.

Applied Social Sciences Department

Rachel Crist, Sarah Boshart, Harrison Horst and Samantha Jacob received honor cords signifying their membership into the Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society from Dr. Carolyn Stauffer and Dr. Jenni Holsinger. 91����Ƶ’s new chapter joins 650 other college chapters.

Biology and Chemistry Department

Janaya M. Sachs was named Outstanding Senior Chemistry Student, the highest award given to a chemistry/biochemistry major who demonstrates high academic achievement, significant research experience and the potential to contribute to the field. She will be recognized with other outstanding senior chemistry majors by the Virginia Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and was given a Merck Index by the ACS and the Merck Company. Read more about one of�� .

Tyler D. Denlinger and Robert H. Propst earned recognition as the Outstanding Senior Biology students, the highest award to acknowledge exceptional academic, scholarly and service accomplishments throughout a student’s career at 91����Ƶ. The award also recognizes characteristics of initiative, wisdom, diligence, collegiality and integrity.

Kaylee M. Ferguson was given the Outstanding Service Award. Consideration is given to scholarship across the entire 91����Ƶ career, including research outside of the 91����Ƶ context, as well as qualities of leadership, citizenship, compassion, a commitment to working with others and the ability to place their 91����Ƶ experience with the context of service.

Diego C. Barahona earned the Excellence in Research Award for his exceptional performance in independent research, demonstrating initiative, integrity, knowledge of subject and high technical aptitude. Read more about one of his .

Leah C. Lapp was recognized as outstanding first-year chemistry student. Mario J. Hernandez was named outstanding second-year biology student.

Winners of the STEM poster contest, upperclass division are: first, Samantha Kauffman and Marchelle Smucker; second, Eli Wenger; third, Diego Barahona; honorable mention, Tyler Brenneman; Kyle Johnson and David Nester; Aron Harder, Austin Engle, Dylan Grove, James Paetkau, Ben Zook, Andrew Troyer and Collin Longenecker.

Winners of the STEM poster contest, underclass division are: first, Leah Lapp and Melissa Kinkaid; second, Seth Weaver and Jared Bergman; third, Linda Ouedraogo and Caroline Lehman.

Bible and Religion Department

The winners of an essay contest in the field of Bible, theology, church history and philosophy, sponsored by Haverim, the alumni association of Bible and Religion Department, were recognized. Justine Nolt won $300 and first place for her analysis of Eucharistic theology. Christina Hershey won $200 and second place for her treatment of Lancaster Mennonite Conference’s decision to leave Mennonite Church USA.��Janaya Sachs was awarded $100 and third place for her exegesis of 1 Corinthians 5.

Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

��The following students were recognized by Executive Director Daryl Byler: Caitlin Morneau, for publication of an article on restorative justice; Kajungu Mturi, for his work with Harrisonburg High School’s Peer Leaders program; Matt Tibbles, for work with youth at Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Boys and Girls Club; Jennifer Chi Lee, for overall leadership to CJP; and Myriam Aziz, Sho Igawa, Christine Kindler, Agnes Chen and Isabel Castillo for their Arts and Peacebuilding film productions.

Education Department

Five students were selected as Teachers of Promise by Don Steiner, interim department chair: Dorothy Hershey, Rebekah Hertzler, Erick Luna, Miranda Lyle and Amy Nussbaum. Teachers of Promise is a statewide honor recognizing gifted pre-service teachers.

Paul Lankford was awarded the Courage to Teach award, which is modeled after the principles of Quaker educator Parker Palmer. “Paul was selected for his dedication and effectiveness in teaching, genuine caring for students, value-based and highly principled behaviors, reflective thought and practice and a passion for teaching,” Steiner said. Lankford was awarded a copy of Palmer’s Courage to Teach book.

History Department

Robert Cook was awarded the Outstanding History Student for his essay on Rockbridge County schools integration. A future social studies educator, he was awarded a copy of A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor.

