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The Schreiner group’s original goal was to reach 2,011 services hours in spring 2011. In all, 2,500 service hours were chalked up to Better Together, worked by students from various denominational groups, fraternities, sororities and anyone at all who wanted to help others. Among the community service projects were CSI Kerr County, a work trip to Denver to help at a Denver Urban Ministries food bank and CROP walk. Out of the group of colleges and universities trained in Georgetown at the ILI, Schreiner was one of 92 whose program was successful and Norris-Lane and students Genevieve Monroe, Brianna Benzinger and Brandon Cruz were asked to attend the next ILI training event to pass along what they learned at the Interfaith Leadership Institute at Dominican University in June 2011. “It was only natural after the first year’s success to participate in the President’s Challenge and Better Together for the 2011-2012 academic year and join the Better Together student interfaith cooperation campaign with larger initiatives across campus and in the community,” Norris-Lane said. “This year, we 12 Summer 2012 SCENE 1 focused on education and poverty. We were also intentional in creating opportunities for conversation among students and between students and the community about different faith perspectives. The assumption is that if you are Christian you are all the same, you all believe the same things. We found out that’s not true at all. We learned more about each other because our service and engagement were intentional. We wanted to hear each other’s stories and learn about how our service activities were part of larger efforts to help our community.” When a Schreiner student’s uncle lost everything in the Bastrop wildfire, students went to help almost immediately, with a group representing four denominations returning over spring break to help with the recovery in that area. “We’ve come to understand that it takes so much more than good intentions to really make an impact,” Norris-Lane said. “The Bastrop wildfire was to Bastrop County what Katrina was to New Orleans. If through our participation in the President’s Challenge and Better Together we can give students the skills needed to organize and address 2 larger community issues, then we will have succeeded in creating a new generation of leaders ready to work with diverse groups to implement solutions to the problems that plague their communities.” Norris-Lane and students also hosted interfaith worship services for September 11 and Thanksgiving, collaborated with Kerrville Area Interfaith Peace Dialogue Association and professors to host a panel of community leaders on the International Day of Peace on September 21, as well as an informational forum and discussion on Sharia Law, a body of law based on Islam and its central religious text, the Quran, in October. This spring, more than 60 students were involved in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine to raise money and awareness about hunger, CROP walk and the annual “This I Believe” series (inspired by an NPR series of the same name), in which faculty, staff and students from a wide variety of perspectives share their stories. This is in addition to the 65 students who mentored each week in local schools—work in which Elizabeth Loggie, associate director of volunteer programs, collaborated with
3 4 Photos: 1. Teresa alejandro ’12 and Schreiner senior Liliana Guia repair steps as part of work trip 2012 for Wildfire recovery in Bastrop, after the devastating wildfires there. 2. Schreiner students and staff volunteered at a Denver urban Ministries food bank. Pictured, left to right, are Gordon findlay, Su director for retention and student success; and Su students Jana de Jesus; ariel Ocanas; Gloria Lopez; alfonso rodriguez; Valerie Smith; andy Lemlyn; Stephanie hoskins; Beth Smith; Katie Debinski; adolpho Castillo and Brianna Benzinger. 3. andy Lemlyn and Brianna Benzinger help prepare food at a Denver urban Ministries food bank. 4. Managers and volunteers for wildfire recovery in Bastrop take a brief and well-earned rest at the volunteer village. front, left to right, they are the rev. Gini norris-Lane, Schreiner campus minister, with faith Village managers and volunteers; on the step, left to right: Su students Chris Burns, rachel “annie” reast, Liliana Guia, Teresa alejandro, Valerie Smith and Steven Conshue. 5. Su students Valerie Smith and Steve Conshue clear and level ground for bathrooms at the volunteer village in Bastrop. Schreiner Campus Ministry. Loggie, Campus Ministry and Partners in Ministry hosted a Recognition Party for all mentors in Kerr County. This partnership led to a lecture series, Mentoring Mondays, held at Schreiner to enrich mentors with a lunch-andlearn program. Dr. Kyle Busing, assistant professor of exercise science, facilitated two of the three lectures. In addition to the mentoring, Schreiner University coordinated with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the San Antonio Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry and Peterson Middle School Leadership Group to host four food giveaways, handing out approximately 20 tons of food to community members in need. “Through mentoring and the food giveaways, our students, faculty and staff have fostered a sense of hope in our community, by giving a hand up,” said Loggie. “It has truly enriched our campus to embrace servant leadership.” The students who participated in the program seem to have received as much as they gave. “Participating in Better Together helped me continue my own spiritual journey while also getting to share it with others and hear theirs as well,” said 5 SU senior Marshall Brown, who was on the Better Together steering committee this year and who will co-lead with junior Derek Draper next year. Draper added, “As the world keeps growing in numbers, we need to stand strong together to support others and reach out to help. As long as there is someone in need, Better Together will be essential.” Next year, SU students will again participate in the Better Together interfaith campaign, with the university making plans to send a small delegation of staff and faculty to Howard University in Washington, DC in July to share their experience with the President’s Challenge and prepare for a second year. Of particular interest to Norris-Lane and to leaders in the Department of Education is how to combine the particular strengths and interests of our whole Schreiner community— faculty, staff and students—to address community issues in Kerrville and the surrounding area not only now, but for years to come. “We’ve come to understand that people working across faith lines will have a bigger impact on a community,” Norris-Lane said. In the Beginning An American Muslim of Indian heritage, Eboo Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core armed with little more than a desire to serve the poor and a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. he spent some time looking at already existing service and nonprofit organizations, and was particularly impressed with his experiences at Catholic Worker houses, which Dorothy Day started in the Great Depression to help feed, clothe and shelter people. Patel got the idea for the Interfaith youth Core at a national interfaith conference when he noticed how few young people were there. To help harness all that youthful energy for the common good, he founded the IfyC in 2002 with a grant from the ford foundation and one person on staff. according to the IfyC website (www.ifyc.org/aboutus), the organization currently has an annual operating budget of $4 million “and enough staff to field several kickball teams.” They have partnered with the Tony Blair faith foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, and Patel is a member of President Obama’s inaugural advisory Council on faith-Based neighborhood Partnerships. IfyC provides interfaith leadership training, including that for the Better Together movement and the President’s Challenge. They work all over the world to help communities and college and universities come together across faith lines and divisions to provide stronger support and help to the needy in their areas. bettertogether www.schreiner.edu Summer 2012 13
Page 1 and 2: MAGAZINE OF SCHREINER UNIVERSITY SU
Page 3 and 4: SUMMER 2012 f e a T u r e S 9 Facul
Page 5 and 6: Best CaSe Scenario Hoon Hall, home
Page 7 and 8: Volunteer Spotlight Growing up on C
Page 9 and 10: faculty awards Dr. Charlie McCormic
Page 11: “When forces of intolerance emerg
Page 15 and 16: “‘Killing Lincoln’ by Bill O
Page 17 and 18: mid-1990s, representatives from the
Page 19 and 20: against larger schools,” he said.
Page 21 and 22: Women’s Golf The team finished th
Page 23 and 24: took place at Brigham and Women’s
Page 25 and 26: formerstudents www.schreiner.edu Su
Page 27 and 28: Schreiner’s newest alumni Class o
Page 29 and 30: uilding high-end homes in the Park
Page 31 and 32: Abram Bueché ’10 and Allison (Fl
Page 33 and 34: e-news Want to keep up with Schrein
Page 35 and 36: Paint Wars SU students take part in

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