Connecting alumni and friends with San Diego Christian
Family Weekend p.8 Heritage Day p.10 11 Year Old Hero p.14 Semester Abroad p.15 Rescuing and Rebuilding Lives p.16
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Men’s basketball team during Hawk Family Weekend.
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March Issue #10
TABLE OF CONTENTS
8 FEATURES
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FAMILY WEEKEND Parents and siblings of current students joined their students for a weekend of class, chapel, athletics, and our first Hawk Talk session.
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HERITAGE DAY Over one-hundred alumni and family members visited their alma mater for a day of connecting, remembering, and celebrating SDC’s legacy.
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MEETING A HERO SDC sent a team of four to help rebuild Moore City in Oklahoma, where they experienced the devastating mark left by the 2013 tornado. But in the process, they met an 11 year old hero.
Cover photo: Brooks Buser (‘99) at Heritage Day 2015. Brooks and Nina Buser were recognized as the 2015 Alumni of the Year.
TRUTH P U R P O S E IM PAC T 200 Riverview Parkway
Santee, CA 92071
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(619) 201-8700
sdcc.edu
CONTENTS 6 7 8 10 14 15 16
From the President News and Upcoming Events Family Weekend Heritage Day Meeting a 10 Year Old Hero A Semester Abroad Rescuing and Rebuilding Lives
EVENTS
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3.26-3.29 GODSPELL An SDC spring musical event. Purchase tickets at sdcc.edu.
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5.9 COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY
LETTER FROM THE VP FOR ADVANCEMENT Being at SDC for 4 years now, I have had the opportunity to engage and be inspired by many alumni. This month we had the privilege of honoring Brooks (‘99) and Nina (‘98) Buser as our Alumni of the Year 2015. After graduating from SDC, Brooks found great success in the accounting field and quickly became the Chief Financial Officer of a large company. But when Brooks and Nina heard God’s call to the mission field, they responded in obedience. This led them to serve and build relationships with the Yembi Yembi people, an unreached people group, bring the Gospel to that region, and translate the New Testament into their language. I am in awe of the tremendous impact they have had for the Kingdom. I know many of you are using your skills and passions to transform our culture for Christ. This is essential as the world looks for leaders with integrity and answers to the societal and global issues that exist. I take pride in serving an institution that prioritizes the need for a Biblical Worldview as we seek to inform and equip you and future alumni to be those individuals that the world needs. It is a privilege to serve you and celebrate the impact you continue to have. Sincerely,
Robert Jensen, MSEL
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear SDC Alumni, These last few months have been full of activities, connections, and celebrations in the SDC community. San Diego Christian was honored to be voted Santee’s Favorite Large Non-profit Organization. Many local businesses attended this event to celebrate the Santee Chamber of Commerce’s 60th anniversary and to support those recognized as Santee’s Favorites. After being in Santee for a little over a year, it is a blessing to be recognized and supported by the City of Santee. It is our desire to continue to impact this community through service and our resources. Recently, the college held a packed and fun-filled weekend featuring Heritage Day and College for a Weekend. Several prospective students shared in SDC college life and experienced the characteristics that we believe make SDC a unique and transformative place. We received positive feedback expressing how SDC has an amazing community, both socially and academically. This same theme was communicated at Heritage Day, as alumni from various years and programs came together with their children to share in several activities including devotionals from alumni, SDC baseball and basketball games, and a picnic with lawn games, mini golf, and a concert by SDC students. In athletics, we have seen great success in our tennis program. Our Men’s Tennis moved in NAIA ranking to No. 17 in the nation. They currently have a 5-2 record. Our Women’s Tennis is currently ranked fifth in the GSAC with a 2-3 record. In baseball, Gio Ochoa threw the first ever no-hitter in SDC baseball history. He struck out 11 batters in 148 pitches. And in softball, Kendra Kuper threw the first ever perfect game in SDC history with an 8-0 victory against the University of Antelope Valley. We are very proud of our student athletes and the success they are having both on and off the field. Thank you for supporting your alma mater and our future alumni! Blessings,
Paul Ague, Ph.D. President
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NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS SANTEE’S FAVORITE LARGE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION Every year businesses in Santee come together to celebrate small and large businesses in the community. This year, the Santee Chamber of Commerce celebrated their 60th anniversary. Members of the Chamber of Commerce, along with their close friends and family, came together to support those who were nominated as Santee’s Favorites. There to recognize those awarded included Mayor Randy Voepel, Council Members Rob McNelis, Jack Dale, John Minto, and Ronn Hall, Assemblyman Brian Jones, and County Supervisor Dianne Jacob. After being in Santee for a year, SDC is honored to be voted Santee’s Favorite Large Non-profit Organization. SDC takes pride in being a part of the City of Santee and is looking forward to future opportunities to serve the city.