Language and Literature Department

The following awards were presented by department chair Mike Medley:

• The Ray Elvin Horst Award for Excellence in Spanish: Maddie Gish
• Jay B. Landis Award (Literary essay): Jasmine Miller
• The Ervie L. Glick Award for Excellence in World Language Study: Anna Messer
• James Bomberger Award (TESOL): Jasmine Miller
• Carroll Yoder Award (English teaching): Quinn Kathrineberg
• Omar Eby Award (Creative writing): Kaitlin Abrahams

Mathematical Sciences Department

Junior Aron Harder was the winner of the department’s mathematics contest. Harder also won this contest as a first-year student. His prize was what Professor Owen Byer described as a “math geek” t-shirt. Second place went to first-year Austin Engle.

Seven members of the Engineers for a Sustainable World club won first place in the first- and second-year undergraduate design team division at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Zone 2 Conference early March in Puerto Rico. Ben Zook, Dylan Grove, James Paetkau, Collin Longenecker, Austin Engle, Ben Stutzman and Andrew Troyer were recognized for their work.

Music Department

Jon Bishop was recognized as the Outstanding Senior in Music Composition Award. Jacinda Stahly earned the Outstanding Senior in Music Performance award.

Nursing Department

Professors Audrey Myers and Ann Schaeffer, Nursing Student Association (NSA) sponsors, presented the department’s annual awards.

Nina Simmons was given the Leadership Award, for her work in the NSA to involve all levels of students. She will work after graduation in the intensive care unit at Augusta Health.

Abbie Luther was given the Sacred Covenant Award. The sacred covenant is a model of nursing that honors the relationship between the nurse and the patient. “Nursing has shaped me and continues to shape me into embodying Christ in my everyday life,” said Luther. “One of the biggest reasons I decided to study nursing was because it allowed me to be the hands and feet of Jesus. As my future as a nurse unfolds, my hope is that I stay grounded in this simple truth. Kindness, presence, grace, love and compassion will be my guiding light.”

Leona Good��earned the Academic Achievement Award. “Nursing school has challenged me to step up because I know that my knowledge and education impacts the care I am able to give others. I am driven by the desire to be the best nurse I can be for my patients. As my journey into nursing begins this next year, I am looking forward to how my career will allow me to offer myself and form relationships with people in their most vulnerable times.”

Visual and Communication Arts and Theater Department

Lila Marks received the Matthew Alan Styer VaCA Scholarship Grant for excellence and dedication to photography. “Lila is a passionate and compassionate documentary photographer of human encounters,” said Steven David Johnson, department chair. Johnson added that Marks is an excellent student, receptive to critique and already approaching photography with a critical and professional acumen and interest. She is pursuing a vocation in humanitarian documentary photography.

The cast of earned a Certificate of Merit for Ensemble Acting from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The cast includes Jeremiah Hines, Dylan Peachy, Collin Dutt, Abigail Greaser, Emma Roth, Clara Bush, Robert Weaver and Esther Ajayi.

Greaser and Bush earned nominations for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition. Roth is an alternate.

Ezrionna Prioleau was recognized for her outstanding work in stage management for The 39 Steps and recommended for the KCACTF national competition in stage management.

Academic Success Center and Writing Program

Janaya Sachs was honored as Tutor of the Year. “She has been a chemistry, mathematics, Bible and general-whatever-I-can-help-you-with-I-will-help-you-with tutor,” said Linda Gnagey, director of the Academic Success Center. “We want to thank Janaya for three years of support for many different students at many different academic levels and departments.”

Graduating tutors were also recognized: Kaylee Ferguson (biology), Leona Good (nursing), Jacob Hertzler (computer science), Andre Kalend (biology and history), Lamar Kiser (nursing), Timothy Martin (mathematics) and Sam Miller (biology). Quinn Kathrineberg and Luisa Miller were recognized by Professor Vi Dutcher, director of the Writing Program.

Common Grounds Coffeehouse

“Common Grounds Coffeehouse is routinely blessed to be led by exceptional students who give boundless creative energy and passion to their shared work,” said Rachel Roth Sawatzky, student programs director. She recognized three of the five managers who are seniors: Stephanie Anders, events manager; Maddie Gish, operations manager; and Ryan Thomas, finance manager.

