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A younger set of students than usual occupied the classrooms and labs of Fisher Hall, PUC’s hub of visual arts action, on September 6 and 7. The 16th annual Publication Workshop brought nearly 200 Pacific Union Conference academy students and their sponsors a solid stretch of classes and workshops providing practical, hands-on training in the specific media of yearbooks, newspapers, video yearbooks, and this year’s new unit on radio podcasts. This year’s theme was “Making Your Own History.” Elegant signs reclining on easels in the halls directed participants to the gauntlet of classes, which were divided into “learning pods” in order for the students to focus on their specific roles as writers, editors, designers, photographers, video editors, podcasters or sponsors. This year’s increased enrollment meant that some classes had to be offered several times or presented in large-capacity lecture halls. The Mac lab, video editing lab, and PUC Radio studio provided real-life working locations for many workshops, and a lineup of 21 talented and experienced presenters brought their personal experience to the classrooms for the 40-plus sessions on vital publication skills. Leticia Russell, coordinator of the workshop and a member of PUC’s Student Success Center team, has been working with...

The Pioneers sports teams of Pacific Union College have received the “California Pacific Conference Team Sportsmanship Award” for the 2005-2006 season. The award was presented to Robert Castillo, director of athletics, at the annual Cal Pac Conference convention at Dominican University of California on August 27, 2006. The sportsmanship award is presented to the member institution that displays outstanding sportsmanship and exemplifies the true spirit of the “Champions of Character” program set forth by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Since it was first presented after the 1999-2000 season, coaches from the member institutions have determined the award through a voting system and presented the award at the Cal Pac convention each fall. This is the Pioneers’ second time to receive the award; it was also presented to PUC for the 2002-2003 season. Other recipients have been Simpson College (now Simpson University, Redding, Calif.) and Menlo College (Atherton, Calif.). PUC is one of 10 institutions that make up the Cal Pac Conference. As a member of the NAIA, the Pioneers compete in the conference in women’s volleyball, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s and women’s basketball....

In the annual “America’s Best Colleges” report of U.S. News & World Report, Pacific Union College is once again ranked in the top tier of the Best Comprehensive Colleges–Bachelor’s, western region. The category is for institutions that focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs, and high scores are based on peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving. Aspects of PUC that contribute to its high score include its proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students, a high percent of faculty who are full time, alumni giving, and solid freshman retention rates. Pacific Union College is a four-year liberal arts college in Angwin. PUC focuses on undergraduate education and offers a full lineup of bachelor’s degrees. For over ten years, the college has consistently ranked in the top tier for its category in U.S. News & World Report....

Summer always finds a collection of PUC students scattered around the world for mission projects. This year was no exception, with students working at a day camp in Thailand and a moving summer camp in Micronesia, teaching English in Korea, and preaching in Mexico. PUC junior Elben Capule, who was in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand, for two months, found his experience of the culture very positive. “It's very respectful and kind. I like it so much and have gotten quite used to it.” In addition to his main tasks of teaching English, music, and tennis in the summer day camp and specialty camps, Elben helped start a youth ministry. The student missionaries invited high school students—many of whom have never been to church—to “Thursday Night Live,” where the students spent time playing games, eating, and having topic discussions with the student missionaries. “Just the fact that the students were weekly was fulfilling for me,” says Elben. “We’re hoping this program will last all year round.” Student Jonathan Fox wasn’t planning on going on a summer mission trip, but made a last-minute decision to join the group in Micronesia—and, he says, it “ended up to be exactly where I was...

There were 29 smart, youthful individuals at PUC July 23–28 for the annual PacificQuest program, a summer event for gifted and talented students entering grades 8-10. Designed to challenge students in ways not always possible in typical high school and junior high classrooms, PacificQuest gives these students a chance to learn from PUC professors, earn an hour of college credit, and enjoy recreation and activities with each other. This year’s theme was “Communicating with Style and Purpose,” and all the students took the core Communication Skills for Young Leaders class, which focused on key communication skills such as decoding nonverbal gestures, being a powerful listener and speaker, and understanding persuasion principles. Each student also chose an area of emphasis, either “The Physics of Communications” or “Italian Culture and Language.” In the communication physics class, students explored and experimented with various communication techniques from smoke signals to fiber optics, learning historical and physical aspects of how communications are accomplished. The Italian students enjoyed speaking, singing, and eating for their experience of Italian culture. They also had a chance to admire the work of a local Venetian artist, explore local suppliers of olio d’oliva, and learn about soccer, opera, fashion, art and...

