With integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership, Missouri Baptist University’s cheer and dance teams are flying to new heights and making history. One of the teams, co-ed cheer, qualified last season for the NAIA Competitive Cheer and Dance National Championships in Michigan. The STUNT team also qualified for nationals, which was hosted by MBU.
MBU Spartan Line members pose at the 2022 Homecoming football game, which ended in a 24-10 Spartan win. From left to right, they are: (back row) Diamond Perks, Audrey Strawhun, Kiersten Brown, Rachel Wagner, Elizabeth Settle and Hayley Hill; (middle row) Faith Svanda, Emilee Goldsmith, Abbey Mortland, Emma Crites, Tori Mogannam and Emma Brandwein; (front row) Samantha Haynes, Autumn Heaton, Lilly Hetz, Samantha Broeker and Madison Coumerilh. Photo by Anna Jeschke
As Easter Sunday approaches we are able to reflect back on one of the most challenging years in the history of our nation. For some of us, Easter Sunday might be a time of questioning His presence during the unprecedented challenges of this past year. And that is understandable. Our God is big enough to answer all of life’s difficult questions. For others, Easter Sunday is a time of reassurance that an almighty God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins, and rise from the grave to give us all hope for a future. So the question we are asking our journalism students to blog about today is: In this particularly challenging year, what does Easter mean to you? These blogs are Part 1 of a two-part series.
Easter is a time of reflection and appreciation for the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us on the cross. In this photo, Camp Akita, a church camp in Logan, Ohio, which runs throughout the summer each year, has a hill called Bald Eagle, where students hike for a full day of worship. Photo by Kamryn Bell
Believe it or not, there once was a time when you would walk into the Perk or SRC or Mabee Great Hall and see your friends and classmates smiling and laughing, and you could actually see their faces. What a difference a year makes. Those times will certainly return, but in the meantime how are students at Missouri Baptist University coping with the requirement to continue wearing masks after the mandate has been in place for the better part of a full year now?
Zachary Mailes works on his laptop at the Perk. Face masks have become such a part of students’ lives during the past year that we have come to expect them to be worn everywhere that people congregate. Photo by Emmi Windes
As the world moves past the one-year mark of COVID-19, what are college students missing the most these days and what do they look forward to as we are finally turning the corner on this deadly pandemic? Could it be the freedom of not wearing a mask? Or perhaps just interacting with other people?
Students miss their pre-COVID lives and wonder when those lives might return. Thankfully, some projections estimate we could begin returning to a more normal lifestyle as early as late spring or early summer. Photo by Bram Williams
Here are some interesting facts about MBU Timeline, the student newsmagazine of Missouri Baptist University, in St. Louis:
*Our mission statement is: MBU Timeline is the student news network of Missouri Baptist University, a private Christian university that embraces the essential core value of “social change through service and leadership.”
*The Bible verse that drives our mission is 2 Timothy 2:15 (Worldwide English Version): “Tell the true message in the right way.”
*The WordPress website has been up since late-fall 2013. We average about 3,000 sessions and about 5,000 pageviews per month.
*Our stories and galleries get as few as 40 or 50 hits, or as many as 8,000 hits.
*We have readers in every state and more than 90 countries around the world. We have several readers in South America, the United Kingdom, India and Australia.
*Most of our readers are in Missouri, followed by Illinois, California and Texas.
*We do not accept advertising as we are a not-for-profit online newsmagazine.
*We welcome contributors from all walks of MBU life, regardless of your major. Reach out to us on Twitter at: @mbutimeline.