Photo provided by the Santee Chamber of Commerce.
GODSPELL A fun & contemporary musical of the Gospel according to St. Matthew written by Stephen Schwartz (composer & lyricist for Wicked). March 26 - 29 @ 7pm Santee Trolley Square Amphitheater (across the street from SDC campus) Click here to purchase tickets.
VISIT DAY: APRIL 10 Want to share your SDC experience with a junior or senior in high school? Then sign them up for the April 10th College Visit Day. Students will attend classes, experience chapel, interact with faculty, and meet with our admission counselors.
VISIT DAY
Click here for more information and to sign up!
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FAMILY WEEKEND 2015 HAWKS FOR LIFE
SDC parents joined their students at our 2015 Hawk Family Weekend event. Parents attended class, chapel, athletic events, including our first home tennis match, comedy night, and our first Hawk Talk session where they got to hear from some of SDC’s favorite professors, including Fred Blackburn, Dr. Lem Usita, Nali Hilderman, and Lorri Ague. “We had a wonderful time. I loved having the opportunity to sit in on my daughter’s class. I also enjoyed meeting all of the kind staff. My daughter LOVES going to the college. After hearing all of the mini Hawk talks that the staff shared at breakfast, I felt very grateful that my daughter could go there. Everyone was warm and friendly. I especially enjoyed the chapel. The Biblical teaching that my daughter is receiving from the professors is fantastic. Thank you for inviting the parents. My daughter and I enjoyed having lunch together in the cafeteria. The whole experience makes me want to share with others what a fine college this is. It was a true blessing.” - Quote from SDC Parent, 2015
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HERITAGE DAY 2015 by: Esther Pulcipher (‘11) Blue skies, a light breeze, kites flying, mellow music playing, and the sound of laughter and friendly conversation filled the campus on Saturday, February 21st. Many alumni and friends of the college gathered together to experience the same spirit of SDC that was so evident during their time as students. But this time around, they were joined with their children who were brought into the SDC community. This is the second time Josiah, the boy in the image below, has attended Heritage Day. Both of his parents attended and met at SDC and his three aunties also attended SDC. Although college is several years away for him, Josiah is already experiencing the generational impact of SDC and learning the importance of knowing Christ and sharing Christ. I believe the experiences, knowledge, Biblical teaching, and community you have gained from SDC, as alumni, will impact the generations to follow you and inform and build up future Christ-centered leaders and difference makers. As you reflect on your time at SDC, we hope you will remember those moments that made it special, those chapels that challenged your faith, those friends and faculty that invested in your life, and those lectures that inspired your way of thinking. And in the generations to come, we hope you will see the impact that your faith, passions, and knowledge are having in transforming lives, families, and communities in your neighborhoods and in the world.
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Heritage Day included several rounds of mini golf, lawn games, live music, food, athletic games, tours of the campus, and much fellowship. The Alumni of the Year 2015 went to Brooks and Nina Buser for their continued commitment to impact the world for Christ. Prior to going into the mission field, Brooks found great success in the accounting field and quickly became the Chief Financial Officer of a large company. But when Brooks and Nina heard God’s call to the mission field, they responded in obedience and with humility. Brooks and Nina moved to Papua New Guinea to bring the Truth to the Yembi Yembi tribe. They have recently completed the translation of the New Testament into the Yembi Yembi language and witnessed the celebration of the Yembi Yembi people as they welcomed the excitement of having access to the Word of God. Because of Christ’s work in their lives, many people have come to know Christ.
