As the sniffles of flu season approach, Goshen College is looking to combat sickness.  During the month of October, Goshen College is providing flu shots to students and employees on campus in the Koinonia Room in the Church-Chapel every Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  While this is not the first flu shot clinic Goshen College has hosted, it is as important as ever to get a shot, according to Kevin Miller, lead campus contact tracer and Pandemic Task Force coordinator. “We’re encouraging everyone to get a flu shot this fall to prevent flu cases. Both flu...

By Zack Begly • October 8, 2020 • Features

With cold weather, the days of playing spikeball on the lawn are fading quickly. Safely hanging out with friends is still possible, however.  The Pandemic Task Force has encouraged students to meet each other outside so far this school year to help slow the spread of COVID-19, but the weather is changing as it gets closer to the end of the year.  “Colder temperatures are definitely on the way, so we are recommending that students try to use the tents as much as possible,” said Gilberto Perez, vice president for student life and chair of the Pandemic Task Force.  “Students...

By Zack Begly • October 8, 2020 • Features

The Goshen College Alumni Council and Yoder Public Affairs Committee hosted Shashi Buluswar ‘91, last Thursday, Oct. 1 during Homecoming, as a part of the new series: GC Talks. Buluswar, CEO of the Institute for Transformative Technologies and a 2020 Culture for Service awardee, presented on the history of international service work and how it came to exist in the form most widely recognized today, which he says has included a shift away from reliance on foreign aid agencies. When Buluswar first arrived at Goshen College as a business and computer science major, the idea of culture for service was...

By Kristin Jantzen • October 8, 2020 • News

Based on surveys distributed earlier this spring to students, faculty and staff at 64 different colleges and universities around the country, Goshen College was deemed one of the top three schools for early COVID-19 communication. According to the survey conducted from Apr. 16 to May 5, 79% of students were generally or very satisfied with ongoing responses to COVID-19.  The study, administered by The Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, examined further questions including what stress the pandemic caused for students and faculty, as well as how the respective institution helped students and faculty through changes that took place.  64 institutions...

By Nick Yutzy • October 8, 2020 • News

This year, Goshen College is partnering with Mennonite Central Committee to offer SST-alternative courses in the form of a year-long series on global public health.  The Global Health Virtual Practicum, as the series is being called, will cover a wide variety of global health issues, including projects done in partnership with organizations around the world. “Over the year we will be working with a wide variety of MCC’s partner organizations from around the world,” said Paul Shetler Fast, MCC’s Global Health Coordinator and one of the organizers of the practicum. Fast ‘08 and his wife, Rebecca Shetler Fast, have been...

By Kristin Jantzen • September 24, 2020 • News

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, the Goshen College Pandemic Task Force confirmed three new cases of COVID-19 that day, bringing the total to five students currently in isolation. The most recent data dashboard shows two students and one employee in isolation while 13 students and one employee in quarantine.  Those numbers are set to change after learning that three of the students in quarantine tested positive. The highest case count in a week for the college regarding COVID-19 prompted the Pandemic Task Force to send a reminder email last Friday, Sept. 18 to students and faculty to keep up with the...

By Nick Yutzy • September 24, 2020 • News

It’s 1 a.m. You’re asleep in your bed or up finishing that one paper you knew about weeks ago but haven’t started yet. Not Lizzy or Oscar. They are at the hospital working.  Lizzy Diaz and Oscar Ramirez Garcia, both senior nursing majors, are night shift workers at Goshen Hospital.  “I started working the night shift in The Birthplace last August,” Diaz said. “I stayed on night shift for nine or 10 months. Now I work both days and nights. As a casual employee, I’m able to pick shifts that work for my schedule which is a huge improvement from...

By Zack Begly • September 24, 2020 • Features

Masks are the new normal on the Goshen College campus this semester. Though they aren’t overwhelmingly popular. Masks muffle your voice, make your face hot and they can seem difficult to breathe in on occasion.  Still, they are the new form of expression, giving you a way to be creative and send a message, and whether solid-colored or patterned, there is still a right and safe way to wear them. “Nose, mouth, and gills,” said Corie Steinke, director of student involvement. “Whatever is intaking and outputting air is where your mask should go.” As part of the Big Four, students...

