Search - Lainey S. Cronk

Every summer there’s an influx of brushes and easels at Pacific Union College’s Albion Field Station on the Mendocino Coast. The comfortable lodge and rustic cabins welcome aspiring artists for the Summer School of Art, a workshop providing all levels of painters with two weeks of outdoor watercolor, oil and acrylic painting workshops. John Hewitt, a well-established artist who has taught workshops throughout the country and shown his work in many juried national shows, has been coming to Albion since the ‘50s. He first visited when his father took continuing education classes at the Field Station, then later as a student of Vernon Nye at the Summer School of Art. Since 1995, Hewitt has taught the summer art classes, and he keeps coming back because of the place, the people and—of course—the art. He believes that one reason people come to the Summer School of Art is because of a trend toward creative pastimes: “People now are more interested in experiencing things than in watching things,” he explains. “They come to Albion to experience the coast, the painting, the creative process.” As one of the west’s premier art towns and resort areas—not to mention some of the most beautiful coastline...

The PUC music department welcomes Asher Raboy, longtime director of the Napa Valley Symphony, as the Symphonic Wind Ensemble director for the 2006-2007 school year. Raboy will also teach orchestration and counterpoint classes at PUC, serving as an interim teacher following the departure of music professor Ken Narducci. Raboy’s impressive conducting career includes serving as the music director of the Napa Valley Symphony since 1990, traveling as a guest conductor, conducting the Diablo Ballet, and serving as assistant conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and the Binghamton Symphony. He has also worked with several youth orchestras over the years. In addition to his conducting experience, Raboy has also composed a wide range of works (including several pieces for bands, wind symphonies and wind ensembles), lectured for the New York Philharmonic, and worked as a staff writer for the Putnam Funds of Boston. Meanwhile, Raboy is a fan of teaching. “Education is a big deal to me,” he says. “I have always loved to teach and enjoy the give-and-take with students so much.” Raboy has taught students from a variety of backgrounds and from ages four all the way up through college level. “I find the enthusiasm...

Summertime finds many campus people gone on vacations, classes abroad, workshops, and other adventures; but there were several faculty, staff, and students still around to join the children of the community for the annual vacation Bible school program at the Pacific Union College Church.Robert Ordoñez, a PUC professor of computer science, was a VBS taskforce worker in college but hadn’t been involved in a VBS program for over a decade. So when he was asked to help with this summer’s “Fiesta” program, he jumped at the chance. “It's been really great to see how enthusiastic the kids are about VBS,” he says. “And it's not just the younger ones—it's awesome to see the older kids, all the way up to high school and even college, getting involved!”Ordoñez was a leader for the general all-group sessions at the beginning and end of each day. These sessions, like the stations the children rotated through in between, provided simple, powerful messages about Jesus through music, skits, daily challenges, and all kinds of active, interactive adventures.One day when Ordoñez was acting as shuttle service to and from VBS for one of the children, he discovered what a distinct and positive change VBS was in...

The warm, sunny days of June 16-18 reverberated with the festivities, dreams and exhilaration that always characterize graduation weekend. On Sunday, the 405 graduates of the Class of 2006 marched in PUC’s Commencement Grove, concluding their undergraduate experience. The weekend was packed with family, receptions and ceremonies, and an inspiring array of speakers. The addresses were provided by Fred Kinsey, assistant to the president for communication at the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and former chair of the communication department at PUC; Jose Rojas, director of volunteer ministries and of the Office of Young Adult Ministries for the North American Division; Lieutenant Colonel Consuella B. Pocket, chief nurse from Travis Air Force Base; and Jonathan Gallagher, United Nations liaison director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Gallagher, who represents the Adventist Church at UN assemblies and interfaces with ambassadors, diplomats and staff of the UN, spoke for Commencement on Sunday. “I want you to wake up in the morning curious,” he told the graduates. Gallagher stressed the importance of asking questions and observing and analyzing everything for oneself. “The God who invented curiosity will make us curious to find him,” he said, referring the class to Jeremiah 29:13...

The early birds are still singing across campus on a Sabbath morning when a group of college students forsake their cherished slumber and head down the hill. They know there’s a group of kids counting on them—a group of kids with rough lives, underprivileged backgrounds, and a distinct need for love. It all started last year, when a request came in for volunteers to attend church with some children from unstable families or challenging backgrounds. A few PUC students started driving down to the Yountville Seventh-day Adventist Church to help out with the kids that Harley Roth and other members of Jail Prison Program Ministries (JPPM) brought to the church. Before long, the interaction had extended to include a few more activities such as hiking or taking the kids to the beach. “We dreamed of becoming a campus ministry,” says senior chemistry major Karen Ong. With some dedication and planning—and plenty of support from other students and college and community resources—their dream reached fulfillment at the end of last year and is now a full-fledged ministry called KidzReach. Under the direction of Luke and Maria Hamilton (this year’s leaders) and Karen Ong (last year’s leader), KidzReach takes 15 to 20...

