Student Life
March 30, 2023
Shenk to serve as interim pastor
Jen Shenk has been selected to take on the role of campus pastor for the remainder of 2023-24 school year. GC community members received the announcement through the communicator on March 24, which was her first day in the position. Following the resignation of Cathy Stoner, student life worked to find someone to fill the role. “I recalled that Jen had applied for the campus pastor position two years ago,” said Gilberto Pérez Jr., vice president for student life and dean of students. Pérez also noted that there would be others to guide Shenk in campus ministries activities. “When I...
March 16, 2023
‘I was not trying to leave here’: Stoner resigns
After just three full semesters at Goshen College, campus pastor Cathy Stoner has resigned. Students received an email Tuesday afternoon from Stoner, announcing that with “great sadness,” she was resigning as campus pastor. “It brought a lot of stress,” said Madeleine Kelly-Kellogg, a sophomore on the Spiritual Connection Team that works directly with Stoner. “It was just so out of the blue.” Many students shared Kelly-Kellogg’s sentiment of surprise and rumors began circulating immediately. One thing is certain, though: Stoner did not want to leave. In an exclusive interview with The Record, she said that members of the GC administration...
February 16, 2023
Students jump in the Leaf Pile
Most of the time, the Ruth Gunden gymnasium is full of sports teams practicing, students playing pickup basketball and community members walking on the track. But, for a few hours every week, after the glossy wooden bleachers have been pulled out, the tranquil environment of the gym is transformed into a place of roaring school spirit and competition. The Leaf Pile is the nickname of Goshen College’s student section and it is an opportunity for students to join in song and chant, wear themed outfits and dig into the opposing sports teams. Recently, however, it has gained the reputation of...
February 2, 2023
Java management to implement changes
Students and faculty may view Java Junction as the campus’s successful, student-run coffee shop, but internally it has a reputation of barely breaking even. This year, the management team is determined to change that. Micah Shenk and Connor Daniel are business majors at Goshen College and have been a part of Java’s management team since the start of the 2022-23 school year, with Shenk overseeing inventory and Daniel marketing. Shenk and Daniel moved up from their original roles as assistant managers and are using their increased responsibilities to make major positive changes to Java’s internal operations, profit margins and customer...
November 3, 2022
Campus pantry opens to support students
Goshen College administers the Higher Education Research Institute survey to graduating seniors every other spring. The survey asks: “In the past year, how often have you felt hungry but didn’t eat because you didn’t have enough money for food?” In 2018, 13% of GC students reported “occasionally” or “frequently.” 2020 cited a sharp increase to 24% amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the number sits at 28%. “This is not a perfect measure because it only looks at students who have made it … through to graduation … since economic insecurity can be a barrier to academic success,” said...
September 8, 2022
Goshen College welcomes 2026 class
Goshen College’s welcome team was proud to introduce the second year of a week-long extended orientation to the fall 2022 student cohort. New students checked in on Aug. 21 to meet peers, attend sessions with professors, participate in activities and meet with their ICC (Identity, Culture, and Community) classes. Adela Hufford, director of orientation, transition and retention, said that the goal is to “acclimate new students to campus ahead of returning students” while giving them “some sense of confidence before the school year begins.” Based on student, faculty and staff feedback, Hufford and other orientation members integrate changes to ensure...
April 14, 2022
After the pandemic, I want to…
COVID-19 affected the lives of everyone. For many young people, that meant scrolling mindlessly through TikTok and binge-watching Netflix. It also intensified the looming uncertainty of the future. Despite the unknown, young people continue to hold onto the hope of a safe, Zoom-free world without COVID-19. Inspired by an article in the The Washington Post, we asked Goshen College students to respond to the statement, “After the pandemic, I want to….” In their own handwriting, here are their responses. Claudia Mobley, 19, was a senior in high school when the pandemic shut her world down. On Mar. 13, 2020, she...
