ABS is a convenient acronym, then, for the weekly Athlete Bible Study that’s begun meeting over lunch on the 91����Ƶ campus this semester – and just one manifestation of senior cross-country runner Jolee Paden’s efforts to enrich the spiritual lives of her fellow athletes and classmates.

Last January, she also helped launch a monthly event called Athletes Speak, during which students gather over pizza to hear athletes and coaches talk about their lives and faith. Both events are affiliated with 91����Ƶ’s chapter of the (FCA), in which Paden has been a leader since she was a first-year student.

At the time, FCA didn’t have a particularly large or active presence on campus, and so, just as she’d done previously at her high school in St. Joseph, Illinois, Paden threw herself into the task of building it up.

“FCA is for athletes and coaches to have the opportunity to encounter biblical truth and authentic community,” said Paden, a double-major in and . “Over the last three years and going into the fourth, it’s just done a complete 360 in terms of getting people involved.”

One of the ways she’s promoted the ABS and Athletes Speak events was dropping any reference to FCA from their names. She decided to do so after discovering that some student-athletes didn’t understand the purpose of the group or had developed negative impressions of it in high school.

This decision, said 91����Ƶ athletics director , “demonstrated her sensitivity and creativity” as a leader.

“Jolee has provided the most critical ingredient for any successful program aimed at student athletes – student leadership,” King continued. “Sustainable programs have quality student leadership and Jolee has provided that.”

Paden is also a pastoral assistant with 91����Ƶ’s , and spoke in chapel in late September. (Audio of her talk is available .)

“Jolee brings energy and focus to spiritual life on campus. She is always noticing and discerning opportunities for ministry among her peers,” said campus pastor . “She presents with confidence and poise. There’s no doubt that she will continue to develop as a keynote speaker and preacher.”

In addition to her work on campus, Paden is an intern at Grace Covenant Church in Harrisonburg, and helps lead the congregation’s ministry for college students. She has also published a running-themed devotional book, , writes , and begun accepting more public speaking invitations.

“I think God has just really blessed me with the capacity and the grace to do so much, because I still find time to relax and have a weekend sometimes. It’s kind of amazing,” said Paden.

As the fall semester slips by, she’s thinking more and more about life after 91����Ƶ. Perhaps she’ll enter seminary. Maybe she’ll go back to Washington D.C., where she lived last summer and loved working for , a nonprofit that uses running to empower people experiencing homelessness. As she weighs those options, she’s also intent on making sure that the FCA and affiliated events that have been so important to her time at 91����Ƶ will continue to thrive after she’s gone.

“I’ve put a lot of my heart and hopefully the Lord’s heart into this,” said Paden. “Building up other people who are passionate about it is really, really important to me.’”

As a practical matter, that’s meant handing over more and more responsibility to students who will return next year. One of them is Amanda Williams, a sophomore soccer player who helps schedule speakers for the Athletes Speak events. Williams hopes that she and her peers will continue building on Paden’s efforts to enrich the spiritual lives of 91����Ƶ athletes.

“I think Jolee has an authentic relationship to God and displaying her faith just comes naturally to her,” Williams said. “She has a different perspective on the Bible – it’s refreshing to me, just to hear the things that God reveals to her.”

Regardless of what, exactly, next year might bring for her, Paden plans to continue on the same general path she’s followed through 91����Ƶ – sharing, speaking, encouraging and nurturing the spiritual lives of the people around her.

“My dream would just be to tour and talk to young people and athletes,” she said. “But it’s just a matter of how the Lord is opening those doors.”

Last week, she scored three goals during the team’s 7-0 win against Sweet Briar [Sept. 16]. Her first collegiate hat trick, along with perseverance through extreme adversity, has gained Williams recognition as Royals Athlete of the Week.

“I’ve been trying my hardest,” Williams said.  “Some days are harder than others but I feel like this season has been a lot better for me.  I feel like it’s kind of clicking.”

Williams started playing soccer when she was only three years old, and dedicated her time to numerous travel teams. At Delmarva Christian High School, she recalls being the leading scorer of her team.  There she became comfortable with her position as striker, but during her first year at Eastern Mennonite, she was switched to midfielder.

She remarked, “It messes with your mind when you play a position you don’t like.”

But her position change was not the only thing that was messing with her mind.

