Search - Lainey S. Cronk

John McVay, Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, will speak for Pacific Union College’s Heubach Lecture in Dauphinee Chapel on Thursday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. His subject will be “Waging Peace in the Great Controversy: Paul’s Call to Arms.” Dr. McVay, who served for 13 years in PUC’s religion department, is a specialist in the later Pauline Epistles, and contributes regularly to professional conferences and publications. ...

The thought of a college student behind the wheel is probably not a contemplation that brings images of peace and security to your mind. Perhaps it comes with visions of mangled road guards and huge hospital bills—or at least exhorbitant speeds followed by exhorbitant speeding tickets. But as a young person who enjoys a calm and leisurely drive, let me introduce you to a few college students who experience more than road rage and speed highs behind the wheel. Morgan Wade loves driving, maps, and history. So I knew he’d have some good stories about local drives. “There’s a back road that I love,” he says, “one of the most beautiful drives that I remember.” He’s referring to Ida Clayton Road (which turns into Western Mine Road), taking off from Highway 128 north of Calistoga, winding around the Western side of Mt. St. Helena, and coming out on 29 south of Middletown. There isn’t much “civilization” for Morgan to encounter as he tootles along the road, except the sign for a Trout Farm – in fact, Morgan says, the road seems to give him a little idea of how California was before it was settled. It’s a lazy Friday afternoon,...

When Pacific Union College participated in Matchmaker’s national campus and community bone marrow drive last week, responses far exceeded student coordinator Stefanie Holimon’s hopes. “I was excited but nervous before,” she explains. “I wasn’t sure of the response we’d get.” But after PUC registered 145 students, faculty and staff as potential bone marrow donors (compared to the 13 Microsoft registered and 55 from UC Berkeley in the same drive), Stefanie was completely thrilled. “I’m really proud of the school,” she says. Stefanie’s involvement with projects such as these really started 17 years ago in Japan, when her aunt was diagnosed with lukemia. In response, Stefanie’s mother and aunt started a much-needed registry of bone marrow donors in Japan. Stefanie has personally been involved in numerous bone marrow drives. “This one has been the most successful of all of them” she says. Matchmaker, a function of the Mavin Foundation, is a national program dedicated to mixed race bone marrow donor recruitment and education and is under the umbrella of the National Marrow Donor Program....

Educational gurus David and Roger Johnson, co-directors of the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota, brought their dynamic workshop to the Napa Valley on June 28-30. The Johnson brothers, well-known for their international research, have dedicated their life’s work to educating teachers about the importance of cooperative learning. The workshop, coordinated by Sandy Balli of Pacific Union College’s education department, drew participants from both public and private schools from as close as Angwin and as far as Wyoming. Dr. David Johnson, professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota and the author of over 350 research articles and book chapters and over 40 books, has been the editor of the American Educational Research Journal. His brother, Dr. Roger Johnson, is a professor of science education at the University of Minnesota and has co-authored numerous research articles and books with David Johnson. Roger is also a member of the Search for Excellence Team of the National Science Teacher’s Association. The Johnson brothers are advancing ideas that are hundreds of years old, but which have been overlooked in recent decades. They are trying to achieve a form of the cooperative learning that took place naturally in the old one-room...

The graduation hubbub had barely receded when PUC’s Pro Musica (touring choir) and the PUC String Quartet embarked on a two-week music tour to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Traveling with an Adventist Finnish tour guide and PUC Professors of Music LeRoy Peterson and Gennevieve Kibble, the group of musicians spent a night on a ferry boat, sang in the Rock Cathedral in Finland, and experienced some culinary culture. Anna Lopez, senior psychology/French major, had never eaten borscht until it was served to the group at a Russian church. “It was really good,” Lopez says with some surprise. “You can’t go by looks alone!” The group also performed at numerous Adventist schools and churches and at a camp meeting in Sweden. “By the end, our voices were pretty tired,” said Vanessa Jett, senior speech pathology major. “But the people appreciated and enjoyed all our concerts.” In fact, local musicians even presented the PUC group and its members with original musical compositions. From Bath to Canterbury, PUC Honors Program students experienced “Beauty” during a four-week seminar class at Newbold College in England. Students both read about and witnessed art presented to them by PUC Professors Nancy Lecourt and Milbert Mariano, of...