At the spring concert of the PUC Symphonic Wind Ensemble, band director and music professor Kenneth Narducci gave his farewells to a packed Paulin Hall Auditorium. After 24 years of contributing leadership, excellent teaching, and some of the campus’ most charismatic music, Narducci and his wife, Julie, are heading to Southern California. Narducci will be the director of wind and percussion studies at La Sierra University. “It’s just time on a couple different levels to try something somewhere else,” said Narducci, who has been teaching at the college since shortly after graduating from PUC. “But the heart will always be here.” Midway through the May 20 program, band members showed several minutes of video clips with messages of thanks and farewell from students, faculty and friends of Narducci. It was really no surprise to hear students say, “I’m who I am today because of you,” “You are the teacher who has had the most impact on my life,” and “Doc, you are my hero.” Faculty and community members thanked Narducci for his commitment to excellence, his initiative in starting the PUC Jazz Band, and his ability to bring students to a level of musical ensemble performance that exceeded their own...

The annual Educator of the Year colloquy is a celebration of real-life teaching. It’s an acknowledgement of a campus where teachers’ offices are frequented by students stopping by to talk about class topics as well as their own dreams and plans. It’s a commemoration of so many lives utterly dedicated to broadening views and bringing true learning. “It’s a celebration of the diversity in our faculty and the different ways teachers reach students,” said last year’s Educator of the Year Aubyn Fulton. “All of us are recognized as teachers when one of us is held up.” This year's Educator of the Year colloquy especially emphasized inter-disciplinary scholarship with the award going to Victoria Mukerji, an associate professor of visual arts who teaches classes for the psychology and social work, communication, and visual arts departments as well as the Honors Program. Mukerji, who graduated from Mills College and received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, will also be spending a portion of the next school year in India as a Fulbright Scholar. Several of Mukerji’s colleagues presented remarks of appreciation (combined with a little “roasting”). James Chase of the communication department informed the audience about the things...

The latest stage performance at Pacific Union College has broken out of the typical stage arrangement with a unique production of Shakespeare’s comic Twelfth Night in the outdoor Angwin Amphitheatre. Director and PUC resident artist Mei Ann Teo has utilized the entire amphitheatre, with actors dialoging, shipwrecking, dancing, and fighting all up and down the wooden bleachers, the stone terrace, the main stage area, and a long blue walkway stretching across the center of the lawn. “This journey started with the desire to put on a play for the community in this beautiful, underused amphitheatre,” said Teo. “It felt like the perfect fit to do Twelfth Night, combining its carnival associations and romantic nature with the fresh spring air.” Though the “fresh spring air” was replaced by a spell of hot summer air on the May 14 opening performance and audiences (and actors) were required to protect themselves with sunscreen and parasols, the dedication and talent of the cast and directing team has survived the heat. Freshman Melissa Chrowl said, “I can’t wait until I can see it again. I’ll be more than happy to do it over again—the sun included—because it was definitely worth it!” Rick Wheeler, another freshman...

During an April 27 faculty awards program at Pacific Union College, the Herber Family Endowment announced $10,000 in grants to college faculty members. Established by St. Helena physician Steve Herber, his sisters Sandra and Susan Herber, and his father Ray Herber, this endowment will annually provide faculty with professional development grants to facilitate teachers in their quest to achieve and sustain innovative, quality instruction. Steve Herber, medical director of the St. Helena Institute for Plastic Surgery and a 1982 graduate of Pacific Union College, explains that he and his sisters, who also attended PUC, wanted to establish a special endowment to express their appreciation for the commitment and dedication of the faculty. “It’s our way of saying thank you,” he said. Grants funded by the Herber Family Endowment were presented to seven PUC faculty members. The grants finance such development opportunities as religion professor Ross Winkle presenting a research paper at the Society of Biblical Literature in Edinburgh, Scotland, and visual arts instructor Cheryl Daley attending the ceramics workshop at Anderson Ranch in Colorado this summer. Herber’s commitment to service and the support of worthy causes has been demonstrated not only by this endowment, but also by his volunteer medical...

This April brought the usual flood of alumni and special events for Homecoming Weekend, but it also brought a new level of involvement from current students with an SA-sponsored Heritage Week leading up to Homecoming. SA president Juliana Dalotto led the campus in the week-long celebration of the past, complete with students dressing up in era costumes, lunchtime music, and evening movies from each decade. Students also made displays showing old photos of their dorms. The highlight of the week was colloquy on Thursday, when Helen Lee, PUC’s second-oldest alum and a graduate of the Class of 1936, told tales from her student days at PUC. “Though we get old, we were young at one time,” she said, “and we were not much different than young people now.” Students were in stitches over the stories and remarks of this 92-year-old veteran missionary and even gave her a standing ovation. Lee concluded with some passionate advice for PUC students: “I hope that each one here leaves knowing how to differentiate between ‘pitcher’ and ‘picture,’ when to use ‘lie’ and ‘lay,’ and when to say ‘you and I’ and when to say ‘you and me.’” When the laughter died down, she added,...