Huge changes coming to PBA dining

Even though I am graduating (I feel I may write about that fact everyday) I was privileged to be on the Student Government this year and was chosen to participate in a student committee concerning PBA on-campus dining. The contract with the previous dining company expired and PBA has decided to go with a new company, Aramark. This means HUGE changes to the on campus dining experience, which I am frankly jealous of. PBA has four places in which a student can get food on campus.

Two of these places, Common Ground Café and Jazzman’s Café, are being completely altered. CG, which is located in the Green Complex for Sports and Recreation, will be replaced with the favorite fast-food restaurant for the PBA student body, Chick-fil-a. Yes, you will be able to ‘Eat Mor Chiken’ on campus next fall! Jazzman’s, which is located in the Warren Library, will be renovated into an Einstein’s Bro’s Bagels. Both of these options will allow for more delicious freedom in the meal plan and for commuter students who eat on campus.

The Cafeteria will also be undergoing a much needed renovation and $1.3 million face lift. The Caf will feature the Fresh Food Company and will offer uninterrupted dining all day from 7am until 10pm during the week. The meal plan, which will remain the same cost as now, will be altered to allow unlimited access for either 5 days a week or 7 days a week. This way if a student only wants to grab a cup of coffee and a banana, they do not have to waste a meal swipe. The main part of the Caf will be the FFC. This will be located in the center of the Caf and will offer food created with the ingredients you request right in front of your eyes. This will allow for more healthy options than the regular cafeteria food.

España por un Año

I am usually not a person who worries. I can typically go with the flow and make decisions at the last minute without much stress. This semester I have experienced stress. Not only am I graduating in 24 days, but I am uncertain of what comes next in my life. I know that God will provide, but I still have to take action in the direction He is calling. Just a few weeks ago, I felt like I needed to forego my plans since the beginning of freshman year – go right away to Medical School – for a new plan. I decided that I am going to teach English in Spain for a year.

This is not completely ridiculous; when I graduate on May 8 I will have a Spanish Minor as a part of my bachelor’s degree. Being fluent in Spanish is one of my life goals, and this is the best possible way I can see to accomplish that goal. Plus I get to live in Europe for a year. What more could a person ask?

Anyways, part of the application process involves a whole lot of paperwork. I have been waiting, and waiting for all of it to get to my mailbox here in West Palm. Needless to say, I have been freaking out a bit. The deadline, tomorrow April 15, has been quickly approaching. My background check, which I had to order from my hometown Maitland (Metro Orlando), STILL had not come as this morning. Luckily I was able to get the police department to e-mail me a copy of the report. Everything is coming together, and I could not be happier. It seems like this might actually happen. Life is GOOD.  Now I just have to wait until the last week of April or the first week of May to see if I am accepted and find out the exact school I will be teaching in.  Maybe I can occupy my mind with the plethora of homework I need to do before then.  Probably not.

Everyday is a Birthday at PBA

There must have been something in the air in July back in 1987, and ’88 too for that matter. I am pretty sure that I have never experienced a week like this before. I literally have a PBA friend who has a birthday on each day this week. It is not just my run of the mill, acquaintances either. I am talking about real, down to earth, good friends. All of them. It is very exciting that there will be something to celebrate each day this week (seriously, Monday-Friday), even though most of them are turning old – and by that I mean 22 or 23.

I just do not know how I am going to be able to afford the celebrations, both in my time and in finances. Typically a birthday celebration involves going out to dinner at a nicer place, which means more expensive, usually somewhere in the vicinity of City Place or Downtown. My goal is to persuade at least some of these important individuals to combine their respective celebrations, and hopefully postpone them to Saturday night instead of during the week.

With only 3 class weeks of school left, the projects, papers and exams are approaching their due date – which means I am beginning to start them. Procrastination does not pay off, now that I have wasted much of the semester, and will be forced to prioritize homework. Looks like I will be spending a whole lot of time at my favorite place, the Lassiter Reading Rotunda in the Warren Library, at every moment I am free this week and all weekend. It will be worth it in the end even if I complain along the way.

Founding Chairman Reflects on University’s Past, Future

In what he called his last public speech, Palm Beach Atlantic University's founding board chairman Dr. Donald Warren on Tuesday called on his successors to continue leading students on a path of morality.

