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Aviation students attending Pacific Union College can now complete the commercial flight training portion of their program in Angwin, thanks to the recent purchase of a Piper Seminole twin-engine plane. Last year, an FAA mandate posed a crisis to the aviation program, since the aircraft being used for commercial training no longer met requirements for FAA practical tests. After researching the perfect aircraft for training purposes, Nathan Tasker, chief flight instructor and director of the PUC flight center, concluded a Piper Seminole was the aircraft of choice. "The Seminole is great for what it was designed to do - train," said Tasker. "Its operating costs are low; it is safe and easy to fly; it can safely perform emergency procedures in-flight; and it is capable of short-field landings and takeoffs." But PUC lacked the funds needed to purchase a Seminole. Thankfully, that didn't stop Tasker. After sharing his vision with others, offering many prayers, writing over 400 letters to every Seminole owner in the country, selling another plane, receiving donations, acquiring a loan, working through on-line trading companies, and making four inspection trips to Florida, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, there was still no plane. Most people would have given up at...

John McVay, Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, will speak for Pacific Union College’s Heubach Lecture in Dauphinee Chapel on Thursday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. His subject will be “Waging Peace in the Great Controversy: Paul’s Call to Arms.” Dr. McVay, who served for 13 years in PUC’s religion department, is a specialist in the later Pauline Epistles, and contributes regularly to professional conferences and publications. ...

The thought of a college student behind the wheel is probably not a contemplation that brings images of peace and security to your mind. Perhaps it comes with visions of mangled road guards and huge hospital bills—or at least exhorbitant speeds followed by exhorbitant speeding tickets. But as a young person who enjoys a calm and leisurely drive, let me introduce you to a few college students who experience more than road rage and speed highs behind the wheel. Morgan Wade loves driving, maps, and history. So I knew he’d have some good stories about local drives. “There’s a back road that I love,” he says, “one of the most beautiful drives that I remember.” He’s referring to Ida Clayton Road (which turns into Western Mine Road), taking off from Highway 128 north of Calistoga, winding around the Western side of Mt. St. Helena, and coming out on 29 south of Middletown. There isn’t much “civilization” for Morgan to encounter as he tootles along the road, except the sign for a Trout Farm – in fact, Morgan says, the road seems to give him a little idea of how California was before it was settled. It’s a lazy Friday afternoon,...

Pacific Union College will be hosting the 12th annual Malcolm Maxwell Golf Classic at the Napa Valley Country Club on Monday, May 17. The event will feature 18 holes of golf in a two best ball foursome play, with an individual low gross and low net division. Proceeds from the Golf Classic benefit students supported by the PUC Malcolm Maxwell Scholarship Fund. The hole-in-one prize is a 2004 Chevy Blazer 4x4 courtesy of Epps Chevrolet. Awards for the longest drive and the closest to the pin on all par 3’s will be presented at the tournament. Additional contests include the One Million Dollar Shot, the Vacation Celebration, Guess Your Drive, and the $5,000 Putting Contest....

Renowned brain researcher Dr. Robert Sapolsky will present "Stress Management and Health" on Thursday, April 29, at 8 p.m. in Pacific Union College's Dauphinee Chapel. Admission to the seminar is free and open to the public. Sapolsky, known for his engaging and lively speaking and writing styles, is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya. Sapolsky's lecture will focus on stress and the causes of stress-related diseases. He says that while the body's physical responses can cope with short-term physical threats, they are not suitable responses for the psychological stress faced in today's world. Sapolsky calls our reactions to today's stress "generally short-sighted, inefficient, and penny-wise and dollar-foolish." Sapolsky has authored several books, including: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons, and The Trouble with Testosterone....