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Pacific Union College welcomes Pastor Kent Rufo as its new campus chaplain, a position he will assume on January 1, 2019. Pastor Rufo comes from Downers Grove Seventh-day Adventist Church in Illinois, where he has served as lead pastor since 2017. Joining Pastor Rufo in ministry to the PUC community is wife Anna, daughter Madison, and son Jadon.“Together with the Northern California Conference, we have been involved in an extensive search for a chaplain for over six months, having received applications from across the globe and reviewed over 100 candidates," explains Jennifer Tyner, vice president for student life, enrollment, and marketing. “We are very excited about the vision and passion Pastor Rufo will bring to PUC.” In his role as campus chaplain, Rufo will support the college in creating a vital and vibrant atmosphere for spiritual growth. Together with the Campus Ministries and Student Life team, he will promote students’ faith development by their engagement in worship, discipleship, and service. “My life was changed during college. I transferred to one of our sister schools from a state university. I had no intention of becoming a Christian. Two guys from my dorm adopted my roommate and me as ‘prayer targets.’ They...

On Thursday, Nov. 8, the Camp Fire, what is being billed as perhaps the most devastating fire in the state’s history, began ravaging Paradise, California. That same day, the East Avenue Church in Chico opened its doors to evacuees.“I arrived at the shelter on Friday afternoon, looking for a way to help,” says PUC alumna Kallie Griffin, who is now a pre-med student at California State University Chico. “I noticed a woman walking around in scrubs, so I introduced myself and asked how I could help.”As Griffin does not yet have any medical certifications, she was given the role of organizing and helping to lead the church-turned-shelter-turned-clinic. Over the ensuing four weeks, the church sheltered over 200 evacuees, most of them elderly, as Paradise has a high population of senior citizens.“We created a way of charting patients and ordering prescriptions with a Google Document, then created a way for us to internally communicate through walkie-talkies and a group chat,” Griffin explains. “As the days progressed, we were able to get more and more medical volunteers and were soon running a 24/7 clinic out of a gymnasium behind the church.”The clinic/shelter quickly grew to include six military tents, portable showers and...

Antonio Robles, member of the Men’s Cross Country team at Pacific Union College, has been selected for the Athlete Scholar Award by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Only around 50 student athletes across the U.S. were selected to receive this award, which recognizes students involved in an athletics program that participates in the NAIA, and who has a GPA over 3.5.“There are a lot of athletes doing great in school,” Robles says. “I am happy I was considered to be recognized with this award.”The junior biology major wasn’t expecting to hear anything from the NAIA once the season had ended, so receiving congratulations for an award just before he headed home for Thanksgiving was a nice surprise.“This award has given me motivation to keep going and excel academically,” he says. It isn’t easy being a student athlete; being part of the cross country team requires dedication even before the school year starts, and involves waking up at 6 a.m. for practice, then on race day driving over eight hours to run for a little over half an hour.“With this award, I feel like everything has been worth it,” Robles says. “Of course, my parents were happy and proud...

When the Wildlife Conservation Board announced their approval of PUC’s conservation easement proposal, a story ran in the Napa Register. This story prompted a call from Senator Bill Dodd to the office of PUC’s president, Bob Cushman, requesting a campus visit. That visit took place on Friday, Nov. 30. “The itinerary was a collaborative conversation about how best to accommodate PUC’s interest in sharing our story with our Napa Valley community, and his interests in a better understanding of who and what we do here at PUC,” Cushman explains. “It was an opportunity for him to interact with our students, as well, which we did our best to provide.”Dodd spent about three hours on the PUC campus with his field representative, Alex Pader. During this time, he visited with not only Cushman, but also Nancy Lecourt, academic dean, Brandon Parker, VP for financial administration, and Peter Lecourt, forest manager. Together they reviewed the college’s strategic plan framework, the campus physical master plan, the forest conservation easement, and the campus’ wildfire mitigation plan. Additionally, Dodd was able to speak to and have lunch with PUC Honors students.“Senator Dodd combined a bit of personal background with his talk, and focused on some...

In fall 2017, Aimee Wyrick, chair of the department of biology at Pacific Union College, received a phone call from Nancy Lecourt, academic dean and vice president for academic administration. She invited Wyrick to meet her outside the Angwin Post Office. “I was looking for ways to educate more people about the importance of native plants to insects and birds—the whole ecosystem,” says Lecourt.As the women walked around the planter box outside the brick building, they discussed the plants currently growing there. Most were invasive species, and the large Hollywood Juniper in the center of the box was in a dangerous position.“That tree is one of the most flammable plants used for landscaping,” explains Wyrick. “Plus, it was leaning toward a building and would eventually have been removed.”That quarter, Wyrick had students in her Native Plant Cultivation class begin mapping out a new garden for that space; one that would feature native species, making the garden a healthier option for the local ecosystem.One such student was Kari Stickle, a senior health sciences and Italian double major. As a passionate, self-proclaimed plant-lover, she not only produced many illustrations of the garden’s design, but also spent several hours outside of class weeding...