BEACON FAMILY NEWSLETTER
Inside this issue
Torch Bearer’s Society Speech and Communication Accessibility Services Embrace the Community Student Highlight
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WELCOME BEACONS! Welcome to all our new Beacon students and families! This year’s class has kicked the year off with strong participation in both academics and extracurriculars. They are a group of enthusiastic students and we are excited to see their future as Beacons. Here are a few facts about our new students: »» This fall we’ve welcomed 143 new students, including 100 traditional freshmen and 43 transfers. »» With a 3.46 average GPA, this is our highest-ranking class in the modern era, and includes 32 students who have been class or ASB presidents of their respective high schools. Two were valedictorians. »» 65% of the freshmen are women, while 65% of the transfers are men. »» 32% are from Eugene/Springfield and 23% are from
out of state, including students from California, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Texas and Massachusetts.
»» A number of our new students come from other countries such as well as Spain, Canada, Bolivia, Brazil and Australia. »» 11 are pastor’s kids »» 91 have participated in volunteer work and mission trips around the world »» 27 are first-generation college students What an impressive list! We look forward to an incredible year with them and NCU’s faculty and staff are ready to partner with them in their journey at NCU - encouraging each and everyone to thrive and to fully engage in their NCU experience.
Beacons Light the Way for Other Beacons By: Camille Ogden, director of annual giving
One of the brilliant things about our NCU community is that we serve and support one another. The Torchbearer’s Society is an illuminating example of this commitment to our students and their success. What is the Torchbearer’s Society? A monthly giving program that directly supports the Beacon Fund. Through a monthly gift—of any size—alumni, parents, partners, faculty, and staff contribute to our Beacon fund which directly supports scholarships and helps offset what it costs to educate each of our students. Plus, you get to show your Beacon pride with an exclusive Torchbearer’s Society lapel pin.
Professors and professional staff contribute. Alumni, local churches, and business partners contribute. Parents, grandparents, and friends are invited to contribute as well. Thank you for being a shining part of the Beacon family. Your gifts help us light the way for your student and for many others needing support from our extended community so they can be equipped for a life of purpose beyond our campus. Visit give.nwcu.edu to become a Torchbearer and receive your pin!
Get to know : SPEECH & communication By: Doyle Srader, professor, speech & communication
When people find out I teach Communication, they think I teach journalism, broadcasting, or advertising. I don’t. Instead, I teach public address, which is the good old fashioned art of talking to a room full of people. I also teach interpersonal communication, which is the even better and more old-fashioned art of participating in conversation with a smaller group of people. You might think, “People have to study that?” In fact, every rising cohort of young adults that emerges from high school seems to be a bit more technologically fixated, and to lack confidence that they can carry on a conversation, build a friendship, stick with a relationship long enough to find a spouse and start a family. So, yes, people have to study that. Your great-grandparents may have known how to harvest a crop and care for a horse, but the odds are that today you’d need some training and specialized assistance to do either of those things, because inventions and innovations have stolen some of our ruggedness and ability to tend to basic tasks. Every time a student tells me, “I want to major in Communication,” my first response is, “And what do you have in mind for an ideal workplace after college?” The best answer is, “I don’t know yet.” That’s the smart, healthy answer. It’s sheer foolishness to try to peer into the future and identify the hot career for one’s graduation year, just because job descriptions heat up and cool down so quickly. Students aren’t picking a job description for just one year – they may have fifty years or more after college to build and steward a career, so trying to guess right
is a foolish misunderstanding of the challenge. Instead, the name of the game is versatility. A major that equips students with a skill set that works in lots of entirely different settings is a major that doesn’t lose its value as industries rise and fall. Graduates of the NCU Communication program from the past ten years have gone to law school and become prosecutors, become executive directors of nonprofits, earned counseling degrees and set up practice, started their own businesses, gone into banking, earned graduate degrees and teaching jobs in higher education, and more. And probably my favorite thing about the Communication program is that it’s a magnet for students who find joy in helping others. One of NCU’s longest-lived traditions, Embrace The Community Day, was dreamed up by a Communication major. Communication majors staff all sorts of volunteer and service roles around campus, and they’re very quick to design service-learning projects for their senior capstones. I tease my colleagues, and they tease right back, about the stereotypes of the students who pick each of our programs, but the stereotype of Communication majors is that they’re well-adjusted and really love people. It’s my privilege to teach them about listening, about conflict management, about nonverbal communication, self-talk, intercultural communication, and a heap of other areas of focus in communication research that set them up with insights and skills they can then apply to relational ministry, to spiritual leadership, and to career success. And I know that when they get home at night, the same habits and understandings they so enjoyed perfecting in their college years also equip them to love their spouses, raise their kids, be helpful neighbors, and shine their light to everyone they meet so all may see their good works and give glory to their Father in Heaven.
ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES 4-1-1 By: Bethany Dilla, academic advisor and accessibility services coordinator The mission of NCU’s Accessibility Services Department is to advocate for and facilitate equal access to education for students with disabilities and/or conditions by providing academic accommodations. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a person with a disability/condition is defined as “any individual who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity; has a record of having such an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment is protected by the law” (http://www.apa.org/pi/disability/dart/ legal/ada-basics.aspx). These include both visible and invisible disabilities/conditions. In essence, academic accommodations proactively remove barriers that impede student success. In order to remove these barriers, NCU Accessibility Coordinators set up academic accommodations on an individualized basis, during an initial consultation with the student requesting them. Put another way, accommodations help provide assistance if and when a student needs to utilize them, which is a lot like insurance! Reasonable accommodations are “modifications or adjustments to the tasks, environment or to the way things are usually done that enable individuals with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to participate in an academic program or a job” (http://www. apa.org/pi/disability/dart/toolkit-three.aspx). Implementing accommodations is an on-going, interactive process, to ensure the student is being accommodated appropriately. Although the Accessibility Coordinators hold the sole responsibility of reviewing official documentation and determining reasonable academic accommodations, the student has the liberty to decide which accommodations he/she will use for each class and for each semester. This decision will vary based on the nature of the class. An example of an academic accommodation is providing a student with extra time on his or her tests. Removing the barrier of time relieves the pressure of competing against the clock, enabling a student to focus on completing it. In essence, academic
accommodations level the playing field without lowering academic standards or fundamentally altering the nature of the program or activity. So, how do students register and receive academic accommodations at NCU? The process of registering with Accessibility Services involves three steps: Fill out and return the Accommodations Request form; Provide a form of documentation from a licensed provider (such as a therapist, doctor, psychologist, surgeon, etc.); and Schedule a 30-minute in-person or phone consultation with an Accessibility Coordinator to review both documents and complete the registration process. The accessibility registration process maintains confidentiality, builds trust, and ensures access to education for the student. While the student may be required to share some personal information about his/her diagnosis with an Accessibility Coordinator, he/she is not obligated to share that personal information with anyone else on campus. We strongly believe in building trusting relationships and empowering students to share the parts of their story with trusted individuals on campus as they so choose. To request or register for academic accommodations please contact Accessibility Services at accessibilityservices@nwcu.edu. If you have specific questions, we encourage you to reach to an Accessibility Coordinator directly. Angela Doty & Bethany Dilla serve as the two Accessibility Coordinators on campus. Please e-mail or call adoty@nwcu.edu (541-684-7289) or bdilla@nwcu. edu (541-684-7282). Thank you for partnering with Accessibility Services to provide access to education!
The mission of NCU’s Accessibility Services Department is to advocate for and facilitate equal access to education for students with disabilities and/or conditions by providing academic accommodations.
embrace the community 2018 By: The Beacon Bolt, published september 27, 2018
Wisdom. Faith. Service. This is what we as NCU students have agreed to represent. Service can be extended simply from one student to another, and from us to our community. ETC day has been a yearly event with our school since the 2008-09 academic year. As NCU’s 11th year of serving, it is a great way for our students to take a pause on their school work, grab a friend, and spend a few hours serving someone in the Eugene/Springfield community. We asked Michael Fuller about the history of ETC Day and what it means to him as the VP of enrollment and student development, “What I absolutely love about our University is how we truly live out our mission on a daily basis and events such as ETC Day allow us to do this. It is one thing to talk about being Christian Community and it is a whole other thing to ‘live it out’. As Beacons we are called to shine out from the darkness and to help those in need. I so appreciate our students, faculty and staff making time to serve the Eugene/Springfield community and be the hands and feet of Jesus.” Being able to serve in this way helps us to make ties with people in the community who are making a difference. Even just the smallest act of kindness can be more helpful than we know. Taking just a few hours to go out of our way for someone else can put an unmovable smile on someone’s face. God created us to be in community, so we help build that community by serving in it. Along with Michael Fuller, we asked freshman Amber Whitehead about her experience with ETC Day, “ETC day was a day for me to give back to the community in ways that provide assistance to organizations that needed a little extra help. As a group we were able to get the tasks done in a short amount of time, which was awesome! From being out of state, I realize that this community does need the help. It was an eye opener for me because the community really does appreciate the help that we provided. It makes me want to give back more to this community because it is not expected like other areas I’ve volunteered previously.”
This year, the campus ministry team was able to buy our ETC Day shirts from a non-profit in Cambodia that works with girls who have been victims of human trafficking. Each year a missions team from NCU travels to Cambodia to work with Agape International Missions (AIM). AIM rescues girls from sex trafficking and impowers them through rehabilitation. In the rehabilitation process, they teach the girls how to make clothing as a part of their vocational training in textile manufacturing. This empowers the girls to make a living by working. Every one of the ETC Day shirts was made by a girl who was rescued from human trafficking. To make these shirts extra special, each one included the name of the girl who made it. This year’s ETC Day, we represented more than just our belief that service is a critical part of our faith, we represented the bigger picture, the picture that service goes way beyond the Eugene/ Springfield community and out to the world. It was so awesome this year to physically represent an organization that provides an incredible service to girls who were trafficked, while we also served others. It was a peak into God’s global mission and a great reminder that He works everywhere. Nate Graham, a six-year military veteran, weighed in on how he enjoyed participating in the Veterans Housing Project during ETC Day, “Being able to get out there and actually help people is one of the things we are called to do as Christians. And so, just getting out there and getting down and dirty, and helping however we can is what we are for.” Thank you NCU community for getting out there and serving. Let us know about your ETC day experience, we’d love to hear how you engaged the community this past week. Don’t stop here! Continue to take the time and serve, you never know how much you are blessing that person!
