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In March, social work professor Monte Butler and three senior social work majors from Pacific Union College traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for the annual conference of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD). Butler and four students had submitted two posters to the conference, both of which were accepted — a notable achievement in this competitive professional conference. But the honors escalated when the poster by student Brian Rodriguez and Butler was given Highest Honors, the equivalent of first place in the nation. The conference only recently began featuring posters, and this is the second year PUC students have participated and received honors. Last year, two students won "high honors" (second place) for a poster. This year's honored poster was titled "Aggression Replacement Training for At-Risk Youth: Will Gender Matching Help?" and evaluated a program at a local agency that was designed to help at-risk teenagers manage their anger. Rodriguez, who's considering postgraduate work and law studies, explains how his work on the project was facilitated by two required social work classes, one guiding field research and another teaching the process of compilation and writing. Taking the resulting work to the BPD conference proved to be even more...

On Earth Day, April 22, L. Hunter Lovins, a globally recognized leader in sustainable practices, will speak on "Sustainability in Napa County: An Environmental and Economic Imperative" at Pacific Union College. In demand worldwide as a speaker and consultant, Lovins has consulted with scores of industries, governments and communities worldwide and was named Time Magazine's 2000 Hero of the Planet and Newsweek's 2009 Green Business Icon. Trained as a sociologist and lawyer, Hunter co-founded the California Conservation Project and is a founding professor of business at Presidio Graduate School. She is the recipient of the Lindbergh Award, Right Livelihood Award and Leadership in Business Award. Lovins is also the author of numerous books and is president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions. Lovins' "Sustainability in Napa County" lecture and reception will take place on Thursday, April 22. at 7 p.m. in Scales Chapel, located in the church building complex on the Pacific Union College campus at One Angwin Avenue. The event is open to the community and free of charge. Other events for a student Green Week will include a special colloquy presentation, an Earth Day Fair, a green service day in Angwin and St. Helena, and a nature walk....

For 45 students at Pacific Union College, a recent ministry has taken over their Wednesday nights. Each week, the members of the PUC Gospel Choir attend rehearsal in Scales Chapel, bringing the campus to life with their music ringing through its halls. The gospel choir came into being fall quarter when a few members of the Black Student Union decided that a fresh sound was needed on campus. Senior business major Jonathan Young combined forces with PUC president Dr. Heather Knight to bring DeBrenia Williams of Capital City Church in Sacramento to conduct the group. With a talented leader lined up, the group organized at the end of the quarter. After their first performance in front of the student body, the choir underwent a rapid growth in membership, jumping from about 20 members to 45 in a matter of weeks. “We have a little bit of everything in our members,” says alto Emily Wills. “We want to reach out to everyone, every race, and spread God’s word.” And they have. Wills says that the diverse group of students has had the opportunity to “meet a lot of new folks” that they otherwise would never have met. “We get along,” she...

On April 18, Pacific Union College students will lead out in a Run for REVO to raise money for a local kids ministry and to treat a foot disease in Ethiopia caused by not wearing shoes. They're asking for people to join them in the benefit 5K trail run and 2K walk, which will take place on PUC's back property. To join the Run for REVO, you can register online at active.com. Simply search for "revo." The entry fee, to benefit this year's projects, is $30 for pre-registration and $40 to register on campus on race day. The race takes place on Sunday, April 18, at 10 a.m. and starts at the Angwin Airport. The REVO movement, which has swept cities and campuses around the world, was brought to PUC in 2008 by a group of students. They hosted a rummage sale, auction, concerts, and fashion show to raise $10,000 for a shelter and vocational center for trafficked and abused children in Lima, Peru. In 2009, REVO went local and raised over $8,500 for the Napa Valley Food Bank, a program that distributes food to low-income residents of Napa County and was in need of funds to replenish its reduced...

It's Sabbath morning and Pastor Doh is not in the pulpit; a college student named Danny is in his place. Danny Chung, a sophomore religion and pre-medical student at Pacific Union College, is giving the sermon this morning on a topic he used in a recent Bible study: staying aware of how awesome and powerful God is when we come to him in prayer. Pastor Doh asks Chung to preach once in a while, but more often Chung is busy leading the youth Sabbath school group at the church, Napa Korean Adventist Church in Napa, California. It's Chung's home church and he continued to attend when he went off to PUC, and now he juggles the task of finding topics that will resonate with both college-age and high-school-age members, who are joined together in one youth group of about 50 members. Along with Chung, PUC students Paul Ong, Steven Chung, Brian Kim, and James Oh, several of whom also grew up in this church, provide the youth leadership for Sabbath school and social activities. One of the biggest reasons for doing so is tradition. "When we were in high school or junior high, we had PUC students who would come,"...