What a ride it’s been. There’s so much I have yet to say, and so much I want to say. So much gratitude: to the friends that have kept me going through endless late-night study sessions and Taco Bell runs; to my professors, the advisers and mentors that they are; and especially to the student-athletes that have given me a space to act like a child again, and jump, dance and sing my way through four years in the student section. I don’t have space for everything I want to say, though, and you all don’t need to read my...

By Daniel James • April 11, 2024 • Features

The Campus Post Office is known primarily as the holding place for student mail, where packages and letters are picked up and confirmation photos are taken and sent. However, the department is responsible for much more than what meets the eye. “Campus Post has many big and small tasks that simply cannot all be named in a concise answer,” said Melissa Viruez, the ITS Media office manager. Viruez has been working at GC for 9 months, and has been “truly enjoying” being a part of the ITS Media team.  “We serve as the sole campus delivery and pickup location for...

By Ben Koop • April 4, 2024 • Features

I met Doug Crum at the campus safety desk at 11:56 p.m. on Saturday night. He was clocking in for an eight-hour shift, and was taking me along for the ride.  Zeke Kingsbury was the safety office on duty that evening, so he gave Crum the rundown from his shift earlier that evening: “Not much to report,” he said. “Goshen Health called, they had reports of someone acting strange in their parking lot, black hoodie, red hat. They said he was headed our way but I never saw him.” As Crum settled into his shift, he turned to me. Crum...

By Tyson Miller • April 4, 2024 • Features

We are encouraged! Last Wednesday, these two octogenarians from Greencroft joined nearly 100 students and friends of Goshen College to lift our voices in song, listen to moving speeches, hold protest signs and generally try to have our voices heard. It was so heartening to see students trying to make a difference, speaking to the GC administration, asking them to speak up against the violence and killing in Gaza. They spoke of their own sorrow, anger and disappointment at our culpability in supporting the carnage. Yet, there was a glimmer of hope as GC students and leaders from Michiana Voices...

By Jep and Joyce Hostetler • April 4, 2024 • Features

Robina Sommers transitioned into higher education after teaching at public elementary and high schools for 30 years. She joined Goshen College faculty this fall as an assistant professor of education.  In 2017, Sommers received an ADHD diagnosis that brought on a new set of challenges to her job as an educator. I sat with Mrs. Sommers to get her personal and occupational journey with ADHD.  Sommers’ diagnosis came rather late in her life. She believes the delay was rooted in cultural discrepancies and educational expectations in her upbringing.  “Growing up in India, everything was so structured that there was no...

By Eliza Alemán • April 4, 2024 • Features

From age 6 to age 11, before trends had entered my mind, before I was aware of what was cool or uncool, in style or out of style, I wore outrageous things: psychedelic print shorts with a neon tank top, long striped rainbow socks and a white faux fur vest, to share a glimpse. One day on a hike in the woods with my family, I even wore a strapless tank top, bell-bottom jeans and a skinny but long shimmery scarf… On a hike… Now, far from the days of clueless bliss, we are constantly bombarded with opinions on what...

By Sadie Brenneman • March 21, 2024 • Features

   Earlier this year, music from Beyoncé to Lady Gaga filled the Umble Center for the annual drag show. Behind the music and glamor was a group working to make it happen. Advocates is an on-campus club that strives to create a safe community for LGBTQ+ individuals through events, advocacy work and education.  Leaders this year include Karen Guerrero, a senior social work major, Lydia Esh, a junior social work major, Drew Smoker, a senior engineering physics major and Aiden Schloneger, a senior environmental science major.  In 2022, Schloneger became president but recently passed the role onto Peace Muhagachi, a junior...