February 25, 2022
Commuter student support group to begin meeting
Forty-nine percent of Goshen College students are commuters. For local students, living off-campus can help relieve the financial burden of being a college student. Being a commuter, however, comes with unique challenges. In order to help students manage those challenges, Courtney Ropp, coordinator of diversity, equity and inclusion, created a commuter student support group which will have its first meeting this Friday. The support group isn’t the first system set up to support commuter students. The Commuter Student Association (CSA) is an established group that is advised by Luna Maria Campos, administrative assistant for student life. The CSA regularly schedules...
February 25, 2022
The Bachelorette: GC edition
It’s not often that reality TV finds its way to Goshen, Indiana. Instead of waiting for that to happen, Hayley Kirkton and Rachel Mast are working on their own satirical take of a national phenomenon. The GC Bachelorette will be Goshen College’s very own rendition of ABC’s hit reality show “The Bachelorette.” In GC’s version, instead of actually trying to find love, Kirkton and Mast will poke fun at popular tropes and give a comedic take on competing for love on a national stage. The project’s conception began when Kirkton, a senior social work major, came up with the idea...
February 17, 2022
Cooper’s GC card game takes grand prize
The first annual Good Library Geek Off came to a conclusion Monday morning with an awards ceremony announcing the winner. Summer Cooper took home the first place honors with her board game Survive College: Goshen Edition. Isabella Ruiz placed second with a “Doctor Who” fan song and Fae Sommers won third with custom Dungeons and Dragons playing cards. Cooper chose a Nintendo Switch Lite for her prize. Ruiz took home a custom “geek box” created by the library for whatever fandom she wanted, and Sommers received VIP tickets to the Hall of Heroes Comic-Con in Elkhart. For some, the decision...
February 11, 2022
Student worker wages to rise again
Many student campus employees received a surprise last December when their wages were increased from $7.25 per hour to $8.25. However, raising the minimum wage was only the first step in the college’s plan to offer students a better wage, said David Kendall, director of career networks. A new student wage policy will be fully implemented in the summer of 2022. In it, every campus position will be sorted into one of three tiers according to the skills required, and workers will be compensated accordingly. For example, tier 1 positions are entry level jobs that meet basic abilities. Tier 2...
January 28, 2022
Futsal scores community goals
From Adidas cleats to Vans slip-ons, all shoes are welcome on the futsal turf. All players are welcome, too, from Goshen College athletes to high school students and community members who love the game. With outdoor soccer fields under a layer of snow, the turf room in the GC Recreation-Fitness Center has become a gathering spot for soccer enthusiasts. “We are really trying to invite literally everyone to come play,” said Cormac Koop Liechty, a first-year who is one of the lead organizers for the group. “We know that it’s a lot of fun, and the amount of fun doesn’t...
October 28, 2021
Students wages raised to $8.25
Campus workers had a pleasant surprise when they got their paychecks from Goshen College on Wednesday: an extra dollar for each hour they had worked this month. The college-wide raise, placed in effect this pay-period, bumped the rate for all student workers making minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour. The change was meant to award competency in student workers and boost the longevity of their employment. It was initiated by a committee made up of Tom Stuckey, interim vice president of finance; Paul Housholder, director of ITS; Juliaclare Plezbert, head softball coach; Fritz Hartman, library director; Cynthia Good...
September 30, 2021
Turning a school bus into a colorful mobile home
Lee Bergey may be in their third year of college, but they still take the bus to school. The purple school bus parked behind the Romero Student Apartments is the ongoing project of Bergey, an art and sustainability studies double major, who has been converting the bus into a mobile home for the past nine months. The bus is the realization of one of Bergey’s lifelong dreams. “I always wanted to live in some sort of mobile home,” they said. “I just want the lifestyle of being able to move around and go where I’m needed and not be attached...
September 9, 2021
Student apartments get furniture makeover
Returning students may have noticed some changes to the Octavio Romero Student Apartments this year. About one-third of the apartments were updated with new furniture in June as part of an ongoing five-year plan to renovate campus residence spaces. Chad Coleman, director of housing and campus safety, said that the overall goal of the updates was to “create more flexibility for students to customize their rooms.” “The furniture we purchased for that space when it opened was better suited for larger residence hall rooms where students were sharing space,” he said. “Given that most rooms in Romero are designed for...