Eastern Mennonite University

Sophomore Hannah Johnson (Staunton, Va./Wilson Memorial) was excited to begin her second season on the Eastern Mennononite University women's volleyball team. Last year, Hannah led the team with 201 kills, despite missing 10 matches due to injury. She prepared differently this season by placing more emphasis on injury prevention.

Eastern Mennonite University senior Ariel Barbosa (Baltimore, Md./Towson) has taken her last season as a Royal to the next level. As the women's soccer team won their first four games, Ariel scored two goals in those games.

In the program's first year, the EMU women's triathlon team is led by senior Abigail Shelly (Collinsville, Miss./West Lauderdale). She is wasting no time in her final season as a Royal. Not only is Abigail a triathlon athlete, she continues to run cross country in the same season.

Inspired by a visit to a NASA research facility three years ago, Eastern Mennonite University engineering student Dylan Grove '19 dedicated his senior engineering capstone project to building a wind tunnel for his alma mater. Grove, who is from Dickerson, Maryland, began research for the tunnel last August, and designed and constructed it this spring and summer. The 14 feet-long structure includes a series of component systems - intake manifold, test chamber, diffuser, blower - that are precisely designed and mounted on a black metal frame to create 100 mile-per-hour winds. The EMU engineering department will use the tunnel in its fluid mechanics class to model air flow and study lift, drag and other forces on models such as an airplane with an eight-inch wingspan.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

EMU has announced its summer 2019 dean's list.

Versatility looked like confidence this weekend as the Royals picked up two more wins at the Route 42 Classic in Yoder Arena. Brandishing a flexible lineup, EMU's volleyball women improved to 3-1 to start the season, their best start since a similar effort in 2016.

Eastern Mennonite University junior Tiffany Heishman has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship from the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative. An EMU honors student, Heishman is an accounting and business administration double major with a leadership minor. She holds an associate degree from Lord Fairfax Community College, and will graduate from EMU in May 2021 with the 30 extra credit hours necessary for taking the certified public accountant exam. Then, in addition to finding corporate employment, she hopes to open her own business managing farm finances.

A new era officially began Sunday morning when the EMU women's triathletes hit the waters of South Holston Lake outside of Bristol, Tenn. Under fantastic weather conditions, the Royals' newest program literally got their feet wet after just being introduced by EMU this past March. The five women on the team had great first efforts in a women's sprint triathlon, which consists of a 750m swim, 20k bike and 5k run.

Four Eastern Mennonite University men's volleyball players earned a spot on this year's Continental Volleyball Conference All-Academic Team.

More than 300 EMU students have participated in the Ministry Inquiry Program, a partnership of the student's respective Mennonite college, home and host congregations and conferences, and Mennonite Church USA. Students interested in ministry within other denominations are also supported by EMU.

Eastern Mennonite University is pleased to recognize students who were named to the Spring 2019 Dean's List. The Dean's List, compiled at the end of each term, includes degree-seeking students who achieve a semester GPA of at least 3.75 with no withdrawn, incomplete, or failing grades for 12 semester hours of standard grades.

486 students were welcomed as alumni on May 5, 2019, at Eastern Mennonite Univeristy's 101st Commencement Ceremony. Congratulations, graduates!

The Eastern Mennonite University community gathered to celebrate student successes of the 2019 spring semester and special end-of-the-academic-year recognitions.

The EMU Royals had four men recognized as All-ODAC in baseball this season after the team matched the program record for conference wins and earned a conference tournament berth. Sophomore Ray Tricarico (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) and freshman Jordan Jones(Saxe, Va./Randolph Henry) were both named to the All-ODAC Second Team while sophomore Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) and freshman Connor Lutz(Colonial Beach, Va./Colonial Beach) earned All-ODAC Third Team honors.

For the second time in his career, EMU's Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) has been named the Continental Volleyball Conference Player of the Week.

EMU senior Grant Amoateng (Bristow, Va./Patriot) has earned his first trip to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Amoateng heads to the national meet in the triple jump after already being a two-time participant in the national outdoor meet. The championships are this Friday and Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston, Massachusetts, with the University of Massachusetts, Boston serving as host. He also earned a spot on the All-South/Southeast Region Team, as named by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). It was his third time earning All-Region for indoor triple jump. Amoateng is also a two-time All-Region honoree for outdoor triple jump and has an additional All-Region medal from indoor long jump in 2018. To be named All-Region, an athlete must be ranked in the top-5 of an individual event in the region according to the final TFRRS data.

Already matching his production from last season, Jaylon Lee (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) has started off his sophomore season red hot earning him Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors. D3baseball.com has also named him to the national Team of the Week. This past week the sophomore batted .444 (8-for-18) and accounted for 18 runs in EMU's 5 games last week. Six of his hits went for extra bases, giving him a whopping 1.056 slugging percentage.

Eastern Mennonite University celebrated the opening of its newest student lounge - "The Royal Treatment," an informal barbershop and salon - during its observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The grand opening of "The Royal Treatment" - which includes two barber's chairs, a hairwashing station, television and two comfortable couches, all enlivened by a bright wall mural celebrating African and African-American culture - was Monday, Jan. 21, during the university's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Modeled after a barbershop and salon, the space will be managed by the Black Student Union (BSU). Historically, the African American barbershop and salon was, and still is, a meeting place for the community and where grassroots planning and community organization happened during the Jim Crow era and civil rights movement.

