Quicknotes | march 2018

At Southern, students are encouraged to seek personal relationships with God through prayer—to allow Him the opportunity to lead in their lives, their decisions, and their overall journey.

This video by Dillan Forsey, ’15, captures a snapshot of what that relationship looks like for different students on campus. We're humbled to recognize how well our students do understand the power of staying connected with their Savior!

A small group of some of leading contributors to the Campaign for Excellence in Faith and Learning have combined funds to secure the name for a new chapel on campus. The generous gift isn’t meant to draw attention to themselves or even a beloved family member; instead, these donors are passionate about naming the space in honor of Jack Blanco, retired professor and longtime dean for the School of Religion.

The Jack Blanco Chapel, a 400-square foot space on the third floor of the forthcoming Bietz Center for Student Life (Fall 2020), will be a private yet easily accessible setting where students can pause from their hectic college schedule to share both their burdens and blessings with God. The space is large enough for small groups of students to come together and learn from each other about nurturing spiritual relationships. That is the kind of in-the-trenches learning experience for which Blanco was well known.

“Dr. Blanco approached courses using real-world context, where multiple-choice answers don’t always exist,” said School of Nursing Professor Jaclynn (Griffin) Huse, ’94 and ’03. “Christian Ethics was the most useful Bible class I’ve ever taken!”

The alumni donors wanted to honor Blanco for his dedication to God and to students–in more ways than one. He was not only a thought-provoking professor, but also a well-known writer and a generous donor.

In 1994, after much encouragement from friends and family, Blanco released TheClear Word, a modern paraphrase of the Bible he created primarily as a personal devotion exercise. Its simple language and touching insights helped the book sell hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide over the years. But instead of keeping the profits from his paraphrase, Blanco stayed true to his motto ("It’s about HIM, not me”) and set up two scholarship funds. Half of the book’s royalties went to Southern to assist theology students with tuition, and the other half were donated to A.W. Spalding Elementary School so that theology students with families could bless their children with a Seventh-day Adventist education.

Naming opportunities remain for other rooms and areas within the Bietz Center for Student Life. To learn more about the building project, visit southern.edu/webelieve. For more information regarding naming opportunities, call 423.236.2829.

-by Lizzie Williams, junior public relations major

Each week, Southern nursing faculty Cindy (Secrist) Rima, '87, and Lilly (Boles) Tryon, '82 and '14, spend time at the Volunteers in Medicine clinic to educate Chattanoogans who lack access to healthcare about lifestyle changes they can make to improve their overall health.

Rima and Tryon hope that informing individuals of available resources and the dramatic improvements lifestyle medicine can have on health will start a revolution in the current healthcare approach. The two assistant professors said they have helped folks with obesity, arthritis, and other chronic diseases learn how to prevent illness instead of just managing a disease after the diagnosis.

“We need to let [the individuals] know they’re in control,” Tryon said. “We need to empower them with what they can do to improve their health.”

She and Rima are two of the 239 health professionals and physicians certified nationwide in lifestyle medicine. The inaugural exam for certification was offered in October. Of the nearly 300 U.S. healthcare professionals who took the exam, only four in Tennessee passed.

“[The exam] was especially hard because we had no idea what was going to be on the test,” Tryon said. “I was thrilled I passed.”

Lifestyle medicine is meant to be a more economically viable approach to healthcare that minimizes the need for expensive medications and treatments. The practice assesses various factors, including an individual’s sleep, relationships, diet, and exercise habits, and seeks to improve health through these facets – not just as preventives against diseases, but also as cures for those already diagnosed.

Compared to the traditional approach to medicine, this holistic approach can save people money, which is especially important in Chattanooga. Tennessee sits in the stroke and diabetes belts, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Nationwide healthcare expenditures in 2010 were $2.7 trillion, and 86 percent of those costs, or $2.3 trillion, was from people managing chronic and mental health conditions. Rima and Tryon hope to mitigate such costs for locals by sharing information and resources to improve the related health aspects and by actually showing patients how to do it.

"What's most rewarding is when we can work with patients and see a difference," Tryon said.

-by Kaitlin Colon, Chattanooga Times Free Press (published February 21, 2018)

Senior history major Abigail Jansen won an award for Best Petitioner Oral Argument during the 2017 Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL) in Nashville. This annual event mimics several aspects of state government, allowing students a hands-on opportunity to witness the inner workings of legislative processes and to share their opinions on state issues.

