. If you remember back, this was the time when Goshen College was beginning to feel out what it meant to have advertisements run during the Superbowl and Grammy’s. With these new avenues of advertising and now a new shift in branding, the audience of students, faculty and staff seemed nervous about the direction of the college.

Within fifteen minutes, the initial nervous tension of the room dissolved. To my absolute surprise, I found that I flipped my position. My ton of skepticism shrunk to the size of a pint.

The Mindpower marketing plan won me over for three reasons:

1.    Mindpower really listened to Goshen College and captured both our strengths and our flaws. The brand synthesizes these realities into a digestible form and owns it. For example, it doesn’t shy away from the college’s Mennonite affiliation or Other-Than-Mennonites. The new brand holds up and praises both pieces.

2.    Mindpower let us know that we should be proud of our identity. Throughout the campaign, Mindpower has given us a way to clearly show our values in an accessible way.

3.    Mindpower gave us a reality check that we can’t be everything for everybody. They also assured us that this was alright, even healthy.

Since that 8:00 a.m. meeting, I have been in several forums and conversations contemplating the new Mindpower vision. I found that my remaining pint of skepticism found company among other students, faculty and staff.

There have been concerns over the biblical tone and accessibility to our non-pacifist neighbors. There has been confusion regarding the branding vision mixing with the Goshen College “core values” or “Culture for Service” motto. There has even been discussion if the college could currently own up and match what the brand claims for us.

For example, can we really embody the tag line, “Healing the world, peace by peace?” I believe that we can’t do this 100 percent of the time. But like with the core values or “Culture for Service,” we should always keep trying to aim high to meet our ideals.

I see this new brand as far from perfect. But I believe that overall, it is a healthy change and a positive direction for Goshen College. I am looking forward to seeing the final tweaks and official marketing plan in action this April.

Melissa MacGregor is a senior history and investigative skills major from Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Photo by Julia Baker.

I appreciate the structure of Goshen College’s Study-Service Term and am glad to hear about the profound experiences that students have about the learning, the work and learning to live in another culture with new families. I believe those relationships are a critical component of the S.S.T. experience – for those who go on S.S.T. and those who receive members of the Goshen College community.

I am often slightly suspicious (even sometimes very suspicious) of “service trips.” I think that it is critically important for genuine relationships to be built into service models, and for a mutually beneficial experience on the part of people on both sides of the relationship. Too often, the people who benefit most from these types of encounters are the ones who go to serve. Many of us have experienced that dynamic: returning home and telling stories about how we received much more than we gave.

Several years ago, I served as an associate pastor in an urban church. Part of my pastoral portfolio included caring for and planning activities for youth and young adults.

During my first spring season on the job, I noticed something that I would learn to watch out for every spring. Our church – located in a poor area of the city – would get calls from other youth pastors planning the spring and summer activities for their youth.

The calls to our church were inquiries about service projects. The pastors (or youth sponsors) were looking for service projects to do and wondered if we might have some things for them to do in our church or in our neighborhood.

A couple of times, I did set up some things for groups to come in and do. And I bet they went away feeling great about the work they did.

But there was a problem. Actually, a couple of problems.

First, we did not get to know the youth who came to do service in our neighborhood. Second, the projects that I was setting up for other youth groups to come and do were things our own members and youth were perfectly capable of doing, and did do. I was basically setting up a dynamic that had the potential to make one group of kids feel good about who they were and what they were doing, and make another group feel bad about who they were and what they seemingly “needed” that outside group come in and do.

What was missing was a sense of mutuality – both groups coming together and sharing in the giving and the receiving. Also missing was a sense of relationship.

I began to suggest that instead of outside groups coming in and serving and then leaving. Instead, we should focus on getting to know one another.

It took some time, but eventually there were some takers, and genuine relationships had the opportunity to grow. That’s the kind of service and learning that I hope to always be a part of.

Regina Shands Stoltzfus is an assistant professor of sociology at Goshen College.

Photo contributed.

This past weekend was great for Goshen College, as we celebrated the International Student Club coffeehouse and International Women’s Day.

The coffeehouse gives us the opportunity to experience various cultures in an informal setting. It is also a chance for us to enjoy some home cooking. International students are asked to prepare a traditional dish from their respective countries.

