Waybright Student Center a Success?

One Year Later: A Look at the Waybright Student Life Center
By Bethany Kemming

A year after the Gregory L. Waybright Student Life Center’s opening, Trinity International University (TIU) students and staff have responded positively about the center and its role in bringing together undergraduate and graduate students.   

Freshman Benita Thorat and Sophomore Stephanie Plotsky encourage
students to donate Misericordia.  Many student groups and
off-campus organizations have used  the open area of the entrance
to the Waybright Center to set-up tables and displays.
(Times Observer/Bethany Kemming)

According to the Dean of Student Life Dr. William Washington, TIU looked for facilities in which community could flourish on campus, as community is one of Trinity’s core values, and were not satisfied with the places of community on campus. 

“We looked at our campus and didn’t feel the places we had for community didn’t meet our expectations…the student life center became one of the prime places of emphasis,” Washington said.

Before opening the center in January 2010, TIU staff had a goal of bridging community between the college, graduate, and divinity school students in one location.

The Deerfield, Ill. campus of TIU is composed of Trinity College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Trinity Graduate School.  While graduate and divinity school students share many of the same classrooms, the majority of the undergraduate student classes are in one building and on one side of campus. While the Lew Student Center was closer to the undergraduate housing, the Waybright Center is in a more central location, and closer to the library and graduate classroom buildings.  

The White Horse Cafe offers grab-and-go options as well as

hot meals. The grab-and-go station was previously located

in the McLennan Academic Building. 

(Times Observer/ Bethany Kemming) 

The addition of the Waybright Student Center meant the relocating of the White Horse Café, and of university student mailboxes. Graduate student mailboxes were previously located in the lower level of the chapel, and undergraduate mailboxes were located in the Lew Student Center. The name of the old dining hall, Melton Hall, was given to a new multi-purpose room in the Waybright Center, that is used by graduate and undergraduate students alike for a variety of activities, such as coffeehouse events, film festivals, and the State of the University address.

The Waybright Student Life Center is located near the James

E. RolfingMemorial  library and the Carlson Hall men's dorm building.  

The Waybright Center lantern lounge, the circular section of tan 

brick above, has been used for a variety of TIU events, such as 

forums and student government debates. (Times Observer/

Bethany Kemming)

While most reviews of the dining hall and new student center have been positive, complaints and issues have arisen. Students have complained of conflicts with meeting room assignments and the
size of the offices allotted to student groups and organizations.  While many students like the new Melton Hall, others feel the room is “too multipurpose.”

“It [Melton Hall] is not good for much of anything, the atmosphere is not that great because it’s just a big boxed room,” Trinity College sophomore Ethan Carlson said.

TIU provides other opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to come together through their Dual Degree programs. Undergraduate students can potentially fulfill their masters and bachelor degrees in five years or less through these programs, and interact with graduate students and professors. 

Audio Interview With Trinity College Dean of Students Dr. William O. Washington

Dr. Washington shares how the new student center came to be, the successful aspects of the center, and what still needs to be changed. 

Links: 

http://blogs.tiu.edu/blog/2010/09/24/tiu-dedicates-waybright-center/

http://www.facebook.com/notes/trinity-digest/waybright-center-remains-strong-by-ethan-shook/379713147949

http://www.tiu.edu/tiu/waybrightcenter

http://www.tiu.edu/tiu/giving/campusmasterplan

http://www.tiu.edu/tiu/dining-services/

http://www.tiu.edu/

First Audio Interview!

Following the release of a new NIV translation this month, I had the opportunity to interview one of the Biblical Professors at Trinity about the topic of gender translation issues in the Bible, along with other translation difficulties. Follow the link below to hear the interview!

http://www.mediafire.com/?itg14e3mgi9ca5k

On a side note, using audio editing programs is a lot more difficult and time consuming than it looks! : ) 

First New Video!

Today I downloaded Soundslides.

To experiment with the program I uploaded photos from missions trips to Cass Lake, MN over the past 2 years. It's not perfect, but it did help me get to know the program better. For my next video I hope to add captions and cutlines.

To make it into video format, you can follow these directions: http://video.soundslides.net/converter/

Gotcha Drenched!

Gotcha Drenched Finale

TIU Freshman Joy Hillyer (left) and Sophomore Valerie Farmer 

(right) were two of the last five competitors in the April 

   "Gotcha Drenched" competition.  Joy Hillyer planned to eliminate 

   Valerie from the game by waiting outside the Lew Student Center, 

        and enlisting the help of a friend to pretend to talk on the phone 

outside as a distraction. Valerie saw Joy coming, however, and 

and "shot" Joy first, giving herself five minutes of get-away time.

Racial Reconciliation Forum

I made this video for the Trinity Digest's facebook page.  The racial reconciliation event was hosted by the Multi-cultural Development Office at Trinity. The small groups afterward included a lot of interesting discussion as well!

Broomball Event Video

This video was made for The Trinity Digest's facebook page in March 2010.  College Union offered a Broomball and Skating Event for the first time, and offered a similar event this year as well. 

Packers Triumph in Superbowl XLV

Despite my Minnesota origins, I have a strong dislike for the Vikings. My Packer-supporting friends "converted" me to a Packer fan this year. As they saw it, I was already halfway there. I have to admit, it was a good year to support the Pack.

Trinity Packers fans celebrate the victory

The Green Bay Packers fans reigned victorious in the XLV Super Bowl on Feb. 6, winning 31-25 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving Packers fans in a state of euphoria and Steelers fans downcast. 


The game began at 5:30 CT, with Christina Aguilera singing the national anthem, and accidentally singing the line "what so proudly we watched, at the twilight’s last gleaming" twice during the song. Though the Packers were ahead the entire game, the closest the Steelers came was 28-25. This caused many Packers fans feeling nervous for the outcome, as the Steelers have been known to pull ahead near the end of a game.

"I thought the game was going to be close before the game [started]. It looked like the Packers were going to win with ease, but then with those key defensive injuries, the Steelers made it a close game," junior Eric Anderson said. Anderson is from Green Bay and has avidly kept up with the Packers this season. In addition to the victory, many Packers fans alike were pleased to see Aaron Rodgers win the Most Valuable Player award.

Over 40 students watched the game from first floor Trinity Hall at a campus party hosted by Resident Assistant Ethan Carlson and the residents on his floor. The event had the essentials that would make any Super Bowl party a success: a flat screen TV, food, and even classic party games like Baggo Bag Toss.

Other Trinity students were not as interested in the game. Senior Josh Harrison has never watched a Super Bowl in his life, and chose to keep that tradition by leaving a Super Bowl party before the game started.

The Black Eyed Peas performed at the halftime show, with two unexpected appearances from the musical artists Slash and Usher. Judging by the Trinity Hall party goers, the show was a disappointment possibly due to the auto tuning that is usually applied to the recorded music, but was lacking during the live performance.

Viewers that watched the Super Bowl solely for the commercials may have been dissatisfied as well. Many commercials were repeated, specifically commercials about Verizon adopting the iPhone.

Symphonic Band Director Stephen Posegate was surprised at the amount of violence the commercials contained. Anderson said while the commercials displayed an interesting portrait of what is going on in our world, they weren’t particularly entertaining to watch.

Following the game, Packers fans rejoiced around campus tooting blow horns and cheering loudly making it known that the Packers fan population on campus was large and electrified.