by Professor Brad Stamm

A few weeks ago I was sitting at a table of Cornerstone students who will be graduating this spring and asked them what type of job prospects they have. Not one of them had anything solid.

I went on to suggest that the first thing they should do in their job search is to pray. I know it might sound simplistic, presumptive, and something your grandmother would tell you, but I believe that we please our Lord by going to Him first. Considering He is our loving Heavenly Father, doesn’t it follow that we should make our most important life decisions known to Him?

Over 200 years ago Robert Thomas Malthus predicted that population growth would outstrip the food supply, resulting in misery and poverty. This “Malthusian Trap’ did not occur due to significant increases in agricultural productivity and slower population growth, especially in higher-income countries. He will always be remembered, however, along with Thomas Carlyle, in helping give economics the somewhat derogatory label, ‘the dismal science,’ referring to his bleak outlook.

Are Cornerstone University graduates subject to a similar type of Malthusian Trap where it appears that little hope remains in finding employment due to the economic downturn? Are their future jobs and careers inextricably linked to the natural world? Or, do they serve and follow the One who can ‘provide a table in the wilderness?’ Is Jesus able to provide meaningful work for our students in the midst of this global recession or is He constrained by the economic principles and laws of nature along with everyone else? If He can heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly, forgive our sins, is Jesus also able to guide our career paths?

I believe God will provide for us in those desert places in our lives such as during the anxious periods of a job search or those lonely periods of unemployment. There is sufficient evidence of God’s provision both in the Scriptures and in the lives of those who have believed in Him throughout the ages. Sometimes it is just a matter of taking what little faith you have in yourself and in His ability to answer your prayers, offering it to him, and allowing Him to work. And when He gives you your job, the first thing you should do is to thank Him, for “every good and perfect gift is from above,” (James 1:17).

by Joe Stowell, CU President

Here is a big personal congrats from me to all the seniors who will walk the stage on May 9. You’ll walk up onto the platform as a Cornerstone student and leave the platform as an alumna! But that short journey from your seat and back again is symbolic. It symbolizes the reality that your life is a journey … a work in progress … an adventure with lots of stops, turns, challenges, excitement, disappointments and delights.

On that Saturday one week from now, your life journey will depart from CU-land and head into new territory. And as you look back to the border of college world, you’ll see me and a lot of others waving goodbye, throwing kisses, thrusting our thumbs up in the air and wishing you the best!

So, before you move on, here’s a little advice from a guy who is rooting for you to make the best of your journey:

• Make good choices. One of the most important pieces of advice I have ever been given is that “Your life is not made by the dreams you dream but by the choices that you make!” So choose good friends who will inspire you to become better; choose what is best for others when you are tempted to make life all about you; choose to do God’s good and perfect will … He loves you and wants you to be safe and successful. Choose to work hard and play hard. Choose to care for those who hurt and are in need. Choose to forgive. Choose to invest in things that last, and choose to resist the hollow pursuit of a life that is focused on material world.

• Make the most of the moment. Life is fragile. It’s easy when you are young to think that you are bulletproof and that life will go on forever. Not true. Live as though you only have today. Keep short accounts on sin. Don’t let the little things make you grumpy and bitter. Tell the most important people in your life how much you love and appreciate them. Commit intentional acts of kindness daily to strangers and acquaintances, and keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the only one who won’t disappoint you!

• Remember who you are. Your sense of identity is a huge issue. We tend to act out our perception of ourselves. So don’t forget that you are a follower of Jesus … a member of the “Jesus Nation”! This prized identity makes you different than most everyone else in your life. Wonderfully different, because Jesus-followers live by His ways, His wisdom, His will, His passions and His mission. He is the real deal and has a take on life that is revolutionary. If you are looking for a really cool (and sometimes challenging) adventure, keep Him out in front of you and stay close!

• Take the Bible and prayer seriously. You’ll need them a lot.

So, here’s to your journey! We are grateful that God led you to spend some of the most significant years of your life with us, and we will be proud to call you Cornerstone alums!

by Susan Estrich

Her name is Susan Boyle. If you haven’t heard of her, you need to listen to her. Consider it my gift to you. Go to YouTube, along with the tens of millions of others who already have, and listen to the voice of an angel — a plump, unemployed, 47-year-old “spinster” (as she was described by more than one British newspaper) who lives with her cat.

Before her mother died two years ago, she used to watch Britain’s version of “American Idol” with her daughter. Her mother told her she could win. So on April 11, in a plain-Jane dress, with a round face and an impish smile, Susan walked onto the stage of “Britain’s Got Talent,” facing a panel of judges and an audience of skeptics, all of whom were laughing at her until the first note, when they rose to their feet dumbstruck.

Who would expect a middle-aged nobody, a plump spinster in a frumpy dress, to be able to open her mouth and wow a crowd of thousands? Who would expect that such a woman could still dream, and have the guts and the grit and the pure God-given talent to make that dream come true?

“I Dreamed a Dream,” she sang. Who doesn’t? But most of us give up on ours, convinced we don’t have what it takes, that our day has passed, that we’re not young enough or skinny enough or pretty enough to make our dreams come true. Sometimes we blame others or fate or luck. But who or whatever we blame, the bottom line is the same: We come to believe that the dream was just that, and only children believe dreams come true. We give up, lose hope and call it growing up instead of giving up.

Maybe it was the memory of her mother urging her on. Maybe she didn’t know “better,” didn’t understand that Simon Cowell would be smirking and so would the audience, that no one was on her side. Maybe knowing “better” isn’t better at all.

I used to dream. I used to dream that a plump girl with thick glasses, no money and no connections, a nobody from Lynn, Mass., with a dead father, a sick mother and a history of abuse and no money at all, could somehow, someday, be a somebody. And the dreams kept me going, through dark days and disappointments. There were even moments along the way when I believed my dreams could come true, that little Sue Estrich, the smart girl who didn’t quite know how to be and never did go to a prom or have a boyfriend or fit into a size 4, could turn that all around.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped dreaming. Now, I dream for my children: I pray for them and worry for them; I work for them and do for them anything I humanly can. But for myself? Too old, I say. Too old to compete with the blondes in the size 4’s, too old to undo all the mistakes, too late to rewrite the ending.

If Susan Boyle believed that, she would never have walked onto that stage. If Susan Boyle believed that the world would be a poorer place for never having heard her sing of her dream.