Graduate students in Eastern Mennonite University's Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) program are gaining real-world experience - and providing needed counseling services at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic in Harrisonburg. The community placements are part of EMU's Expansion of Counseling in Underserved and Rural Areas (ECURA) program. It is funded by a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that aims to increase behavioral health treatment and counseling to underserved populations in the Shenandoah Valley region of western Virginia and beyond.

The grand opening of "The Royal Treatment" - which includes two barber's chairs, a hairwashing station, television and two comfortable couches, all enlivened by a bright wall mural celebrating African and African-American culture - was Monday, Jan. 21, at 11:45 a.m. during the university's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration.

Two EMU students, Christy Kauffman and Riley Swartzendruber, will be climbing and documenting the Kilimanjaro trek of family, friends, and others moved by the life and sacrifice of murdered United Nations ared group expert and peacebuilder Michael J. Sharp '05. The March 4-15, 2019, expedition will raise funds for the Michael J. Sharp Endowed Peace and Justice Scholarship at Eastern Mennonite University, his alma mater. Trekkers each hope to raise $10,000 for the scholarship. The scholarship, started by friends and family shortly after Sharp's death, is currently supporting its first recipient. David M. Nyiringabo, a peacebuilder in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), began studies this fall in the two-year MA in Conflict Transformation program at EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP). The scholarship is specially designated to support Congolese peacebuilders.

EMU has built a strong partnership with Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology to make it easier to earn a bachelors degree. Chad Hummel discusses his career path and why he chose EMU. See the video.

The Eastern Mennonite University student group Earthkeepers has announced the 2019 winners of its annual mini-grants supporting campus sustainability projects. Another purpose is to foster creative and educational collaboration - as is apparent in the projects awarded this year: The Cycling Club was granted $500 to purchase and - with help from Best Bike Mechanic of the Blue Ridge Ben Wyse - repair more bikes for renting out to EMU students at a subsidized price, said club president Ella Reist. "It advocates biking culture around campus and Harrisonburg." Senior Ben Zook was awarded $450 to help fund his solar-powered mobile kiosk, which will be on the turf field to power any needs there, including the concession stand. The project, which will be a collaboration between the Earthkeepers and Engineers for a Sustainable World clubs and the Student Government Association as well as local companies Engineering Solutions and Secure Futures, "represents the student body interest in implementing sustainability designs around campus," he said. The Sustainable Food Initiative (SFI) received $150 for a water collections system for the campus chicken coops, a project that King called "simple, but ingenious." The system, to be built and installed by SFI members, will increase "the self-reliance of SFI food production and reduces the campus's water requirements," said Wade Banks, SFI co-president. The Chronicles of Yarnia knitting group received $100 for a "tempestry" knitting project creating tapestries that illustrate the change in temperatures in a location over the years. "The finished pieces will depict climates change in a unique fashion and attract attention and awareness that numbers in a report cannot," said advisor Barbara Byer.

Eight Center for Justice and Peacebuilding graduate students collaborated to plan and lead an arts-based peacebuilding workshop for local refugee and immigrant students last weekend. More than 30 students from Harrisonburg High School's Peer Leaders club participated. The club, which offers support, activities and fellowship to students transitioning into a new culture, is a collaborative effort between EMU, James Madison University and Church World Service. Drumming, drama, writing and art activities helped students learn more about and express themselves, preparing them to be change agents in their school and community context, said Kajungu Mturi, a 2018 CJP alumnus who had helped to facilitate the afterschool club since it began three years ago.

During February, the Black Student Union sponsored the annual Town Hall on Race, a candid space for members of the campus community to openly discuss and gain awareness of race relations on campus, as well as a film showing of "The Hate U Give"and a talkback. BSU also kicked off a new monthly event, "The Black Box," a showcase of student art and performances hosted in the Campus Center's Black Box Theater. Alumnus Maleke Jones '18, who performs as Meechy Jay, was February's guest of honor. A special worship service that featured Pastor AJ Mosley from Divine Unity Community Church in Harrisonburg, sponsored by BSU and Multicultural Student Services, concluded Black History Month events.

Eastern Mennonite University senior environmental sustainability major Nidhi Vinod has started a Harrisonburg service that embodies the values she has come to embrace over her years of learning. Soil Cycles HVA - "Compost Collection on Two Wheels" - offers food scrap pick-up services to residential and business subscribers.

The Eastern Mennonite University University Choir and Emulate Chamber Ensemble have announced a March spring break tour to Ohio and Indiana. "Touring allows students the opportunity to build long lasting connections with fellow choral singers as well as contribute to the performance of choral masterworks and new compositions to numerous church congregations and high school students," said Professor Ryan Keebaugh, who is leading the tour.

A semester at the Washington Community Scholars' Center (WCSC) provides opportunity for professional internships in a variety of fields where students make positive contributions to the community and gain career experience. Students complete the cross cultural graduation requirement through integrative urban studies coursework and critical engagement with the Washington DC community. WCSC students experience city life, explore Washington's culture and history, study about urban issues such as gentrification, and manage a house budget and relationships in the communal living environment of the Nelson Good House.

Eastern Mennonite University is pleased to recognize students who were named to the Fall 2018 Dean's List. The Dean's List, compiled at the end of each term, includes degree-seeking students who achieve a semester GPA of at least 3.75 with no withdrawn, incomplete, or failing grades for 12 semester hours of standard grades.