Life at PUC

One question stood at the center of this year’s Student Week of Prayer: What do we believe? Despite any misconceptions that young people may have about the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of Adventism, the reality, campus chaplain Roy Ice says, is that they are “pretty basic things.” Starting Monday, April 7, and going through the Sabbath of April 12, 11 students shared their unique testimonies on 11 different fundamental beliefs and how they make up the fabric of Adventism. The theme was about understanding your reasons for believing. As Krista Brieno put it, “It is important to know the faith you claim. I say I’m an Adventist, but do I really know what all that includes? The 28 fundamental beliefs really seal the deal in that respect.” Part of the purpose for covering the fundamental beliefs was to clear up the stereotypes. Brieno stated that there is a misconception of the 28 beliefs as “a set of very strict and rigid regulations telling us what we can and can’t do. But they are really inspired and we should be proud of them.” The pattern of breaking down the old stereotypes continued throughout the week. The programs not only gave students a...

Thursday, April 17, begins the first Green Week at Pacific Union College. In an effort to promote awareness of eco-friendly living, PUC has planned six days of fun activities that inform, entertain and encourage participation in taking care of our local and global community. Green Week kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in Dauphinee Chapel with a lecture by Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet. A former emergency room doctor, Matthew Sleeth will share his personal and spiritual journey to environmental stewardship and discuss sobering rationale for life changes, and a “how-to” guide for lifestyle changes that will help care for others and protect the earth. Admission is free of charge. Other Green Week activities include an Angwin trash-pick-up day on Friday, April 18, 2-5 p.m. and an Earth Day Bazaar on Tuesday, April 22, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Electric cars will be on display and available for rides. Other bazaar activities include a thrift shop on campus, tours to the co-generation plant and live music. Come learn more about how to take care of your planet and participate in PUC’s first Green Week. All events are free of charge and open...

A summer-like day welcomed 415 pairs of wheels to Angwin on April 13, along with 415 helmets gleaming in the sun — and every imaginable color of spandex. The event was the 2008 Napa Valley Dirt Classic mountain bike race, an annual 22-mile ride that is part of the NorCal Mountain Bike State Championship Series and is hosted by Pacific Union College on its back trails. The pre-race hours welcomed a wide spectrum of riders to the campus, from two in the 14-and-under category to PUC alumni and student riders, and both local and out-of-town (and even out-of-state) participants. “We’ll see how it goes,” said student Zack Belnap, who had been “training pretty easy” because he thought the race happened later than it actually did. But he seemed optimistic under his helmet, and four of his PUC classmates were there to cheer him on. “We’ll be here for the start, go get breakfast, and be back in time for the finish,” grinned one of Belnap’s friends. It turned out to be a good race, though warm. Barry Wicks won at 1 hour, 23 minutes and 44 seconds. “It was a great day,” said Mike Hellie, race director and chair of...

In the first all-school colloquy program of the spring quarter, PUC embarked on the third phase of its year-long emphasis on service. The spring quarter colloquy theme is “A Sense of Pride,” and campus chaplain Roy Ice introduced the program by saying, “This quarter we’re going to do a little celebration … by saying, ‘Look what God has done.’ We’re celebrating what has happened and asking, ‘How much more can we do?’” Ice told students, “I want to challenge you … to really think about what the goal of God’s command [to love] really is.” Service has been very real to students this year, with new students getting involved in existing projects and starting up new ones. During the colloquy program, students gave personal accounts of the service they’ve been involved with this year. Student Krista Brieno recounted how, inspired by World AIDS Day on December 1 and the realization of how many resources we have at PUC, she asked the church for money — and, inspired by Gideon, asked God that they would raise $1,000. During the two services that morning, $2,100 was contributed to support ADRA’s fight against AIDS. Later, when planning a womens prayer breakfast for the...

On March 30 the PUC film and television program began the production of its annual senior digital film project, this year entitled “The White Abyss,” and wrapped up shooting four days later. Directed by student Craig Church, the post-apocalyptic short was shot on location at the PUC farming facilities in the old dairy. In the tradition of the program’s major productions, the shoot was a family affair, drawing a fully-volunteered crew of nearly 15 film and television majors, as well as the help of various non-majors who found their place on set. The film is the third in a line of diversely ambitious pieces to come from the senior digital film class. In 2006 Eryck Chairez helmed the award-winning “Three Courses,” which was followed the next year by Zach Dunn’s “Thunder and Lightning.” Like the projects before it, “The White Abyss” offers students a unique type of hands-on, real-world filmmaking experience that cannot be taught in a classroom. The roles of producer, art director, sound engineer and cinematographer were all given to students and allowed them to hone their skills with professional actors and high-quality equipment. Director of photography Ryann Pulido, a sophomore, said, “I’ve really grown a lot from...

