Feeling lucky? Matthew Kelly `03 sure was when he landed a job on the famous Prize Patrol at Publisher’s Clearinghouse.

Publisher’s Clearinghouse (PCH), originally a magazine circulation agency, launched their first sweepstakes in 1967. Their reality television-like moments of greeting unsuspecting contestants at their homes with balloons, a large check (both in size and dollar amount!) and television cameras rolling began in 1988 and have become icons of popular culture. (more…)

Paul Gustafson, ’09, enjoys reading, climbing trees, working on his truck and most importantly, learning how computers and electronics work. Since graduating, he has moved to Vermont, started a renewable energy business and built a home. But, not just any home. Gustafson and his family designed and constructed a home that is completely off the grid, running entirely on solar power.

The blueprint
While growing up, Gustafson was raised with a non-consumerist philosophy: if his family could make or do something themselves instead of paying for it, they would. When he was 10 years old, they installed a small photovoltaic system, which is a system that uses one or more solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. After the panels were up and running, Gustafson and his father turned off everything in the house and went outside to watch the meter turn backwards. He claims this was his first step into the solar industry. (more…)

On any Monday night during fall or spring semester, all of her friends know where to find Hope Mead – in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg. Each week, she leads a group of students to serve 20 to 30 inner-city children at Abba’s Place.

Abba’s Place is a 14-year-old ministry that started at New Heritage Christian Church when Messiah College students attending the church noticed the need for more adults to serve the children’s ministry. Since its inception, this weekly Bible School ministry has been led by Messiah students and sustained through alumni involvement under the direction of the church’s pastor, Scott Barkley.

According to Barkley, “Abba’s Place, from where we stand, serves as a line of defense in terms of deterring children from a life of drugs, crime, teenage pregnancy, poverty and other negative life paths.” Through the program, Messiah students have influenced children to complete high school and go to college.

Student leadership
An art education major graduating in 2012, Mead began serving at Abba’s Place during her first year at Messiah.  She kept coming back because she grew to love the kids she serves. “Seeing each one of their smiling faces every week was so encouraging and a wonderful break from the intensity of classes and homework.”

By Mead’s sophomore year, she was ready to step into a leadership role which includes organizing and recruiting student volunteers for Abba’s Place. She has identified a large number of benefits for Messiah students who volunteer with the ministry. “They get an opportunity to focus on someone other than themselves, to learn about another culture, to be encouraged by the love, the joy and the energy of the kids.” Messiah students also benefit from an upfront look at the needs of the local community.                    

Abba’s Place would not run without Messiah students. They are the playground supervisors, the worship leaders, the planners, the teachers, and the friends of the children.

Alumni involvement
When Abba’s Place started it had a mascot, Duct Tape Man. Fourteen years later, Duct Tape Man or Chad Swartzentruber ’00 is still serving the ministry—albeit without a duct tape mask or cape. Affectionately known to the group as “Mr. Chad,” he works in the church’s daycare and has become a cornerstone in children’s lives in the community. 

Throughout the years, students have become attached to the community and the children and find themselves still involved with Abba’s Place years after graduation. According to Swartzentruber, “Alumni give continuity to the program. They help teach the new volunteers what to do. They help the children adjust to new people.”

Barkley understands that Messiah students and alumni are receiving as well as giving through their involvement with Abba’s Place. “I have stated for years to new students that while you are coming into the ‘hood’ to give of yourselves, I promise that you will take back to the campus more than what you left with in terms of the experience. The alumni, if they hang around, are able to see firsthand a ‘return on their investment’ – far exceeding any investment on Wall Street.” 

Abba’s Place serves children ages pre-kindergarten to fourth grade on Monday nights and children ages fifth grade through high school on Wednesday nights during the school year.

If you are interested in learning more about Abba’s Place and how you can be involved, contact the Agape Center for Service and Learning at 717-796-1800, ext. 7255.
Story by Rachel Crownover `09, a member of the College’s Alumni Council and volunteer at Abba’s Place since 2006.

Laura Meitzner Yoder (right), her son Micah, and two colleagues enjoy beautiful Michigan, a location of the AuSable Institute for Environmental Studies.