By Janis Perez • September 17, 2020 • Features

[For the most up-to-date COVID-19 statistics, visit Goshen College's COVID-19 DashBoard by clicking here] On Tuesday, Sept. 15, the third confirmed case of COVID-19 at Goshen College sent a student into isolation for the first time since the second week of the fall semester. Despite the recent case, the coronavirus’ presence on campus remains low as the fifth week of classes wrap up.  According to a New York Times article updated on Sept. 10, GC joins more than 1,190 colleges and universities around the U.S. where COVID-19 has been reported.  Still, more than 150 colleges have experienced 100 positive cases....

By Nick Yutzy • September 17, 2020 • News

The Goshen Farmers Market is creating new ways to stay open in unconventional times.  “We had to adjust our operations during the [stay-at-home] order,” said Jo Ellen Davis, Goshen Farmers Market manager. “But being a food-based business, we were allowed to stay open under the governor’s mandate.”  In the first weeks of the stay-at-home order, only food vendors were allowed to sell produce at market. “So there was probably about half the number of vendors at that time of year that would normally be there, but we were able to remain open every week,” she said. Additional changes were made...

By Record • September 17, 2020 • Features

Even after a majority of students left campus last March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the custodial department remained at work.  A GC custodian’s day starts at 5 a.m., according to Christy Farley, custodial supervisor.  Farley has worked for the custodial department for five years, and was promoted to supervisor two years ago. The custodians clock in at 5 a.m., clean until their break from 9-9:30 a.m., break at 11 a.m. for lunch and then clock out at 1:30 p.m.  The earliest impact on the custodial department took place “when the students were sent home due to COVID-19,” Farley said....

By Patrick Webb • September 17, 2020 • Features

With only one day left for student feedback, the Freedom of Speech and Expression Statement is nearing finalization. The statement, which passed through multiple drafting and review phases before hitting students’ inboxes, lays out the institution’s commitment to protecting and setting necessary boundaries around the freedom of communication within the Goshen College community. The writing process began in the spring of 2020, when President Rebecca Stoltzfus asked LaKendra Hardware, director for diversity, equity and inclusion, and Jodi Beyeler, vice president for communication and people strategy, to draft a statement that would regulate campus norms and provide a groundwork for existing...

By Sierra Ross Richer • September 17, 2020 • News

The second case of COVID-19 was confirmed last Wednesday evening in an email from Student Life. It was later recorded in the Goshen College COVID-19 data dashboard as the first positive case in isolation among GC employees. The confirmed case required the entire volleyball team to be quarantined in the second floor of Miller Residence Hall, sources confirmed. The news comes just eight days following confirmation of the first student case. As of yesterday afternoon, there are officially 18 students in quarantine, 11 of whom are on campus according to Chad Coleman, director of student life operations.  A student in...

By Nick Yutzy • September 3, 2020 • News

According to USAFacts, a non-profit civic initiative, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elkhart County have been declining since cases last peaked in the middle of June. Most recent numbers indicate there are currently 5,702 known cases. Speaking about the healthcare experience in Goshen, Dr. Dan Nafziger, an infectious disease specialist and Goshen Hospital Chief Medical Officer joined Dr. Rose Gillin, a Goshen Family Medicine Specialist, President Rebecca Stoltzfus, and senior nursing student Katja Norton in convocation on Wednesday, Sept. 2. The reason for decline, Nafziger expressed, has to do with a combination of procedures put in place from different...

By Kristin Jantzen • September 3, 2020 • News

Following a soft launch last April, Goshen College’s inaugural on-campus Study-Service Term, “Dreams & Journeys: Immigrants & Refugees,” was set to welcome its first cohort this fall, but only five students signed up. In response to low numbers, the semester-long opportunity has now been moved to the spring 2021 semester. The hope is that interest will grow among students over the next few months, said Jan Bender Shetler, director of international education.  “We just aren’t getting the number of students we thought,” Shetler said, noting that the new SST option was introduced after four international summer and fall terms were...

By Mackenzie Miller • September 3, 2020 • News