“I had really bad vertigo (last season) which is dizziness,” Williams explained. “I’d be running straight but I’d feel like I was going sideways, like I was on a ship.  I had trouble talking a little bit, and had numbness in my hands and fingers.  I also had a hard time focusing in class and was really tired.”

Multiple sclerosis, also known as “MS,” affects more than two million people worldwide.  It is an incurable disease in which the immune system takes away from the protective wall of one’s nerves. With this disease symptoms may include problems with muscle control, balance, vision, or speech. Unfortunately, Amanda experienced all of them during her freshman season.

Multiple sclerosis is “basically it’s like lesions in my brain,” Williams explains. “So part of my brain is attacking itself. It can affect me in many different ways, I just realized I had it last October. I was suffering from the symptoms all season, which is a big difference between this season and last season. (This season) I’ve not really had symptoms.  Last season I had no idea what was going on and I thought it was just me.  I said to myself, ‘Oh it’s just college, it’s different, I’m stressed out,’ and I was just making a million excuses as to what was wrong with me.  The trainers were finally at a point where they said I had to go to the hospital.  So I went and three days later they told me I had MS.”

The doctor told Williams that the disease most likely began when she was only 12.

After she heard this news, she recalled many previous times when she was unexplainably sick.  She finally knew the cause. However,  she says it’s also hard knowing that she has a disease which doesn’t have a cure.

Once diagnosed, Williams decided that MS would not slow her down or make her change her work ethic.  Over the summer she spent time teaching high schoolers, conditioning, and working on her skills.

She explained that coaching made her view soccer from a new perspective.  Being a helper is something Williams is very good at.  Not only is she a community assistant on campus, but she also serves as her team’s “spiritual leader.” She counts her friends at the top of her support system.

Having MS has put life into a new perspective, Williams says. “It  makes little things not seem that bad. If I’m tired before a game I have to say, ‘You might not be able to walk one day, so play your hardest.  No regrets.’  This year I want to get all A’s and I want to be able to say that I gave everything I had for soccer.  I don’t care if I score again or not, just as long as I gave my best.  That’s all that I really care about. I want to glorify God.”

And in participating in the Spring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Celebration poster session in the , Stoner practiced a few more practical skills he will need: graphic design and public speaking.

Stoner and partner Sarah Carpenter were winners of the upperclass division for their research titled “Bergton Stream Restoration: Stream Health Assessment Using Macroinvertebrate Sampling.”

The poster session, which is preceded by an informal multidisciplinary science quiz-off and pizza feast, offers students “a chance to share their research with fellow students, faculty, and the larger 91����Ƶ community in a fun, social setting,” says physics professor , who judged the contest with biology professor .

Poster sessions are commonly held at scientific conferences, in which “scientists and students present and explain their own findings to those who are interested but are not necessarily experts in that field,” said King, who is also an assistant professor in the program.

Posters were judged on quality of experimental design, quality of research analysis, and quality of presentation, said Herin, also with the biomedicine program. “The presentation included the appearance, accuracy and clarity of the poster, as well as the presenters’ knowledge and explanation of the project.”

Coursework and independent study represented

91����Ƶ’s poster session featured more than 90 participants showcasing research from a variety of courses such as electronics, general chemistry, organic chemistry, statistics for natural sciences, and environmental toxicology. Students in Herin’s advanced human anatomy class (BIO 437) also contributed 3-D visualizations of body systems.

Carpenter and Stoner were among several students presenting water quality research in the nearby Bergton area as part of . Biology professors and are supervising teams of environmental sustainability students working on water quality monitoring and stream restoration in two tributaries of the Shenandoah River and the Chesapeake Bay, with other facets of the project involving and graduate students.

Students in professor ’s general chemistry class focused on phytoremediation of a variety of plants, including carrots, forsythia, corn, cattails, and radishes.

Professor ’s statistics class explored the widest range of topics, including electronic devices owned by students; the fuel economy of cars driven by 91����Ƶ faculty and staff versus those driven by James Madison University faculty and staff; cereal shelf placement based on sugar and price at Food Lion and Kroger; sustainability effectiveness in 91����Ƶ residence halls; and a statistical analysis of the “Settlers of Catan” game.