Read more about their contributions .

Student Government Association

The spring 2017 executive council was recognized: Quinn Kathrineberg, president; Mario Valladares, vice president; Keyri Lopez- Godoy, secretary; Rachel Holderman, vice president of marketing; and Tyler Denlinger, treasurer.

Spring 2017 senators are Dera Nwankwo, Nicole Litwiller, Rebecca Cardwell, Val Hernandez, Seth Weaver, John Sanchez, Ali Zuercher, Carlos Garcia, Lamar Kiser, Leah Wenger, Luke Mullet, Caroline Lehman, and Victoria Barnes.

Campus Activities Council

Seniors Ali Hartzler and Jeremiah Robinson were recognized by Mike Yoder, assistant director of student programs and orientation for their commitment and dedication to providing creative and positive entertainment that engages the entire student body. Hartzler has been involved for two years with the tech department and as vice-president this year. Robinson joined CAC this year. Both have been instrumental in planning a variety of events, including the Color Run at Homecoming, the Presidents Ball, and Springfest.

Campus Ministries

Pastoral assistants were recognized: Rachel Breidigan, Maddie List, Grayson Mast, Janaya Sachs, Hannah Shultz, Alexa Weeks and Brittany Williams.

Ministry assistants were recognized: Sarah Regan, Bekah Mongold, Madalynn Payne, Nathaniel Nissley, Cameron White, Alex Wissler, Andrew Troyer, Dylan Grove, Austin Sachs, Jenna Lile, Maia Garber, Seth Weaver, Abigail Shelly, Ariel Barbosa, Justin Odom, Taylor Allen, Clarissa White, Lydia Haggard, Lindsay Acker, Kyra Lehman, Janet Spain, and Joseph Harder.

Residence Life

��Seniors and community assistants Eli Wenger and Becky Barrett were recognized for three years of service. Wenger’s “kind and welcoming” personality was noted as well as his ability to create enthusiastic participants in community.

Barrett “effortlessly gets along with all of her residents,” said Tyler Goss, resident director. “She is driven, organized and not afraid to speak up. She is a strong, grounded and welcoming leader.”

Goss also recognized Matthew Hunsberger, who has been promoted to assistant director of residence life after many years as a residence director.

Athletics

All second-semester athletics award-winners were honored. Their accomplishments can be viewed .

The event — which includes speakers and interactive arts-based opportunities for reflection, learning and healing — is Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in 91����Ƶ’s Suter Science Center. It is free and open to the public as well as the campus community.

“Sexual violence doesn’t just impact individuals,” Stauffer says. “It is a breach of relationship. How can we rebuild community in the face of violence? If we can build toward a healthier definition of community, I think we’ll all feel safer and provide an environment for profound healing.”

Stauffer’s project, titled “,” began in 2012 with research among domestic abuse survivors from within communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities. Stauffer employed a strengths-based approach, with particular focus on the resilient ways in which women survive in spite of gaps in societal support networks. Her project employed strategies that empowered study participants, integrating storytelling interviews with circle processes and healing arts workshops.

Last spring, MA in biomedicine students were integrated into the project with a about adverse childhood experience. Most of the students are future health care providers, and the experience asked them to reflect on the symptomatic and diagnostic implications of personal narratives as they participated in storytelling, communication activities and playback theater events with co-facilitators, some of whom were domestic abuse survivors.

Stauffer and the planning committee have included some of these same components in the symposium, she says. “This is an interdisciplinary event with planning, support and participation coming from various groups and departments across campus,” she added, the representation of which is important to the idea of both community response and support.

Plenary presenters include , assistant professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding at 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and University of Notre Dame doctoral researcher Sheila McCarthy. Turner will speak on “Healing in Community” and McCarthy on “Sexual Violence through the Lens of Moral Injury.” , an 91����Ƶ graduate whose published writing has explored her identity as a survivor of sexual abuse, will share her poetry. Inside Out, a campus theater group which has also participated in other parts of Stauffer’s multidisciplinary project, will host a session on the innovative and healing art of playback theater.

