PeL, 20
)/ hetstone
SUontreat Coffm’s Student ^oke
Montreat Now And Forever?
Montreat Now and
Forever?
I always thought Montreat
was a cool name anyway.
By: Alanna Vandemoord
The Citizen-Times of
Asheville wrote an article on the
big m word at Montreat: the
merge. Just recently, word got
around that there would be no
merger to Point University. But
Out in the snow and
in by the fireside:
The Sophomore-
Junior Retreat
By Dane Gomez
It was an event I had
been excited about for some time,
the Sophomore-Junior Retreat.
I had been talking about it with
Daniel Bennett and Tom Oxen-
reider for some time and now I
got to experience it firsthand. This
event was inspiring in two very
distinct ways: self-discovery and
appreciation of others.
One thing I did not
know much about was the Gal
lop organizations personality
profile we would be taking called
what exactly does this all mean?
Thats the real question.
The board of trustees
met on Saturday, February 1. They
decided that $2 million needed to
go to the bank by the 17th. Once
the money is raised. Montreat
will start looking for a president,
furthering their plans for the
future. The school has to raise only
$400,000 to reach the ultimate
goal.
That is $200,000 a week.
$28,572 a day.
$1,191 an hour.
$20 a minute.
33t a second.
Well, thats just some pocket
change!
The board is confident in
its alumni and donors to raise the
money, which means we should be
too. There is a lot of planning and
praying behind this project along
with an incredible amount of sup
port from the community, alumni,
and famihes. As students, that is
our job: to support.
StrengthsQuest. I have taken quite
a few personality profiles before
but this one was a whole level
above anything Ive tried. My top
five themes really fit me well and
I grew to imderstand them more
on the retreat. They used the word
themes to describe these innate
talents that with investment can
be brought out as strengths. I Uked
that intentionahty as it gave room
for improvement and caution
against the abuse or neglect of
All of this financial talk
is fairly difficult to imderstand and
can be uncomforting to those left
in the dark on the merger topic.
Although you might struggle with
it also, I encourage you to at least
step into the issue and try to figure
out what it all means. This is just
a tiny spec on the entire picture
Montreat has been painting for
years and, ivith our support, will
continue to paint.
these abihties. On the van ride over
Cohn and I were discussing each
others themes. We both thought
the evaluations were spot on for
each other. The StrengthsQuest
profile gave us terms to help us all
see the best in each other.
Having words to help see
the innate abilities of the people in
our retreat group was beyond valu
able. Often in OE we talk about
creation as being nature and the
outdoors, but this weekend was
about marveling in the creation
God did when he made all of us.
This led to a response of worship
that was a big part of the retreat.
Knowing our strengths helped the
group turn outward to each other
and God instead of simply inward.
It was a very fife affirming weekend
as we heard stories from each other
giving personal accounts to the
characteristics we were learning
about.
The faculty made a big impact on
the trip; they werent there as chap -
erones or because they had to be
there. They were honest, present,
and real. Whether that showed
us in deep talks in workshops or
something light and fun like sled
ding ora snowball fight I
See Retreat page 2