Beacon Family Newsletter - Fall 2019: 2nd Edition

BEACON FAMILY NEWSLETTER

Family Weekend 2019 Over thirty families joined us on campus for Family Weekend 2019. We want to say ‘thank you’ for coming on campus and experiencing your Beacon student’s world either by attending their class with them, joining in a meal in the cafeteria, grabbing some frozen yogurt, attending athletic games and the choir concert, or playing NCU Trivia late night Friday.

One of the highlights of the weekend is our time to serve through the Operation Christmas Child packing party. Several families donated to purchase toys for children all over the world. After a sweet time of worship by one of our alumni, Caeli Barnhart ‘17, and a devotional time that encouraged us to be ‘present’ with one another with Campus Pastor Troy Dean, families and students listened to some Christmas music and packed 50 boxes! It was a very special time for everyone who was there.

We hope to see you on our campus in the Spring, if not join us for Family Weekend 2020!

Fall 2019 (2nd Ed.) Exercise Science 2 Mental Health Care 2 FCA 3 Wellness Programs 4 Honoring our Veterans 6 Office Admin Introductions 7 Fall Sports 8 Calendar Highlights 10

Exercise Science at NCU By: Heike McNeil, Ph.D., professor of chemistry Typically, what draws students to the exercise science major is the desire to help others. Often a student may have sustained a significant injury either while playing a sport or by being involved in an accident – and a professional such as a physical therapist or an athletic trainer did not just help them heal and recover from the injury, but also become an important part of their own personal development by providing support and encouragement during a tough time in their life.

I love hearing stories from our students about what career they hope to pursue and why. While most of our students come in with dreams of being physical therapists, nurses or doctors, many of them will find different career paths that are a better fit for their personality. And the great news is that the exercise science major provides a broad base and a strong scientific foundation for many different vocations!

The broad foundation provided by courses such as chemistry, biology, physics, and anatomy is sequenced purposefully at NCU and is actually geared towards the health sciences. This provides our students context and applications early on - and the search for their vocation starts the day they first sit in their first science course. As our students learn more about who

Mental Health Care By: Sarah Halstead, MA ‘15, alumna

The college years are filled with challenges, opportunities, new experiences, and self-discovery. Though this is oftentimes very exciting and enjoyable these moments can also lead to stress and anxiety. Without the right skills and resources these feelings can be overwhelming for students.

This term we offered students the opportunity to find support in the midst of those overwhelming experiences.

Two therapy groups were offered this fall, “Grounded” and “Grief and Transition”.

The first, “Grounded” focused on helping students not only share what was causing them stress but how to manage it using mindfulness practices. Each week the group learned how to use one of their five senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing) to help calm their minds and bodies in moments of feeling overwhelmed. The group also discussed how and why our bodies and brains react the ways they do to stress. Our hope is that students will be able to understand the gifts God has given them in how they were created and use the systems within the body and the creativity of our minds to

they are and how they process and apply information, they are able to work with their faculty to shape ideas of possible career fields. They then find internship placements in these fields to be exposed to the work environment to further help shape their decision before applying to professional schools. The curriculum allows room for our students to take special topics courses where they are asked, with help of their faculty, to do graduate level work which not only helps them narrow down their interests even more, but also gives them an advantage in their professional or graduate programs.

While NCU has an extremely high acceptance rate into physical therapy schools (one of our students was just admitted into the #1 physical therapy school in the country!), our students have chosen a very wide variety of jobs and fields in the past ranging from nursing, athletic training, exercise physiologists, biomechanists, clinical exercise specialists, occupational therapy, physician’s assistant all the way to coaching and teaching PE. This field is much broader than one might think at the first glance, and there are many interesting job opportunities.

Ultimately, our goal as exercise science faculty is to help guide our students in the appropriate direction – and help them identify what their true passions are and how they might best be able to follow their dream of helping people at different stages in their lives.

our advantage when our world feels a little out of control.

The second group’s goal was to provide students a therapeutic space of peer-support to process a variety of grief experiences. Whether the pain comes from the loss of someone dear or the intense experiences of life transitions, this group focused on helping students share stories, recognize their feelings around the experiences of loss, and provided a safe place for peers to see and support one another.

Both groups were developed and facilitated by Sarah Halstead, MA, who is a registered counseling intern with the State of Oregon. Sarah graduated with her master’s from NCU’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program in 2015 and has a passion for caring for and supporting students.