Jansen (seen on left in picture) became involved in TISL during her sophomore year and has been a part of Southern’s team ever since. Her initial assignment to the role of appellate moot court attorney was extremely beneficial, since she plans to attend law school.

Although excited about winning her individual award, Jansen found even greater joy in the group’s accomplishments.

“The best aspect of TISL this year was the opportunity for one of our delegation teams to participate in the semi-finals,” Jansen said. “TISL has been the most influential opportunity I’ve taken advantage of at Southern that has allowed me to explore my interest in the legal field.”

This opportunity didn’t always exist for Southern students. Until 2012, Southern was unable to field a TISL team due to Sabbath conflicts during the event. But five years ago, TISL amended its constitution to allow Southern to withdraw from activities on the Sabbath.

Jansen graduates from Southern in May 2018 and plans to take a year off before taking the LSAT and applying to law schools.

-by Lizzie Williams, junior public relations major

Southern is once again hosting 12 academic camps June 18-20, bringing high school students to the university for an opportunity to explore or sharpen their vocational focus. Each three-day camp includes a spiritual component as well, modeling for students how Adventist education facilitates the marriage of career and calling.

Approximately 60 students participated in last year’s summer camps at Southern, representing states all over the country. Many attend Adventist academies and other private schools, but almost half came from public education and homeschool backgrounds. Several new camps are on the schedule for 2018. Topics include:

» Automotive Repair
» Business Entrepreneurship
» Creative Writing
» Filmmaking
» Painting
» Photography
» Pre-Med
» Psychology
» Social Work and Missions
» Strings Chamber Music
» Vegetarian Culinary Arts
» Women and Minorities in Civic Engagement

Laura Gibbs, a junior at Fletcher Academy in North Carolina, traveled to Southern last summer for the Social Work and Missions camp.

“It was an incredible experience that changed my daughter’s life,” said Ashley Gibbs, Laura’s mother. “The camp helped her discover an interest in a career she had not yet considered. Laura is eager to go again this year!”

Total fees for the three-day event (including registration, materials, and meals) are $150 for day campers or $200 for those staying overnight. Some students have secured sponsorships from their home church or stayed with relatives in the Collegedale area to minimize expenses.

For campers traveling from outside the Chattanooga area, vans will provide free transportation both to and from Southern at centralized pickup locations in Asheville, Atlanta, Nashville, and Knoxville on June 17 and 20. For more information, call 423.236.2781 or visit southern.edu/camps.

In January 2018, the Sonscreen Film Festival and Southern’s School of Visual Art and Design (SVAD) partnered to present a film production workshop at Hawaii Mission Academy (HMA), an Adventist boarding school in Honolulu, Hawaii. 10 film production students participated in the school’s inaugural film workshop taught by Southern assistant professor Nick Livanos, ’07, and SVAD production and facilities manager Mark Comberiate, ’15.

The workshop engaged students in the production of a two-minute film from script to screen over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.

“Working with HMA students was a ton of fun,” Livanos said. “They came up with unique, engaging narratives and flexed their storytelling muscles all weekend.”

Livanos said that the students exhibited a strong desire to get better at filmmaking. “I’ve never seen academy students plan such complicated movies and succeed,” he said. “Large casts, multiple locations around campus, endless shot lists, and somehow they got it all done in under 48 hours.”

“It was a great experience for my students here at Hawaiian Mission Academy,” said HMA film instructor Matt Webster, ’16. “As an alumnus of Southern’s film program, I knew the amazing skills its professors offer to academies through their workshops. This particular workshop helped bring everything my students have been reading the first semester into reality through hands-on experience with production-standard equipment.

It was the third such workshop that Southern has presented at an Adventist academy. The university’s SVAD has a long history of educating not just its students, but also the next generation of young filmmakers, through a summer camp SVAD hosts for them.

“I think one of the most important things we can do is to show young filmmakers that their passion for film has a place to fit within the Adventist church,” said Southern film program coordinator David George, ’98. “One way we can do that as a church is by reaching out to young filmmakers and showing them that their passion can lead to honoring God with their talents in film.”

-by North American Division News

A longer version of this article, originally published by Adventist Review (January 31, 2018), is available online.