Two unique projects with professor Steve Cessna explored the rhetoric of science and instructional techniques in the science classroom. In their plant ecophysiology course, Hannah Chappell-Dick, Eli Wenger, and Emma Beachy analyzed plant physiology research literature for changes in the “assignment of agency.” For his biochemistry research course project, Kyle Storc investigated student comprehension and retention of biochemistry topics through the use of two-dimensional tools.

Several posters were the result of independent research that students conducted with faculty members. Camille Williams worked with biology professor to analyze the effects of fermented milk supplementation on gut microbacteria in mice.

Rachel King, who will be a research assistant on this summer, worked under chemistry professor on “A Mixed Methods Approach to Green Chemistry Knowledge Gains in the Organic Laboratory.” Kishbaugh also worked with Ben Stern, who studied the effects of barium toxicity on zebrafish.

Underclass winner links research to upcoming internship

Amanda Williams and Nader Alqahtani paired up to win the underclass division with their project that compared phytoremediation between native and invasive species.

For Williams, a first-year biology and secondary education major, the research project reminded her of how much she cares about the environment.

“I live in the wetlands in Delaware, surrounded by the plants we were experimenting on, cattail and phragmites,” she said, adding that she’ll continue her research in a summer internship with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. “I think it’s important to understand the possible negative effects of invasive species, but also to know that sometimes they are just as important as native species.”

Alqahtani, a sophomore biology major who is interested in medical research, said the hands-on learning experience “was a more fun and exciting way to learn than reading and studying.”

And the presentation? That was “the exciting part,” he said, even though English is his second language. “We were confident that we knew everything about our project and we trusted each other’s ability to make a perfect presentation … when we started presenting and I saw how well we were doing, I got comfortable and started to enjoy telling our audience about our research.”

Poster Session Winners: Upperclass Division

1st: Bergton Stream Restoration: Stream Health Assessment Using Macroinvertebrate Sampling – Sarah Carpenter and Sam Stoner

2nd: Keyless Entry – Stephan Goertzen and Jordan Leaman

3rd: Bergton Stream Restoration: Ecological Monitoring Using Wood Turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) – Jonathan Drescher-Lehman and Ryan Keiner

Honorable Mention: An ecophysiological study determining how three different invasive evergreen vines handle the varying winter temperatures by measuring their photosynthesis, transpiration, and Fv/Fm levels – Jonathan Drescher-Lehman, Chris Miller, and Abby Pennington

Honorable Mention: The Effects of Barium Toxicity on Zebrafish (Danio rerio) – Ben Stern

Poster Session Winners: Underclass Division

1st:  Comparing Phytoremediation between Native and Invasive Species – Nader Alqahtani and Amanda Williams

2nd:  Phytoremediation in Forsythia – Tyler Denlinger and Jeremiah Robinson

3rd: Electronic Devices Owned by 91����Ƶ Students – Sammy Kauffman, Josh Miller, and Roy Ruan

Honorable Mention: Phytoremediation in Various Plants – Aaron Dunmore and Kat Lehman

After scoring just one goal over their first three games of the season, the Royals’ explosion of scores  was not just a welcome relief for the players, but a sign of the jelling talent on the young team.

The visiting Blazers actually scored first in the game, which was started in a drizzle, when they scored in the eighth minute.  But freshman  (Glenwood Springs, Colo./Glenwood Springs) put 91����Ƶ on the board with their first shot of the night in the 16th minute. Martin drove up the right side of the field, and her tough shot deflected off a Hood defender and into the goal.

 (Springfield, Va./West Springfield), an All-ODAC Second Team forward last fall, got her first goal of the season by knocking in a header off a Hill corner in the 34th minute.

Action really picked up in the second half, as Hood equalized in the 51st minute and then re-took the lead 12 minutes later.  But Hill and Osei hooked up once again on a corner with just over 10 minutes left in regulation, knotting the score at 3-3.

The Blazers had some surges in overtime, but freshman  (Millsboro, Del./Delmana Christian) set up Hill’s clinching PK when she made a move up the right side and got taken down in the box. Hill finished with a career best four points, notching the one goal with two assists.

Shots were evenly distributed in the contest, with Hood holding a slight 15-12 advantage.  The visitors also had a 6-5 edge in shots on goal.  (Gig Harbor Wash./Peninsula) made three saves for 91����Ƶ.

The Royals look to defend their home turf once again on Wednesday when they host Marymount University. Game time is 7 p.m.