Susan Boyle didn’t give up on her dream, and it is coming true. Dreams are not just for the young, or for those who wear a size 4. I may not be able to make mine come true, but I will cheer for her. And for you.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

About two months ago, I was informed that my grandma had 30 to 45 days to live. She had been suffering from dementia for years and it was finally taking over too much of her body. My parents were exhausted with the emotional strain, the hours they were helping with my grandparents and with putting up relatives for several weeks. I was exhausted from trying to stay focused on school while being unable to help with the situation. I wasn’t even going through the worst of it. My dad was losing his mom. My grandpa was losing his beloved wife. How do you grieve and comfort at the same time? I was struggling to know how to think. My senior recital — the biggest night in four years of school — was getting closer and closer. Thankfully, I was able to go home for Easter weekend. Those four days were some of the sweetest and most exhausting days of my life. I’d never been around a close family member who was dying before. I rubbed her hand, her forehead and her cheek. I held her hand, reminded her that I loved her, and 95 percent of the time received little response from her. The sweetest moment of those few days was when she opened her eyes for a short few minutes, looked straight at me and grinned with that familiar smile she had always had for us. Monday was the worst. My grandma was given hours to live and we sat there watching her struggle just to breathe normally. My brother and I had to get back down to our schools and leave her now unresponsive body to finish out its last breaths. It seemed so inhuman for me to go back down to Grand Rapids to begin the school week again. I was confused, frustrated, angry, and torn apart, and I wept. Why couldn’t God just take her now?

My senior recital and her funeral were now almost inevitably going to happen within days of each other. This was another frustration for me, since I knew I had to consider the possibilities of either continuing through the recital or postponing it. But, how could I think about it when it seemed like such a cold way to think? I suddenly wanted to add a class to my schedule: How to handle senior recital stress along with the emotions and plans of a Funeral — 101. My grandma passed away on that Tuesday morning, and her funeral was held on Friday. That weekend, I was mostly going through the motions. I went directly from my grandma’s funeral to my dress rehearsal. The following day was my recital. Within days I had experienced the loss of a loved one along with the highs of performance and the unexpected edification that followed. I was on cloud nine…and one…and four…

There are seasons in life filled with unanswered questions and unfulfilled longings. There are other seasons where blessings seem to come out of nowhere and are so numerous you feel blinded by them. I’m heading into a very “unknown” part of my life right now with graduating. But God has been teaching me that He is sufficient in all areas of life. He’s been helping me realize how beautiful He is, right now. No matter the circumstances, our God is the constant source of true joy no matter what we’re going through. When seasons of life bring of joy, when they bring us sorrow, or when they bring us both together, God is sufficient for all of our needs.

Truth remains. Life is crazy. I am insufficient. He is sufficient.

E-mail: dana_m_fall@cornerstone.edu

by Donny Irving

I always find myself asking the question, “Is Cornerstone really worth all the money I invest into it?” As I take a look at all the different aspects of Cornerstone, it has shown me that Cornerstone has been a wonderful environment in which I could grow in the Lord. I just took some time to reflect upon Cornerstone and my experience, and I found myself in a state of gratitude and thankfulness for the different aspects which make Cornerstone so great of an environment. Here is a list of things that I am thankful for:

I am thankful for intramural sports. I was able to keep my competitive edge alive by being involved in sports.

I am thankful for The Herald newspaper. I love getting new issues and seeing what is happening around the campus.

I am thankful for all the professors. They have challenged me to grow as a student. Though there are many different teaching styles, one thing I find that all the professors at Cornerstone have in common is their passion for teaching and helping students grow. It was a drastic change from a community college where I felt like just a number and professors were there just to earn paychecks. The professors here teach because they love it.

I am thankful for food service and all the workers. I love the food, especially the pasta bar and waffles. Working at food service has shown me how much effort and dedication it takes to run a cafeteria. I am just glad I am not stuck in preparing food for myself, because Ramon noodles gets old after a while.

I am thankful for health services. They always have given me sound advice and treatment in dealing with my health issues, especially times in which I thought I was dying because of chest pains.

I am thankful for the chapel services. They have been an encouragement in my walk with the Lord.

I am thankful for Evensong. There is no better way to head into a new week at school than with a time of prayer and worship.

I am thankful for the grounds crew that has created a wonderful environment for students to go outside and enjoy the campus of Cornerstone University. I found myself playing the guitar in the nicely trimmed grass by the pond, reflecting on God’s majesty.

I am thankful for housekeeping. It is nice to go into school each morning to a clean and orderly environment.

I am thankful for maintenance crew. In the dorm when there were leaking pipes, they were quick to fix it.

I am thankful for tech support. During the middle of a huge project, my hard drive crashed (doesn’t it seem like it crashes at the worst possible time?). I took my computer into tech support and was surprised to see that they were able to recover my files so I could continue working on my project.

I am thankful for the learning center. I was terrified that I would not graduate, because I was probably at the math level of a second grader. Through them I was able to walk into my college math class with confidence, knowing how to solve each problem.

I am thankful for the resident life staff. I have never felt more welcomed in a place than I did in my dorm.

I am thankful for commuter life, in which they help students feel connected to the campus. I also was able to meet the most wonderful woman I have ever met there.

I am thankful for counseling services. I came to them to help relieve some of my stress, and found myself working through deeper issues in my life because of them.

I am thankful for the library. I will miss having wells of knowledge at my finger tips. They provide a large selection of books, music and movies. Through MelCat, I had virtually every book I could ever want.

I am thankful for the contract. It has helped cultivate a life of integrity, and has created an environment in which I could focus on my studies. Although I have broken it a few times, I am grateful for the conviction that I had to stay true to my word.

I am thankful for financial aid. During a time in which I was not sure if I could afford Cornerstone they helped me work out a deal in which I was able to continue my education.

I am thankful for admissions. They have done a great job in making prospective students feel welcomed when they come to our campus.

I am thankful for the administration. I really don’t know what they do, but I do know there must be some people behind the scenes making this campus work.

I am thankful for student government and the time they put in, representing the students and issues that we have.

I am thankful for the students. I have been encouraged so many times by random conversations with fellow classmates. Coming from a public school, I never realized how beneficial it is to have Christian brothers and sisters around me, encouraging my walk with the Lord.

These things are what make this campus so wonderful. So many times I find myself thinking of how things could be improved. But looking back, I now see how things were so great. If only I could give people the benefit of the doubt, when judging their performance. The answer is yes! Cornerstone has been worth the money I invested into it because they have invested into me. For all the people who make up the Cornerstone community, find joy in the fact that you have created an environment that is conducive in producing godly men and women preparing to serve the Lord.

by Matt Ward

guest columnist

President Barack Obama recently appeared as a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

And when asked about the White House bowling alley, he said it still exists, and he recently played a game, rolling a 129.

But then he said something he would soon regret: “That’s like the Special Olympics bowling or something.”

Obama’s remark received significant criticism from the public, and merited an apology to the chairman of the Special Olympics.

But it also brought attention to a local bowler named Kolan McConiughey.

McConiughey, from Ann Arbor, is perhaps the nation’s top Special Olympics bowler, and I know from experience.

We competed together in the Chameleon Pro-Am Tournament in Taylor, Mich., last November, I had the privilege to bowl three games with McConiughey.

He was participating in the Special Olympics division, wherein the bowlers were set on separate lanes throughout the bowling alley, bowling with both pro-am and professional bowlers. And he was indeed a magnificent bowler. McConiughey bowled with the best of us, and even beat some of the pro bowlers we bowled against.

