Being still.

Without a doubt, the Spring semester seems to be far more fast-paced. For one, there are fewer breaks. In the fall we have Fall break, Thanksgiving break, and right at the end we have a Winter Break. In the Spring we just have Spring break. That's it.

Now, I'm saying this but I don't mean it in a bad way. There are far more events all bundled up together. For example, it is only February and we have already had an Improv Night, Manhunt, a Big Bang Theory Party, Superbowl Party, Throwback dance night, Movie Outings, Swamp People marathon, plenty of exciting Basketball games (with Baseball and Softball starting up soon!) and many more on the horizon.

In all this excitement - and in all the assortment of tests and papers, it is difficult to step back and find a moments peace.

It's also difficult when we hear so many chapel messages regarding "renewing and restoring" and have little time to let that sink in, or to put into practice. This semester, I've heard some really great sermons so far and as soon as the speaker is done, I run out of chapel as quickly as possible because I have to wait approximately 10 minutes in line, which leaves me with 15 minutes to eat before I head off to my 1:00PM Geography class.

I've had to remind myself a lot lately that sometimes allowing the Lord to speak to your heart means being still, and that is not so easy sometimes.

Sure, outings and events are fun, and sure Fried Chicken is good, but it is no substitute for the things that make your heart grow and your soul stretch. And if there's something that I'm learning more and more, it's that sometimes in order to be an agent of restoration we must first pause to allow ourselves and God time to be restored.

I'm thankful to be in a place that values things like fun events, but I'm more thankful to be in a place that challenges me to grow - with so many people I can go to and be assured to help me along in that process. So today, after I finish this essay (if I ever stop procrastinating) I am going to drink tea, play some music, and be still.

Because that's what is needed sometimes: to be still.

- Rebecca

Broadway Blast

One of my favorite things about school is being able to see people do what they do best. This is especially true for the Music Department (which is soon to be the Fine Arts Department) Every end of the semester they put together a concert, and this semester's theme was broadway. Now, I'm not a big fan of musicals (at least in movie-format) but goodness do I love to watch a good performance. And the Choir team did a phenomenal job!

The most amazing part for me is that I was actually asked to take part in this year's performance! Got to play guitar for a rendition of "Good Riddance" by Green Day from theirAmerican Idiot presentation on Broadway.

There were so many great performances. The opening was great. A girl at our school, Chloe, sang a beautiful opening jazz number.

Another girl, Ashley A., sang an amazing cover of "I'm here" from The Color Purple, and of course "Ugg a Wugg" from Peter Pan was just phenomenal - they added a drum part that was pretty great.

And Brandy M. did a great job as Belle from Beauty and The Beast.

Honestly, everyone did a fantastic job and I was just so honored to be a part of it! I am even considering joining choir next semester . . . but we'll just have to see about that. ;)

Now I have to focus a little longer and study for Finals. So crazy that the semester is at its end. Definitely going to miss everyone a ton but it's been a great semester and I look forward to next year!

And yeah, this is me right before the performance:

:)

Community Ministry Day at West Point

If you were interested about all the fun things that went down on Community Ministry day, here's a little video of the West Point/Valley/Lannet team. (There were also teams of people in Atlanta and at Woodland Camp)

Enjoy!

Community Ministry Day in West Point from Point University on Vimeo.

Life in technicolor

Hey lovely people, I don't have a lot of time to write a real blog post. So I thought I'd let you in on my life via pictures from the last month or so. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well I am about to post seven thousand words:

Upperhead Dorm Random Photo Shoot. L-R, Myself, Tyler, Meg, Patricia.

Trip to West Point on Community Ministry Day.

Dorm Wars (Best Team - the Upperhead Cherokees, duh!)

Spring Formal! L-R: Laura, Jackie, Brittany, Megan, Deene, Amber, and Myself.


Oh you know, dancing the night away at Spring Formal.

Laura and I at Formal.

:)

Breaking into Spring.

