Hey everyone, I hope you’ve had a good month back at school. I know I have, though it’s been challenging. Some days I feel like an ant; you spend your life building an ant hill and serving the queen, then just when you think you’re getting somewhere a giant foreign object with a check mark emblem on the side and size 9 on the bottom comes along, plunges into your sandy home and ruins all of your progress… poor ants! So maybe it’s been more of an uphill challenge so to speak? Though, I don’t feel too badly for them; in my experience twice as many ant hills spring up overnight for every one ant hill that is destroyed! Like the ants, I feel the weight of the impeding danger of deadlines coming near to threaten my sense of security. The thing is though my security is in Christ. For anyone who’s reading, no matter how much that Nike running shoe digs into your life your home will remain if you remain grounded in Christ.
Well, that’s my random spiel of the day. I’m sure at least some of you thought I was going to talk about ants being hardworking bugs like in scripture, or not building your house on the sand. Those are good lessons, but what I really wanted to say is this: READING BREAK IS NEXT WEEK SO HANG IN THERE LITTLE ANTS!!!
This Episode of the Voice Features:
Eating, Sleeping, and Playing Video Games by Andrena LeBlanc
Encouragement Chapel by David Dunn
Trujillo by Jereme Berg
Malawi . . . where? : A brief glance at my cultural ignorance by Julie-Anne Wideman
Veerasammy on Local Outreach by Stephen Veerasammy
Someone who will Always Love You by Anonymous
Forests… by Christie Heemskerk
Devotional by Jesse Goulet
Voice on the Street by James Fretz
Christie Heemskerk,
Publications Editor
Oh, video games. The thrill of Mario Karts shooting red shells, the sound of Guitar Hero playing the tunes, and the power of Jigglypuff getting thrown off the edge in Smash Brothers makes my world go round. As a gamer I love knowing what the hottest new games are on campus as much as going back to the classics that started them all; and now I have finally competed with some of the talented and rigorous gamers at Emmanuel Bible College.
The (R) Evolution of Gaming Tournament took place on February 10, 2010 from 7-9 pm. The games that were used in this tournament included Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Mario Karts 64 for the Nintendo 64 (N64), Super Smash Brothers (Bros) Brawl for the Nintendo Wii (Wii), and Guitar Hero for the X-Box 360. There were also numerous card games such as Dutch Blitz and Euchre and board games such as Cranium. Whether the game was played via cards or console, the competition was high and people played to have their names recognized within the school.
In the end the winners were found. The winner of the Emmanuel Bible College Video Game Trophy was Leanne Knechtel and the winner of the Movie Ticket raffle was Andrena LeBlanc. The champion for Mario Kart was Lindsay Prowd. Brawl’s champion was Leanne Knechtel and the champion for Guitar Hero was Trevor Jacobs. However, in many ways and at many times the competition came close and the gamers at EBC had a chance to compete with one another while enjoying pizza, pop, chips, snack mixes, brownies and Smarty’s.
To the Student Council:
This was a fun event and I think all of us participants recommend that it happen again next year! Another suggestion I may have in that regard is perhaps a course on media. After all, video games, television, the Internet are an intrinsic part of our society; especially youth culture. Perhaps it would be a benefit to the students at Emmanuel Bible College to have the option of taking a course on media and society as the media affects everyone in North America. This course could educate students about the media, the different theoretical approaches to the media and the different views that Christians have of it.
In conclusion, this was an excellent event that should be repeated in the years to come by the Student Council. I thank all of those people who helped make it a reality. Finally, I think that a course on the media would make a wonderful addition to EBC’s course selections.
By Andrena LeBlanc
On Friday the 29th of January the Encouragement Committee -lead by Erica Woodford- revealed a musical drama skit. May I have one honest remark; this presentation surpassed all my expectations.
Most of our churches or youth groups have seen one of these drama shorts at one point or another. Some that I have seen have been –to put it bluntly- have been better than others. The artistic side of me can often hold too high standards to the rest of society and the church. Not that I think that everything that everyone does should be of the highest excellence, but it does take some strength realize that people intentions and efforts should be good enough on their own. So indeed, I began watching the presentation with my scalpel ready to critique. As I watched I became more and more impressed; even more, I became more and more touched.
All the stops were pulled out for this presentation making it a pity if you missed it. Behind the three actors were guitarists, singers and a drummer laid out in the back of the stage. Stephanie VanSpronsen, Stephanie Vincent, Todd, Curtis Robb, Brittany Simpson and Tina Moore gave way to spectacular live music that when infused with Daniel Dorsey, Kaitlyn Staines and Marilyn Girimonte‘s acting and Charlie Pushparajah Narration transformed into a touching, reflective and climactic event. When there is great acting alone or great music alone they can each stir the soul. But when these are combined they create a way of learning that we do not often enough see. To have the eyes see, the ears hear and the heart react; now that gives way to transformation of a very mighty nature.
This chapel continued with a superb dramatic monologue given by Julie Anne Wideman. After Julie Anne finished Erica Woodfords spoke some of her own thoughts and shared some of her own experiences. With a unique and powerful beginning, middle and end of this chapel everyone could leave resonating with renewed, unity, purpose and hope.
David Dunn
