By Longan Nguyen

Leadership Journey, a program for incoming Cornerstone students, has been replaced after seven years by a new program called Terra Firma.

Terra Firma, meaning “solid ground” in Latin, is a program to help new students build a firm spiritual foundation for the start of their college career. Chuck Swanson, vice president for Spiritual Formation and dean of community life, was one of the key speakers at Terra Firma.

“First, it became clear that students were entering CU with less and less of a biblical foundation, which was a needed foundation for Leadership Journey to work,” Swanson said.

“We decided to develop a program that would provide a good biblical foundation for all of our students,” he said. “Second, we needed to find ways to cut the costs of this experience, and much of the expense was tied to the purchase of the Leadership Journey curriculum.  We believed we had a good team to put together the curriculum and a program to reach the learning objectives for this program.” 

Swanson explains the difference between Terra Firma and its predecessor, including the focus on what he calls the “Four C’s.”

“Leadership Journey was a program that primarily focused on the development of leadership skills and understanding the role of self, others, action and community,” he said. “Terra Firma focuses on developing a foundation as a follower of Jesus with an emphasis on Christ, community, character, and culture.”

Both programs focus on service, but Terra Firma stresses discipleship. Swanson thinks the new program is better because it more readily aligns with the mission, identity, and vision of CU under the leadership of Dr. Stowell.

Though the program itself has changed, the framework is still similar and still counts for course credit. All incoming students are separated into groups, typically ranging from 12 to 13 people, and everyone involved in the Terra Firma program will spend half a week days at the Grace Adventures campsite, a week before classes start.

Every Terra Firma group is led by a “sherpa” (inspired by Tibetan culture), guides who have already experienced the program the year prior. Each group also has a Cornerstone University Facilitator, or “CUF,” who lead group discussions and grade assignments. Some facilitators who are currently Cornerstone students called Student Cornerstone University Facilitators, or “SCUFs.”

In addition to CUFs and sherpas, “sirdars” are also appointed to lead sherpas and help coordinate the program.

“[Sirdar] tasks include preparing for the sherpas to come, planning and setting up Lawn Olympics, and constructing and organizing the new spiritual pathways,” Hannah Straul said. Straul is a junior who was a sherpa last year, and got the Sirdar position for this school year.

Like Leadership Journey, Terra Firma groups will be part of a designated volunteer project that will meet throughout the year. Groups will meet with their affiliated organizations bimonthly, while gathering to having group discussions on the weeks they aren’t volunteering.

Meredith Laden, a sophomore who applied and received the position of sherpa, appreciated both of the programs as a freshman last year and a sherpa this year.

“I loved my Leadership Journey experience and I knew I wanted to be involved my sophomore year as a sherpa,” Laden said. “My sherpa was very influential and helpful during my freshman year, so I wanted to be that for the incoming freshmen.”

Throughout the week at Grace Adventures, chapel-like events called “mosaics” were held with key speakers.

“The mosaics challenged me and reiterated everything I’ve been taught at CU so far about what it means to follow Christ, what true Christian community looks like and how we as Christ-followers can positively affect our culture,” Straul said.

“I had an awesome experience mainly because of my SCUF, Kyle Szucs, and my sherpa, Mandi Muha,” Josiah Daniels said. “My group, Ember, was also the greatest group ever, probably.”

Daniels, a freshman, will be volunteering with his Terra Firma group at Sabaoth, a ministry that mentors to the inner-city youth of Grand Rapids.

“Terra Firma was really enjoyable and I am excited to see the potential of this entering class become a reality,” Swanson said.