The week before Easter Break, Indiana Wesleyan University students had a unique chapel
credit opportunity: Stations of the Cross.

This Catholic-based tradition was brought here by Emily Fussner (sr) after she experienced it in
New Zealand and Italy. The idea behind it is for believers to use artwork to remember and focus
on Jesus’ journey to the cross in the Lenten season. Fussner, a printmaking major, said the idea
to bring Stations of the Cross to IWU came to her last summer.

“It was a random, God-inspired idea,” Fussner said. “I was thinking how, on our campus, it’s
such a busy time of the semester, and we’re rushing to get things done and get home, and we
don’t necessarily take the time to reflect on [the Easter season and what it means].”

Fifteen stations were set up around campus, each with a piece of art based on a scripture about
Jesus’ journey from the garden of Gethsemane to the resurrection. Traditionally, there are only
14 stations, ending with Jesus’ death.

The IWU version included a final station dedicated to Jesus’ resurrection. Fussner summed
it up as “an art installation prayer walk.” The mediums included everything from painting and
illustration to ceramics to origami to video art.

If students walked through all the stations and filled out a booklet provided by the Dean of the
Chapel Office, they received one chapel credit.

“I have believed for a long time that worship is much more than just the music we do in chapel
or preaching — there are different ways of worshipping the Lord,” said Jim Lo, dean of the
chapel. “When Emily came to our office and said, ‘Is this a possibility?’ we jumped on that,
because our God is a creative God. … It’s the whole idea that there are different ways of
connecting with God, and art is one of the ways to do it. … We wanted students to understand
that worship is more than a worship service.”

The entire project was a study in collaboration, according to Fussner. Within the Art Division,
she worked with professors to make some of the stations class projects. Outside that, she
coordinated with the DOC, Campus Police and Conference Services. Some stations had
entire classes working on the pieces, whereas others involved only a couple of students who
volunteered.

Graphic design major Amanda Reller (jr) worked on the seventh station in Noggle Christian
Ministries Center with her typography class and also helped with much of the advertising. She
described her group’s station as a reflective piece about Jesus carrying his cross, portrayed as
a figure covered in shattered mirror pieces.

“We wanted to articulate that we are the ones crucifying Jesus — it’s because of our mistakes,”
explained Reller. “The whole idea was that the purpose of Easter is to reflect upon what Jesus
did and how it’s directly related to who we are.”

In an effort to connect Stations of the Cross to other parts of the campus’ recognition of Easter,
the Holy Week liturgical service and Wednesday chapel emphasized many of the same verses
from the art exhibit, according to chapel coordinator Jennifer Martin. Those in the weekly
Wednesday morning prayer walk specifically followed the path of the stations the week before in
order to pray that those who went through it would feel the presence of God by what was being
presented.

The student response was more enthusiastic than anticipated — the original hundred booklets
the DOC printed ended up being insufficient. Lo said the experience was not limited to IWU
students and staff, however. He witnessed members of the community coming to see the
artwork on campus. This positive reaction is much of the reason he would like to see Stations of
the Cross repeated in the future.

“It was a lot of work, but it was worth it,” said Lo. “The spiritual responses were so wonderful,
and that’s why we feel like it’s something we need to continue doing in years to come.”

The Tree of Life bookstore at Indiana Wesleyan University has recently partnered with Pioneer
Services and is now accepting points. The bookstore’s Facebook page announced the change
April 5.

It all began with the students, Director of Marketing Patrick Eckhardt said. According to
Eckhardt, students continually suggested the idea of using points to both administration and the
bookstore.

“If there’s a demand and a desire, then we’d love to fulfill that,” Eckhardt said.

Gail Whitenack, associate vice president for business affairs, was responsible for connecting
people from both Pioneer and the Tree of Life.

Back in November, Whitenack received an email from a group of students who, for their
leadership class, were doing a project on the feasibility of using points in the bookstore.

The students referenced other universities, like Anderson and Huntington, which have
bookstores already on a point system, and asked if IWU could do the same.

Whitenack said this new partnership is nearly identical to the one between Pioneer and
McConn. For every dollar spent in points, Pioneer receives 30 cents, she said.

Whitenack believes this agreement will benefit Tree of Life.

“In a way, it opens up a whole new market for them,” Whitenack said. “I think it’s good for
everyone. It’s good for the bookstore because it opens up a new market for them, it’s good for
the students because it opens up another opportunity for them to use their points, and it’s good
for Pioneer because it’s a way of spreading their overhead costs.”

“It’s a win for everybody involved,” Whitenack said.

Eckhardt said he gives “a lot of praise” to the administration for being so responsive to student
wants.

“That’s what created this,” he said.

“I just hope that everyone’s happy with [this agreement] and that it works out for everyone,”
Whitenack said.

According to the bookstore’s official fan page, the change is permanent.