But the reason I remember McConiughey is not because he was a great bowler, but because he was such an enthusiastic person.

Every time he came back from a great shot, or saw someone else get a strike, he was always there with a smile and a high five. He even went into the stands and said a few words to my friend, Tim, who came to the match with me, and it left a lasting impression on him, as well.

McConiughey has a contagious personality, and he has just happened to channel his efforts into bowling. They have paid off as he has bowled five 300 games and averages a 212!

The truth is, he has not allowed his mental disability to hold him back.

I do believe that what people say comes out of the overflow of the heart, and for this type of statement to come from our president shows an unfortunate side. He was trying to be cool on the Tonight Show, but he went too far. The president should be above friendly joking at the expense of others, and it seems to show his youth and inexperience when he makes a comment like that.

But though there is much negativity that could be thrown Obama’s way for such an inappropriate comment, the Special Olympics community as a whole has forgiven him. Even McConiughey, who did not expect that kind of comment from Obama, was prone to laughing it off and correcting Obama rather than becoming angry with him.

McConiughey joked about the comment, giving the president advice on how to improve his game. He also sought to be invited to the White House to bowl on the presidential lanes and beat President Obama himself. Whether his hopes will come true is yet to be determined, but it is a definite possibility as the president tries to keep himself as pure as possible in the eyes of the public.

My God is gracious.

I began to follow Christ when I was about 15 years old. I grew up in church my whole life, but prior to my salvation, God was merely something that I had learned about—not a loving God who had transformed my life.

God and I had a meeting one night when I was in Wilderness State Park in upper Michigan. His Spirit began to press on my heart, and I was deeply convicted of my sinful nature. I had been living a “Jared-centered” life. I was selfish, prideful, disrespectful, unloving and hardened to God and the reality of His nature. That night, God not only revealed to me how disgusting I was, but He also revealed to me how loving and gracious He was. Praise God that He did not leave me where I was, living in sin and rebellion. As Psalm 40 states, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

It was then that my love for music and worship began. As I grew in my relationship with the Lord, He instilled a passion for worship leading in my heart. In high school, I bought my first guitar—a bass named Abigail—and joined our worship team in my youth group. I continued to grow and mature in my faith, and God continued to sanctify me and purge out old habits.

Now, I’m in my second semester of my junior year at Cornerstone. I’m studying youth ministry/Bible, co-leading the Evensong worship ministry, and anticipating my wedding in June (I’ve got the countdown down to the day). I plan on living in married housing next year, wrapping up my collegiate education and starting that thing they call “real life.”

God has blessed me so much during my life. He has given me a beautiful, God-fearing woman that I do not deserve to marry, a worship ministry that I am not worthy to lead, loving friends that show Jesus to me daily, and a family that loves and supports me.

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me in the future! He is so good!

E-mail: jared_g_doty@cornerstone.edu

I just had to follow the other car. I recently had the opportunity to go to Mexico with one of our mission teams during spring break. We rented two cars, and I was the driver of the second. I went, not knowing the language, area, or much of the culture. I was somewhat anxious to drive a car because I understood the great responsibility of having four passengers.

It was difficult to follow. I soon realized that driving in Mexico was quite different than here in the states. Oftentimes there would be a car, bus, person, bike or some other distraction that would impair my view. I was cut off many times, but was greatly comforted when I would see the familiar orange “budget” sticker plastered on the bumper.

“Topes,” speed bumps, were not uncommon. It is Mexico’s method of ensuring that in chaotic cities cars took it slow during the busy times. And although I wanted to get through this quickly, it was unwise and unsafe. People and bikes would suddenly appear right in front of me. If I took it slow, I was able to look around the city a bit as well.

I couldn’t help but think of this as a great analogy of our Christian walk. I just have to follow Jesus. I know I am still young, but I also know the responsibility I have. Thankfully, I am not alone; there are people with me on this journey. I am constantly influencing others with every choice I make, whether my choices are known or unknown; both come into light with time. I cannot give sin a foothold.

It’s hard to follow Christ. There are numerous distractions and a plethora of ideologies with which I am bombarded. I have been “cut off” by a few people who have distorted my view of God and Christians, but by God’s grace, I sifted through and eventually saw His gleaming presence. I have learned that He is true to his promises and have become even more appreciative and thankful for Him in my life.

I am busy, but God reminds me with his “speed bumps” to take it slow, stay alert, and be aware of what is happening around me. I might hurt people that God brings into my life if I don’t take the time to acknowledge and affirm them. I would certainly miss some remarkable blessings if I was speeding through the busy times of my life.

We all will end at the same destination if we are truly trusting in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We just have to follow Jesus.

The current job market is very tight, with the most recent statistics showing job losses and weak employment continuing throughout 2010. Michigan and the city of Grand Rapids have approached record levels in unemployment and soon will surpass those set in the early 1980s. The broader nationwide unemployment index, known as U-6, which includes marginally attached workers plus those employed part time for economic reasons, is almost 16 percent.

What is a college graduate to do in this job market? You’re out there as a somewhat homogenous commodity with more than 1.2 million others graduating with bachelor’s degrees this spring, each attempting to obtain the same positions as fellow graduates. Career counselors advise you to differentiate yourself due to this great blending of individuals throughout our culture so that prospective employers can tell you apart from another job seeker. I want to suggest that while your vocation is important, it is not as important as our Christian calling to be engaged in God’s work of reconciliation while on this Earth (II Corinthians 5:16-21).

THE BUTCHER: What if you’ve been trained at Cornerstone University to be a butcher (fill in your major here). If there is a movement away from eating beef for dietary or other reasons, the butcher may find herself out of work. Then what will that do to her self-esteem, and what is her value in the eyes of society? The future for butchers could be quite bleak.

THE BAKER: Being a baker seems to be a good occupation. Almost everyone eats bread daily. However, bread is made from flour, and flour is made from wheat, and the price of wheat has more than tripled in the past eight years. Thus, the baker goes out of business due to the high cost of production in addition to some people going on low-carbohydrate diets. So the baker’s life now has less meaning because he too is unemployed.

THE CANDLESTICK MAKER: While the butcher and baker have lost their meaning in life due to their vocations dissipating, the candlestick maker retains hers because we always need to find our way around in the dark. We always need a light to give us direction. We always need illumination to keep us from stumbling. So while we still have darkness on Earth, those who provide light will always be in demand. Possibly the butcher and baker should, at least as their vocation, go into the candle business to provide a living for themselves and help to others.

At Cornerstone you are being trained to be teachers, musicians, businesspersons and social workers. Our mission as a university is to ensure that you also become candlestick makers, and we do this by “empowering men and women to excel as influencers in our world for Christ Jesus.”

Congratulations are in order for junior student Tim Devaney, Cornerstone journalism major, who hails from the state of Maine by way of Michigan, who has been accepted for admission into the World Journalism Institute, which will run for three weeks this coming May in New York.