It is not yet April and there are already plenty of Spring Showers (rainy days) Last week was our Spring Break and it was FANTASTIC. I'm sure everyone spent it doing fun and productive things, but I spent mine reading (The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and East of Eden by John Steinbeck - both great books!) watching movies (too many to list) and catching up on some much needed sleep. Oh, and did I mention that I got to spend it with one of my best friends Elsie? That was definitely the best part.


L-R: Elsie and I. :)

That might sound incredibly lazy, but to me, it also sounds incredibly heavenly. Because the best thing about having a "break" is not having to do anything, right? So you would think that Professors wouldn't assign homework and whatnot, right? Well, I have three midterms this week so even though I neglected to do any work over break, I am now back in school full force and studying my brains out. (Not literally though, that would be really gross...)

But despite all the studying, I do have to say that I can't help but be joyful. I love spring and I love warmer weather so I can't help but be in a good mood even while studying for tests. Now, when I have to start on my four huge research papers it might be a different story ...

But! I will be happy and drink some lemonade for now.
Here's to a lovely Spring afternoon.

Visiting West Point

Hey everyone! A few weeks ago, a bunch of us students had the awesome opportunity to visit the city of West Point (where we will be relocating!) and got to tour the campus, see the apartments, and meet some of the residents. But I'm sure you're thinking, "man, I wish I could see all that take place!" Well I've good news for you, lovely people. I made a short video of the trip! I know, too good to be true.

Check it out! And keep your eyes open for more videos like this in the future. (Point University is on the move!)

Point University Students Visit West Point from Point University on Vimeo.

Also - happy Spring Break to everyone! Get lots of sun, sleep, and fun in.

- Rebecca

Introducing the Student Transition Team

It’s official! Atlanta Christian College is becoming Point University (July 2011) and relocating and expanding its primary traditional campus to West Point, Ga. for fall semester 2012.

We all have lots of questions about this, so President Collins has formed a Student Transition Team, led by me (Rebecca E.) and Gerardo M., to serve as key points of contact for us in finding out more information about the whole transition.

The Student Transition Team will be posting updates on the expansion process online through Twitter—using project hashtags #onthemove and #PointUniv—on Facebook and through this blog.

Along with administration officials, the team will host regular town hall-style forums where we’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and get news on everything related to the relocation project. Student Transition Team members will be frequently briefed with first-hand knowledge of “On the Move” happenings and events…so ask away! That’s what we’re here for. If you would like to join the Student Transition Team, please email us at onthemove@acc.edu.

Your Student Transition Team:

Tyler B., Storey B., Jessi B., Rebecca E.*, Austin E., Kaitlyn G., Jason J., Tyler L., Aaron L., Gerardo M.*, Bekah R. and Tory W.

*Team leader


Student Transition Team members joined President Collins for a tour of West Point last week to witness our future college home for the first time

Change is in the air.

You may or may not have heard, but big things are happening here at ACC. And by "big" I am not referring to eggplant parmasian that the cafeteria started serving (It is so delicious!)

We are relocating the main campus from East Point to West Point - just about an hour away! I know, crazy. We're also changing the name of the school to Point University (our mascot is still the Chargers though, no worries!)

As you can imagine, it's a lot of information to share, but here are just a few things:

- We're going to add some cool sports (football, softball, track and field, etc)
- It'll be right in downtown West Point which has so much character.
- It'll also be by a lake which means plenty of study breaks to swim, kayak and go canoeing!

So as you can imagine, student life is going to be even more amazing than it already is!

I am part of a Student Transition Team that got to visit the campus Monday and here is a video documenting our adventure (to give you an idea)

Student Transition Team visits West Point from Point University on Vimeo.

Also, check out PointUniversity.org - it's a microsite with some info and picutres about the new name and location. It's going to be awesome!

So, while life at ACC is still exciting and wonderful, I am beyond thrilled to see how life at West Point and with the new Name continues to grow and expand.

GET PUMPED, PEOPLE!

Remember to breathe.

It seems that the common theme of school-life is that as soon as Fall Break (or Spring break in the case of the Spring semester) is over that I find myself welcomed by numerous assignments, papers, exams and presentations. There hardly seems to be room to breathe sometimes.

I can hardly call myself an expert when it comes to avoiding stress, but here's my personal tip.