We hope to continue providing these types of groups in the future so students have the opportunities to learn about themselves, develop positive coping skills, and strengthen our community.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes By: Jordan Norris, BA ‘14

According to a study conducted by the NCAA, 50% of the 195,000 student-athletes reported having overwhelming anxiety in the last 12 months.

Student-athletes are under intense pressure to succeed on and off the field. They have overloaded schedules with demands from classes, school work, sports practices, religious obligations, and some even work a part-time job.

The pressure that these athletes are under becomes overwhelming.

The NCU Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) began in 2017 when two student-athletes, a men’s soccer player and a women’s track/CC runner, had a passion to gather athletes in an effort to create a community to encourage each other with the pressures and demands of college athletics. These students saw an opportunity to unite the athletic department at NCU and to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ. It didn’t take long for other athletes to catch the vision of these two athletes. Soon several people were meeting regularly to pursue God and learn more about how they can live for Jesus on and off the field.

Sarah Reinecker, a Sophomore basketball player, said “It [FCA] has brought me relationships I never thought I’d have. It has opened doors for me and given me leadership opportunities. I have gotten future job ideas because of sports and my faith. I love the community and support system I have gained because of FCA.” FCA meetings are held every other Thursday at 7 p.m. in the office of Student Life. A typical meeting includes a sports update and ice breaker as an opportunity to learn more about one another outside of the identities of being an athlete. After the ice breaker, a short message in relation to lessons we have learned from sports connected with what the Bible has to say about that particular topic.

One example of a FCA message was on discipline and was taught recently at one of our meetings. As an athlete, discipline is something that is instilled in us in order to compete at a high level like college athletics.

We have to be willing to work out outside of scheduled

practices. The same idea of discipline applies to our relationship with God. We have to be willing to make the time to spend in the Word and to spend time in prayer talking with our Father.

After the message, we break into small groups and discuss questions specific to the message. These small groups allow athletes to be vulnerable with one another about the successes and failures we are having in different areas of our life. The small groups also allow athletes the opportunity to find ways to implement the message into our daily lives. To close the meeting, we gather in a circle and ask for prayer requests. Every athlete has the opportunity to pray or pass. Even though the meeting as ended, often athletes will stay after and continue discussions from the small groups.

Ethan Crofts, a Junior soccer player, said “FCA has impacted my life in many different ways. It has brought me closer to people I never would have talked to outside of it. It gave me a sense of family and fellowship away from home. It helped me grow in my relationship with God and has helped me better able to bring my relationships with Christ into my passion for soccer.

What I like about FCA is how welcoming and fun it is.

Whenever we have a meeting I get to go hang out with everyone and hear about how they are doing in their sport and walk. I really like that FCA has brought me new friendships with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.”

After three years, FCA continues to grow on campus.

We have students who come out and no longer play a sport but feel connected to the meeting because we are speaking in language they understand. For the first time, we have created S.A.L.T., which is our Student Athlete Leadership Team. These are students who are wanting to take that next step in their faith and help lead our meetings. Additionally, we challenge our SALT leaders to find athletes on their team that they can start discipling. While they are pouring into their fellow athletes, we have former NCU athletes and current NCU employees meet up with each SALT leader and encourage them in their walk with Christ.

As we continue to grow our hope always is to be a place where athletes feel welcome and safe. We’d love to have your athlete join us for a meeting!

Wellness Programs

This year, we are kicking off NCU Wellness with four main areas of programming. Our largest wellness programs this year will be in the form of four themed Wellness Weeks. Our first was Sexual Assault Awareness Week in October. It was a heavy and difficult

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It takes a village to grow thriving on our campus and I am joined in this endeavor by Brittany Brockbank, student Wellness Coordinator, who is featured in the Wellness Student Spotlight. We also have many faculty, staff, and student leaders working with students in holistic ways inside and outside of the classroom every day, so the responsibility and credit for student wellness should be evenly distributed across the curricular and co-curricular areas of campus.

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Before talking about our programs, it may be helpful to share what we mean when we say wellness. Wellness describes a holistic approach to life and includes mental health, coping, stress management, physical health, emotional health, cultural intelligence, civic engagement and more. The goal of NCU wellness is simple: we want to see greater thriving in our community. We use a pinwheel image to symbolize wellness because all the elements of wellness (physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and relational) are working together in our lives. The work of creating wellness programming on our campus to support these five areas must be holistic and interdependent, set in motion by God and the community.

