Caitlin Lassiter

One year of COVID-19: the unforgettable experience of pastoring a college campus through a global pandemic

26Mar

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

One year of COVID-19: the unforgettable experience of pastoring a college campus through a global pandemic

When Trevecca chaplain Erik Gernand thinks back to his first reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a halt to campus life as students knew it, it doesn’t take him long to remember the main concern on his mind. “I think the first pastoral prompt was how do we maintain some sense of connectivity as a campus community and how can we shift the content and the spaces we have to be able to try and address some of the current issues we’re facing,” Gernand recalls. In the early days of COVID-19, Gernand worked to create a YouTube series called “How Christians Respond in Times of Crisis,” where religion faculty, mental health professionals and medical workers joined him to speak about where faith fits into this new reality of a COVID world. Gernand also hosted a podcast with Tim G...

Students turn to small groups to foster spiritual community on campus during COVID-19

26Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Coronavirus, Spiritual Life

Students turn to small groups to foster spiritual community on campus during COVID-19

Every Thursday night, Ashley Forman grabs her Bible and heads out the door to worship with her friends in Soma for what she describes as some of the most authentic community she’s experienced all school year. Forman is one of several students who participate in some sort of small group each week on campus. Some of those groups are official and sponsored by the chaplain’s office or the counseling center, while others have been organic and popped up out of what students say is their need to connect, pray with and be in community with people. “There’s something so special about being able to do life with these people and see them every day. They’re like my family,” Foreman says. Students gather for worship at Soma. Photo by Sommer Bright. College students face a uni...

Religion professors shift course content to equip students for ministry in COVID-19 era

9Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Coronavirus, Features, Spiritual Life

Religion professors shift course content to equip students for ministry in COVID-19 era

As Tim Green sits down to plan the syllabus for his Fall 2020 Old Testament Theology class, there’s one thing he knows with certainty: he can’t teach this class the same way he has in previous years. Green, dean of the Millard Reed School of Theology and Christian Ministry, said a Zoom conversation with other Nazarene Old Testament professors across the country confirmed his feelings that the course needed to be redesigned from the ground up in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and other 2020 tragedies. “Can we ignore the elephant in the room and teach this like we would any old time?” Green asked himself. Immediately, he knew he couldn’t. So the redesign began. “For the group that made up our class, the elephant in the room was that their spring semester ended in March and the...

Chapel Redesign Moves Services Across Campus, Online for Spring 2021 Semester

28Jan

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Coronavirus, Spiritual Life

Chapel Redesign Moves Services Across Campus, Online for Spring 2021 Semester

Trevecca chapel is back to meeting in-person this semester and requirements and fines will be enforced again. After a semester of no required attendance and all virtual chapels, a return to previous chapel plans and requirements is underway. Students will be required to wear masks and socially distance and the number of required chapels is 14 this semester, instead of the usual 24. Online viewing was down last semester when attendance wasn’t a requirement, so a shift back to mandatory chapel credits is necessary to get students to engage with the content on a regular basis, University Chaplain Erik Gernand said. With more than 24 options for attendance this semester, Worship & Witness chapels will be held Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. in Boone Convocation, Benson Audito...

Voice instructors adapt to teaching in a pandemic

24Oct

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Coronavirus, Features, Music

Voice instructors adapt to teaching in a pandemic

Students participate in vocal seminar while wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Photo courtesy of Professor Bakara Nkenge-Hinds. As Bakara Nkenge-Hinds sits down at the piano to begin her first lesson of the day, a mask covering the instrument she has spent years perfecting and a plexiglass barrier between her and the student, one thing is clear: this is not the way she envisioned her first semester teaching at Trevecca Nazarene University. Nkenge-Hinds, an adjunct voice instructor, is well-prepared for the job of training vocalists on a college campus, but nothing could have prepared her for the challenges of teaching students in the middle of a global pandemic-- a pandemic that is riskier for singers because of the airborne-nature of the COVID-19 virus. “Bei...

Administrators emphasize student responsibility in COVID-19 town hall

10Sep

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Coronavirus, Faculty

Administrators emphasize student responsibility in COVID-19 town hall

Students’ willingness to wear a face mask in class and around campus is the key to keeping the fall 2020 semester in-person, Trevecca faculty said during a COVID-19 Town Hall meeting on Thursday. “We are all in this together. We are all required to wear a mask and we are all required to participate in these practices that will keep us safe here on campus and in our city.” Dean of Student Development Jessica Dykes said. Requiring the use of face masks is just one practice Trevecca staff has implemented in their efforts to keeping students safe this semester during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to social distancing, contact tracing, daily health screenings, reduced class sizes and a 7-7 week schedule that lowers the number of people in a building at one time, Trevecca’...

6Mar

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Events

The Annual Southern Culture, Music and Civil Rights Tour Returns

The annual Southern Culture, Music and Civil Rights trip is returning during spring break, March 6-14. The trip will give students the opportunity to experience history by visiting key places where ordinary people participated in extraordinary events that shaped and challenged the southern way of life. “We felt that it was important of Trevecca students to learn about the pain and promise of the Civil Rights Movement, which took place in Nashville and neighboring cities of Montgomery and Birmingham,” said James Casler, director of the Center for Social Justice. The experience of the trip was expanded in 2015 when Matthew Spraker, associate dean of students for community life, partnered with social justice faculty to include southern culture and music experiences. The first p...

14Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Events

SGA Hosts Annual Valentine’s Day Party

This Saturday, Feb. 15, the SGA Sophomore Council will be hosting their annual Valentine’s Day event at Donelson Strike and Spare bowling alley from 8pm to 10pm. The event will be free to all students and no registration is required. Transportation will be provided. The bus will leave the Hub at 7:30pm. “The SGA Valentine’s Day event is a traditional thing for us, and it’s a tradition that the sophomore class plans and hosts every time,” said Marina Yousef, all student body president. “In past years, it’s been in TSAC where there’s food and there’s a theme where couples dress alike. They make cards, and there’s chocolate and cheesecake. But this year we wanted to kind of revolutionize it in a way.” According to Erica Wigart, sophomore class president, they wanted to create a Va...

Mr. Trevecca returns for the second year

6Feb

By Caitlin LassiterNo Comments

Campus News, Events

Mr. Trevecca returns for the second year

Mr. Trevecca is returning to Trevecca’s campus Friday, Feb.21 at 7pm. An evening that brings Trevecca’s students together for a time of fun, the event will showcase the talent and personalities of some of our communities’ male students. “I am looking forward to Mr. Trevecca,” said Matthew Spraker, associate deant of students for community life. “It is an event that shows how TNU students can put on a fun competition event that remains appropriate and shows the creativity of our students.” At last year’s Mr. Trevecca event, about 150 more students showed up than there was room for. A “viewing room” was set up to so that the overflow of students could enjoy the event. In response to last year’s seating issues, Emma Schmahl, social life director, said they are planning to fix t...