Campus Life
September 10, 2015
2015 Student Demographics
Each year, new students come to Goshen College from all varieties of backgrounds. In particular, this year has seen a significant increase in the number of Hispanic students enrolled at GC. Historically, Goshen has been predominantly white and Mennonite and that majority has remained true this year. However, one of the most striking things about this year’s demographics is a 5% increase in Hispanic students; from 13% in 2014-2015 to 18% in this academic year. To put this in real numbers, this increase translates into approximately 115 full-time undergraduate students out of 640 total full-time undergraduate students. This increase may be...
April 2, 2015
A new tradition begins: BSU Gala
On Saturday night, while a calm darkness fell over most of the campus during Earth Hour, excitement, laughter, dancing and music lit up the Leaf Raker. Members of the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted their first annual Gala and had transformed the Fraker into a fancy dance hall, complete with rose petals strewn across the floor, classy black and white balloons and romantic candlelit tables. A live DJ played music as students dressed in formal attire danced the night away. Just outside the Fraker in the Union building, tables were lined with wings, mini sausages, fruit, pies, veggies and cookies...
March 12, 2015
CAC 90’s Prom
Last Saturday, March 7, the Campus Activities Council (CAC) hosted a 90’s-themed prom at the Recreation-Fitness Center from 9 to 11 p.m. At the beginning of every semester, CAC plans and organizes events attempting to fill every weekend. According to Ben Hochstetler, a junior CAC member, “CAC has hosted a lot of events that have been a staple over the years. This year in particular, we have been trying to come up with new events, and prom happened to be one of them.” Not only was the flashback prom a new addition to the usual CAC events, it is one...
February 5, 2015
Student safety shuttle will operate on weekends
The Student Safety Shuttle will run every Friday and Saturday night through the rest of the semester. It is available to any students who do not think that they can get back home safely from a party. According to those closest to the project, the goal of the shuttle is to safely get students back to campus and prevent things like sexual assault. Laura Miller, a sophomore and treasurer of the Student Senate, referenced the death of a Goshen resident who froze to death after passing out from intoxication on his way home in January as motivation for the shuttle....
January 29, 2015
GC celebrates Scholar Day this Saturday
Roughly 70 students will be on campus this Saturday for Scholar Day. Seniors in high school will be on campus to apply for a variety of scholarships. According to Jo Helmuth, admissions office and events manager, these include music auditions, communication and business interviews, the Leaf scholarship and leadership scholarships. Not everyone who attends Scholar Day will receive a scholarship. Different departments give out a specific number of scholarships to its applicants. Helmuth named the leadership scholarships as an example, stating that only 35 people are actually given awards. Helmuth believes that this day is and has been a very...
January 22, 2015
A rush of creativity: Goshen hosts the Global Game Jam
This weekend, the 23rd through the 25th of January, Goshen College will be hosting the 2015 Global Game Jam for the first time. This is an event where up to 40 participants will get the chance to form teams in order to create board game computer games through a simulation of what is called the “crunch” method, where deadlines and adrenaline mix with a “secret theme” to produce a rush of creativity. The event, which will be held in the Umble Center, begins on the evening of Friday, January 23rd and goes from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. It then...
January 15, 2015
Chan experiences first winter in Goshen
Phil Chan, a first year physics major from Miami, Florida, tells us what it’s like coming to Goshen from a city known for its beaches and warm climate. Q. How does a student who had attended school in Miami hear about and be drawn to a small school like Goshen College? A. I heard of Goshen College through a presentation made by a current Goshen College student I went to high school with—Frances Fonseca. Q. Were you aware of the extreme difference in climate? A. I’d never seen snow before coming to Goshen, so I was looking forward to winter...
November 13, 2014
Retreat Focuses On Vocations After College
Campus Ministries hosted a retreat for students to discuss vocations and their plans for their lives after college. This retreat, held at the College Cabin on Nov. 9, focused on three questions: What gives me joy? What am I good at? Who does the world need me to be? The retreat was aimed for juniors and seniors, those who are looking into their vocational future. This year, Campus Ministries sponsored the event. “Ultimately, [the retreat] was to help focus on how they will work at decision making and discernment after college, related to their vocation, related to life choices,” Bob...