As both a woman and an international student, it was a great day for me. It was one of the days that I was looking forward to celebrating. Fortunately, we were able to celebrate both holidays. It is a great experience to see all the people from different cultural backgrounds come together.

Most of the international students, including myself, want to share the meaningful things from our home culture, which makes the coffeehouse a big day for all international students (it is also a time to calm down for the students who have been homesick).

It is an event where we see the similarities and differences of cultures. It is satisfying to see the community enjoy the food and the show and gain some knowledge about the cultures represented at Goshen College. In addition to sharing a meal, it is a night to share a little about ourselves as well.

I really enjoyed seeing all the traditional clothes – items that hold a lot of meaning for us. Everyone could look around Sauder Concert Hall and notice all of the beautiful and unique faces of the people from different countries.

The great thing about Goshen College is that we value diversity, because it cherishes the differences in the college community. Keep in mind that it is not our differences that make us part of the college. Instead, it is the acceptance of our differences and also the love that we receive from Jesus that binds us. His love gives us the ability to welcome the differences.

On Sunday, the day after the coffeehouse, ending discrimination of gender, race, violence and injustice led the women to celebrate International Women’s Day. It was a day to stand for the women in the world, and celebrate the  achievements of women – a time for women to be outspoken concerning the national and international problems which have been destructive to the well-being of women which affect all human beings.

The voices of college women are also being heard, as they defined being a woman in 2009 and their goals for 2009. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we should remind ourselves that women have to be liberated to create a civil society.

Saron Getaneh is a junior sociology major and women’s studies minor from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The bowling is far away, and the path in between is filled with cold and Yetis. The bowling alley has surpassed stinky to reach the state of “stanky.” Finally, the bowling alley costs dollars. I currently only have $300 and 250 of those dollars need to go towards paying rent.

But I had a moment of clarity when one friend said, “You know, I have Wii bowling … We could just stick around and do that for free.”

A Wii – for those of you not in the know – is a video game system that responds to your hand movements and can perfectly recreate real life activities like bowling and cow racing.

At my friend’s words, I realized that the future was NOW. Thus I concluded that the past was now and the present and the future was the mega-future. Then my brain started to hurt, so I stopped thinking.

Still, Wii-bowling points us to an important truth: we are inching ever closer to true virtual reality, and we should jump on the bandwagon.

The Virtual Bandwagon! Hey-oh!

First, Goshen College should provide every student with a Wii. True, this will be expensive, but I’m sure we can have a bake sale or something. Perhaps some enterprising students can travel to Washington and create a “Wii Stimulus Package” that Congress would love. After all the money Congress has spent recently, an extra $200,000 probably sounds like an appropriate tip at the Olive Garden.

Next, we should figure out what real-life experiences we should attempt to recreate with our new virtual centers. It goes without saying that they should be modeled around the core values. But just in case it doesn’t go without saying, there. I just said it.

Servant leaders? Watch as we pick up virtual trash with our virtual sticks and stuff it in a virtual dumpster. As we clean a virtual river, we could program rabbits and eagles to sing songs for us, teaching us that service can be fun! Of course, when we were finished, the real world would be exactly the same. This teaches us that service is about the journey, not the destination.

Compassionate peacemakers? The Wii could take us into the midst of violent conflicts throughout history without putting the student in danger. The Wii remote could be a “Peace Laser.”

We could sneak among the wreckage of Troy, jump out with our lasers and turn even the most bloodthirsty warriors into peace-loving Gandhi-types. This would be extremely fun and would teach us that conflicts can be resolved by aiming lasers and … hmmm. Perhaps I should rethink this one.

Passionate learners? Two or possibly three words: Wii-search paper. This game would recreate the feeling of flipping through books at the library, scrolling through EBSCO and citing sources. Ugh! This sounds terrible. OK, we really don’t need this particular core value. Adios, passionate learners!

Global citizens would of course lead to virtual S.S.T. With an Internet hookup, we could arrange for people from other countries to be “virtual host parents.” You could use the Wii remote to scratch your head in confusion, apologize when you learn that head-scratching is a rude gesture of contempt and take countless pictures of buildings/stray dogs.

