10/Relationship building, usually community based
Most of us live in close proximity to each other and care about each other, offering mutual support beyond the classroom. We are a community. We are accountable to each other, committed to working through conflicts respectfully and peacefully. Viewing ourselves as "brothers and sisters in God's service," we tend to use first names and to have egalitarian relationships rather than hierarchical ones. Peacebuilders trained in our colleges start with building relationships across whatever “enemy” lines they encounter, whether ethnic, religious, political, or military. Newcomers tend to be welcomed with relationship-building activities. In our sports teams, players get beyond differences of beliefs, backgrounds, skill, race, and scholastic ability to forge tight teams who become family to each other. a / JOHN E. SHARP
a / JOHN E. SHARP / HESSTON, AA ’73 / GOSHEN, BA ’76 / AMBS, MDIV ’05 / HESSTON, history instructor
and writer of Hesston’s Centennial History Book / From 1995 to 2005, was director of the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee and Archives in Goshen, Ind. / As a way of enriching classroom learning, in the spring of 2006 Sharp took 30 students to Oklahoma for the "Cheyenne, Arapaho, Mennonite: Journey from Darlington" conference. Students walked on the Washita National Battlefield and heard the story of the Seventh U.S. 32 | crossroads | spring 2009
Cavalry's attack in 1868 on the sleeping village of Cheyenne peace chief Black Kettle. / When it was time for the three Sharp children to attend college, parents John and Michele said, “You can go anywhere you want as long as it’s a Mennonite college.” Eldest daughter Erin, who graduated from a public school in Goshen, went to Goshen College. Though close by, the college was still "a different world." She now teaches elementary music in Denver schools and plays violin in the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra. / Middle child “MJ” went
to EMU and worked at the Military Counseling Network in Germany for three years. He is now in a master's program at the University of Marburg (Germany). / Youngest child Laura started at Hesston College and finished her bachelor’s degree in social work at Goshen. She is enrolled in the master's program in social work at Wichita State U. / Why limit them to Mennonite schools as undergrads? “There are lifelong friendships formed at college, and there are many intangible values conveyed in the context of community.”