Local leaders pay campus visit

Newly elected Pennsylvania legislator Jim Marshall, second from left, speaks with Geneva leaders during a campus visit Feb. 15. Seated left to right are Dean of Student Development Joy Jewell, Marshall, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ken Carson and College Librarian Gerald Moran.

Freshman Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Marshall (R-Big Beaver) and Beaver Falls Mayor Karl Boak each stopped by Geneva this month and discussed priorities and concerns with college officials and with students.

Geneva administrators brought the newly elected Marshall up to speed Feb. 15 on the Beyond the Bend campus redevelopment project and the state’s plans to straighten out Route 18, which currently follows a hazardous, S-curved path through campus. President Ken Smith also highlighted the potential for the college to work together with community leaders toward mutual goals, and other college officials asked Marshall for ideas of how Geneva might foster economic progress in the region.

Marshall called the visit informative and stated he “understand(s) what an asset it is to have the college” in the community he represents. Student leaders involved with the Geneva College Student Union also met with Marshall and asked about his legislative role.

Boak sat down with a group of political science majors two weeks prior to do some brainstorming of ways Geneva students could team up for the good of the local community.

“This is what we’ve been looking for,” Boak said. “The last couple years and especially now we’ve had more volunteers and more communication with the college, and I really believe that that’s a great start for us. There’s really an awful lot of opportunity to help here in the city.”

Dr. Tom Copeland, who organized the discussion as part of the public administration course he teaches, said the students received useful input and are now planning a community health day. They’re also seeking to make it easier for city staff to recruit volunteers from Geneva for various efforts and developing a calendar of community events.

“Public administration should be about serving people, and I want to encourage political science students to see public service as an honorable calling,” Copeland said. “We can’t bring the city into the classroom, but we can take the classroom into the city.”

Join the Geneva College campus community this month in lifting up several items to the Lord for prayer and for thanksgiving: 

• Praise the Lord for His protection of the campus community during recent winter storms and thank Him for sustaining our physical-plant employees, who have worked many long, cold hours to keep walkways safe and facilities in working order.
• Pray that God would work mightily in the minds and hearts of current Geneva students, using the lectures, discussions, faculty and staff, fellow classmates, chapel services and challenges they encounter to draw them closer to him.
• Pray that Geneva’s enrollment goals would be met and that God would provide for the college financially as administrators work to exercise faithful stewardship of the resources we have.
• Pray that God would comfort the family and friends of two Geneva alumnae, Lois Anderson ’49 and her daughter Zelda White ’79, who were killed last month in a carjacking in Nairobi, Kenya.

The institutional advancement office prays every week for students, faculty, alumni and friends of the college. We welcome your prayer requests.
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Other prayer meetings also take place regularly on campus, including the Aberdeen Prayer Meeting that now meets from 7:45-8:30 a.m. each Thursday in Northwood 009.

Lillback issues call
The concept of covenantal vocation was the focus of a Feb. 15 public lecture by Dr. Peter Lillback, president of Westminster Theological Seminary. 
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