Tim, who has been Herald sports editor this semester, recently shared news of his acceptance to this program:

According to Wikipedia, “The World Journalism Institute (WJI) was founded by Robert Case II in 1999 … is an independent journalism school whose mission is to recruit, equip, place and encourage journalists who are Christians in the mainstream newsrooms of America. In 1998, Marvin Olasky (World magazine editor), Nick Eicher, and Robert Case II discussed the possibility of establishing an independent school of journalism with Joel Belz, publisher of World magazine. The institute is currently the largest independent school of journalism for Christian journalists in the U.S. and is headquartered in New York City on the campus of The King’s College.”

One of Tim Devaney’s instructors in New York City this May will be Russell Pulliam, associate editor of The Indianapolis Star, board member of World magazine and a regular instructor at the annual Cornerstone Journalism Institute summer camp for high schoolers (www.cornerstone.edu/events/cji).

Tim will be joining a group of WJI alumni, many of whom have gone on to do internships and/or work full-time at media companies such as these: FOX News, ABC (Los Angeles), St. Petersburg Times, Indianapolis Star, New York Daily News, Chattanooga Free Press, WLBT, World magazine, Newsday, Washington Times, NBC, MLB.com, MTV, Salem Broadcasting, Christianity Today, and Miami Herald.

Tim will be making a valuable investment of his time at the start of this summer when he takes advantage of this incomparable opportunity to hone his writing skills and strengthen his faith. Thanks to WJI scholarships, the cost to students is only $500 and even that fee is waived if a student can get a hometown newspaper to accept and publish freelance articles from the student that come out of the WJI experience.

I look forward to hearing from Tim Devaney when he returns from this challenging and existing opportunity to meld his faith and chosen profession of journalistic writing.

Alan Blanchard, associate professor,

is director of CU’s journalism dept. — www.cornerstone.edu/journalism

Nothing gets people’s attention faster than picketing them at home — which is not necessarily a reason to do it.

Last week, at the height of the furor over the AIG bonuses, activists managed to locate the homes of a number of those who momentarily received bonuses, and brought their protests home. The executives, at least the ones who were interviewed, were not happy. Some of them had nothing to do with the toxic transactions that brought AIG to the edge of collapse; they were hired to clean up the mess made by others. Whether they should make more than government employees (which, in some sense, is what they are now) for cleaning up the mess is a fair question and a fair subject for protest, as well.

No, what made the executives most unhappy and what gives me pause is not the question of whether they are fair subjects for public protest — of course they are — but whether their spouses and kids are. When dad signs up to work for AIG, does the whole family lose their right to privacy and personal security? If Mom wants to run for office, does that mean the kids go under the microscope with her? What kind of parent would do that to their kids?

A friend of mine, who has held various offices during turbulent times, said the only protest that ever made him angry was one that women activists staged at his home. I can’t even remember what they were protesting, but I do remember my friend white with rage as he recounted how the protestors, and with them the reporters and television crews, surrounded his home. It wasn’t the invasion of his privacy that bothered him. He was the first to admit that as a public official, he had no privacy. It was the exposure of his wife and preteen children. Any nut could figure out where they lived, just from the pictures and the street signs.

These days, the nut could pull up the satellite image of your yard, the programs from your kids’ school events and all kinds of personal stuff, just by clicking. These days, the nut could hook up to forums where duly elected officials, as well as other nuts, can and do wish people they disagree with dead. These days, the nut could find a hundred outlets spewing all kinds of anger, threats and damnation at politicians and executives alike.

We still need good people at AIG. In fact, we — the taxpayers — need those people more than ever because it’s our money on the line. If activists want to surround AIG offices and protest there, fine. If they want to surround congressional offices, fine. But I don’t know too many reporters who would welcome protestors at their own front doors.

You can’t stop people from holding demonstrations on the public streets where executives and politicians live with their families. But the press doesn’t have to cover them. They don’t have to identify the town and the individual who is the target. They don’t have to reward people who are crossing the line. The purpose of a demonstration is to get attention. A demonstration that gets no attention is like a tree falling in an empty forest.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web site at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, IN

I applaud The Herald for taking a stand to support the foreign language requirement at Cornerstone. Our new identity, mission and vision statements all point to our desire to be global influencers. The vision statement even includes that we seek to be a “culturally diverse learning environment.” Linguistics shows that language cannot be separate from culture. I also applaud the journalism program for their visionary work maintaining the language requirement.

Bilingual graduates have a definite advantage in the job market. “Understanding” culture only scratches the surface; we must learn to speak other languages to truly understand people. It gives a new perspective to the term “worldview.”

I encourage every student at CU to take foreign language courses. We must seek, with all humility, to be gracious visitors as we travel and must not assume the world will speak English for us.

I am excited that CU will start offering Arabic this fall in addition to our courses in Spanish, French and Latin. We also want to offer other courses such as Japanese, German and Chinese. We can only do so when there is student demand for such courses.

- Michael Pasquale

Chair, Humanities Division

“You want to know up-to-date scores? Go to the Web site,” said Tim Devaney, Herald sports editor.

Yes, in case you have not heard, The Herald has a Web site, where you can browse online articles, game photos, and like Devaney said, scores from the most recent games.

“Lots of people don’t know, and we’re trying to get the word out,” said the junior. “And basically, the big point we want to get across is that we have a sports Web site, and we want students to go check it out.”

Another reason to give it a quick browse is the new features, including sports photos, an interactive schedule of events, feature stories from The Herald and breaking-news stories you will not find in The Herald.

“This semester we’re trying to do a bunch of different things with it,” he said. “But we’re still building on [it].”

One aspect Devaney (along with other Herald Web editors) is still working on, is the addition of video clips, where sports fans can check out game highlights. Devaney said he wants it to look similar to ESPN.com, where everything sports is at your fingertips.

“We don’t have [many] errors on the sports page, but they are still coming and going,” he said. “We’re still trying to work out the kinks.”

If you visit The Herald Web site at http://herald.cornerstone.edu (no www before the address, another thing Devaney hopes to change), you will notice the sports page has a “really clean and attractive look,” Devaney said.

Devaney hopes to expand the sports section from newspaper, to Internet, to commercials.

“I’m hoping for some sports commercials to be played around campus,” he said. “Especially when you walk into the cafeteria and you see that big screen TV. We’re trying to put it there.”

“But I actually still have to talk to a lot of people,” he said. “I’m hoping to film it for free and have enough coverage of different sports teams. We’ll probably put them on YouTube, too.”

He then said the new site is not just for students, but “good for alumni who would like to follow up on games. We’re continuously looking to improve.”

Devaney said the site was started in 2006 by former Herald editor, Luke Stier, a 2007 graduate who is now a WOOD-TV 8 producer. Since then, several different students have helped maintain the site.

“We started it just so that a lot of people could see the articles,” Stier said. “We knew that the newspaper industry is heading toward Web sites, and everybody has a laptop. We just knew it was important to get it online; it’s a better avenue for readers, especially college readers.”

