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On January 9, Pacific Union College hosted Dr. Eboo Patel for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance installment of the Colloquy Speakers Series. Patel, founder and executive director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, is an interfaith scholar and member of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Patel’s presentation focused on the civil rights movement led by Dr. King in the 1950s and 1960s and the interfaith influences on Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violence. Patel illustrated how Dr. King “expands his idea of a beloved community” by interacting with leaders of different religions, including Gandhi and Thich Nhat Hanh. Patel painted a vivid story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how non-violent protest over the 382-day boycott ultimately led the campaign to success in ending segregation on city buses. Just as King interacted with those around him in interfaith dialogue, Patel encouraged students to engage in deep interfaith discussions, even though disagreement is unavoidable. “Bring it all,” said Patel in describing how much of one’s beliefs should be shared with others. Patel, a practicing Muslim, spent time acknowledging the important contributions Adventists can make when building a “world in common,”...

Twenty-two students from Pacific Union College spent a week of their winter break serving and providing aid for a Navajo community located near Page, Ariz. This was the fourth time PUC students have made an impact on the Navajo reservation, all in cooperation with Project Pueblo, a student-led volunteer organization. PUC students Clifford Young and Dominic Hwang led the December 13-21 trip. Ben Speegle, a 2013 PUC grad who now works in PUC’s Service, Justice, and Missions Office, and Tom Turner, professor of visual arts, went along as sponsors. This year’s mission trip wasn’t just a return to the Navajo nation, but also to the local Seventh-day Adventist church, where PUC students have served since a renovation project began. “We helped a local missionary family with some of their tasks as well as assisting a Navajo family develop their property,” Speegle added. “These mission trips allow us to really give back and serve an impoverished area,” said student leader Clifford Young. “Many of the things we take for granted these people struggle with. It’s nice to see fellow students act selflessly and sacrifice their own time to give back.” From simple tasks like helping rebuild a community center to assisting...

In November, Lauren Armstrong, Arianna Duran, and Benjamin Speegle received recognition from the National Communication Association (NCA) at the 99th National Communication Convention in Washington, D.C. This group of PUC communication students had spent two quarters researching various factors influencing interracial mate selection, primarily those within the family; they compiled their research and submitted it to the NCA in March of 2013. At the convention, their paper, one of four papers selected from eighty submissions to the Lambda Pi Eta division, received the Stephen A. Smith Award for Top Group-Authored Undergraduate Research Paper. This is the second year that PUC’s communication students have taken the award for top group-authored paper. Armstrong, Duran, and Speegle, all now graduates of PUC, conducted their study for a class in Communication Research taught by Tammy McGuire, professor of communication. They aimed to determine how being raised in an interracial household can affect an individual’s relationship decisions. Their findings, compiled in a paper entitled “Familial Influence Over Interracial Mate Selection,” concluded that modern society produces an increasing number of interracial relationships because these connections are more commonly accepted today than they have been in the past. Crucial factors included household makeup, communication strategies, age, and...

Bryan Soderblom, a sophomore aviation and religion major, experienced a life-changing journey during his year as a student missionary in Guyana, a small nation on the northern coast of South America. Although as a freshman he initially planned to go to Brazil as a pilot, personally he felt the call for a homeschool teacher in Guyana was stronger. “The more and more I thought about it during long hikes in the back 40, it felt like if I went to Brazil I’d be serving my own purposes,” said Bryan. He liked the opportunity in Guyana because it seemed more of a service mission than a way to advance his own career as a pilot. Bryan was set up teaching two American children as soon as he arrived in Guyana. Shortly he began giving guitar lessons to local kids, and then was bumped up to teaching high school math to about a hundred students at the secondary school. He said the job was rewarding as well as demanding; he was able to help the high school kids push through the basics of math up to a solid high school level. “By the end, I’m glad to say we got to factorization...

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Pacific Union College will host Dr. Eboo Patel for the College’s Colloquy Speaker Series on January 9 in the PUC Church Sanctuary. Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), which works toward the growth of the interfaith youth movement. He has spoken at the TED Conference, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. Dr. Patel is also a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and contributes regularly to the Washington Post, NPR, and CNN. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University. For this special Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance Colloquy program, Dr. Patel’s subject will be Ghandi’s influence on Dr. King. Patel will present at 10 a.m. in the PUC Church Sanctuary....