Gardner-Webb University THE PILOT /•x-f-rrfn December 9, 1997 Issue #8 The Official Campus Newspaper Boiling Springs, NC Festival of Lights not just another annual tradition by Nic Floyd staff writer Two thousand luminaries line the sidewalks, the president's Christmas tree is lit and the joyous sound of Christmas music fills the campus. This is the Festival of Lights, an annual Gardner-Webb tradition started by President Christopher White nearly 12 years ago. The tradition started from a small idea. White said. "We had very few traditions, and institutions of higher learning often have wonderful traditions. So when I came here 111/2 years ago, I looked around and did not see the kind of traditions that I thought the school needed to have. As a church-related school, the concept of celebrating Christmas with the commun ity seemed to be a good thing to do. "With the intent to give both thanks to the commimity for its support and also to set a tradition that is a part of our school is how the Festival of Lights came to be," he explained. But the Festival of Lights is more than a school tradition. It is the celebration of the spirit and a connection to Jesus. "The Festival of Lights is the official ushering of the Christmas season on our campus," said Tracy Jessup, director of campus ministries. "Usually it is the first Thursday after Advent. So this is the appropriate time for us to began the celebration of ttie first coming of Christ," he said. "Christ came into a troubled world and brought joy and peace; and in the same sense, during the Christmas season, if we will allow Christ to come into our lives, no matter how troubled, we can have that same sense of joy and peace," Jessup added. According to scripture, Jesus is the light of the world. With that idea in mind, the luminaries lighting the side walks guide people to the different events "on campus just as Jesus' teachings guide people to the truth. Putting together an annual event as large as the Festival of Lights calls for a joint effort. Students from all classes, SGA mem bers, Physical Plant workers. Campus Ministries, Student Activities and the President's Office all took part in making the Festival of Lights successful. Students and Physical Plant filled sand bags for the luminaries. SGA, Student Activities and Mark Dixon, campus decorator, decorated the campus. See "Lights" on page 8 AMANDA WlXlAMSi^urr President White lights the tree during the Festival of Lights last Thursday night Kinesiology students go for it all in T\ibbs' bowl games KAUBN BW>WBR4tifr Mark Sterious and Rachel Cash discms a Jeopardy answer during Tubbs' exam review. by Karen Brower, editor, and Cariton Hurt, contributing writer Dr. Jeff Tubbs has an original attitude about exams ~ make them as much fun as football bowl games. Students in Tubbs' Kinesiology (PHED 335) class have been competing against one another all semester for chances to win their bowl games. During the regular "season," Tubbs gave his students points for each test or quiz and posted the class' 10 highest ranked students after each one. This practice, Tubbs said, gives his students incentive to score in the top 10 because they get recognized for it during the next class period. Kinesiology students competed over the course of the semester, and when it came time for the playoffs, Tubbs paired them off to play bowl games for the final exam. "If you want to get in a good bowl, you have to worit hard and get in the top 10," said Robert Moore, who will face Alexis Helland in the Aloto Bowl. But before the bowl games came media day, when students discussed their expectations for the bowl games. On media day, Tubbs awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards for total test points, extra credit and attendance. Amy Smith received the MVP award for points and shared the MVP award for extra credit with Holly Flournoy. Doug Bain, Wes Gentry and John Le- wallen each received an MVP award for perfect attendance. Tubbs says the atten dance award gives students "incentive to stay with us all semester." "People come to class because Dr. Tubbs makes things fim," said Mary Swofford. Swofford will face Lewis Nantz in the Fiesta Bowl. See "Tubbs" on page 2 In this issue Opinions and Editorials page 4 Fall Awards pages 6-7 Christmas IVaditions pageB

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view