Her experience reflects the new ways and new places that education takes place these days for 91����Ƶ students, including , , grant-funded research and practicums, and being part of a cohort at a site to which 91����Ƶ faculty come for classes.

Enns, from Winnipeg, Canada, lived in the nation’s capital at . While taking two courses at the center, she worked at , an interfaith coalition that seeks to end anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. As an intern with the organization, she used her experience as co-editor of , 91����Ƶ’s student newspaper, to produce a bi-weekly newsletter, compile fact sheets, and otherwise pitch in on the group’s various initiatives.

An internship through 91����Ƶ’s Washington center is more than just a taste of real-world work and an opportunity to develop contacts, ideas, and credentials for life after college. It’s also a launching point for deeper examination of the relationship between faith, values, and career.

“How do we as Mennonites engage the state, and how much do we build our alternative systems?” asked Enns, whose great-grandparents were part of the mass migration of Mennonites from Russia to North America during the turbulent years after the Bolshevik Revolution.

What relationship, exactly, should a person of faith hold toward advocacy in a secular environment, she wonders. Doesn’t faith like hers, one that prescribes action on behalf of “the least among us,” require this sort of entanglement with the wider world? But does this very entanglement with the wider world undermine the foundations of her faith?

Enns doesn’t have answers to her questions yet, but she knows she would like to continue doing faith-based advocacy after she graduates this spring. In fact, her plans at this point are to join .

During her four-year career at 91����Ƶ, Enns took advantage of other non-traditional ways of learning.

Soon after she arrived on campus as a first-year student, she took an optional field trip with her Restorative Justice and Trauma class to a penitentiary, where she participated in three days of a Quaker-developed “Alternatives to Violence Program” with inmates.

In her sophomore year, Enns satisfied 91����Ƶ’s cross-cultural requirement by creating her own semester-long study experience in the African nation of Chad, where her parents were serving with .

For 10 weeks between her junior and senior years, Enns was part of a offered at 91����Ƶ that gives college students a chance to be an intern, mentored by a pastor, in a congregational  setting. Her assignment was at .

91����Ƶ offers a variety of other new ways and places for students to pursue their education.

More and more graduate students are taking their courses online, usually studying from their homes. The was the first unit at 91����Ƶ to offer distance learning, and now most of 91����Ƶ’s also offer courses online.

Nurses who are studying for a master’s degree in nursing leadership and management don’t have to come to campus very often (or to .).  The program is designed for working nurses who need to maintain family commitments and remain on the job. Jeanette Nisly ’96, for example, is and raising two children with her Guatemalan husband.

Sometimes the students are surprised to see that online learning actually offers more interaction with class members and professors than a traditional classroom. A faculty advisor provides ongoing support for students and helps with logistics, technology questions, and other issues. Students also receive support from staff, graduate writing tutors, and library staff.

Other non-traditional learning opportunities at 91����Ƶ:

• , which offers a mix of study through the annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute at 91����Ƶ and experiences in the students’ home countries. The first group, in 2012, included 12 women from Africa and the South Pacific. They were selected from more than 100 applications. Funds for the program are provided by USAID and the German development organization, EED/Bread for the World.

• . The latest example, announced in February, is a $20,000 grant from the United Service Foundation that will send eight undergraduates to foreign locations (Colombia and Iran in 2013), supervised by an 91����Ƶ-linked mentor. The grants are for peacebuilding and development majors, who are required to complete off-campus practicums.

• . Many of the students enrolled in 91����Ƶ’s programs run from Lancaster, Pa., don’t actually go to classes at the center’s facility in a business park. Students in the pastoral studies program, for example, attend classes this spring at Lancaster Mennonite Conference offices or sites in Philadelphia, Hatfield, and Morgantown. The three-year program, called , is for new pastors or prospective pastors.

• Taking trauma courses all over the world. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, established a program to help community leaders deal with the trauma of disasters and conflict. Called , the program has trained more than 7,000 people worldwide. The training seminars take place at 91����Ƶ, across the United States, and all over the world in places like Lebanon, Haiti, and Mexico.

“Starting two cohorts of STEP students in one year signals another adventure for us,” remarked , STEP program director. “We are very pleased to see how STEP is addressing the urgent need for basic high-quality pastoral training of those in congregational leadership.”

Designed for adult learners in part-time study, the STEP program focuses on ministry practice, coupled with assignments and teaching by experienced pastors, to form the basis for a lively learning community.

Each of the three years of STEP yields 10 undergraduate credits at 91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ). Classes meet on Saturdays, once a month, with students coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Ohio.

STEP will hold its sixth annual graduation on May 12 for a cohort of students completing the three-year, part-time program.

The STEP pastoral training program emerged in 2004 in response to the need to provide more flexible, non-traditional Anabaptist ministry preparation. The program first expanded from its Lancaster, Pa. base in 2010 by working together with Anabaptist congregations in Philadelphia.

STEP is jointly owned by 91����Ƶ and .