Top 10 stories of 2019

This year, Goshen College embarked on its 125th year of providing transformational higher education in Elkhart County. The top stories of 2019 reflect these celebrations, noteworthy achievements and also some significant losses within our community.

• Goshen College celebrates 125 years in Elkhart County
  This year, we celebrate our 125 anniversary － the quasquicentennial － of being Elkhart County’s first and only four-year, residential, private college. Since our founding, we’ve played an important and enduring role in shaping the people and culture of Northern Indiana.

• We lost some beloved people

  

  This was a difficult year for many who said goodbye to beloved faculty and staff members. They were teachers and mentors, coworkers and friends, and will leave a lasting legacy on our campus.

  • J.R. Burkholder (Dec. 19, 1928 – Dec. 20, 2019), professor emeritus of religion
  • Deb Detwiler, (April 20, 1957 － April 22, 2019), professor of music
  • Kennard Martin, (Oct. 23, 1940 － Aug. 29, 2019), groundskeeper and GC’s longest-serving employee
  • Carolyn Schrock-Shenk (July 22, 1955 － Feb. 6, 2019), associate professor of peace, justice and conflict studies
  • Tony Hurst (Sept. 14, 1943 － Feb. 14, 2019), adjunct professor of sociology
  • Gerhard Reimer (June 16, 1928 － Jan. 1, 2019), professor emeritus of German

• At 17, Mikol Aspinwall is GC’s youngest graduate

  

  Mikol Aspinwall came to Goshen College as a first-year student at the age of 13. This year he graduated at age 17 with a degree in computer science, and is believed to be the youngest graduate in the college’s history.

• Men’s cross country finishes 20th at national meet, sets program record

  The Goshen College men’s cross country team posted the best national finish in program history on Friday, taking 20th place in a 37-team field in its second trip to the NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Championship at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

• Goshen College ranked #2 nationally by Washington Monthly, cited as ‘the face of successful twenty-first-century higher education’

  We were ranked second nationally among Bachelor’s College in the 2019 Washington Monthly magazine’s annual college rankings, which takes into consideration civic engagement, research and social mobility. The magazine even mentioned GC specifically in their article as the “face of what successful twenty-first-century higher education needs to look like: academically rigorous, demographically diverse, rooted in scholarly and ethical value systems that promote learning and engagement with the world.”

• Students and alumni have big moments on national TV

  In May, Achieng Agutu ’18 stole the spotlight on the Ellen show. We won’t spoil the surprise, watch her appearance for yourself! In July, junior Hugh Birky had a magic moment on American Ninja Warrior.

• GC to offer new majors and programs

  It was announced this year that beginning in the fall of 2020, we’ll offer two new bachelor’s degrees in public health and criminal justice and restorative justice. A new program called Teach Elkhart County has also been developed to train and retain underrepresented local students who want to be teachers in area schools.

• Ecuador added as study abroad location with focus on indigenous cultures and sustainability

  This year, GC moved the location of our Spanish-speaking Study-Service Term (SST) program in South America from Peru, where it has been for 14 years, to Ecuador. Indigenous cultures and sustainability will be two key themes of this new location.

• New center to bring together communication co-curriculars under one roof

  This fall it was announced that the communication department extracurriculars － WGCS, Globe TV and The Record － will come together under one roof with a new home in the west wing of the Newcomer Center.

• Union Building reopens with new art collection, cafe, welcome center

  The Goshen College Union Building re-opened its doors in September after an eight-month renovation project, welcoming visitors to the new Hunsberger Commons, which is home to the Hunsberger Haitian Art Collection and the relocated Juanita Lark Welcome Center, as well as an overhauled Leaf Raker Cafe.