Christ-centered would be the trickiest, because how can a machine measure what is happening in someone’s heart? Clearly, we need further progress in nanotechnology before this core value is realized. Go, science department, go!

I hope you are as jazzed as I am about what a virtual Goshen College might look like. Until that day arrives, we can only imagine the thrill of virtually sprinting across the tracks to avoid being crushed by a virtual train.

Photo courtesy of Public Relations.

Students arriving at my English Skills class at Highlands Ranch High School after lunch on April 20, 2001 ducked, as always, under the welcoming sign that read: “Without frustration there is no learning.”

They were violating school rules, holding pagers openly in their hands. Before I could ask them to put them away, they asked me instead, “What’s going on at Columbine?”

I hadn’t a clue what was going on at our sister school seven miles away, and so turned the question back to them.

“We’re getting pages from them-they’re trapped,” they replied. “Somebody’s shooting at everybody.” I suspected a prank. This class was not above manufacturing a reason to avoid reading comprehension.

I tuned in to a local AM news station, and we spent the period listening to reporters explain that they did not know what was going on at Columbine, either – only that SWAT teams had been called, police were on the scene and some students were reporting shooting.

By the time I arrived home in Littleton, the story was on FM radio and national television. Phone lines in Littleton malfunctioned under the weight of people calling to see if their loved ones were all right. They weren’t.

Bomb threats evacuated us regularly for a month. We became afraid to go to school. Teachers’ periods for grading and lesson-planning were replaced by guard duty. We spent cold hours before glass doors not knowing what we would do if confronted with a semiautomatic weapon.

We wrote wills and letters to loved ones instead of quizzes. We repeated stories of students who had been shot for answering that they were-or were not-Christian. Then, it got worse.

Having identified the Columbine shooters by their long dark coats and hatred of “jocks” and dark artistic tendencies, first our administration pulled from my classes those students who habitually wore black coats. Then they came for the art students, then for the Goths. Next were students who used the Internet, followed by depressed students, attention-disordered students and any others who took regular medications.

That administration responded the only way their urgent interpretation of events allowed. But how did they not see that the only right response to this crisis was love? Why further alienate kids distressed enough to use violence?

Such views were silenced by arguments for safety. All I could do was express sympathy to the angry, no-longer-black-coated kids who crept back into my classroom after being interviewed by police, sometimes for days. Could I stay and watch this? Could I leave these kids defenseless?

The same week my students began disappearing from my classes, I was admitted to the master’s program at the University of Colorado, which led to a scholarship for doctorate work at the University of Notre Dame.

This ultimately led me to Goshen College, where I have learned a new vocabulary for peace, justice, compassion, responsibility and choices. I thank God every day for these blessings, but I will always wonder whether walking away from injustice was the right choice.

Julianne Bruneau is an English professor at Goshen College.

Bill Born extols the virtues of slightly revised campus response to alcohol use at a special convocation on Monday.

In the first convocation of the semester, Bill Born, vice president for student life, introduced a new response plan for alcohol violations called BASICS. An acronym for “Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students,” Born refers to BASICS as a shift in judicial response.

Prior to BASICS, the main punishment for alcohol use was a fine. Now, Born said a goal with the new program is to “evaluate not the ‘who’ of drinking, but rather the ‘why.’”

After a referral to BASICS, students will choose one of five trained counselors on campus and meet twice with the counselor. Bill Born, Char Hochstetler, Launa Rohrer, Tamara Shantz and Bob Yoder have all received training and will work directly with the students.

“The goal is to help students look at the role that alcohol plays in their life,” said Susie Lambright, the Kratz and Miller resident director. “We want to help students fit the ‘who you are’ into the ‘where you are.’”

BASICS is a national program that Goshen College has adopted to fit the community and campus. Duane Kauffmann, a retired Goshen College psychologist, created a portion in the BASICS counseling that is “GC specific,” and will incorporate Goshen core values and community standards as part of the counseling.

The implementers of the BASICS program hope it will create a campus of respect where everyone is invited to grow. In the Monday convocation, Born invited all students, faculty and staff “to demonstrate sensitivity and concern for other perspectives and struggles.”