Two Pacific Union College students are featured in recent editions of Creative Convocation, a magazine showcasing student art and design. Mike Murtaugh’s illustrated portrait of Michael Moore was featured in the Winter 2005 issue, and Bradley Kenyon’s illustrated self-portrait was featured as first honorable mention for cover design in the Spring 2006 issue. The artwork was completed for Illustration I, a class required for graphic design majors. Milbert Mariano, who teaches the class, encouraged students to submit their projects to Creative Convocation, which accepts submissions from students in undergraduate or graduate programs throughout the United States and Canada. Murtaugh, a senior graphic design and photography major, chose a piece that exemplifies his social consciousness. He says he selected Moore as the subject of his piece because he is an interesting figure in the political world and is famous for his filmmaking. “About this time his new film had come out criticizing the war in Iraq and the Bush presidency,” Murtaugh explains. This specific subject “forced the viewer to think about the situation in Iraq and the consequence of war even if they agree or disagree with Moore’s point of view.” Last school year Creative Convocation held a competition to create...

The School of Art isn’t the only summertime learning that happens at the Albion Field Station every year. The station also offers other classes each summer; this year, the North Coast Natural History and Digital Art Photography classes ran from July 10 to 14 in a spate of phenomenal weather. Dan Wyrick, teacher, co-editor of the Life Science textbook series, and director of "Nature By Design" creation-based science programs, has been teaching natural history and outdoor education classes at the field station for about ten years. Teachers doing continuing education work and interested in science camp programs are the most frequent attendees of these classes; however, people from Catalina Island and other programs have participated as well. The digital art class is in its fourth year and, according to field station manager Dave Weibe, “has been extremely well received.” Students have enquired about adding areas such as basic video editing and digital image presentation as well, and Weibe hopes the program will be able to expand to cover these areas. “We’re targeting a senior audience who still want to learn,” Weibe says, “as well as the continuing education group.” The class is geared towards the pre-professional level and is all...

Set against the backdrop of towering cathedrals and pristine palatial gardens, seven Pacific Union College students completed a two-week trip to Paris, France as part of the Honor program’s Summer Term Abroad. “Beauty,” a required course for Honors students, explores ideas about art and aesthetics as developed within Western culture. The course started at the PUC campus in late June with an intensive week of classroom lectures and discussions based on readings from writers such as Edmund Burke and Virginia Woolf. The class then traveled to Paris for two weeks of learning “on location.” The itinerary included visits to the Louvre, one of the world’s largest and most expansive art museums, and Giverny, the residence and garden of impressionist artist, Claude Monet. “The course is not only a study of art history, but an examination of how we define beauty and aesthetics and how our definitions shape our perceptions of the world,” says Milbert Mariano, chair of the visual arts department. He teaches the course with Nancy Lecourt, who is transitioning from the English department to her new role as Academic Dean this summer. While their stay in France was relatively brief, the students immersed themselves in Parisian culture by...

Every summer there’s an influx of brushes and easels at Pacific Union College’s Albion Field Station on the Mendocino Coast. The comfortable lodge and rustic cabins welcome aspiring artists for the Summer School of Art, a workshop providing all levels of painters with two weeks of outdoor watercolor, oil and acrylic painting workshops. John Hewitt, a well-established artist who has taught workshops throughout the country and shown his work in many juried national shows, has been coming to Albion since the ‘50s. He first visited when his father took continuing education classes at the Field Station, then later as a student of Vernon Nye at the Summer School of Art. Since 1995, Hewitt has taught the summer art classes, and he keeps coming back because of the place, the people and—of course—the art. He believes that one reason people come to the Summer School of Art is because of a trend toward creative pastimes: “People now are more interested in experiencing things than in watching things,” he explains. “They come to Albion to experience the coast, the painting, the creative process.” As one of the west’s premier art towns and resort areas—not to mention some of the most beautiful coastline...

The PUC music department welcomes Asher Raboy, longtime director of the Napa Valley Symphony, as the Symphonic Wind Ensemble director for the 2006-2007 school year. Raboy will also teach orchestration and counterpoint classes at PUC, serving as an interim teacher following the departure of music professor Ken Narducci. Raboy’s impressive conducting career includes serving as the music director of the Napa Valley Symphony since 1990, traveling as a guest conductor, conducting the Diablo Ballet, and serving as assistant conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and the Binghamton Symphony. He has also worked with several youth orchestras over the years. In addition to his conducting experience, Raboy has also composed a wide range of works (including several pieces for bands, wind symphonies and wind ensembles), lectured for the New York Philharmonic, and worked as a staff writer for the Putnam Funds of Boston. Meanwhile, Raboy is a fan of teaching. “Education is a big deal to me,” he says. “I have always loved to teach and enjoy the give-and-take with students so much.” Raboy has taught students from a variety of backgrounds and from ages four all the way up through college level. “I find the enthusiasm...