As early as high school, Laura Meitzner Yoder ’93 was concerned with justice matters. Some of her other favorite subjects included biological sciences and politics, which combined to launch her interest in learning about and getting involved in world hunger issues. These interests then united with agricultural and environmental concerns in tropical areas, which eventually led her to work on land access issues of importance to rural people.

Yoder grew up in a rural area of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and lived on a small farm with her family. At the time, Yoder enjoyed playing around the nearby pond and stream, which likely encouraged her current fascination of nature. (more…)

For 2010 graduate Jared Clugston, being an athlete has always come naturally. 

In high school he tested the waters of many sports including soccer, football, lacrosse and track. Heading into his college years though, Clugston decided to pursue soccer full-time. This endeavor led Clugston to earn a spot on the championship men’s team at Messiah and go on to capture three national titles as a goalkeeper. 

“Playing soccer at Messiah helped me develop a great mental competitiveness and taught me to always try my best and work hard,” says Clugston. 

Those core values are now helping Clugston take his athletic career even further. 

This fall, he was selected to be one of eight members of United States World Cup Bobsledding Team and is now competing to earn a spot in the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  (more…)

Beautiful weather and record-setting crowds made for a fantastic Homecoming weekend, October 15-16, at Messiah!

More than 2,000 people attended Homecoming, enjoying everything from class reunions, to many family activities, to a big picnic, to high-scoring athletic events.

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Clarence Sakimura was just a young boy when his family was forced to leave their business and home in California to relocate to an internment camp in Arizona during World War II.

Once the war ended, the family moved to Michigan to work on a farm, but the conditions were especially difficult. Messiah College President C. N. Hostetter Jr. was passing through the area, heard about the Sakimura family, and offered the father, Harvey, a job as the caretaker and gardener at Messiah.

Clarence, who graduated from and then taught at Messiah, recently told his family’s story to StoryCorps,® one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, when StoryCorps recorded stories from the Messiah community during Centennial Homecoming weekend.  (The complete audio recordings will be stored in the College’s Archives as well as those of the United States Library of Congress along with the other 50,000 other stories that StoryCorps has captured since its inception in 2003.)

Listen to Clarence and Herta Sakimura reminisce about their journey to Messiah and their relationship.

Read more about the Sakimura family as profiled in the Multicultural Century Project and on StoryLink.

Five years ago, six Messiah educators and students were hiking in Great Smokey Mountain National Park when they encountered a group of hikers who were unprepared for the deteriorating weather conditions. One hiker was on the brink of hypothermia. The young men from Messiah quickly devised a plan to get medical help and supplies to the hikers.

“The mountain didn’t give us a choice,” recalls Ryan Wilson about his experience of participating in the rescue operation. Wilson and fellow Resident Director Craig Dalen hiked 12 miles in more than eight inches of snow to the closest Ranger Station where a Blackhawk military helicopter was dispatched to airlift the hiker with hypothermia.

Hear friends Ryan Wilson and Craig Dalen recall this unforgettable Spring Break 2005 trip.

Read The Bridge article about the Messiah hikers, dubbed “The Messiah Six.”

Mary (Walters) Ebersole recalls an unexpected turning point in her education in 1957.

When the Russians successfully launched Sputnik into orbit on October 4 of that year, Ebersole remembers her teacher telling her class, “We just have to keep up with the Russians!” This mindset was widespread and framed education as a competitive practice as much as a learning opportunity.

By the time Ebersole came to Messiah College in the mid-1960s, the country was fully engaged in the Vietnam War. But, even amongst national turmoil, Ebersole recalls finding a “resting place” at Messiah.

Listen Up! as Rebecca (Ebersole) Kasparek `96 and Mary (Walters) Ebersole `68 talk about life at Messiah College in the 1960s.

One of the most prominent characteristics of a city is its diversity. From people, to landmarks, to opportunities, to challenges; each city promises an exhilarating adventure for tourists and residents alike. Recently, 20 Messiah students jumped at the opportunity to get a taste of real-life in New York City.

Students and leaders from the College left early on April 8 for a two-day networking trip organized by the Career Center with help from the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations and the Development Office. The trip’s focus was to give students a chance to learn from and network with Messiah alumni and business leaders, while also experiencing what life is like in the city.

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