November 13, 2014
Student Organizes Hymn Marathon For Peace
Friday evening at 7 p.m., hymn singers will gather in Newcomer 19 to kick off a hymn marathon. The marathon will cover every verse of every hymn in "Hymnal: A Worship Book" and will likely last the entire weekend. Hymns have long played an important role in the broader Mennonite culture and at Goshen College. Bobby Switzer, a senior and leader of the Hymn Club, said, “There is something beautiful about singing in parts. The individuality of each voice is allowed and valued for its distinctiveness, and yet the cohesive whole is more beautiful than any separate part. It’s a...
November 13, 2014
Grandparents Experience College
Kindergarten and college may not have a lot in common, but one similarity is the opportunity for grandparents to come and experience school with their grandchild. This is only the second year that Grandparents Day has been an event at Goshen College, but Rose Shetler, director of annual giving, who organized a large portion of the day, decided she wanted to make it happen here after hearing a presentation about a similar experience at another college. Grandparent’s Day is an opportunity for families to visit and see what their student is involved with at the college. In addition to being...
September 17, 2014
Budget Restrictions Terminate Yearbook
The Goshen College yearbook, in circulation since 1915, will come to an end after this year. Goshen’s yearbook, The Maple Leaf, will not be printed after the 2014-15 academic year. According to Adela Hufford, director of enrollment operations and yearbook advisor, a 40 percent drop in the budget is one of the major causes for the Maple Leaf’s termination. The sole budget for the production of the yearbook is a $40 fee, which 40 percent of students opted out of this school year. According to Joe Springer, curator at the Mennonite Historical Library, this is not the first time discussions about ending the Maple...
March 12, 2014
Weekend Arts in Review
Last Saturday the International Student Club (ISC) presented their annual International Coffeehouse dinner and show. Students catered a meal in the Church-Chapel, which was followed by a show in Sauder Concert Hall that featured performances by students from more than 30 different countries. About 680 people were in the audience in Sauder, including the 145 ISC participants, which included 42 performers plus the 40 members of the Women’s World Choir, 13 cleaners, 33 cooks, 11 ushers and publicity workers, and a couple of MCs. Around 400 people attended the dinner in the Church-Chapel. Skip Barnett, associate professor of English and...
January 29, 2014
Dumpster Diving: A Brief Treatise Regarding Methodology and Legality
For some students, eating food taken from a Dumpster is an ethical decision. The official term for Dumpster diving (if such a term truly exists) is “garbage picking”. It involves going through someone’s trash and removing items from it at its most basic, and really does not get much more complicated than that. In a setting like Goshen College, many students find themselves Dumpster diving. What are they searching for? The answer is simple and not at all surprising (for a college student). Food. While a Dumpster may seem a questionable source of food, stores frequently dispose of food that...
January 29, 2014
Temperature drop causes third snow day in campus history
Goshen College doesn’t shut down campus very often. The last time this happened was February 2, 2011, and before that during the Great Blizzard of 1978. This 2014 winter has proven exceptionally bitter on more than one occasion. For the first week of classes this semester, GC students struggled to get to Goshen while temperatures were around negative 40 with wind-chill, and some places were piled with three feet of snow from the wind and drift. On January 27, the Elkhart County commissioners declared a “State of Emergency” at 7:30 a.m., which expired at 10 p.m. Tuesday morning. All over...
November 22, 2013
The right cut: student scissors mean cheaper snips
If you are a college student looking for a cheap haircut in Goshen, look no further than Goshen College’s Valesco House, where Hannah Sauder shows off her savvy styling skills for an affordable price. Exercising a talent she’s had since age nine, Sauder started off in the haircutting business by giving haircuts to friends and family members. Learning new things from YouTube videos, Sauder’s haircutting customers grew to include her high school friends and, eventually, her college friends as well. “My first year, I started cutting hair to get laundry money so I could do my laundry,” said Sauder. “[That’s]...