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Building Peace with Our Religious Neighbors event calls for conversation FPU students and faculty hold Interfaith Dialogue Luncheon to build interreligious relationships Hannah Hamm | News Co-Editor
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PU students and faculty joined together to put on an Interfaith Dialogue Luncheon on the topic of Building Peace with our Religious Neighbors, tackling the concept of Islamophobia on October 26th at 12PM on campus. Students, faculty and members from the community were invited to share a meal and share their faith with one another in the hopes of opening up a dialogue and building authentic interreligious community. Senior intercultural studies major Sam Witt and sophomore accounting major Lucina Jarquin came
together to structure this event with the guidance and support of Brian Davis and Darren Duerkson. “The director of the Islamic Cultural Center in Fresno and his wife will be there answering questions and talking about experiences they’ve had. Staff and students are welcome to come and talk with Muslim students and adults about what each other’s faith means to them. It’s just a way to learn about and build relationships with Muslims,” Witt said. At the event, many FPU students and students from various other colleges gathered in North Hall to share a meal and converse about discussion questions placed on each table. Tacos were provided that had been prepared with traditional halal meat, so that all could partake in the meal. Attendees were encouraged to sit at a table where they did not know anybody in order to form new relationships. “It’s definitely been challenging because, especially with the food, because you are embracing another culture in which they need their meat prepared a certain way,” Jarquin said. Jarquin was in charge of getting the food put together, and with the help of the caterers, all were able to enjoy the meal
provided and even go for seconds and thirds as they so pleased. “I think the event was an incredible success, particularly in the response that we had from both the Muslim student groups who were invited and our students at FPU. We had quite a few students here and it certainly looked like they were eager to have great conversation and build relationships with a part of the Muslim community in Fresno,” Davis said. Muslim communities were able to come to FPU and have extended the hospitality towards us to come to their space. Davis said that they would love to see students and faculty and staff continue to pursue these relationships by attending those events. “Sometimes people say negative things about events like this and even the word ‘interfaith’ brings a lot of negative discussion, but I do think that God calls us to love our neighbors and those who are different than us. So, I think this is a part of doing it because it all starts with relationship-building. It’s kind of just been a process of God like softening my heart. For people who are often misunderstood,” Witt said.
FPU Swimming and Diving finds interim head coach Adrian Aleksandrowicz steps into vacant position Parker Lewis | News Co-Editor
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Photo of new interim coach Adrian Aleksandrowicz
PHOTO BY FRESNO PACIFIC ATHLETICS
PU Athletics has appointed a new interim head coach for the Men and Women’s Swim and Dive teams. Adrian Aleksandrowicz has taken up this position recently, after coming to FPU this August as a graduate assistant coach. Aleksandrowicz was a swimmer at the Georgia State University and from the national team back in Poland, where he was born. “I started swimming when I was 8, now I am 24. It has been quite a journey,” Aleksandrowicz said. Trey McDaniel, a sophomore swimmer, talked about the search for a new coach and what he expects from the position. “It’s been a long process ... [but a coach’s job is to] ultimately, lead the team and to see that figure that the team looks up to and wants to compete for and wants to do good for. We basically give them ourselves and they turn us into better swimmers,” McDaniel said.
Aleksandrowicz also talked about his experience and what he thinks a coach’s responsibilities should be. “Looking at my collegiate career and how I adapted to coaching after it, I believe that experience gave me the right tools to make my athletes better both inside and outside of the pool,” Aleksandrowicz said. The school has been searching for a new coach after Katelyne Herrington left this year, two months before the season started. With Aleksandrowicz accepting this new position, he can take on these new responsibilities and lead the team through the rest of their season, while the school continues its search for a permanent head coach. “The swim team is very grateful for Adrian and his big step up into this hard, unpredictable situation that he wasn’t expecting. And all of the swimmers - the seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen - have all done a great job stepping up into bigger roles,” McDaniel said.