“What I absolutely love about our University is how we truly live out our mission on a daily basis and events such as ETC Day allow us to do this.” Michael Fuller
vice president for enrollment and student development
Stay Connected! Visit https://www.nwcu.edu/parents/stay-connected/ for the following resources: • Update your contact information: Don’t miss important information from the university! • Family Handbook: Answered FAQ’s and Campus Contacts for families of NCU students. • Student Community Resource Guide: A student (and family) guide to community resources including doctors, car repair, mental health services, crisis services, food banks, etc. • Link to ask@nwcu.edu: one-stop e-mail for any questions that you may have for the university regarding your student’s education.
student highlight: jane taimalie By: Princess Fox, director of student programs
They say people are resilient; I see this as I work with college students, specially this young Beacon, Jane Taimalie. Jane is a junior, majoring in Business Administration. She came to us her freshman year from the island of American Samoa, for the first time living in a place where she has to learn a whole new culture and a whole new language, away from family and familiarity. Jane is an English language learner, her first collegiate year being the first all-English experience she’s had in her entire education and life. As a person whose first language is also not English, I have an inkling of what Jane might be going through. Although I knew how to read, write, and speak English fairly well when I immigrated to the United States my freshman year in high school, I still know the difficulty of having to learn to communicate and listen to everyone around me. Imagine listening to a language you’re unfamiliar with and how ‘fast’ it seems -- English sounds exactly the same to those of us who did not grow up daily speaking or hearing it. As widespread as the English language is, it is still very different when you are thrown in the middle of it as a non-English speaker, expected to read, write, and converse; now imagine having the expectation to do all that in an academic, collegiate level. This is Jane’s reality. What is amazing is that this brave girl is most definitely not merely surviving a new world, she’s THRIVING in it! Up to the point of being at NCU, her only exposure to the English language had come from watching television on the weekends, her dad’s legacy of playing TD Jakes sermon on the radio, and singing English songs in the choir at church. Her junior year of high school, a teacher from Tennessee joined the staff at her school and began teaching her formal English writing for 45 minutes a day with 45 other students. This same teacher was the one that opened Jane’s eyes to the possibility of college, where most of her peers either joined the military or began working immediately after high school. Outside of these experiences, Jane’s first true, full-time exposure to the English language was not until when her time began at NCU. From the beginning, Jane has dedicated herself to fully soaking up all that NCU has to offer. Academically, Jane studies with about five different dictionaries for every reading assignment and every paper she writes. She has yet to ask for ‘special’ consideration from her professors because she wants to be held at the same standard as
her peers, pushing her towards excellence. As she gets deeper into her major courses, she admits that it is becoming more and more challenging; however, she knows that the supportive professors and staff on campus will help her through this time of transition to make a plan that will help her succeed and finish strong. Socially, Jane is a student leader and has always participated in campus events, even often volunteering to help. She has always said, “I will be there no matter what because I love to be involved and to help.” As for her peers, she has a strong presence that is often strongly missed when she’s not around. Her friends say that she exudes the presence of the Holy Spirit, and you can feel it when she is in and out of the room. She is positive and is the first to cheer her friends on with all their endeavors. During the second half of spring semester last year, Jane had to take time off from school because she lost her father unexpectedly. Through this time, Jane has inspired myself and many others on how to live out our faith through hard times. She was an emotional and spiritual anchor to her mother and 8 brothers (most of whom are older than her). The joy of the Lord continues to be alive in her through her grieving. She is sincere, authentic, strong, and inspirational through this time of loss. Jane’s hunger to spend time with the Lord is infectious, which has been her sustenance these past few months. As she continues to feel the hole in her heart her dad left, and begins to feel a stronger pressure of navigating her education as a language-learning student, she finds herself intentionally spending more and more sometimes quiet, sometimes emotional, moments with the Lord. These moments are when she hears God’s continued whispers of the GREATNESS that He has planned for her; therefore, she must continue to run the race and not grow weary. Every moment I spend time with this young woman, I am more convinced that mentorship does not only come from people who are older than us. God has definitely used Jane to urge me to pursue the Lord stronger, persevere, find JOY through the hard times, and live a life of worship. Her desire to follow the Lord’s leading in her life, wherever and whatever, has encouraged me to step out of the boundaries I have created for myself in serving God and His people. Jane’s confidence in who God has made her to be has opened my eyes to embrace the person that God has created me to be. As a Beacon, Jane is 100% all in. She embraces NCU as her home and is open to all that God has to offer through this place. There are no excuses for Jane -- obstacles are not hindrances, but only mountains to climb to help build strength for future valleys and mountains.