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One of our new initiatives this year at NCU is Wellness. It is not completely new to NCU- we have done programming related to mental health, alcohol awareness and sexual assault prevention for many years.

However, this fall I was grateful to be able to step into the newly created role of Coordinator for Student Wellness (I also serve as the Resident Director of Burke-Griffeth) which is an incredible opportunity for me to share my gifts and passions in the area of holistic well-being. We are kicking off several new wellness programs this semester and I am excited to share with you what we have done and our dreams for the future.

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By: Emily Johnston, coordinator for wellness programs & Brittany Brockbank, junior

week for many in our community who are affected by sexual assault in their own lives or the lives of those they love. After speaking in chapel on Tuesday about being a shalom community where we care for survivors and are proactive bystanders, I was so encouraged by the feedback I received. Several students told me that while it was really difficult, they are so glad NCU is a place where we don’t run from hard conversations. Our programs were well received, but what impressed me most was the conversations that happened outside of the formal structure of the week. There is something powerfully healing about bringing light to things that carry unnecessary stigma and shame, and that power was evident throughout the week.

In November, our second Wellness Week is Vices Week. Vices Week is focused on the ways we cope with the stresses of life. We will look at unhealthy coping through alcohol, drugs, food, technology and toxic relationships. Then, we will provide opportunities for students to engage in and learn healthy coping skills.

Our hope is that students will find freedom from the unhealthy patterns in their lives and begin to build lifegiving habits that they will take with them long after they graduate.

Next semester, our two themed weeks are Multicultural

Celebration Week and Mental Health Week.

In addition to Wellness Weeks, there are three other elements of Wellness at NCU this year. First, intramural sports encourage physical activity, teamwork and friendly competition. In collaboration with Campus Ministries, we also have two therapeutic groups running this semester: one is a stress management group and the other is for students who are experiencing grief, loss and transition. Finally, we have some smaller events related to areas of passion for our staff and students. For example, next semester we plan to wade into the controversial waters of politics to model and practice healthy dialogue and disagreement across political lines- pray for us!

our community would not shy away from hard conversations about all the things we don’t talk about at the dinner table: mental health, faith, race, politics, etc. We want to model healthy and loving disagreement, advocate for issues of justice, eradicate shame and stigma, and give students tools and support to thrive in all areas of live. These are big dreams and it will take our whole community to see them come true, but from what I have seen so far, I think we are ready. Thank you, parents and families, for sending us so many students who are ready to dig deeper into their own wellness. And thank you for your trust in NCU that we are committed to the holistic growth of your student during their time at NCU and beyond.

My hope and dream for wellness at NCU is that

Wellness Student Spotlight My name is Brittany Brockbank, I am a junior from Medford, Oregon, and I am blessed to be a part of the wellness team for NCU! As someone who is both passionate about talking about things that are hard to talk about and passionate about my student body and community, being a part of wellness programs feels like a good fit for me.

To me, wellness is so important because I cannot choose willingly to live ignoring the needs of those around me.

In recognizing others’ needs and the need for wellness education, we are doing activities and events that allow our campus to talk about many difficult topics! This makes me so excited! Our first Wellness Week was Sexual Assault Awareness Week. It brought people together to talk about sexual assault, to join together to help and listen to survivors, and to learn about how we as bystanders can help.

Being part of a campus that openly talks about issues like sexual assault and not blaming survivors is truly amazing, and I am glad that I get to be a part of it.

Honoring Our Veterans By: Lucy Henderson, MBA ‘19, student veterans of America club advisor

Every year Northwest Christian University has honored our military service members past and present by hosting a Veterans Day Luncheon.

Military affiliated students, staff, faculty, and community members come together to reflect, express gratitude, and enjoy a meal in community with one another. This year the celebration expanded to a three-day Week of Recognition beginning on Veterans Day.

America chapter as a reminder that they are embraced and appreciated by their community.

One hundred eight American flags decorated the dewy central campus lawn the morning of Monday, November 11. Each flag represented a veteran or military affiliated student currently attending NCU. The intention behind this installation was to provide a silent visual reminder of what this day means and that so many in our own community have served. As students made their way to their 8:00 a.m. classes, lunch in the cafeteria, and study sessions in the library, they had the opportunity to pause and reflect even if just for a moment.