He also said the site looks much better than before, like The Herald print edition.

“There are major improvements,” Stier said. “It’s much better to read online. It really looks good, and it’s going to continue to develop. It’s a more popular way to read The Herald.”

“It’s definitely improved,” Devaney said in agreement. “Luke did an excellent job in taking initiative to start a Web site for us in the first place, [and] if you were to look at how it was since Luke had it, the designs are much better. We want to top that to make it even better.”

Presently, junior Meghan Jones and senior David Duhon are the main editors in charge of the Web site.

“Meghan has done a great job leading The Herald Web site this year,” Devaney said. “I have really noticed her impact on the sports section of the Web site recently through excellent design.”

Would you like to write for the online sports section of The Herald? Students, staff, faculty and alumni are welcome to submit their take on Cornerstone sports. Please submit your stories to tim_c_devaney@cornerstone.edu.

My faith background never taught me that God would lead in explicitly specific ways; it always seemed safer to assume that he answered prayers in broad strokes. This kind of passive theology made it easy to excuse God when he didn’t seem to answer prayers as I wanted him to. But a few months ago God brought me into a season in which I longed to know God’s leading, to feel his very heartbeat and hear his voice clearly. I began praying very specifically and God began to answer very specifically. My heart was humbled before a real and powerful God who heard and tangibly answered the requests of his children.

It was in this state of spiritual richness that I went on a “vision” trip to Athens for spring break. But I unexpectedly found myself immersed in a wretched loneliness; I was staying by myself in a squalid apartment in the Athenian ghetto and was subject to an involuntary solitude. As I faced God in the painful silence I reminded him of all the ways he’d been answering my prayers and then I began to ask some hard questions regarding the future, imploring that the Lord directly tell me what he has for me. But there was no voice from heaven, no parting of the clouds, not even a neon sign. I grew frustrated and gave up asking. I left Athens with a feeling of spiritual disappointment; the direct answer that I knew God was capable of just hadn’t come when I cried out for it.

Since I’ve been back, I have wrestled with God’s lack of clarity, wondering why the same God that spoke to the Patriarchs, the Apostles, and to his Bride throughout history, hasn’t just told me what he wants me to do. I have been rejoined time and time again to the fact that God will lead me in his time and will show me how to obey him as I seek him with all my heart.

So that’s where I’m at. Waiting. If I truly believe that my life is Christ’s then why would I do anything else but trust him and delight in his timing? I will press into the Lord with expectancy and fervency, no longer making excuses for broad answers or giving up when my patience runs out. In this waiting there is a glorious rejoicing and anticipation, for I have realized that I would rather wait on the Lord and seek him daily than do anything else. Truly I can say to the Lord, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And the earth holds nothing that I desire besides you!” (Psalm 73:25).

Cornerstone’s unofficial broomball team traveled to Richfield, Minn., to compete in the broomball national tournament on March 27.

“I went into [the tournament] hopeful and optimistic, but at the same time understanding that our team of nine players that is barely seven months old would be playing four-year-old college teams, coming from schools of 20,000 students, with rosters of 17 players,” captain Mark Muha said. “I looked at it as a learning experience, and even if we didn’t win a single game, it was worth every minute of it for me.”

Each team was guaranteed to play at least three games at the tournament. The Golden Eagles faced off against Bethel University, the University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Cornerstone lost 8-0 against Bethel and UMD, and against the University of Nebraska the result was a tie.

Muha said the game against UN was the best example of broomball the team has ever played.

“We had great passing, great shots and held them until the last two minutes when a lucky shot brought us to a tie in the end,” Muha said.

While the losses to Bethel and UMD were upsetting to co-captain Tom Bos, he said he felt really good about the way they played the University of Nebraska.

“The overall experience at nationals was a good one,” Bos said. “We succeeded in setting out and getting people to notice us. Being able to tie a huge school like the University of Nebraska is a big step in the right direction. I was encouraged by the way the team played and came together as friends and brothers-in-Christ. I am glad we went.”

Two broomball teams were created at Cornerstone during the fall 2008 semester.

One team was made up of CU faculty and alumni, while the other was a team of students called the Young Guns. The teams competed in a local broomball league in Grand Rapids.

Dave Murdoch of Spiritual Formation played on the alumni/staff team. His team played the Young Guns—Mark Muha, Matt Talmage, Evan Brogan, Kyle Szucs, Brandon Sabin, Scott Holbrook and Tom Bos—on two separate occasions. The Young Guns were defeated on the first occasion and the second face-off ended in a tie game.

After the league season ended, Murdoch joined the Young Guns for the national tournament. The team decided early on they would rather be known as the Golden Eagles. Muha discovered the national broomball tournament that would take place in St. Paul, Minn., and he just so happens to live in Forest Lake, Minn., roughly a 40-minute drive from St. Paul.

Murdoch drove the team down to Minnesota, and much of the time he acted as a coach. But before the team was completed, it ran into trouble with numbers.

Six players are just enough to make a team. There was no one to sit on the bench and sub in for tired and weary players.

Sophomore Matt Talmage notified the team he would not be able to accompany them to nationals. The Eagles recruited transfer student Anthony Raffa to play in Talmage’s place. Raffa has broomball experience, but he too was unable to come.

Two members were recruited to the team the night before the national tournament. Szucs said senior Andy Fox was recruited literally at the last minute. Murdoch opted to play due to the team’s small number of players.

The team slept in the basement of the Muha family’s house while in Minnesota.

“It was kind of cool to see other teams and meet the players and learn from them by watching them play,” Szucs said. “We didn’t do as well as we would’ve hoped, but we took a lot out of it. We should’ve beaten Nebraska.”

From my own experience I think it is safe to say there is little awareness in West Michigan for the sport of broomball. There is a general sense of confusion and misunderstanding at the mention of the name.

Because of an odd twist of fate I played on a broomball team last month at the Broomball National Tournament in Minnesota. I have played so few times that I can barely be labeled an amateur.

In Minnesota, unlike in Michigan, they take broomball very seriously. They and other various states play year-round. Nebraska and Minnesota in particular have schools with official broomball teams that are in it to win it.

Since broomball is unknown in these parts, here are some of the basics.

You should know broomball is played on ice just like hockey. The goal boxes are approximately twice the size of a hockey goal. The game calls for special broomball shoes and a special type of stick unlike a hockey stick. Other than that, many of the rules of hockey apply.

Cornerstone has an unofficial broomball team that competes in a local broomball league in Grand Rapids. The team is led by co-captains Mark Muha and Tom Bos. This team decided to call themselves the Golden Eagles to unofficially represent Cornerstone.

After deciding to go to nationals, the Eagles had a couple of members who were not able to attend.

I got a call. Muha told me the team was short-staffed and needed my help, and I told him I would play in the tournament. It lasted the whole weekend, and we left early Friday morning.

As we were riding in a packed van to the tournament, I was asking about the basic rules of the game. Needless to say, this is not the most ideal time to be learning the basics of any sport.

