For six years every incoming student at Roanoke College, Salem, Va., has worked on “R House,” a Habitat for Humanity home built on campus dur- ing orientation. “Our [2011] house was built for the Hassan family who are refugees from Sudan,” said R. Paul Henrickson, dean of Roanoke’s chapel. After construction, Habitat moved the Hassan’s home to a perma- nent location in the Roanoke Valley.
COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY
Jim Martin- Schramm is humble about his role in building a wind turbine to reduce electricity and environ- mental costs at Luther Col- lege, Deco- rah, Iowa.
with Trinity Lutheran Seminary in an ongoing conversation [with] Muslim and Jewish neighbors” and “students are also advocating for a change in [Capital’s] mascot, which is currently a Crusader.” For Wilson, who is beginning the candidacy process to become an ELCA pastor, caring about those of other religions is written into our faith. “If we truly love our neighbors, we don’t have to agree with them on every point, but we need to care about and find out about each others’ lives,” she said. At Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, the call to justice can be heard every time students cross the street.
“You walk into a different world,” said Sam Ehrlich, director of corpo- rate, foundation and church relations. “The elementary school that you can see from the entrance of the campus has an 90 percent at-risk student base. You don’t have to look far to care for ‘the least of these.’ ” To answer the call, Tim Barr runs the university’s center for servant leadership that partners with Seguin to improve life and advocate for mar- ginalized people and neighborhoods. TLU also is continually adapting programs and courses to maximize the benefits of student civic engage- ment for Seguin. Through the center, students can work with local social
“You got served” is slang for receiving a subpoena or a comeuppance. That phrase takes on new meaning during the “You Got Served” event at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. Each year, as part of orientation, some 700 first-year and transfer students help Ventura, Calif., remove trash that homeless residents have left behind in the Ventura River. In the last four years, they’ve collected more than 36 tons of trash, keeping pollutants out of the ocean and helping the city com- ply with state regulations.
service agencies and others to help farmers, struggling parents, seniors, those with special needs, at-risk youth, animals and more.
Sometimes it’s simple kindness Twenty years ago, Hank Tkachuk, a professor at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., began having students in his intercultural commu- nications class serve as host-friends to refugee families in the Moorhead- Fargo area. Most of his students lacked experience with other cultures and couldn’t afford to participate in an optional global trip he offered. Meanwhile the refugees struggled with U.S. culture (everything from
November 2011 39
COURTESY OF LUTHER COLLEGE
COURTESY OF ROANOKE COLLEGE
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