With dreams of wider horizons pushed aside, many licensed vocational nurses work hard to support themselves and their families. Though filling positions with limited breadth and little expansion opportunity, these LVNs can’t spare the time or money to return to school in pursuit of the opportunities and recognition that come with licensure as a registered nurse. For several groups of such LVNs, the Pacific Union College nursing department has committed to fulfilling dreams. At the request of Hanford Community Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, and Ukiah Valley Medical Center, PUC has established extended-campus LVN-to-RN programs specifically for the working adult. “ The program is a huge commitment for students,” says nursing instructor Debbie Winkle, who oversees the extended-campus programs. “The students are all very motivated and focused. This is something they want so badly. For many, it’s the only opportunity to increase their nursing education.” The program at the Travis Air Force Base has provided new experiences for the nursing department, with some of their students being deployed to Iraq. “They have life-changing experiences, no matter what their political views,” Winkle says. But always the highlight of these programs is dream fulfillment. “Many have waited and worked for 15...

In a program complete with bell-ringing, the school song, and a telephone conversation with a 99-year old gentleman, PUC celebrated its rich history in a special colloquy on October 21. Faculty and staff who were once PUC students gathered on the stage and led in an animated rendition of the PUC school song. Snippets of PUC history followed, along with a personal interview of president emeritus Malcolm Maxwell, a special music (also with historical significance), and religion professor Myron Widmer’s sharing about his journey, as a PUC student, from “an inherited religion” to “an owned religion.” One of the classic moments of the program was when President Dick Osborn made an on-stage phone call to Ray Fowler, the oldest living PUC president. Dr. Osborn experienced some confusion as to the dialing procedure; Dr. Maxwell went up to assist, and together the two presidents spent several moments intently trying to figure out how to make the call—while the student body enjoyed the moment fully! The ensuing conversation with Mr. Fowler was a pleasant conclusion to the incident. The colloquy program, which concluded with the ringing of the historic Healdsburg Bell, was coordinated by PUC student Morgan Wade, one of the college’s...

“I realize each day that teaching is my passion,” says Lauryn Wild, a PUC SM in Thailand – an impressive statement, considering that she has spent the first school term teaching spelling to 260 4th-6th graders and English to a 12th grade language class, in addition to working in the high school English department, grading papers for other teachers, and coaching the girls’ volleyball team! “I am really discovering that this year I will be stretched in so many ways as a teacher!” Lauryn admits. Meanwhile, she has been experiencing the Thai culture. “If there is one thing that I want to take back with me,” she says, “it is the feeling of complete peacefulness that can be found here in the middle of a busy city. Thai people have perfected the art of simply “being” and taking breaks to enjoy life’s small treasures.” On the other hand, Lauryn has found that some Thai parents create “an immense pressure cooker” for their children. “The parents here will push their kids so much, because they want them to be successful,” she explains. One day, Lauryn partnered up her 5th graders to work on spelling words. Noticing two boys struggling to work...

Summer is the blonde American mother of 41 El Salvadorian children. Living in one of the four “houses” of the orphanage called Hogar Escuela Adventista, this PUC student missionary takes cold showers (with frogs), washes her clothes by hand, and is sung to sleep at night by bats hanging from her ceiling. It’s far from a plushy life. In addition to the hundreds of duties that come with parenting 41 children ages five to 20, Summer oversees a work crew of 11 little boys, heads planning for the 12-week summer program for the kids (remember, their summer is our winter!), plans worships, and life-guards at the pool. “I have never been so tired!” Summer says. And of course there’s the language barrier. One of Summer’s most difficult groups consists of several teenage girls who stay up in the bathroom an hour after bedtime. “One night I tried to ask them if they were sick, and I accidentally called them ugly instead, and they agreed with me,” Summer recounts. “When I realized what I’d done, my heart felt as if it were going to break.” Despite challenges, exhaustion, and the rocky transition time, Summer is certain that God is present: “I...

They ran Thursday’s colloquy. They dominated vespers on Friday. And they showed up prominently in the Sabbath church service. There was obviously something afoot, and it soon became obvious to all: it was Asian-American cultural emphasis week. This year, PUC has three special cultural emphasis weeks scheduled – one for Asian-Americans (Nov. 11-13), one for African-Americans (Jan. 27-29), and one for Hispanic-Americans (May 5-7). This quarter’s cultural emphasis events were a time for the many Asian-Americans on campus to be represented and have a strong, public voice. In a hip, energetic, and heartfelt colloquy, Kevin Camato and Diane Pulido hosted the game-show-style program, complete with interviews (both live and by video), book-reading by a very young Asian-American, a beautiful hula performance, and plenty of music. The program kept people awake and laughing, but also touched on some serious and very relevant aspects of culture and history. Friday vespers presented a more spiritual and personal side of Asian-American life as a number of students shared their own experiences at PUC and their struggles dealing with the conflict between being “Asian” and being “American.” Finally, on Sabbath Richard Choi, assistant professor of New Testament at Andrews University, spoke on “The Mystery of...