Hutchins Hall located in the Morse Events Center was adorned with patriotic décor welcoming veterans and their family members to the annual Veterans Day Luncheon following chapel. NCU’s Student Veterans of America Vice President Curtis Smith shared some words on what the SVA is and how this student led chapter has grown and continues to grow on this campus. These students have led this group with enthusiasm and great hopes for establishing new resources, opportunities, and sense of community for this population.

In the hall leading to the cafeteria an interactive appreciation station was installed featuring a five-foot yellow ribbon, notecards, and pens. All of campus was invited to share a few words of kindness, gratitude, or prayer throughout the week by writing notes and displaying them on the ribbon if they felt so inclined.

This banner was gifted to NCU’s Student Veterans of

NCU’s first annual Week of Recognition took place in honor of the men and women who have served and continue to serve. With respect, honor, and gratitude, NCU thanks these individuals for their service.

The following day NCU welcomed Father Jonathan Landon, a Chaplain at the Department of Veterans Affairs, to speak in chapel. He shared a message on the importance of accepting our brokenness and our reliance on God to be our strength, our protection, and our peace. He was followed by the showing of a brief, yet powerful video highlighting a few of our student veterans. These five individuals shared their testimony on why they chose to serve their country and were met with appreciative applause from their peers.

For more information about NCU’s Student Veterans of America chapter and events, contact sva@nwcu.edu.

I truly appreciate the time and effort that everyone put into the events. We don’t often seek recognition for our service, but it is always nice to receive it. - Jason Blevins, Army, junior, psychology

Office Admins

By: Jennifer Box, executive administrative assistant to the president On my first day of employment as the executive assistant to the president, I was handed a three-inch binder that required carrying with two hands. I opened the binder and inhaled a slow, deep breath. There were 56 tabs outlining my duties. This did not include all the unknowns of higher education I needed to learn as well. Needless to say, I was very overwhelmed. Yet I soon learned that I wasn’t the only one. There were “silos” all over campus that each had an admin working hard with their own 3-inch binder and 56 tabs outlining their duties.

To help break down silos and develop efficiencies throughout campus, all admins now gather for monthly meetings.

Despite the fact that we are spread out over the campus, we have found comradery and support. We are a team. No one else understands what we do and how we do it, except us. At

one of our first meetings, we each introduced ourselves and gave a brief overview of our job duties. I inhaled another slow, deep breath. We do a lot. A lot. The women sitting around the table all help to keep our campus neat, organized and running on time in every single department. Some of us administrate for whole departments. Some of us are administrators for one person. Some of us do both.

Allow me to introduce the admins who will, at one time or another, have a hand in helping your student from their first preview day on campus to when they walk across the stage and are handed their diploma from President Womack.

Over the next few newsletters you will be learning about our campus admins and find out what part they play in your student’s experience at NCU. Let’s start with Angela Cusano Keuter.

Meet Angela Cusano Keuter Welcome Center Office Manager and Visit Coordinator.

Angela is one of our newest members of the campus admin team. She graduated this past May from NCU, earning her Bachelor’s Degree in communications, and recently got married.

Angela oversees the campus Welcome Center. This is the first place you go when coming as a prospective student to visit our campus. The Welcome Center is located on the second floor of the Morse Event Center.

Angela is the first smile you see as you walk in. She greets our campus guests, distributes visitor parking passes and answers the main phone line for the University. She also coordinates visits for undergraduate students and helps with events that support campus visits like Preview Day. Located on the floor is the Admissions, Athletics and Financial Aid. Angela serves as administrative support to these three departments as well. She arranges and schedules meetings, makes reservations and travel arrangements.

She manages and oversees multiple calendars.

Our Vice President for Enrollment and Student Development, Michael Fuller, has his office in the Welcome Center. Yep, you guessed it, Angela also serves as his assistant and provides him administrative support.

Angela also provides support with enrollment data and enters prospective student applications, test scores, transcripts, inquiry cards and other related data into our specialized admissions tracking database.

When visiting our campus, you typically have a student tour guide. Angela trains and manages our student tour guides to help them provide accurate information along with a professional demeanor in representing NCU to prospective students and their families.

All this is alongside other administrative duties that include organizing and maintaining a variety of logs, files and records, operating office equipment, and ordering and maintaining inventory of equipment, materials and supplies.

Angela is a wonderful asset to our campus and we are proud that she is one of the first people you meet when visiting NCU.

