Happy New Year from Bryan College!

     The new semester is off to an exciting start as the Bryan community looks forward to what God has in store for the next few months.

     We hope you will be able to join us for some of the events listed below, or just come by to see some of the new facilities which have opened to enhance our students’ educational, athletic and health opportunities.

     We appreciate your prayers and continued interest in the college, and pray God’s richest blessings on you this New Year.

 

January

 

Jan. 15

Martin Luther King Community Service Day. Students, faculty and staff will participate in community service projects throughout Rhea and surrounding counties.

Jan. 17

4 p.m. - Amanda Sherrin will present her senior vocal recital in Rudd Auditorium.

Jan. 22 - 27

7 p.m. - Hilltop Players will present “The Mousetrap,” Agatha Christie's classic mystery of suspicion and intrigue, each night in Brock Hall. This is a dinner theatre production. Please note: Friday’s show is at 6:30 p.m.

February

 

Feb. 2

7:30 p.m., Rudd Auditorium - Presidential Weekend “Duets,” featuring students of the Music and Theatre Departments showcasing music, dance and drama from Broadway hits.

Feb. 8

Worldview Team presentation to middle and high school students at Unity Christian School, Rome, Ga.

Feb. 9

7:30 p.m., Rudd Auditorium - Music Department Concert Series presents the Jericho Brass in a concert of brass band music.

Feb. 10

Worldview Team presentation for parents and students at Mt. Hope United Methodist Church, Aston, Pa.

January 12, 2007

     Bryan College students returned this week for the 2007 spring semester, and found some new people and places on campus.

     Classes began Wednesday, which also was the kick-off for the biennial missions conference. Marsh Moyle, founder and director of the European mission agency SEN, was keynote speaker for the conference. He challenged students to consider that “In a global world, everywhere is the front line (for missions). Your life must be a sign to the world that Christ is risen. What the world sees in us is what they think God is like. When somebody sees me, do they see something of Christ?”

     Admissions Director Michael Sapienza said 23 new students enrolled for the new semester, and Dr. Cal White, academic vice president, said the college will offer four distance learning classes this semester. About 40 students are expected to enroll in the on-line classes, including English Composition I, U. S. History I, General Psychology and Christian Worldview.

     Also new this semester are the completed practice gymnasium and the athletic training facility.

     Athletics Director Dr. Sandy Zensen said both are “absolutely first-class. The practice gym will relieve a great deal of stress on Summers Gymnasium. We have as many as three teams at one time needing a floor, not to mention classes and open gym” for students.

     “The athletic training facility will give us a huge recruiting advantage. It makes a positive statement to potential student-athletes and athletic training students.”

     More than 700 Bryan College students, faculty and staff will spend the day Monday, Jan. 15 out of the classroom working to benefit the community in practical ways as the college’s observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

     Dr. Travis Ricketts, director of Practical Christian Involvement, coordinates the MLK Community Service Day activities, a project that begins for him in November. “The Student Government Association got involved this year and that has been a help,” he said.

     One of the SGA ideas was to have workers sign up on the Bryan web site for a work site. “Yesterday (Wednesday) we had 388 of about 700 students signed up,” he said. “Whoever is not signed up by 3 p.m. today, we’ll assign them where they are needed.”

     Projects include working in a soup kitchen in Chattanooga, clearing brush, raking yards, painting, sorting clothes in a ministry’s thrift store, light construction and house cleaning for senior citizens. The Chamber Singers will visit area nursing homes and senior citizens’ facilities to present concerts and talk with the residents.

     “Response from the community is very positive,” Dr. Ricketts said. “The students generally like it too. One student, who’s student teaching this year and can’t participate, said MKL Day was the most favorite thing she did last year. I think they understand we’re doing this because this is what Christ modeled for us.”

Bryan College will dedicate its Health PolyClinic Tuesday, Jan. 16, in ceremonies to be attended by college and community leaders.
 

The clinic occupies some 1,500 square feet of the lower level of the Rankin Communication Arts Center, and is staffed by medical personnel from Sports Care Chattanooga under the supervision of Dr. David Jenkinson.
 

Three examination rooms have been set up, one designed for women, one for orthopedics and one for general medical needs. Patients will be seen for primary care, sports care and urgent care services, and referred to specialists if their conditions cannot be treated by the clinic staff.

 
Bryan last offered students an on-campus health care facility in 1990, staffed by a nurse. President Dr. Stephen D. Livesay said the decision to establish the clinic was made in response to requests from students and parents. In addition to providing general medical care, the clinic will be able to provide immunizations necessary for students planning overseas trips for academic programs or Break for Change missions.

 
Students will be charged a $60 per semester clinic fee to receive routine care at no per-visit charge. Lab work and vaccinations will carry a charge. Faculty and staff and their families also will have access to the clinic’s services, and community residents also are welcomed on a regular fee basis.

     A holiday tour of England was a capstone event for fine arts students, along with friends of Bryan College, during the recent break between semesters.

     Thirty-five students and friends of the college, led by professors Dr. Mel Wilhoit and Mr. Bernie Belisle, toured sites that highlighted aspects of artistic and theatrical history.

     “We got off the plane in London and got on the bus to Stonehenge,” Dr. Wilhoit said of the 10-day tour. After a stop in Bath, to see the Roman baths for which the town is named, the group visited sites in London including Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor Castle, among others.

     Dr. Wilhoit said many of the stops on their itinerary have links to the history of fine arts, so the trip is something like a lab experience for students. “So much of what we study in class, from prehistory at Stonehenge, to the Roman era at Bath, the medieval cathedrals to exhibits of Egyptian mummies in the British Museum, we see on the tour,” he said.

     In addition, they attended a number of musical theatre productions and saw Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

     A highlight of the trip, apart from the arts focus, was being in London on New Year’s Eve to hear Big Ben chime and see the fireworks display as the city welcomed the New Year.