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Students, faculty, and staff gathered in Commencement Grove Monday night for a Western-themed get-acquainted party. As plates got piled high with cornbread, corn on the cob, fresh salads, penne pasta, and apple cobbler, the Pioneer mascot made an appearance, working the crowd, giving high-fives, posing for pictures. Cowboy hats, boots, and flannel were sported by many students who got into the spirit of the occasion. Carrie Moore, a junior graphic design and photography major, enjoyed dressing up and “howdy-ing” all her friends, old and new. “It’s a lot of fun to get to start the year off like this,” Moore said. “I don’t know if I’ll get up the nerve to ride the bull, though.” Even if Moore didn’t decide to ride the bull (that’s a mechanical bull for all the nervous parents out there), it seemed like the rest of the student body did, lining up to try staying on the bucking, twisting, spinning bovine attraction operated by a former professional bull rider. Every now and then cheers and shouts would start in earnest for a student who had managed to stay on for 30 seconds or more. Even the future PUC students got in on the action (albeit...

A spontaneous moment of generosity in colloquy turned into a home for Maria Luna and her two sons. Just in time for the rainy season, 20 families moved into new, water-tight homes in Empalme de Boaco, Nicaragua on May 30. One of these new homes was constructed with funds donated by PUC students, faculty and staff. The extended PUC family got involved in the small village in Nicaragua this past February when Jake Schiedeman, a 1990 graduate of PUC who now owns the St. Helena Cyclery, returned to his alma mater to speak. He told students about his experience volunteering in Nicaragua where he has led a project to build a baseball field, public park, water tower, and now a housing development. He also shared how important service has become in his life and showed a moving video about the Nicaragua project and the people who have become so important to his life. After presenting his story, the program’s conclusion took an unexpected turn. As college president Richard Osborn thanked Scheideman for being the type of service-minded alumnus PUC is proud of, PUC Church senior pastor Tim Mitchell took the mic and invited the students to get involved. “I want...

Dustin Comm has always enjoyed representing PUC on the basketball court, but he especially enjoyed the opportunity to represent his country in a recent international college basketball tournament. Comm, a senior theology and film and television major, just returned from the Netherlands and Belgium where he and nine other athletes represented the United States in an international competition organized by USA Athletics International (USAAI), an organization that plans international competitions in 14 countries to provide sports opportunities and cultural experiences for college athletes. Besides the fun of traveling to Europe, Comm and his teammates came home victors. The U.S. team won first place in a four-day competition where they played against 30 other teams representing several European countries. To Comm, being able to win in an international setting when he was wearing his country’s colors was especially satisfying. “It was a really big honor to be invited,” Comm said. “Having ‘USA’ on my jersey really made me proud.” The nine members and coach of the U.S. team had very little time to practice and get to know each other’s strengths before hitting the courts in Amsterdam. In addition to learning about new teammates, they also had to learn to play...

Besides fun in the sun for 18 holes of golf, participants in the 14th annual Malcolm Maxwell Golf Classic raised over $50,000 for PUC student scholarships. Teams of four, including a team of PUC students, spent a full day at the Napa Valley Country Club enjoying a round of golf and dinner with friends with all proceeds from the event going to help support quality Christian education in the Napa Valley. The involvement from the local community this year was unprecedented. Besides entry fees, local businesses provided significant financial support for the tournament. Union Bank of California gave $5,000 towards the event and many other local companies and business people donated not only money, but prizes for a raffle and auction (including a vacation to Cabo San Lucas and a yacht trip). Pam Sadler, vice president for advancement at PUC, feels the participation from the local community speaks volumes. “More than anything, the involvement made it evident to me that this community believes in what we are doing,” Sadler said. “They do believe that PUC is making a difference.” In addition to raising money to assist students at PUC, Sadler feels that the tournament also helps PUC have a presence...

Dr. Victoria Mukerji, associate professor of visual arts at Pacific Union College, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to teach at Goa University in India for six months. Mukerji applied for the highly competitive scholarship over nine months ago, but hardly told a soul—she was so sure she didn’t stand a chance of winning that she didn’t even tell her parents that she had applied. She says she has dreamed of getting a Fulbright scholarship since she was a little girl (her parents had friends who were Fulbright scholars), and the news that she had been chosen cheerfully took her by surprise. “I’m very, very happy,” she said. The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and aims to foster understanding between countries through scholarly exchanges. Each year about 800 scholars from the United States are awarded lectureships to schools in more than 150 participating countries. In return, about 800 international scholars are sponsored through the program to teach or conduct research in American universities. Mukerji will be returning to her first love in India. Although she was raised in the United States, her father is Indian and she has spent the majority of her...

PUC students, faculty and staff were treated to the scholarly insights of Dr. Robert Alter, a professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley, for this year’s Longo Lecture. Alter has written 22 books (with more on the way) and has won prizes for his translations of scripture and for his books on the art of Biblical narrative and poetry. Alter’s talk, “An Agenda for the Literary Study of the Bible,” focused on why he believes it is important to pay attention to the literary techniques of the ancient Hebrew writers in both scholarly and personal Bible study. Alter feels that paying attention to the language, rhythms, literary allusions and patterns in the text reveals the religious motivations of the writers. “Words are the instruments through which writers shape their vision of the world,” Alter said. “When you pay attention to the literary articulation, you see what’s going on in terms of the author’s religious vision.” Alter didn’t start out with the intention of becoming a Bible translator, but 25 years ago when he accepted an assignment to write a scholarly article based on the Hebrew scriptures, he discovered all of the translations had problems....