“To me, this type of witness moves our peace stance from the rubric of a privatized individual journey to a much more collective awareness of the church’s role in embodying the challenge to ‘speak truth’ to abuses of power,” Stauffer says. “It invites us as a community of faith to higher levels of transparency, truth and grace for all parties involved.”

Afternoon breakout sessions in two 90-minute blocks options provide attendees with a variety of options, including:

• “How to Appropriately Respond to Disclosures,” by Mike and Lavonne Yoder of in Milton, Pa.;
• “Body Work and Response Mechanisms of Memory Storage and Release,” by , director of 91����Ƶ’s (STAR) program;
• “Arts Approaches to Trauma Recovery,” with Janine Aberg;
• “International Perspectives on Sexual Violence,” by Diana Tovar Rojas and Myriam Aziz of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding;
• ”Unpacking Consent, Unhealthy Relationships and Sexual Assault,” by Chris Ehrhardt and Laurel Winsor of James Madison University’s (CARE) program;
• “Safe Church Protocols of Prevention,” by Ross Erb and Jackie Hieber of , which provides sexual assault crisis services and other programs in Harrisonburg;
• “Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA),” by Sarah King and Daniel Foxvog;
• “Restorative Justice Dialogues in Crimes of Severe Violence,” by , restorative justice coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee;
• “LGBTQ Perspectives on Sexual Violence,” by , assistant professor of education at 91����Ƶ;
• “I Am Your Broken Place: The Grief of Sexual Violence,” by , director of at 91����Ƶ.

Stauffer says the project has involved “many hands coming together.” Members of the faculty and staff planning committee include Mansfield, the STAR director; Comer, director of counseling services; Roger Foster, co-founder of playback theater troupe; , history professor and department chair; Teresa Haase, director of the graduate program in counseling; and , professor of social work. The student-led has also helped to advise and support the symposium, and students are being encouraged to attend.

“Having students as an integral part of what we’re doing is key,” Stauffer says. “The investment and energy that students bring adds huge value to the whole process.”

A final educative component, designed for 91����Ƶ faculty and staff and focusing on institutional dynamics, is being planned for this coming fall.

The “Silent Violence” project has been funded by a JustPax Fund grant since 2014. focuses on individuals and organizations working for effective change through innovative approaches to societal challenges relating to gender, environmental and/or economic justice. The fund is administered by through the Everence affiliate, Mennonite Foundation. Due to that support, the event is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.

A two-day transdisciplinary seminar melding theater and narrative arts and the health sciences in April at 91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ) drew students into interactions that explored these questions, using strategies of responsive listening and collaborative teaching. The event was part of the , led by professor and supported by a grant, which focuses on abuse and strategies of resilience.

The community of approximately 60 learners included graduate students in the , undergraduate students in various health science courses, trained facilitators from the Pennsylvania-based non-profit , and a group of actors from , 91����Ƶ’s playback theater group.

The focus of the workshop, said Stauffer, was the mind-body connection from a health sciences perspective. “All life experiences are filtered through our neurological and biological systems. If we are not intentional about addressing unresolved issues, they play out in very negative ways on our health. Our goal in this seminar was to help students make that connection. When we surface and share our stories, we can build community and work towards resolution and resilience in ways that then offload the negative impacts from our bodies.”

The transdisciplinary emphasis brought together Stauffer, who teaches in the MA in biomedicine program, and playback theater troupe co-founders and , also a professor of theater.

“The collaboration between people who would identify as scientists and people who identify as artists is very exciting,” Foster said, pointing out that the workshop created a space where both are valued equally.

Listening as a ‘diagnostic tool’

After the event, students talked about connecting with their fellow students in ways they’d never experienced, and how sharing their own stories helped them move toward healing in their own lives.

The ability to listen and show empathy is a unique diagnostic tool with a different sensitivity than a blood pressure cuff or an EKG machine, said one student.

