With the rerouting of campus diners to the Leaf Raker, foot traffic has increased for a new feature on campus: the poetry garden.  The Fisher Terrace, dedicated in October 2021, and its poetry garden are located just outside the Leaf Raker. They feature six poems where the pavement meets the flowers, including work from Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, Eavan Boland, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Wendell Berry and Seamus Heaney.  When asked if he noticed the poetry, Xudong Sun, a senior majoring in computer science, immediately pointed out a favorite poem of his. “The Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver, gave Sun “ideas...

By Caleb Shenk • October 5, 2023 • Features

The clock tower doesn’t garner much attention from students these days. In the era of cell phones, students have other ways to check the time.  Positioned on top of the Union building, the clock tower was built in 1956 as a part of the overall building construction. Initially a complicated system with many points of failure, it didn’t take long for the tower to be critiqued.  In 1959, Donald M. Marquis wrote an article for The Record complaining about the lack of consistency in the chimes. “It either didn’t ring, rang all the time, or rang a pseudo Jazz pattern...

By Tyson Miller • October 5, 2023 • Features

Interviewing people who talk for four or more hours per day isn’t the most difficult task in the world. They’ve got a lot to say. “I’m a quote machine,” said Jason Samuel, associate professor of communication and general manager of WGCS. “Don’t mess. Have I sold you yet?” Goshen College’s communication department is not all talk. Three broadcasting students, Dante Stanton, Amelia (Lee) Turnbull and Mike Murrell, have taken the real-world experience offered by the communication department to the next level, as they’re employed at radio stations and television channels before finishing their degrees. According to Samuel, GC’s awarded, dependable...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • September 28, 2023 • Features

National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for celebration, and with Goshen College’s new status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, the Latino Student Union is feeling the pressure.  “I do feel like there’s a big pressure on  this month,” said Gladys Leon Diaz, one of the student leaders of LSU. “Just to make sure we’re being inclusive enough. As an HSI … there’s just no way we can’t do anything or do the bare minimum.” Hispanic Heritage Month comes at a difficult time for students. Falling just weeks after they arrive back on campus, there isn’t much time to get plans...

By Tyson Miller • September 28, 2023 • Features

Palms slam the chain link fence, a vuvuzela blares and voices are raised in a chant of “you can’t do that” as a referee awards a yellow card to an opposing player. The Goshen College student section is out in full force for women’s soccer. It ends unfortunately for the Leafs; Siena Heights gets the 2-0 win, dealing the Maple Leafs their second loss of the season. But the student section is engaged until the end, cheering on their team, making noise and willing them to put a ball in the back of the net. The GC student section was...

By Tyson Miller • September 28, 2023 • Features

After getting back from studying in Ecuador this summer, I had four weeks at home before I moved into college. This transition time was awkward and challenging: I was abruptly back home and expected the reverse culture shock to hit me — but sometimes it didn’t, and the familiarity I felt returning to the U.S. was jarring in its own way. With a wide-open schedule for the first time in months, if not years, I wasn’t sure how to fill my days. I was feeling out-of-place in my country, in my privilege and at times in my family. One way...

By Caleb Shenk • September 14, 2023 • Features

The swirl of the purple and white checkered flag as it’s carried around the field, the cheers of the crowd, or the groans as the ball goes out of bounds once again — this is what the average fan sees at a Goshen College soccer game. However, what they might not see is how the grass is maintained for optimal performance, how the trash cans in the bleachers get emptied or how the sidelines are straightened for the ball to sail over.  In fact, most people have no idea what actually goes into getting the soccer field ready to hold...

By Kate Bodiker • September 14, 2023 • Features

Transitioning to college can be difficult for an incoming freshman, but transitioning to a new college as a professor can be even harder. Kortney Stern is a visiting professor of English, and she teaches with a twist. Stern grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended a large high school, but due to some personal challenges, she almost didn’t graduate. Because of that, she ended up being too late to apply to four-year institutions and so her mother suggested she take classes at Diablo Valley College. Stern ended up enrolling in an English class with professor Julie Roemer.  ...