However, as silly of a statement as this may seem, it is important to remember to breathe and to relax. I've learned from experience that stress usually disables me from getting any work done and really only causes me wasted time fretting over the possibility of not completing work or failing an assignment.

Also, if you're anything like me (and by this I mean if you procrastinate as terribly as I often tend to) then making a list for yourself of practical goals for the day (for example, are you really going to tackle three research papers in one day? Probably not.) can help manage your time better. And this may seem like contradictory advice, but sometimes taking a shower, watching a movie, or taking a nap can help you relax before you begin to tackle an assignment. Sure, it's a form of procrastination, but if you're stressed and can't focus on your assignment, then step away from it for a bit. Drink some tea or color in a coloring book.

If it helps you, write your frustrations out - write your stress out. I often do this in a prayer-journal because who can better handle the weight of my stress than God?

And lastly, as I said before: remember to breathe.

- Rebecca

Shoes under bridges.

Every morning I wake up with barely enough time to make it to class. I'm terrible at getting up in the morning and this is mostly due to the handy little "snooze" button on my alarm clock which lets me think I can actually afford to sleep another five minutes four times.

I wouldn't consider myself very "high maintenance" by any means, but I do like to look fairly presentable most days. This usually is not a hard trick to pull off, but I am always stuck when it comes to matching shoes with what I'm wearing. This morning, I made it late to class by a few minutes simply because I couldn't decide what shoes I was going to wear. And after my class was over, I came back to my room and changed shoes! Ridiculous, I know.

Without a doubt my favorite thing about ACC is the people here: faculty, professors, and students. I went out to a rougher part of Atlanta tonight with a few peers and we gave out some pizza, water and toiletries to some of the homeless people in the area. They were obviously very appreciative of this act of kindness, but they were more touched by our willingness to open up and talk to them, to share life and love with them. It was my first time going, and a lot of the people who went along have been doing this for months so they've built relationships with a lot of the people there, but it was such an incredible and humbling experience.

I often think that missions work involves going to another state or country, forgetting that there are hurting lost souls under the bridge I drive on every week. And the amazing thing is that these people are so hopeful and so willing to share the little they have. I have close to 24 pairs of shoes in my closet, some of these people only had socks.

They thanked us over and over again for what we were doing, but the truth is, I feel more indebted to them than I can think to express. Their love is genuine and their hope is steady.

Tomorrow, we have Community Ministry day at our school, which basically means we get a whole day off of classes and go and do projects in the surrounding areas of Atlanta. But what it really means is that we are intentionally taking time of to do what we're called to do as Christians: to minister to the hurting, the lost, and the needy.

It reminds me of a song, and this is one I pray quite frequently,

"Make of me Your hands and feet,

I want to be to the people around me,

what You want to be to the people around me."

If we don't take time to love people under bridges, who will?

- Rebecca

Weekends at ACC

Weekends at ACC are typically...quiet. Most of the students that go to this school are in-state and usually go home for the weekend. I'm an out-of-state student. I live 17 hours away from Georgia so going home every weekend is clearly not an option for me. That being said, simply because there are few people on campus does not mean that it HAS to be boring. Last night was Friday night and I went to our school's Volleyball game, then went over to a friends house to have a Babysitting/Disney movie marathon party, left to go see "I Am Legend" at the new ACCinema (which I helped to paint, in case you were curious), participated in a spur of the moment Tie-dying party (my first time tie-dying a shirt - it was rather exciting!) and then went to Dwarf House with a bunch of friends.

Today, I've taken to enjoying the lovely fall weather and catching up on some school reading after cleaning my room. Saturday's are usually the less-eventful days, but I typically don't mind it much because I enjoy having that time to relax. Tomorrow I'll go to church, do some homework and head to Sunday Nights, which is our only Student-Led chapel credit service. It's very low-key and chill and that's one of the reasons I love being a part of the team.

All in all, the weekend really isn't so bad as people make it out to be. The old saying, "life is what you make it" seems to be most applicable here. The weekend is what you make it. Free-time is what you make it.

College is what you make it.

-Rebecca