Greenville College Annual Report 2002-03

Four Who Make a Difference

“We're just going to go through the doors that God opens until He stops opening them,” said David Ray. The junior CCM major performs with the band “Better Days Ahead,” a group pursuing this highly competitive field.

“It's not by any means easy. But there are a lot of unique opportunities that you wouldn't get elsewhere.” Ray cites substantial studio time, a sound stage, and rehearsal space – all part of his educational package – as benefits he wouldn't have elsewhere.

Though music is his passion, Ray has found time for serving others. He spent spring break last year with other G.C. students helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity in Florida.

“When you see the families put in the new homes and how much joy it's given them, it's really an eye opener,” he said. “It makes you realize how easy it is to show the love of Christ.”

Leaving family and friends to go off to college isn't easy, but when senior Kendra Norton came to Greenville four years ago from West Chicago, she found reaching out to others was the best way to cure her loneliness and isolation.

Majoring in Secondary English Education, Norton felt a call to teach in the inner city, and began volunteering during her freshman year. “I've seen the difference teachers have made in my life,” she said.

Norton believes in tackling issues that affect her student's lives. “I try to find literature that's relevant and motivating. (And) curriculum that allows kids to be real that deals with every day situations rather than theory.”

A member of the honors program Norton found her role models among the faculty. “They have taken a genuine interest in us,” she said. “We're human beings, not just numbers in a class. I've just been impressed by their ministry.”

Derek Velazco reads voraciously, which is a good thing, considering the junior from Chatham, Ill. majors in English, Religion and Political Science. Combining academics and athletics in a winning fashion, he's plays on the football team and serves as a peer tutor.

In the latter role, Velazco finds it's not uncommon for friends to drop by late at night needing help with a paper due the next morning. He always cheerfully agreed. In fact, Professor Richard Huston credits Velazco with giving several low-achieving students the boost they needed to pass his Western Civilization class.

“This is just my gift and I try to use it to help others,” he said.

Government work seems a likely prospect. “Politics is a way of serving on a mass scale. I think people have the misconception that (politicians) are in it for the money. I think you can serve Jesus wherever you are.”

How did a Mennonite kid from Nebraska make three short films about the lives ancient saints? For senior Lindsay Row, it was through Greenville College's off-campus program at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center.

An English major and honors program student, Row's thesis is on cinematic iconography, or how contemporary films portray the lives of ancient saints.

“What interests me the most is that they were not the kind of people we want to spend time with, but yet they were the heroes of God, she said.”

While a semester in L.A. fueled her passion for the arts, Row's experience as a teaching assistant gave her a career. She plans to pursue a doctoral program in literature and hopes to motivate others the way her professors have inspired her.

“I believe the arts are a way to bestow grace upon people. You can share it in a really powerful way.”

Last updated: January 9, 2004