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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,"...

When she lost the use of her legs a year after graduation, PUC athlete Erica Davis, class of ’04, wasn’t content to give up her active lifestyle. But she never expected to set a world record—as the first paraplegic woman to reach the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. As a physical education major at PUC, Erica had a passion for sports. She worked in the athletic department, helped coordinate the intramural program, and played every sport she could, from volleyball and basketball to cycling and running to surfing. “College was one of the best times of my life,” she says, largely due to the wealth of athletic opportunities she had at PUC. “Erica was one of the most talented female athletes ever to go to this school,” says coach Bob Paulson, one of her professors and supervisors in PUC’s health, exercise science and nutrition department. “I don’t know of an athlete that was more well-rounded.” After graduating with her B.S. and teaching credentials in 2004, she began a six-month contract stint as a P.E. teacher at Hawaiian Mission Academy in Honolulu. While there she began dreaming of — and training for — the world-famous Ironman Triathlon, held annually on the Big...

Disney animator Marshall Toomey spoke at Pacific Union College on March 2 about his career and experience with Disney. Toomey, who worked on classic Disney characters such as Rafiki from The Lion King and the Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was met by an engaged audience of students, faculty and community members, who filled the Chan Shun Hall lecture room. Toomey talked about his career and what it has taken him to get this far. Above all, Toomey stressed perseverance. “Follow your dream,” he said, and that is exactly what he’s done. Students resonated with Toomey and his energetic personality. Film and television major Marcus Klonek was just one of many students who enjoyed Toomey’s lecture. A future animator himself, Klonek found Toomey’s career inspirational. It was rewarding to hear Toomey speak and “just get the feeling from a professional on what it takes to be in the field,” Klonek said. “It's neat that he’s the guy who does the final animations which get shown on the big screen.” Toomey has worked with Disney for over 30 years and loves his work because, as he says, “I get to draw every day.” Even as a child, he knew...

A tall, handsome young man in a blue velvet blazer and a thin black tie walks onto the stage. In a single moment, the silence of the crowd disappears as though Justin Timberlake had come to Pacific Union College. Girls scream; boys applaud. The 400 students packed into Dauphinee Chapel give PUC alum Tad Worku the warmest welcome back home. “Being here, being around you guys, this feels more like a jam session,” Worku tells the crowd. “It just feels like home.” The highly anticipated performance by the former business major and his band of four full-time musicians (whom he calls "psychotically gifted") was undoubtedly the event of the weekend. Worku’s band, consisting of Marcus Phillips on the bass, Nate Mercereau on the guitar, Q Jackson on the drums, and gospel keyboardist Dave Jackson, left the stage with the audience on their feet. “The musicians were…indescribable!” said Student Association social vice president Chris Madrid. “Everyone was just amazed at how incredible they were.” The group played a set of 10 songs, ranging from pieces Worku wrote for other artists in the time he worked for production companies to his very first composition “Stormy Weather,” which he wrote as an 18-year-old...

Sporting a bright yellow t-shirt and a magnetic smile, sophomore biochemistry major Anthony Yeo sits at a table in the Pacific Union College library to take a break from studying for a cell-molecular biology exam. Seventeen units and three science classes is a lot to take on for a 19 year-old student, but Yeo discovered a secret weapon to combat stress while generating altruism in the town of Angwin: mentoring. “It’s a great opportunity to help someone,” says Yeo. “And for that hour each week, I don’t have to study anymore!” A self-proclaimed infectious happiness virus, Yeo was ironically matched up with a fifth grader named Patrick who Yeo considers to be “pretty mellow.” “It’s almost like a game trying to get him to open up,” Yeo laughs. “But I really enjoy spending time helping him; it’s very rewarding.” Dr. Margo Haskins, associate professor of education, started the mentoring program last winter after she spoke to the campus about “the importance of showing God’s love in tangible and real ways,” she says. “I got to thinking, ‘Okay, I’m throwing this out there, so I need to bring something to this campus that will be meaningful to everyone involved.” Haskins first...