Fall Sports

By: Nick Askew, assistant athletic director for communications

Great things are happening with the NCU Athletic Department and it has been an exciting fall season.

Our athletic department strives to have all 220 student-athletes strive to live out the Beacons “TriAthlete Model” as they place equal focus on Academics, Character, and Competition with a Christ-Centered focus.

CHARACTER: NCU was recently honored as an NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Gold Level institution. Schools are measured on a demonstrated commitment to Champions of Character and earn points in character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition, and character promotion. Only 34 schools from the NAIA achieved Gold status, and NCU was the only Gold level school recognized from the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

This fall, student-athletes have continued to show a dedication to volunteer in the community. The year started off with an annual canned-food drive in which returners went door-to-door to collect nearly 2000 points of food to benefit FOOD for Lane County.

Student-athletes have also participated in school-wide efforts like Beacons Serve at the beginning of the year and Embrace The Community Day in mid-fall. Other projects have included the women’s basketball team helping with Project Hope and the Cross Country Teams working at the CAFA Jog-a-thon.

ACADEMICS The Beacons had 29 fall athletes (Cross Country, Soccer, Volleyball) named to the U.S. Bank Academic All-Cascade Collegiate Conference team. To earn recognition, student-athletes must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 and at least sophomore standing. The men’s and women’s soccer teams led the way with seven selections apiece. Volleyball had six chosen, women’s cross country had five and men’s cross country had four.

The men’s soccer team was also honored with the selection of two student-athletes to the CoSIDA Academic All-District teams. Voted on by athletics communications professionals across the NAIA, the

CoSIDA Academic program is the most prestigious as it combines both academic and athletic achievement.

Seniors Kaleb Miles and Nicolas Schapochnik were both chosen.

ATHLETICS The highlight of the fall season had to be the NCU Volleyball team. Not only did the program set a new record for wins in a season with 20, they also advanced to the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time in school history.

Sophomore Makenna Northern and senior Kayla Olson were named to the All-CCC First-Team.

Each under the direction of a new head coach this year, the men’s and women’s soccer teams were not able to qualify for the CCC tournament. The women’s season was highlighted by a 9-0 road victory against California Maritime Academy. Sierra Graton and Lauren Kogutkiewicz each had a pair of goals for the Beacons in the win. The men’s team won two of their first three conference games including a 1-0 victory over Eastern Oregon in September. They closed out the year with a 4-1 win against Walla Walla.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed well and matched their team finishes from the year before at the Cascade Collegiate Conference championships. Women’s Cross Country senior Anika Rasubala finished third at the CCC Championship to earn All-CCC honors and qualify for the NAIA National Championship race.

The NCU Esports program had a busy fall. The Overwatch season moved from a spring schedule to September/October and at the same time the Beacons launched their first year playing Rocket League. Overwatch went 7-7 in the newly structured Tespa Varsity Series. Rocket League competed in two sanctioned leagues. In the NAC Fall Championship, the Beacons qualified for the post-season and were selected to be one of the final 16 teams. They also competed in the “Collegiate Rocket League”, a varsity-only schedule that included a highlight win against North Dakota State University.

All-CCC First Team: Makenna Northern (left) and Kayla Olson (right)

Anika Rasubala at the CCC Cross Country Championships

NCU Esports

Women’s Soccer participating in 2019 Canned Food Drive

CoSIDA Academic All-District: Nicolas Schapochnik (left) and Kaleb Miles (right)

NCU Volleyball set a program record for wins in a season (20) and advanced to the CCC Tournament semifinals for the first time in school history.

Fall Semester Highlights 11/28-12/1

Thanksgiving Break

Campus housing will remain open, but the cafeteria will be closed. Last meal served will be dinner on Wednesday, November 27th. Meals will resume Sunday, December 1st at dinner.

12/4 12/6

Academic Creativity & Excellence (ACE) Day (No Daytime Classes) Last Day of Classes

12/9 - 12/13

Final Exams

12/13

Fall Commencement

12/14

Campus Housing Closes @12pm

Last meal of the semester will be dinner on Friday, December 13th

12/24 - 1/1

Campus Closed for Christmas Break

Spring Semester Highlights 1/11

Campus Housing Opens @12pm

First meal of the semester will be dinner on Sunday, January 12th

1/13

Classes Begin

1/20

Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday (No Classes)

More Info: (clickable links)

Residence Life Dates ACE Day Commencement Athletic Schedules