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Heritage Day began with inspiring and encouraging devotions from alumni Greg Mizel (‘88) and Daniel Hilton (‘08). Greg received his English Degree and Teacher Credential from SDC and is now the Principal at Del Norte High School. Daniel studied Communication at SDC and later went on to California Western School of Law. He recently passed the bar exam. 13
STORIES OF IMPACT
MEETING AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD HERO by: Esther Pulcipher (‘11)
Plaza Tower Elementary School officials in Moore, Oklahoma told parents they were on lock down. For some, this meant their children were safe from the threatening tornado making its way through the city, while others were stricken with worry and fear. Little did anyone know, the structure hadn’t been built to withstand what would happen next. One of the teachers in the school quickly huddled her students together to get down. A pile of children and a teacher, with her life covering them, was all they could do to provide hope and protection before the walls and ceilings caved in. When the tornado had passed, it took with it seven young lives from the school. But in the room where the teacher had covered the pile of children, Zoey, eleven years of age, became a hero. She was the only one that could maneuver through the tight spaces. Because of this, she was able to move through the debris and rescue her classmates and teacher. She then began to collect stray cats and dogs throughout her neighborhood, reuniting many of them with their owners. Rio, Hongye, Aleka, and Ashley, three SDC students and one SDC staff, had the privilege of meeting this young girl during their spring break trip. Their goal for the week was to provide assistance by partnering with local churches and organizations to help rebuild homes and businesses. In the above photograph is Rio, SDC’s Service Coordinator, with Zoey, who’s now 12. The remaining photos are of the team preparing a meal for the families of the school. To read more about what the team did and to see more photos from their trip, click here. 14
A SEMESTER SPENT IN THE PHILIPPINES by: Esther Pulcipher (‘11) Rachel Uy, a junior at SDC and a Biblical Studies major with an emphasis in Intercultural Studies, has a passion for the global church that has been repeatedly stirred by her visits to the Philippines. Although her travels began as visits to her relatives, it wasn’t until Rachel was approached in junior high to go on a missions trip to the Philippines that she really began to see the great need for the Gospel in that country. In 2011, Rachel went on her first mission’s trip to the Philippines through Touch of Grace ministries. Her experience left a lasting impact that brought her back for a five month internship this past fall. Her internship required involvement in the church planting work of Touch of Grace Ministries. She was given the opportunity to serve by setting up for services, greeting guests to the church, participating in the Bible studies, and being a part of the worship team. These services took place in three different locations with a joint service occurring once a month hosting 250 people. Through her experiences at Touch of Grace Ministries, Rachel learned what it meant to do relational evangelism. She describes it as the process of beginning conversations with the community, assessing their interest in the ministry of Touch of Grace, and building friendships with these people. It is through this process that receptiveness and communal support to build the church in the Philippines take place. Although missionaries are stationed in the Philippines and churches exist, the process of making disciples is often faced with challenges. There is still a huge need for men in the villages to become leaders within their community. In addition, cultural and societal values can sometimes make stewardship and commitment difficult concepts for the church members to understand. In spite of these challenges, Touch of Grace has seen the power of the Gospel transform lives. A college student by the name of Zed had been praying for a Bible study to surface at Cataduanes State University. Rachel was used to answer that prayer, and now there is a group of 14 college students who meet every Wednesday to encourage and build each other up with the truth of Scripture. Zed’s prayer has been answered and God is using him to lead this study. Oswald Chambers said, “If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.” Though Rachel has completed her internship, her heart is for the people of the Philippines. When she completes her degree, she plans on pursuing full time missions in the Philippines. Rachel asks for your prayers as she follows God’s calling. 15
Rachel Uy
The Bible study at Cataduanes State University.
Women’s Bible study
REBUILDING THE LIVES OF SEX-TRAFFICKED VICTIMS by: Esther Pulcipher (‘11) “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter,” as quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. A quick Google search for the “greatest social needs in the world,” yielded an article by Business Insider (2013) titled, The 10 Biggest Problems in the World According to the EU. The results from European participants showed the top reported problems in the world to be poverty, hunger, and lack of access to clean water. Additional issues included climate changes, nuclear weapons, war, and the global economy. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported 3 million children under the age of 5 die every year due to malnutrition. The literacy rate among youth in Guinea is the lowest at 31%, and in 2013, nearly 35 million people were living with AIDS (2015). Issues of low literacy rates, lack of education, hunger, disease, and slavery are all problems that we fight every day, and recognizing these problems is essential to valuing the sanctity of life and knowing where God’s love is needed. It is for this reason that I sat down with Sara Aguilar, alumnae and SDC’s Career Development Counselor, to talk about the work she does to help survivors of sex trafficking in San Diego recover and rebuild their lives. Though this problem is not usually associated with developed countries like the United States, it is locally prevalent. The complexity of this issue makes it difficult to identify exact numbers on how widespread it is. In 2014, there were 5,042 cases of human trafficking in the U.S. Of those cases, 3,598 were cases of sex trafficking (Polaris Project, 2015). These numbers may sound low; however, the International Labour Organization reported that there is an estimated 20 million men, women, and children worldwide who are victims of human trafficking and 4.5 million who are victims of sex trafficking (2012). The