By Erika Drake

Walking into Ravished, each student was welcomed with greeters, loud music and the escape
from the chilly Friday night. By 8 p.m., East Lodge lobby was packed with nearly 800 students
from Taylor, Anderson, Huntington, Ball State and Indiana universities, as well as University of
Kentucky, for a night of worship.

“We did not even advertise that much, I just made a video and a poster on Facebook,” said
Hannah Gray (jr), a leader in the event. “Obviously God had other plans for the time.”

Ravished was hosted by the leaders of The Well, a weekly worship night in the loft of the
Chapel-Auditorium. Last year, Sylvana Paternite (jr) had the idea to have a worship gathering of
all the different Christian universities around IWU, according to Gray.

“When else do our schools come together? Only for sporting events, it seems like. So we
thought, ‘Why not join in what God is doing in our campus together?’” Gray said on the reasons
for the combined worship.

Paternite took care of a huge amount of the details, organizing and talking to the administration,
according to Gray.

The Well’s leadership also attended student-run ministries at Anderson, Taylor and Huntington
in preparation for the event. The IWU students talked to those at the ministry night, inviting them
to the event.

The worship night was named Ravished based on Song of Solomon 4:9 KJV: “You have
ravished my heart.” Ravished was created as a night to simply worship, without the idea of
getting anything in return, but solely because God is good, Gray said.

Students from surrounding universities seemed just as eager to worship in unity. Huntington
students Benjamin Cable (fr) and Giuliana Ruiz-Moreno (fr) found out about the event through
the Ravished Facebook page. The hour drive was well worth it, according to Cable.

“To be surrounded by others who want to share in worship – that’s an awesome thing,” Ruiz-
Moreno said.

Marisa Haskins (sr) learned about Ravished at the worship night she leads at Anderson, called
10:07. She came to support her sister, Natalie Haskins (jr), who attends IWU and played
keyboard in the band at Ravished. The sisters have led a worship night at Taylor University
together in the past and said they were glad to be a part of another event that united their
universities.

Taylor student Luke Tilden (sr) found out about the event through a friend who attends IWU.
Like Ruiz-Moreno, a night to worship in unity is the reason Tilden attended.

“Also it is a great way to meet new people in good community,” Tilden added.

Students from public schools also attended. Emily Seibert (fr), from Ball State University, found
out about the event through the Navigators. The Navigators is a Christian organization of
approximately 50 members at Ball State.

“We don’t have a worship night, so we jumped at the idea of it,” Seibert said.

Ravished was designed as mostly a worship night, but three speakers gave short messages
between songs. During the two-hour-long event, the leaders asked each university to pray for
the others. The students circled around each other and whispered prayers with hands on each
others’ shoulders, as a visual sign of unity between the universities.

Gray said she believes that unity was stirred in the heart of the IWU campus, which allowed for
the success of the night. Gray said she is certain there will be a Ravished 2014.

Sojourn News Release

The Sojourn brought home Saturday, April 13 from Bloomington, Ind., nine awards from the Indiana Collegiate Press Association, the preeminent group of college journalists in the state. Three were all-level, meaning Indiana Wesleyan University students won against all schools in Indiana, even large programs such as Indiana University and Ball State. Four of the six awards within the paper’s size division were first places.

All-level

Third place: Jeremy Sharp, Ben Middelkamp and Elise Hulce, Best Breaking News Reporting Online; Jeremy Sharp, Ben Middelkamp and Elise Hulce, Best Special Presentation Online; Haley Page, Jeremy Sharp and Ben Middelkamp, Best Use of Twitter

Division III

First place: Staff, Best Overall Design; Staff, Best Single Issue; Josh Gales, Aaron Goshen and Jeremy Sharp, Best Photo Essay or Picture Story; Jeremy Sharp, Best Sports News Story

Second place: Staff, Best Front Page

Third place: Jeremy Sharp and Ali Cravens, Best News Feature Reporting

Sharp is the editor in chief of the paper. “I told the staff we don’t do what we do for awards, but it’s pretty great when they happen,” he said. “It’s a great reflection that we’re doing things right and all our hard work is paying off.”

Sharp also has won a Society of Professional Journalists student award for spot news reporting, another all-level statewide nod. SPJ is the top professional journalists’ association in the USA and Indiana.

“Jeremy is a fine student journalist who is very versatile in reporting on varying topics and in different writing styles,” said Dr. Kyle Huckins, The Sojourn’s faculty adviser. “The rest of our people at the newspaper also have done well in building skills and displaying these to an increasingly energized on-campus readership as well as students and professionals around the state and nation.”

Huckins will be receiving an SPJ statewide professionals’ award in column writing for religion pieces carried by the Marion (Ind.) Chronicle-Tribune and other area daily newspapers. This honor and Sharp’s will be presented Friday, April 19 in Indianapolis.