By Jakyra Green • March 21, 2024 • Features

PIN, or the Prevention-Intervention Network, is a student-led organization that educates and trains other students on becoming empowered to prevent and intervene against interpersonal violence.  This year, the group has been led by Brianne Brenneman, a professor who directs the undergrad program in public health. In 2015, PIN began with the support and work of students and Kendra Yoder, a sociology professor.  Although PIN has been active since its inception, many people still are unaware of what PIN is or what they do: “The organization focuses on prevention of sexual violence and its many forms. It gives people the attitudes...

By Isis Espinoza • March 21, 2024 • Features

Earlier this semester, Kyle Hufford, professor of communication at Goshen College, spent three weeks working as part of a team to lead film workshops at the Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea. The Youth Olympics are for athletes 15-18 years old, and the games occur on the same year as the adult Olympics — albeit with opposite Games. For instance, the Winter Youth Olympics were this year, and the Summer Olympics are in Paris later this year. Given the age range, participants in the Youth Olympic Games only get to partake in this event once. The young athletes participated...

By Liam Morris • March 14, 2024 • Features

The feminine experience is something that cannot be summed up in words, or confined to general concepts. The feminine experience is a human life lived, in all its different cultures, contexts and colors: an identity that is made by the individual who lives it. This is a subject that the Queen Singers of Goshen College, a group made up of BIPOC women singers, have discussed. How do they want to convey the feminine experience? It may be through songs of empowerment like Alicia Keys’ “Girl is Fire,” or through songs about heartbreak and vulnerability like Yebba’s “Evergreen.” In these interview...

By Ana Yoder • March 14, 2024 • Features

Isacc Hernandez is in his third year as an academic coach for the Academic Success Center. As a coach, he meets one-on-one with students at all different levels of their college career every day. He also juggles being a professor for Academic Success and Identity, Culture and Community and an administrative faculty member, as well as being part of the Hispanic Serving Institution committee. “At Goshen, you end up doing multiple things. I try to do most … opportunities, but sometimes when your plate is too full you have to say no,” he said. “I try to grow and connect...

By Isis Espinoza • March 14, 2024 • Features

“I’ve thought about dying, a few times.” As the monologue continued, it became harder and harder to breathe. That’s something really special about Goshen Monologues. Now, I’m a male, and I can’t say that I identify with — or fully understand — the feminine experience, and not all of the stories speak to me. And that’s OK! I am not the reason this is happening, and it’s not something made for me. But some of the stories, the emotions, the experiences that were expressed in Monologues on Sunday night really rang true to me — and are the reasons for...

By Daniel James • March 14, 2024 • Features

A mass email was sent out to many women on the Goshen College campus. They were asked to provide the best piece of advice they have received. Women of all ages, races and cultural backgrounds were asked the same question, but the common denominator was the same: sharing the feminine experience.                                                                                                                                       “In the journey of womanhood, I’ve discovered that change is inevitable and s—- happens. That’s right, SHIFT happens! Life presents challenges, but with each shift, we adapt and rise. Throughout our transformative journeys, my advice is to establish boundaries, identify your support system, embrace vulnerability, and navigate each...

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For three afternoons a week, for an hour and a half (and two hours on Mondays), I forget about everything else going on in my life and walk into the Music Center, pull out my black folder, and start my vocal warmups. I’ve sung in GC’s low voice choir, Vox Profundi, every year of my college career. Now, over my time at this school, I’ve been a part of a good number of clubs, groups and extracurriculars. Don’t get me wrong: I love, love, love my work with The Record; I talk constantly about how much joy I get from...

By Daniel James • February 15, 2024 • Features

With Brian Mast taking over the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra just days before the Concerto-Aria concert, students in the GCSO are experiencing a wide range of emotions after Richard Brunson’s firing. The Record interviewed six orchestra students (and Mast) and asked them the following questions. These are their answers. What was your reaction when you first heard about Brunson’s actions? “Initially it was numbness and then I felt very sad, a lot of grief … I felt for the students that were close to him, I felt for the professors, our whole music department, I felt for the community as...

By Record • February 15, 2024 • Features