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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...

The Pacific Union College student body, faculty and staff celebrated African-American heritage on Thursday, February 3, as part of a year-round effort to recognize the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup that characterizes the campus. Colloquy began with a congregational singing of James Weldon Johnson’s “Black National Anthem” and performances of spirituals “Going Up Yonder” and “For Every Mountain.” Emil Peeler, Ph.D., a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist and senior pastor of the Sixteenth Street Church in San Bernardino, Calif., then gave an inspirational address entitled “Don’t Forget the Dungeon,” in which he urged “I believe this is a generation that is called for greatness; I believe God is preparing this generation to be servant-leaders.” Peeler continued to relate the Biblical story of Abimelech and the prophet Jeremiah, suggesting that students choose to do what is right, even when power and position are at stake. As part of heritage week, the PUC cafeteria menu featured vegetarian versions of classic soul food dishes throughout the day. Other campus-wide heritage celebrations throughout the year have included and will include Hispanic-American, European-American and Asian-American....

Students, faculty and staff at Pacific Union College enjoyed a week of spiritual rejuvenation as Winter Revival took place on campus. The quarterly revival featured PUC alum Godfrey Miranda, ‘05, a pastor from Central California and a student at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological seminary, who brought the campus together in prayer and worship in a series of meetings held from Wednesday, January 19, through Saturday, January 22. Miranda flew in from Michigan with his wife and daughter last week upon the request of family friend and Student Association religious vice president Mark Monterroso, who asked Miranda to be the first of a group of speakers he hopes will challenge people on campus to develop a closer relationship with God. “I want students to work towards something that’s not necessarily out of their reach, but something that they’ll have to make an effort to do,” said Monterroso. “This quarter, we’re going to learn to actually take ownership of ‘you and God’; not let somebody carry you through it or just going by observation.” To get started on this goal, Miranda encouraged the campus to continue the revival past the single week by dedicating time daily to build a closer relationship with...