Each year, Pacific Union College welcomes a small group of musicians for the Academy Keyboard Festival. The students, who mostly come from Northern and Central California academies, spend three days rehearsing, participating in master classes, enjoying demonstrations, and performing. This year, the Festival took place April 3-5, with 11 students. Lynn Wheeler, chair of the PUC music department, led the ensembles and master classes, with assistant music professor Rosalie Rasmussen leading the handbell choir and associate music professor Bruce Rasmussen doing a demonstration session on the Rieger organ. The students performed their solos, group keyboard pieces, and bell choir pieces on Sabbath evening, including such works at Schaum’s Battle Hymn of the Republic, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, and Mendelssohn’s If With All Your Hearts. For more information about the Academy Keyboard Festival or other music events, call the music department at (707) 965-6201....

The first service at the Pacific Union College Church commences with the rich tones of the Rieger organ. Not long ago, this “early service” started at 8:45 and housed a very small congregation, mostly white-haired. Now the first service is called the Majestic and starts at 10 a.m. It is purposeful in presenting a quality traditional service, and is more intergenerational and attended by about four times as many people as before. These positive changes are part of a larger picture that includes both worship services (the Majestic and the Gathering, which meets just after noon). Led by senior pastor Tim Mitchell, worship and outreach pastor Jessica Shine, and campus chaplain Roy Ice, the church recently began to take a good hard look at the weekly services and the congregational community. Some of the problems they faced were low attendance at the early service, frustration with the blend of elements in the second service, and the need for a sense of community that carries over from week to week. “We asked ourselves, what does the congregation need?” Shine recounts. Church members filled out surveys; and focus groups made up of people from a wide spectrum of ages and roles met...

David Trim, a history professor from Newbold College, much-published author, and preacher, has come to Angwin from England for a one-year stint at Pacific Union College, financed by the Walter C. Utt Endowed Chair of History. This visit is no vacation stay, however; as Utt Professor for the 2008 calendar year, Trim is teaching one class each quarter, giving two lectures, and engaging in research and writing for several in-depth history projects. Trim was asked to come to PUC by the board of the Utt endowment, the college’s only endowed professorship. The endowment was established after the 1985 death of its legendary namesake, a PUC history professor who left a legacy of mentorship, brilliant lecturing, and authorship. Now, the professorship memorializes Utt and fosters Adventist scholarship by bringing great teachers to PUC and giving them time to focus their energies on research and writing. A number of conferences and book editing and essay-writing projects, along with the Utt lectures and preaching appointments, are on Trim’s agenda during his time as the Utt professor. He’ll complete the editorial on a volume of essays on European Warfare, write an essay on the history of chivalry after the Renaissance, and write a paper...

In an inconspicuous commercial area at the end of a tiny strip-mall, a door opens into a hubbub of young voices. It's 3:40 and the Angwin Teen Center has been filling up with the after-school crowd of junior high and high school students, bearing their earphones, their backpacks, and a lot of energy. PUC student Larissa Ranzolin is sitting at a small table in the thick of things, surrounded by kids and discussing a can of pumpkin pie filling with the dad of one of the teens.It's a surprisingly familial atmosphere for a teen hang-out, and that's the result of a very intentional commitment to mentorship. "Here," says executive director Tom Amato, from a couch against one wall, "the relationship is not based on behavior, performance, or production. We'll be unconditional. We help [the teens] to realize we're family."That's a big deal for many of these young students, explains PUC student Georgiana Tutu, who works as a supervisor at the Center. "Some of their home lives are pretty crummy, so it helps to know that they can come to a place that is always going to be there… it helps to know that the people that work there are always...

On March 5, students and faculty packed Alice Holst theater for the world premier of Bryonn Bain’s one-man show We Are and So I Am, a 76-minute performance that blends hip-hop and spoken word to tell the story of his experience with an unjust prison system, racism, and how to move forward despite the existence of both. And how the different influences in his life have come together to make him who he is. Bain is a spoken-word poet and prison activist. He’s a Nuyorican Grand Slam Poetry Champion; founder of the Blackout Arts Collective, a grassroots organization that brings workshops and performances to public schools and prisons; and current host of BET-J’s current affairs talk show “My Two Cents.” He’s also an actor and world traveler. He is currently performing off-Broadway in the production From Auction Block to Hip-hop and is the “Poet-in-Residence” at New School University in New York. Bain experienced the unjust hand of the law when he was taken in for a crime he didn’t commit. His only crime: being black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. The experience he had proving his innocence and dealing with the prison system greatly impacted him...