Retrospect

By Kathy Dean

College changes you. Whether you called this place Mobile College or the University of Mobile, your college experience played a huge role in shaping how you view the world, what you value, who you are. The people you lived with, ate with, studied with and learned from each had an impact. You were part of a community. You learned how to think, how to collaborate, how to survive failure, how to celebrate success in this community. When you think back on the pivotal moments of your college years, it’s not the test grade you remember. It’s the choir you sang in, the team you played on, the mission trip you took, the all-night study session with friends. Your community. You still belong.

Shared experiences like Project Serve, a campus-wide day of service, are part of building a strong community. Faculty, staff and students spread out to more than 60 locations in the Mobile area to volunteer at schools, sing to nursing home residents, organize food pantries, and be the hands and feet of Christ. The first Mobile College choir started a musical legacy that continues today through more than 20 ensembles in the Roger Breland Center for Performing Arts in the

Alabama School of the Arts.

It was 1979 when the 76-member Mobile College Touring Choir made their first international trip with a week-long tour of England and Scotland. Today’s musical mission trips include tours such as the 2012 Jamaica trip pictured here, where RamCorps and Welsh Revival spread the message of Jesus Christ through music – and did construction, lawn maintenance and cleaning for a Baptist church in Montego Bay. Dorm life has changed through the years – dorm mothers have retired and new residence halls like The Timbers feature apartment-style living with private rooms, shared living room and kitchenette. Plus, on-campus living includes free internet and cable, automated laundry, 24-hour fitness center and 24-hour security. What hasn’t changed are the lifelong friendships that are created.

Remember the day you moved onto campus for the first time? Some of the first faces new students see are the faculty and staff who help them unload their cars and carry an amazing amount of dorm life necessities to their rooms. Here, School of Education faculty help make the first-day transition a little easier.