All the while I was supposed to be in psychology class. I skipped that. I received a mountain of weekend homework. But I overlooked all that.

It worked out well because I am already a longtime expert in procrastination.

The rest of the guys on the nine player team did not want to be left out either. Bos said he skipped three classes that Friday, as well as homework time and time he could have spent with his girlfriend.

“I had to skip a few classes and definitely had to scramble to get some homework done when I got back on Sunday evening, but it was worth it in spite of that,” Muha said.

Joel Thayer, sophomore, should receive an honorable mention for deciding to join the team the night before the tournament began. Andy Fox, senior, was hands down the prize winner for the minute-to-minute award, because I am pretty sure that is exactly how he lives.

Several members on the team found him at his mailbox the morning of the tournament as we were all getting ready to head to Minnesota. They did their best to convince him to come, and he gave us every excuse not to come. About 15 minutes later he walked out of his religion class and gave us a call saying he wanted to come and that is exactly what he did.

When the team arrived at the tournament, I was nerve racked to the core. I have a lot of reason to be nervous unlike Muha and Bos who actually have broomball experience.

Bos said that he has been playing off-and-on since he was 11 years old.

“I grew in Minnesota where broomball and hockey are the sports we play nine months out of the year,” Muha said.

All in all, the tournament was a horrifying blast. I will not get into the specifics of what happened, but I will say we left Minnesota ranked No. 6 in the nation. That is all that really matters.

The year was 1979, and I was 15 years old and a freshman in high school. I was not doing well in school, and my parents thought a college trip would help motivate me, so they planned a visit to Grand Rapids Baptist College (Cornerstone University).

My uncle Arvle Devaney was the pastor of the Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Wyoming, Mich., so my parents and I stayed with them on the evening before our visit.

And that evening just so happened to be the night of one of the most publicized college basketball games in history: Bird vs. Magic.

The Spartans won their first national championship that night, but it is the game itself and not the winners or losers that helped basketball.

I do not recall what day of the week the event took place, or many of the details. What I do recall is watching this sporting event with my cousins, Steve and Dave. I do not think we ever again, before or after, watched a sporting event together. This was a unique deal. I had long ago forgotten about my whereabouts during this event until just recently when I caught the game on ESPN Classic.

I had thought it would be a great lead into this season’s Final Four matchup between Michigan State (my home team) and Connecticut (my former school). I could not lose, having a stake in both teams (but I was rooting for MSU all the way).

The Spartans won that game against Connecticut, but we all know what happened in the championship game against North Carolina. It is disappointing how the season ended for MSU, but the great run they had in the tournament was a reminder for Detroit how much one basketball game can change everything.

Back to 1979. I had followed MSU’s basketball season because Erving “Magic” Johnson was a local celebrity. And now, 30 years later, Johnson’s ability to pass and the excitement he brought to the game is one of the few things I remember. As I relived the game, I saw some awesome plays by Greg Kelser, who was the leading scorer for Michigan State. There was one play when an Indiana State player was going up for a layup, and Kelser stole the ball from his hands in mid air, right by the backboard. Of course, Larry Bird played well also.

Over the years, I followed both of their careers. When my wife and I were first married we lived in Connecticut where I ministered at a small Baptist church. Of course, the Boston Celtics were big at that time. Bird and the Celtics won the NBA Championship our first year there. The next year, 1987, was the last time that Bird and Magic met in the NBA Finals. In 1988, when all of the family was out to see our first child (Tim), I watched the Detroit Pistons finally beat Bird and the Celtics.

Now, back to 1979 and the reason of my visit to Grand Rapids. I did enjoy my visit to Grand Rapids Baptist and was planning on attending there, but then I visited the Moody Bible Institute and the Lord directed me there instead (No Joe Stowell pun intended). But I will never forget my visit and that great game I watched the night before. It turned basketball around. And I am hoping that is just what the Spartans have done for Detroit this season.

Cornerstone University students are in the midst of a changing global economy. Business students in particular need to be prepared to face the new challenges this brings. Not only do they need to be equipped for the changes in business and sustaining the environment, but also need to be prepared for expanding their faith globally.

CU hosted its first “Faith, Sustainability and Business” conference. The conference was designed to help educate students about the growing concern of sustainability and how it relates to faith in the business world. The conference was a free event open to all CU students, faculty and staff at the Grand Rapids Theological Seminary on April 3 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“This is the first conference building a foundation to understand the concepts of faith and business and how it relates to sustainability,” said Shawn Newhouse assistant professor of business. “Connecting the dots between faith, sustainability and business is the goal of the conference.”

Students had the opportunity to learn these concepts from people in business and spiritual careers who will be speaking at the conference.

“The conference is an exciting opportunity for students to hear more about different perspectives: faith perspective and business perspective,” said Julie Sanford, assistant professor of science.

The speakers included Matthew Krick, adjunct professor and spiritual formation pastor at Mars Hill Church; Deborah Meadows Steketee, assistant professor at Aquinas College and executive director of the Center for Sustainability; and David Rinard, director of global environmental performance at Steelcase, Inc.

Steelcase is a good example of a local leader in sustainability. It has been honored as the 2008 WasteWise Large Business Partner of the Year from WasteWise, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that helps US organizations reduce municipal solid waste. The WasteWise Large Business Partner of the Year Award honors overall waste reduction achievements and efforts to purchase or manufacture recycled-content products. “To be recognized by WasteWise and the EPA is a great achievement and we are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Sarah Whitman, Company News, Steelcase Web site.

Sustainability and protecting the environment have been a part of the company’s work ethics since it was created nearly a hundred years ago. Steelcase began in 1912 as The Metal Office Furniture Company in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Sustainability is important because of the large impact it has on the world. Practicing sustainability in global business allows students to be good examples of stewardship of natural resources.

Craig Peter is the assistant director of educational resources for Cornerstone University’s Professional & Graduate Studies Program. “If you see a staff member walking around campus with a dolly full of books, it’s probably me,” Peter said.

Craig Peter was born and raised in Muskegon and is now living in Fruitport, Mich. Peter has been working for PGS since June 2007.

As a PGS employee, Peter is responsible for taking care of the books and materials students will need for PGS classes. After ordering the books, Peter is responsible for getting them to the PGS campuses.

“I order, purchase and deliver books and materials for students,” Peter said. “I am in contact with 70 to 80 different publishers.”

The PGS campuses are located in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Zeeland. Peter makes sure the books and materials he orders get to the right person at the right campus. “It fills up my day,” Peter said.

The Professional & Graduate Studies Program provides evening classes for adults in career and graduate studies. Cornerstone began this program in 1993 to offer accelerated degree completion plans for adults with family and work responsibilities.

New PGS students start in groups called cohorts. One of Peter’s tasks is packaging up books for each student starting out in a PGS cohort, putting together all the books and materials the students will need to begin classes.