“By listening to stories of others, I have been able to see the impact of ACEs on the individuals they are today,” said Wally Al-Kakhan, MA ’15 (biomedicine), adding that the experience helped him understand both himself and his fellow classmates better.

The workshop helped biology major Grayson Mast understand the benefits of a holistic approach to healthcare , as well as contributing to a foundational understanding of psychosocial trauma. “We all have moments in our past that have torn us down and made life more difficult. Learning how to affirm someone’s ability to discuss a traumatic event in their life is really important,” said Mast, who hopes to go to medical school.

When contacted for an interview several weeks after the seminar, Mast said that the workshop was “one of the most important educational events of my first year at 91����Ƶ.”

Sharing ‘deep’ stories

The seminar began with a playback storytelling event that surfaced stories of adverse childhood experiences (known as ACE’s). Playback theater is a kind of collaborative art in which members of the audience volunteer to tell a story and then watch as the actors “play back” an interpretation of the event. But before that happened, the group led a series of informal interactions that helped to build community, and to voice and normalize natural tensions and unease about the topic and the format.

“We heard everything from ‘I don’t understand’ to ‘It’s really difficult to talk about this’ to ‘This makes me nervous’ and even ‘I’m irritated that I have to give up my weekend for this,’” Foster said.

Although specific stories cannot be shared because of confidentiality, Foster says one general story about a father spending time with his children provides an example of what the audience heard. “This seemingly positive story of a really good day was actually very painful, because that parent had been very neglectful, and that one wonderful day was a marker of what this person had been without,” Foster said. “The story really opened the audience to the possibilities and the idea that all stories have meaning.”

The next day was dedicated to work in small groups — telling, listening, and responding to stories. Mike Yoder, co-founder of Guidespring and a facilitator of similar events for 14 years, says he was moved by the depth of responses from the students.

“To watch them share with their friends and embrace them with really powerful responses was a very moving experience,” Yoder said. “I heard them say things like ‘I didn’t know that happened’ or ‘That breaks my heart’ or ‘I’m amazed that you lived through that but it hasn’t defined you.’ Watching them make those connections, to show sadness for what they’d experienced but then also identifying with their strength—they were truly thrilled by the experience of building those relationships of trust.”

At the end of the seminar, the group participated in a second theater event that focused on audience members’ stories of change and resilience.

“We wanted them to think about strategies to move forward, and the networks of people they rely on to help them move forward,” Stauffer said, linking the students’ experiences to what she’s learned from her research of resilience strategies among domestic violence survivors in communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities.

The band formed when four friends started playing music under the name The Federation during their time at 91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ). It’s been together in some form or fashion for more than five years, but the last few months have been big for the local band.

The group now includes Seth Crissman, Greg Yoder, his wife Kristina Yoder, Jackson Maust, Mitchell Yoder and his wife Lauren Yoder, Adam Schmid and Mike Yoder. Most of the band mates are 91����Ƶ graduates.

“We’re friends and we play music together,” Crissman said. “It’s sort of in that order.

“[It] just sort of naturally progressed and emerged from friendships,” he continued, adding “On a given night, we’ll get together and play bocce [ball] in someone’s backyard, we’ll get together and cook or we’ll get together and play a show.”

Sacred Space

The Walking Roots Band released its first album this month – a compilation of 11 “reclaimed hymns,” or spiritual songs that “had fallen out of the general circulation of being sung in churches,” Crissman explained.

The new album, “Shelter: A Hymn Reclamation Project,” is a patchwork of centuries-old, lesser-known sacred texts, more identifiable hymns and the band’s own unique touch.

For example, the song, “Come Down, O Love Divine” is based off text written in 1367 and arranged into a song in 1906, while the new album also includes a rendition of “It is Well With My Soul” with lyrics tweaked to reflect the Shenandoah Valley.

Crissman, 27, of Harrisonburg, wrote eight of the album’s songs, which is just the first of three albums the band hopes to produce in the upcoming months.