By Angelica Carrillo • September 14, 2023 • Features

When students spend three-fourths of the year on their college campuses, one would expect that they would have extensive knowledge of their school. However, most students either aren’t exposed to or have a misinterpretation of the terms “tenure” and “sabbatical.” Tenure is more complex than creating invincible professors. Goshen College describes it as “an expectation of a continuing relationship between the college and a teaching faculty member.” Ann Vendrely, GC’s academic dean and the chair of the Rank and Tenure Committee, seeks to provide more context.  Tenure is provided “so that [professors] can teach what they think they need to...

By Lindsey Graber • September 14, 2023 • Features

Like many people who attend Goshen College, Jen Shenk was unaware of the labyrinth on the northeast side of the Yoder Dorms. It wasn’t until she started working with the college last spring that she realized it existed.  “I didn’t even know that Goshen College had a labyrinth until I started working as a Campus Pastor and saw some old brochures in a drawer!” she said. “I was super excited to find out that we had a labyrinth right here on our campus property, since it’s been such a meaningful part of my own spiritual growth.”  When Shenk went out...

By Ana Yoder • September 8, 2023 • Features

Westlawn Dining Hall hadn’t felt quite the same the past few weeks. Its usual round tables were replaced by long, rectangular tables, shrouded in cheap, purple plastic tablecloths — the kind that are fun to make holes in at birthday parties. The juice machine was gone, replaced by large see-through coolers that had to be filled with ice to keep the juice cold. Just like its orange juice, Westlawn had become a bit watered down. Red tape labeled “danger” lined the street and Kulp entrances. A few electrical cords hung from the wall. The artwork hanging over the fireplace had...

By Tyson Miller • September 8, 2023 • Features

Dear editor, I left the men’s soccer match last Wednesday frustrated and embarrassed. Our team didn’t have its best showing, but that’s not what really bothered me. What really got under my skin was the heckling by our fans.  For starters, I don’t think it’s working. If anything, instead of getting in the other team’s head, our hecklers seem to fuel the other team’s determination. I’ve seen it happen at multiple men’s games — basketball, volleyball and soccer.  It’s reached the point that I don’t really want to go to men’s games anymore. It’s too painful and awkward.  What starts...

By Rob Brenneman • September 8, 2023 • Features

Master of Social Work (MSW) intern Cristina Reyes has worked on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and students have already noted her impact. “Every week, I receive requests from students specifically asking to see Cristina because they have heard great things about her from friends and other GC students,” said Liz Andes, assistant dean of students and director of health and wellness. Reyes is currently enrolled in the MSW program at Indiana University South Bend which places students at a practicum site based on their preference. She is also set to graduate next month.  Reyes...

By Jakyra Green • April 13, 2023 • Features

A month ago, the president of Goshen College hugged U.S. Senator and preacher Raphael Warnock. That was before she realized she wasn’t supposed to. Every year, President Rebecca Stoltzfus takes a trip with her sisters, Tina and Melinda. This year, they went to Atlanta for a few days — and although there was “so much to do” in the city, Stoltzfus said one destination was a must. “The one thing that we wanted to do for sure was go to the Ebenezer Baptist Church,” she said. The church in downtown Atlanta — where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and...

By Daniel James • April 13, 2023 • Features

The campus is tranquil almost everywhere on Wednesday nights, with one exception being a small room in the west wing of Newcomer Center. Before going to print, the student staff carefully reads over articles, lays out text and graphics and examines photos collected for the week — all in time for a new issue of The Record to be released Thursday morning. Junior accounting major Caleb Shenk serves as digital editor, and on Wednesday nights he works on copy editing, page layout and the crossword. “With my internship, I’ve been unable to write as much as I would have liked...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • April 13, 2023 • Features