Seven continents
Spanning the globe during J-Term 2008 In January more than 400 students were sojourners in 21 countries across the globe as once again PLU classes convened on all seven continents. ANTARCTICA Journey to the End of the Earth From the great South American city of…
Making choices
Life is about choices. What choices have you made? A few years ago, student body president Joel Zylstra addressed the incoming freshman class at Fall Convocation. His timeless reflection on the meaning of success captures the unique culture of Pacific Lutheran University and the life-changing…
A summer job that doesn’t suck
A summer job that doesn’t suck By Steve Hansen Of all the potentially tedious summer jobs, here’s a new one: spending hours on your knees, rolling over one boulder after another, just to see what’s underneath. For Stephanie Agoncillo ’08 and Melissa Youngquist ’09, this…
Tallest building
T-stad: One big, happy family From his perch on the seventh floor of Tingelstad Hall, Adam Whistler can view the expanse of lower campus from PLU’s largest and tallest hall. Whistler, a freshman considering a major in physics, said that while T-stad, as it’s known…
Fighting disease
Leading the fight Mark Twain once complained that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. With apologies to Twain, I’d like to suggest that many people today are talking about global health but nobody seems to agree on what to do…
College: First in family
College: First in family Maurice Eckstein was riding home in a cab after his shift as the night concierge at a hotel in his native Trinidad last year, when his eye stopped on an advertisement. It offered local students a chance to mix with a…
Speakers challenge the mind
Speakers tell PLU audiences to reach outside themselves Rich, diverse and often divergent voices came to PLU over the last year to challenge our outlook on life and our choices. Should one eat meat, or not? What of world hunger, the environment, corporate greed, genocide…
Tutoring program touches refugees
Tutoring program touches refugees The makeshift classroom buzzed with life as dozens of Somali Bantu children worked with PLU student-volunteers to solve math problems, sound out words and learn their colors. Jessica Baumer ’09 tried to get 13-year-old Murjan Jatar to focus on completing his…
Student, professor investigate untold story of WWII
Student, professor investigate untold story of WWII In the spring of 1942, 10,000 soldiers were sent to the Yukon. Their task: construct the 1,500-mile military road, the Alaska-Canada Highway, to be used to repel a possible invasion by the Japanese during World War II. Sitting…
Next of kin
Next of kin: the ethics of eating, capturing, and experimenting on great apes One of the pressing problems of our times is the future of the great apes. All of the great apes – chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans – are endangered. Their habitat is…
An affinity for social change
An affinity for social change. A dedication to activism and aiming for real change in the world has been a characteristic of student leadership on campus for decades. Saying yes to life’s opportunities, fighting for what you believe in, avoiding the tyranny of the majority…
Aiding medical work abroad
Alumna aids medical work abroad The dirt landscape of southern Sudan stretches for miles, and roads are few and far between. Villages dot the landscape. One of these villages, over the last decade, has grown particularly large. Located hundreds of miles from any road, this…