reality is that even these numbers do not show the pervasiveness of how prevalent this issue is nor do these statistics show the intricacy of how difficult it may be to identify victims and rescue them. “Sex traffickers use violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to force women, men, and children to engage in commercial sex against their will,” (Polaris Project, 2015). The promise of a better life, employment, or love are just a few ways a trafficker will manipulate their victims. By manipulating their victims into thinking they will be loved or taken care of, sex traffickers can strip their victims of their humanity emotionally and mentally. This often results in “physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, confiscation of identification and money, isolation from friends and family, and even renaming victims” (Polaris Project, 2015). With an issue that is so large and so overwhelming, it was necessary to hear Sara explain her journey of taking her passion for helping victims of this crime to putting her passion to work in the community. Sara expressed how her journey began six years ago in a small classroom setting as a SDC Psychology major. She quickly learned that San Diego is the third largest port in the U.S. for human trafficking. The exposure to this information created a sense of responsibility and duty that drove Sara to want to get involved in rescuing victims of sex trafficking. While pursuing her master’s degree, Sara became more educated on the topic and sought to find ways to incorporate the topic into her major projects. Through this process, she became more aware of the prevalence of this issue, the complexity to this issue, and the gaps in services and prevention. The need to provide 16
effective resources is what led her to begin volunteering with Hidden Treasures, an organization that focuses on the rescue and restoration of sex trafficked survivors and the education of the public concerning the issue of sex trafficking. Hidden Treasures began as an outreach to rescue girls off the street. Through this program, Hidden Treasures began to discover large gaps in resources specific to this population group. Many shelters and programs were focused on drug abuse or trauma related to domestic violence, but didn’t have the framework or the knowledge base to effectively serve and help victims of sex trafficking in the recovery process and rebuilding of their lives. This led to further implications of women going from one shelter to the next and many times returning to their pimp. Hidden Treasures identified this problem and with the help of Sara, created a curriculum they believed provided the necessary framework for training and equipping mentors to be successful in coming alongside rescued women and helping them rebuild their lives. This program took a year and a half to develop and was a result of their direct response to a lack of literature discussing human trafficking in the United States. Though Sara is still making changes to the curriculum, Hidden Treasures hopes it will help to effectively address possible solutions to current gaps that exist in the literature. Following the 12 week training class, the number of quality mentors and house moms that stay and serve with the program will demonstrate the effectiveness of the curriculum written. Additionally, they are looking to have the curriculum published for the purpose of informing and encouraging other organizations serving the same population.
The next step for Hidden Treasures involves the purchasing of a new property where they will be opening up recovery homes focused on an individual approach for each survivor. The program will have phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3 homes all centered on the power of Christ’s healing in their lives. Each survivor will progress at their own pace through the three different homes. Phase 1 homes are meant to focus on those who have just been rescued and who need more intensive treatment and support as they work through the beginning stages of their recovery. This phase will consist of highly involved staff, mentors and house moms meant to bring about basic stabilization. The phase 2 home will focus on equipping survivors to balance increased responsibilities and healthier relationships while still working heavily on their emotional and mental recovery. The phase three home provides little oversight and gives most responsibility to the women as they work, pay rent, and live as healthy housemates in the home together. This allows the women to transition more easily into society where stability must be intentionally maintained. Through the work of Hidden Treasures, several sex-trafficked victims have been rescued, given the opportunity to rebuild their lives, and are experiencing the love of Christ. If you are interested in learning more about the issues surrounding human trafficking and how to prevent it, visit www.hiddentreasuresfoundation.org. References: Polaris Project (2015). Sex Trafficking in the U.S. Retrieved from http:// www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking-in-the-us UNICEF (2015). Core indicators in depth. Retrieved from http://www. unicef.org/statistics/index_24296.html International Labour Organization (2012). ILO 2012 Global estimate of forced labour executive summary. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/ wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@declaration/documents/publication/wcms_181953.pdf
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San Diego Christian Performing Arts Department presents
A fun & contemporary musical of the Gospel according to St. Matthew written by Stephen Schwartz (composer & lyricist for Wicked).
March 26 - 29 @ 7pm SANTEE TROLLEY SQUARE AMPHITHEATER Across the street from SDC campus: 18 9884 Mission Gorge Road, Santee, CA 92071