The next project will consist of folk songs, while other albums will be a collection of “farming songs.”

“A lot of the people in the group have connections to agriculture,” said Greg Yoder, a band member who has worked for a local farmer the past two summers.

“We think that connection to the land is really important; it’s sacred in some ways.”

Finding A Niche

Greg Yoder, 26, of Penn Laird, describes the band’s musical offerings as acoustic Americana that’s not exactly bluegrass, but rather “blue-ish grass.” It’s “folky” music with some rap intertwined, he explains.

“We’re hoping for a new category at the Grammy’s,” he said.

Bands such at The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and The Steel Wheels influence the local group.

Group Effort

While the band’s style is hard to pinpoint, it’s also difficult to identify the lead singer or who plays which instrument.

The Walking Roots Band shows likely include six to eight instrument swaps, with all the members adept at some combination of the guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, accordion, Cajon – and the list goes on.

For more information on the band, the new album and upcoming tour dates, visit thewalkingrootsband.com.

Article courtesy Daily News Record, July 20, 2013

For the past 30 years 91����Ƶ alumni reunite to banter, share familial updates, and participate in an annual fantasy baseball league, “Shenandoah’s Major Minor League.”

“It’s great to see guys come back and the continuity we’ve had in the league has kept the energy up,” said Clair Mellinger ‘64, professor emeritus of and one of the longest tenured members of the league.

Watching the box scores

Fantasy baseball is a predominantly online game where statistics accumulated by all Major League Baseball players are tracked. Points are awarded in one format of fantasy baseball, Rotisserie, while the other format, Head-to-Head, tallies the total number of statistics in any one category, with the highest or lowest number winning, depending upon the rules, according to .

“Having statistics available online makes it more efficient and keeps everyone involved on a daily basis, compared to when we had to snail mail everything and not receive updates for weeks,” said Tom Baker ‘81, former 91����Ƶ men’s basketball coach and current physical education teacher at Lacey Spring Elementary School.

The 91����Ƶ alumni draft features an auction system where players are selected based on dollar figures. While no actual money is exchanged for rights to the player, the auction-style bidding lends itself to “heckling on a price of a player and the possibilities to acquire a talented player,” says Mellinger.

“Shenandoah’s Major Minor League”

For Shenandoah’s Major Minor League, connections go deeper than a love of statistics. Eleven of the 12 “owners” either attended, graduated or taught at 91����Ƶ. Several members were students when the league began in 1982.

The composition of the league members changed from year to year until the early 90’s when a majority of the current group joined. Some teams have co-owners, while others are run by a single member.

“We’re a core group of guys who just love baseball,” said Ted Swartz ’89, MDiv ’92, a professional comedian who is one of the leagues’ longest tenured members.

The league holds the annual draft on campus in April. Most members live around the Harrisonburg area. Brian Hill ‘92, MD, a urologist with Urology Specialists of Atlanta, LLC, has the farthest drive to attend the league draft, making an eight-hour commute.

In addition to Mellinger, Swartz, Baker and Hill, other league owners include: Ian Swartz (son of Ted); Mark Deavers ‘89; Phil Lehman ‘89; Lawson Yoder ‘91; Jeremy Nafziger ‘91; Rob Roeschley (former 91����Ƶ baseball coach); Gary Messinger; Doug Friesen ‘91; and Mike Yoder ‘91.

Ron Vogt, the owner not personally connected to 91����Ƶ, got connected when he worked with Doug Friesen at Philhaven Hospital in Mount Gretna, Pa.

Previous members of the league include John Horst, professor emeritus of physics, Jon Kauffman-Kennel, former manager of 91����Ƶ’s public radio station, and Bill Hawk, former academic dean.

“Getting involved with the league renewed my interest in baseball, especially the National League,” said Mellinger. “I really enjoy the research involved in getting prepared for the annual auction.�� I have read more baseball-related books and web articles than I should have in the past 20 years but it has been a very good source of entertainment and relaxation for me.

“It’s been great to keep connected and share a love for baseball.