“I like everything about it,” Peter said about his job. “I like being here at the university. I like the atmosphere.” Peter was employed by the government of Michigan for 30 years before he was employed by CU. “It’s a real change,” he said, “working for the state versus the university.”

Peter, a CU alumnus, retired from his government job, but a few years after that he began looking for an opening at CU.

Peter’s daughter was working at CU at the time.

“I watched the CU Web site for a position opening,” Peter said. “About the same time I saw the posting, my daughter called to tell me the posting was there.”

Peter attended CU when it was known as Grand Rapids Baptist College. He graduated in 1972 with a three-way degree in Bible, history and social studies. “It wasn’t intended,” Peter said about the triple major. “I went to MSU for two years and then transferred here to take Bible classes. I picked up a few extra classes.”

Peter said that getting up in the morning is his least favorite part of his job. “I was retired for a couple of years,” he said. “It was nice to take time in the morning to read and study. Now I have to get all that in before I come to work.”

Peter also runs into obstacles while on the job. He said the unusual often happens. “Every week something comes up that requires me to stop what I’m doing to address,” he said.

“It’s fairly routine, and the oddities are fairly routine,” Peter said. A common complication he comes across is taking care of drop-in students. “The most hectic thing to deal with is drop-in students. Students will sometimes take a break from their cohort. Then they drop into another cohort. I will have to scramble around to try to get books and materials to them before class begins.”

Karen Breitenbach is the assistant director of curriculum services in the PGS program and works in close contact with Peter. “I’ve had the honor of working with Craig since he began here in June 2007. He is a wonderful person to work with — very organized, thorough, and conscientious.”

Going trayless is just one of the changes Cornerstone University’s Food Services is making this fall.

The upcoming changes, such as the Panini and pasta bar, have been inspired by seeing how other schools produce options in a way that is mindful of the environment.

“The main thing is, we’re starting the process of going trayless,” Cindy Wiltheiss said, director of Cornerstone’s food service. “That means that you have whatever you can carry in your two hands.”

Seeing students being careless of how much food they take compared to how much they eat is what prompted Wiltheiss to put her idea into practice.

“We’re not limiting how much you can eat,” she said. “It’s just a lot of kids take and fill their cafeteria tray up and eat maybe two-thirds of their food. I’m just as guilty. What we want to try to do is have people be more aware of what they take they need to eat.”

The Food Services employees first experimented eating without a tray during their break time and realized they ate everything they put on their plate, but took less.

“We took what we ate, and if we wanted dessert, we simply got up and we grabbed something,” Wiltheiss said. “Next semester we will be completely trayless, but for right now we’re trying to introduce it.”

Starting this semester, the trays will be in a different location to encourage students to take only dishes, though the trays will still be available for students to use.

Wiltheiss’ goal is to take the money Cornerstone will be saving and using it in other areas.

“We probably waste between 20-30 percent, and this statistic comes from universities throughout the United States,” Wiltheiss said. “My goal is to try and get more options—more food choices. So if we prevent this waste, then we have this extra money. It’s being stewards of God’s money.”

The rails on the food lines will be covered with Plexiglas to securely accommodate the plates as students get their food.

According to USA Today, some campuses that have experimented with the trayless idea reduced food waste by 50 percent. Wiltheiss said trays will still be available next semester for handicapped people upon request.

“I am part of the sustainability committee,” Wiltheiss said. “I researched it and then took the staff to Grand Valley State University. We watched the tray conveyor to see how much food was being thrown away and there was hardly any. I remembered we had done remodeling over at Quincer [Hall] and that’s where the [leftover] Plexiglas comes in, because the majority of it we already have here on campus. The rest that we’re spending I’m personally paying for. That’s my gift to Cornerstone.”

The pasta bar will be located in the dining area next semester, after Food Services obtains a heating station from Wyoming Public Schools, and will be extended to dinner from Monday to Friday. Student employees will be trained to serve it in order to promote community on campus. For now, the secondary line in the cafeteria is temporarily the pasta bar and is only served during lunch hours.

Changes that have already been implemented are the waffle machines and soup-of-the-day served in the dining area, and the Panini’s served during dinner. Wiltheiss wants to slowly implement the changes at a rate that is comfortable to the students.

Valerie Ross, Food Services second shift supervisor, came to Wiltheiss about the idea of utilizing their Panini grill after having lunch at GVSU.

“They had this Panini station that we all liked, and we had this Panini grill,” Ross said. “It was only used once or twice a semester. I approached Cindy with [the idea] and she agreed to it.” The Panini bar will be offered Monday through Friday during dinner.

Along with acknowledging that Cornerstone is having some financial struggles, Wiltheiss predicts most students will select the 10 meals per week plan. Flex dollars, created three years ago, will also cease to exist.

“When you go through a tough time financially, it makes you think a little deeper,” Wiltheiss said. “And then you think ‘Wow, why didn’t we do this all along?’ I like us having a couple financial struggles, because it makes us think like we always should have been thinking.”

Wiltheiss said Cornerstone students have been especially helpful throughout the change process, making their voices heard through Cornerstone University Student Government.

“What’s so cool about most of the kids this year is that when they’ve had a complaint, they have given me solutions,” Wiltheiss said. “I definitely answer them back as soon as I can because it thrills my soul to see them having this challenge and they’re addressing it and thinking it through for me. It shows that they’re bringing value to my department.”

“Every time you walk in, glance around and see if you find something new,” Wiltheiss said.

Tim Davis wants you to go to China.

Specifically, the president of English Language Institute/China (ELIC) wants at least 30 Cornerstone University students to volunteer in China’s Sichuan province. The project is a partnership between ELIC and CU, called Camp China.

The province was badly damaged by a powerful earthquake, known as the Great Sichuan Earthquake on May 12, 2008, and is still rebuilding. At least 69,000 people were killed, and millions were left homeless.

This is why the Chinese government has asked ELIC to help, Davis said. ELIC hopes to recruit several groups of eight CU students to volunteer four to five weeks out of their summer.

“ELIC will be part of the recovery, but Sichuan won’t recover in a year or two,” Davis said. “It will take a lifetime. We’ll be there on an ongoing basis, to encourage, help and educate the people.”

Most of the area’s teachers were killed in the earthquakes, crushed by the school buildings where they taught, Davis said.

“We’re also looking for several students who will graduate this year to spend one to two years teaching English in Asia,” Davis said.

“There are two great days in every person’s life: the day they are born, and the day they discover why they were born,” Davis said in his chapel address. He believes some students at CU were born to go to China.

He went on to compare life to a cross-country race. Most of life is lived on the backside of the track when no one is watching, not on the start and finish lines.

ELIC’s international headquarters is in Fort Collins, Colo., the place Davis calls home. He spends much of his time on the road in Asia, he said. One area that he visits often is Hong Kong.

“We have a large base in Hong Kong,” Davis said. “We have a lot of very avid supporters there.”

China is not the only place where ELIC is active. They have teachers in Cambodia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Laos and Vietnam.

