And we’ve come to the final days of the semester.
This fall will be remembered most vividly for the untimely death of Jim Miller, the biology professor, mentor, friend and family man. Although upper-level biology students and science professors knew him best, it’s safe to say that Miller’s death affected all of us.Whether we missed Miller’s physical presence in a classroom, relived memories of personal losses or found that our sense of safety was stripped away from us, we all experienced his death differently. However we all joined together to support each other with food, a shoulder to lean on and lots of grace. Even the lines between professor and student disappeared as we tried to be there for each other.
Almost two months later, life has continued forward and while each of us carry different emotions from the event, it’s good to keep reminding ourselves that it happened and keep Miller’s memory alive.
Looking back on other events of the semester, the institution has upheld Mennonite values by deciding not to play the national anthem at sporting events and yet has recently dropped the requirement that faculty be Mennonite. We’ve also defended our college when a political party targeted us as a “spooky” entity in the community.
Nearly every week, staff here at The Record worked hard to put together each issue and report the news to the students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and other interested parties. I never would have been able to survive the semester without the people who agreed to help me and contribute to the paper with their time and effort.
I am so thankful for the page editors who put in hours of writing and delegating; copy editors who raised the quality of the paper by catching the errors that escape the rest of us; the business manager, who keeps our paper funded by seeking out ads; and layout who arranges the puzzle that is articles, photos and ads, into a paper.
Thanks for making this production possible.
