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Pacific Union College opened its campus to 126 high school seniors from Northern California, representing ten schools, in its 46th annual Math Science Workshop, February 27-28. Directed by math and science department chairs, the workshop provided students with the opportunity to attend math and science classes and perform experiments in the college setting. The workshop offered a two-day schedule packed with activities. Students attended a variety of PUC classes, including Calculus, Intro. to Computer Science, General Chemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Philosophy of Origins. Professors also held Question and Answer sessions on the topics of math, biology, chemistry, physics and engineering, and computer science. Biology department chair and workshop coordinator Robin Vance hopes the workshop allowed students to “do some actual experiments and have fun doing [them].” Academy students chose between additional seminars specific to their field interest. Students focusing on chemistry conducted a classic experiment to determine the mass of a sample of copper; biology students emphasized the theme of equilibrium; physics and mathematics students collected data on the decay of radioactive samples; and students interested in computer science used computers to program several types of random number generators, used the generators to simulate the radioactive decay of...

Noted Biblical scholar Jaques Doukhan presented the semi-annual Heubach Lecture on Sabbath, February 19, to a packed audience in PUC’s Scales Chapel. The Heubach Lectureship is an informative series honoring former PUC religion professor Paul Heubach, and it is aimed at examining central truths of Christianity in easily understood terms. Doukhan is a professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary and director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich. His lecture, entitled “’Yes’ to Creations: More Than ‘No’ to Evolution,” approached the literary elements of the Genesis creation story, exploring both the structures of the account and the story’s centrality to authentic Christian faith. After an introduction by former Andrews colleague and current PUC president Heather Knight, Doukhan introduced his topic with the assertion that creation and evolution are fundamentally exclusive explanations of origins. He warned that too often, discussions of creation focus on contradicting evolutionary theory, when the creation story is a rich and meaningful topic on its own. He then discussed the Genesis account in its original Hebrew form, highlighting the beauty and poetry of the words and sounds. The structure, he says, serves several purposes:...

Pacific Union College hosted a blood drive February 14, encouraging the campus community to give the ultimate gift of love this Valentine’s Day. A steady stream of students, staff and faculty flowed through a mobile blood bank set up in a side room of the Dining Commons. PUC’s office of health services coordinates the quarterly event in conjunction with Blood Centres of the Pacific, a Bay Area blood bank. According to Sandra Sargent, PUC’s health services director, the college has often been among the blood bank’s most productive collection sites. This quarter’s drive yielded 55 pints in one afternoon. To help encourage blood donation, Blood Centres of the Pacific a offered donors a variety Valentine’s Day-themed prizes ranging from T-shirts emblazoned with hearts to discounts on dinner cruises on the San Francisco Bay. Furthermore, health and exercise science professor Elaine Neudeck offered extra credit points in her health class to students who donated blood. But for many on campus, the extra incentives were not necessary. “It’s a nice thing to do on Valentine’s Day,” says senior Natalie Vigil, a veteran blood donor. Senior Victor Henriquez, a nursing major, made his sixth donation, citing the influence of his mother, a frequent...

Seniors proudly donning caps and gowns marched down the aisles of the Pacific Union College Church February 10 to be honored at the annual Senior Recognition colloquy. Featured speaker Tammy McGuire, an associate professor of communication, addressed the senior class anxiously awaiting graduation in June. McGuire gave a light-hearted yet moving message entitled “The In Betweens”—referring to the times between the major events in life like senior recognition and graduation, during which we grow the most. Blending humor and wisdom, McGuire referenced Saturday Night Live and quoted a song called “Senioritis,” by the American rock band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, to illustrate that “The goal is what we strive for, but the journey is what we live.” “Though our lives are punctuated by these momentous occasions, we must not forget that our lives are made of the the spaces in between, which are oftentimes the toughest to get through,” said McGuire. Using Eccelsiastes 3:13 as encouragement for the seniors to get through the possibility of a difficult final few months of their college career, McGuire concluded, “What we must do is fight to live joyfully…and find satisfaction in all this toil—this is the gift of God.”...

On February 7, 2011, over 100 principals, superintendents and education directors from the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists arrived at Pacific Union College for 2011 Education Days, an annual networking event for future educators. Organized by PUC, Education Days offers potential employers from Seventh-day Adventist schools and institutions opportunities to mingle with and interview teacher candidates from the education program at PUC. The program kicked off with a festive western-themed dinner, and guests got into the spirit by donning cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats for the occasion. A mock band, made up of educators, provided rousing entertainment for the crowd. Aside from dining with teacher candidates, guests also had an opportunity to meet students through a formal introduction. A longstanding tradition of the Education Days banquet, students offer a brief presentation that includes their reason for teaching and areas for which they are credentialed. “The opportunity for the students to sit across the table from a prospective employer is a nice touch,” said Kelly Bock, education director for the Pacific Union Conference. “I also appreciate seeing students perform in front of an audience that is outside their comfort zones. I learn a lot about teachers by watching how they...