Davis said each English teacher ELIC sends to Asia teaches about 200 students at a time. Most of the teachers work in universities. ELIC works with Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., to train its teachers to go to China.

The governments of the countries they work in are almost always pleased with ELIC’s efforts. They work mostly with ambassadors and officials from countries’ education ministries to get permission to work in their countries, Davis said.

CU President Joe Stowell attended an ELIC conference in Asia in January. Stowell invited Davis to speak at Cornerstone.

“We’ve been friends for a number of years,” Davis said.

As was announced in the chapel, Joseph Stowell Jr. became ELIC’s executive vice president July 1, 2008. He is CU President Joe Stowell’s son.

Stowell Jr. worked for 10 years in the foreign currency and bond business before being hired by ELIC. He lived in Japan for several years, which gave him a unique mix of experiences and skills in Asian culture and business, he said.

“When the opportunity came to work with ELIC, I was already equipped,” Stowell Jr. said.

As executive vice president, he will oversee all aspects of the organization, including advancement, mobilization, strategy and governmental relations, he said.

His first contact with ELIC was in 1997. Stowell was living in Japan at the time, and he visited ELIC’s headquarters in Beijing, China, during a trip to the country.

“Ever since, I have been a supporter and fan of what they do.”

BLANCHARD: “Where and when did you do your internship?”

WISEN: “I did a copy editor internship at The Holland Sentinel during the spring 2009 semester.” BLANCHARD: “What kinds of duties did you have?”

WISEN: “I did page layout for a variety of pages – feature pages, ‘haps’ pages, obituary pages, sports pages, wire pages, weather pages, local news pages, fronts of sections. I copy edited stories and conducted final edits on page proofs. I selected, downloaded and edited AP photos and clip art for stories. I edited, uploaded and posted web stories. I also took photos — very rarely, but it happened.”

BLANCHARD: “How many hours do you work a week, how many days a week? Starting, quitting times?”

WISEN: “I worked 10 hours a week, two days a week. On Sundays, I worked from 4 to 9 p.m. On Wednesdays, I worked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.”

BLANCHARD: “Was there a dress code? If so, what was it?”

WISEN: “There was an implied dress code — I never had a situation where I sat down with my boss and talked about what to wear, but I was in a professional place so I dressed professional. Black pants, khakis… If I wore jeans, they were “nice” jeans. When I worked the late shift on Sundays, things were more casual.”

BLANCHARD: “Talk about the deadlines under which you operated.”

WISEN: “I wasn’t at work when the paper hit deadline and the two times I worked during the week had very different deadlines. On Wednesdays, I worked on Life&Style pages and therefore I worked on pages that were going in the next day’s paper, that Saturday’s paper or in a paper the following week — that makes deadlines interested. My deadlines these days were dictated different than a normal deadline would be. However, I know that, on Wednesdays, the faster I got done, the more exposure to different types of pages I would have. So, if I didn’t get AT LEAST four pages done in the five hours I was there, then I wasn’t making my personal deadline. Sunday shifts were different. If I didn’t have my stuff done by the time that I left, it fell on the other people I worked for because all my pages were Monday paper pages. In reality, a big thing about deadlines were my own personal deadlines. In a class with journalism instructor Ann Byle, she said that she would have about one and a half hours to finish a page when she worked at The Press. I made sure that my deadline for each page was either that or one hour because I wanted to be working at a professional pace. By doing this, I gained a lot of respect from both my immediate boss, Krista Babbitt, and the head editor, Pamela Fisher.”

BLANCHARD: “Did anything intimidate you on your first day or first week on the internship job?”

WISEN: “My first day was a nightmare. I wasn’t feeling great going into the work day, and then, about one hour after I started working, I began throwing up. A lot. Turns out I had the flu that it seems everyone had this winter — I just got lucky and had it on my first day of work. After that, I wasn’t intimidated — it worked as a nice ice breaker. All my coworkers thought it was hilarious.”

BLANCHARD: “How do you think your internship affected you?”

WISEN: “It taught me a lot of things but one thing that stands out to me is the value of personal deadlines and hard work. My job was to get the stories on the paper, make it eye-catching and make the copy flawless so that my coworkers/boss didn’t have to redo my work. If my page proofs came back looking like a mess, then that’s a poor reflection of my skills. Therefore, I had to work quickly and still be accurate – something you don’t have to learn when you’re working on a weekly that has multiple fact checks.”

BLANCHARD: “Did anything about working at Holland Sentinel surprise you?”

WISEN: “Two main things —

1. The need to be flexible. When I was there, multiple people were laid off. If you want to keep a job in the newspaper business, you have to make yourself valuable to the paper. If you are flexible, then you are valuable. For example, sports writers would get cut — but not the sports writers who could also take photos and do page layout. I knew about that before, but I didn’t realize how important it was.

2. The importance of keeping your testimony. Within the first couple weeks, I learned that everyone talked about everyone with everybody and 99.9 percent of the conversation is negative. However, what surprised me most was when Pam Fisher told me who the Christians in the office were. This was surprising because they were the ones who were gossiping the most. So, how is the Christian going to be able to witness to their Buddhist coworker when that coworker just watched the Christian throw someone under the bus? I actually had a chance to witness to someone while at work the other day and he said the whole Christian thing is hard for them because he doesn’t see a huge difference among people of different religions in the workplace. That was really hard for me.”

BLANCHARD: “What did you enjoy most about your internship?”

WISEN: “Although I really loved the challenge of beating my deadlines and completing more work than my boss thought I could, the best part about my internship had to be the relationships with my coworkers. They’ve been in the business long enough where they could really teach me about how to do things better and how to career plan better. But hearing their stories and finding what made them tick – that’s what really made it for me.”

BLANCHARD: “What advice would you give other CU students interested in finding an internship?”

WISEN: “Two pieces of advice for while you’re an intern:

1. WORK LIKE A DOG — Work hard and work fast. Don’t be lazy. The best advice I ever got about interning was that your goal as an intern is to be constantly asking “What else can I do?” My favorite working moments during this internship came when my boss looked at me and said, “Wow… you’ve done it all. There’s really nothing else left I could give you to do today.” If you work like a dog, you’ll impress your boss. If you impress your boss, you’ll be able to get a good recommendation from them when you need it for another position.

2. Be flexible and get in classes that teach you everything. One of the things I got congratulated the most on during my internship was a photo I took for one of the community pages. Why? Because I’m a paginator — what the heck am I doing taking photos? Well, one day Pam wanted a photo of something she saw out the window. The photographer was out and none of the reporters knew how to take good pictures. However, I was in a photojournalism class and had my camera in the car. So, one minute I’m sitting at my desk doing page layout and the next I am climbing, jumping and crawling across roofs and beams to get some shot for a community page. Not only was it a blast, but it made me stand out. Because I was flexible, I made myself more valuable to the paper and therefore got better reviews from my boss.”

Alan Blanchard, associate professor, is director of CU’s Journalism Dept. — www.cornerstone.edu/journalism