Senior Kristen Bates won both the 55-meter hurdles and the pentathlon at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships on March 13, collecting her eighth and ninth All-American honors — and thus becoming the most decorated athlete in Messiah history.
Bates ran a :08.00 in Saturday’s 55-meter hurdles finals to beat the field by .09 of a second, then wrapped up the last event of the pentathlon immediately thereafter, scoring 3,555 points — the third-highest mark in NCAA Division III Championships history.
Bates’ honors are the icing on the cake for an indoor track and field program that enjoyed a very successful season. The women clinched the conference title (for the third straight year), and the men finished fourth. Bates was named Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, and Coach Dale Fogelsanger was named Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year.

NCAA Event Results

Track and Field at Messiah College

Once perceived as a grandmother’s pastime, knitting has exploded in popularity among younger generations. Now knitting has become the new chic way to be crafty and creative. Some attribute the popularity surge to numerous knit-loving celebrities, but Joy Oakes, a senior at Messiah College, believes that knitting’s attractiveness comes from its conduciveness to multitasking.

“Knitting is something that can be done while doing something else,” Oakes stated. For Oakes, that something else is fellowship. Specially, fellowship made possible through Tabitha’s, a unique student-ministry that uses knitting to serve the community.

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Click on image at right for larger version.

The bank account of many college students is quite a few zeros less than $100,000, the amount generously donated to start Messiah College’s Investment Club in 2003. With nearly $150,000 at its disposal, Investment Club members receive invaluable, hands on experience buying, trading, and selling stocks.

The real deal
A lot of college investment clubs use a software program and fake money to practice their finance skills, says junior Daniel McClure, co-president of Messiah’s Investment Club. It is uncommon for a college, especially one of Messiah’s size, to have such resources at its disposal.

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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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In the late afternoon on January 12, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, destroying much of the capital and surrounding area, leaving thousands missing or dead and countless others homeless and without resource.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and does not have the infrastructure or resources to handle a crisis of this magnitude. We believe it is our Christian responsibility to pray for and support the Haitian people in their time of distress, and are currently partnering with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to raise funds that will immediately and effectively respond to this emergency. (more…)

It is officially Earth Week – the start of an all-week celebration leading up to Earth Day on April 22.  This year Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary, and Messiah College, in commemoration of this significant anniversary, is launching Green@Messiah, a website devoted to sharing the College’s sustainability efforts over the past 40 years.

And, yes, Messiah has been actively caring for creation for nearly 40 years!

In 1971, just months after the first Earth Day, Messiah was offering a course – “Man and His Environmental Problems” – that inspired students to organize an Environmental Concerns committee on campus. Since then, many Messiah students have been passionate about environmental issues and have partnered with the College on exciting projects like planting and harvesting a community garden, engineering and constructing solar vehicles, and restoring the banks of the on-campus Yellow Breeches Creek.

It’s true that environmental stewardship isn’t just the latest trend at Messiah College. It’s a way of life.

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If Nate Jenkins was asked to write the obligatory “What I did during my summer vacation” essay, he would have quite a story to tell.

His narrative would be littered with the names of professional football players, all of whom he met and worked with during a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Pro Bowler Larry Fitzgerald’s camp for NFL athletes.

Not your usual summer camp
Fitzgerald, a wide receiver who has amassed 59 touchdowns and totaled 523 receptions for 7,067 yards during his six-season career as an Arizona Cardinal, invites players to come to his hometown of Deluth, Minnesota for an intensive week of agility, footwork, and conditioning drills before team training camps begin in August.

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There was a time when Bridget Nace ’10 (pictured in red) wasn’t sure she’d ever walk across the stage to receive her degree. Now, that goal is in sight, and she couldn’t be more grateful for all that God has done to provide for her so that she could reach this point in her life.

Difficult Decisions
Bridget isn’t your typical college student. At the age of 20, while attending a community college, Bridget’s mother suffered from a stroke. Bridget made the decision to drop out of college to care for her mother, and devoted herself completely to ensuring that her mother’s needs were provided for. When it was clear that her mother would remain in a nursing home for the long-term, Bridget made the decision to go back to school, and, although she is ‘on her own’ when it comes to paying for her education, she chose Messiah.

“I wanted—no, I needed—a Christian environment,” Bridget says. “I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, and I knew I needed support to help me grow in my new Christian faith.”

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Finals Week means that plenty of students are burning the midnight oil in an attempt to ace exams, complete projects, finish papers, and put a celebratory exclamation point at the end of another busy semester.
Recognizing that sleep and nutrition often fall to the wayside during a busy Finals Week, the kind folks in dining services began offering a free, late night breakfast to hard-working students as a way to fill their grumbling tummies and lift their weary spirits. The pancake idea is relatively new, but dining services has been thoughtfully providing exam breaks for more than 10 years.

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Messiah program helps students to become financially literate

With all of the costs associated with college, Messiah students are learning the importance of budgeting. A program developed by alumna Janelle Curtis-Beaman ’04 explored how students could live on $8 an hour, the average hourly wage of student employees at Messiah.

The concept
“I noticed a lot of students seemed to be nervous about money,” said Curtis-Beaman.  “I thought it would be a great idea to develop an on-campus program that addressed those concerns especially in this economic climate.”

Curtis-Beaman, an employee within the College’s administrative offices, gathered sponsorships from the Office of Annual Giving and the Career Center and worked alongside individuals from the Internship Center, Residence Life, and the Agape Center for Service and Learning to spread word about the program.

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