Dr. Warren, a retired cardiologist, said that he and Dr. Jess Moody, former pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, founded PBA more than 40 years ago out of concerns about the moral decline of America. They also were dismayed by the increasing number of colleges and universities that had left their Christian roots.

"It dawned on me American needed a trail to follow back to the morality of the past," Dr. Warren said during the University's annual Founders Day chapel in the Rubin Arena.

Dr. Warren said that while the campus has seen significant improvements over the years, those changes aren't the most important thing. "The only product we have are the students, and they are America's future," he said.

Speaking directly to the students, Dr. Warren said that God calls everyone. Young people might not realize the talents they have, but as they use them, they will grow, he said.

He advised students to "turn off your gadgets" on a regular basis in order to have quiet time to hear God speak.

"You will be stronger, America will be stronger and God will be pleased," he said.

The Founders Day event was sponsored by the University's Alumni Association. Among those in attendance were Dr. Moody and several trustees, alumni and invited guests. The program included a performance of "The Impossible Dream" by Dr. Moody, his son Patrick and Dr. Lloyd Mims, dean of the School of Music and Fine Arts. The song was the University's original alma mater.

Also, Dr. Warren's grandson, current PBA student Kyle Singerman, read the opening scripture from the book of Proverbs.

Dr. Warren and his wife, Bebe, have lived in Palm Beach County since 1956. Dr. Warren built a cardiology practice that included some of the wealthiest and most influential men and women in the country.

He is the founding president of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. He also has served on the executive committees and board of governors for both St. Mary's and Good Samaritan medical centers, as well as on the board of governors for the former Intracoastal Health Systems.

Dr. Warren was PBA's board chairman from 1968 until he became a life trustee upon his retirement in 2006. The campus library is named for the Warrens.

He also is the author of the recently published book "Miracles and Wonders: A Chronicle of Palm Beach Atlantic University."

Sterotypical Easter

HE is RISEN!

I have always known that PBA had a family atmosphere, but I never really realized it until this Easter. I had two friends from my dorm (Weyenberg) that were not going home for the Easter break. They had their reasons: distance, cost, no form of transportation, and so on. I invited them to my home to celebrate this beautiful day with my family. They had never celebrated Easter without their families, so I knew I had to make it fantastic.

Easter 2010 started off with us going to bed at 6:30AM after talking for a little over 8 hours. We attended service at 11 and by 2 we were at my house. As the day continued, we played volleyball and threw around a frisbee. After having my parents hide the Easter eggs, the competitive hunt began. A friend and I tied with 12 eggs. This could only mean one thing, a friendly competition of wii tennis. We then ate the delicious food my mother had prepared and after that we dyed the eggs. This completed our Easter.

The sense of community at PBA is great. I am so grateful for the friends I have made here. I am even more grateful for having had the opportunity to share such a wonderful day with such wonderful people.

Exit the King - PBA Theater Production

The Palm Beach Atlantic University Theatre Department will present the absurdist drama "Exit the King" by Eugene Ionesco April 15-17 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday with a matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Performances will be held in the University's W.G. Lassiter Student Center, located at 900 South Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach. Tickets are $15 general admission or 2 for $25; $10 seniors; $5 students with I.D. For tickets, contact Ticket Central at 561-803-2970 or ticketcentral@pba.edu.

Premiering in 1962, Ionesco's absurdist drama "Exit the King" examines life and death through the unusual ways that ancient King Berenger deals with his own mortality. Palm Beach Atlantic University theatre student Trent Stephens plays the lead role of King Berenger and is pictured above.

This production is directed by Rob Homer-Drummond, professor of theatre at Palm Beach Atlantic. Homer-Drummond earned his bachelor of communications from Wheaton College and his master of fine arts in acting from the University of Louisville. He has studied Lecoq movement technique, Linklater voice technique, and participated in workshop studies with Actors Theatre of Louisville.

President Lu Hardin shares about PBA's excellent faculty

Easter Break

The 40 days of lent are almost over and Holy Week has begun.  This, as I am sure you are already aware, is one of the most important weeks in the church calendar. I congratulate those of you who were able to keep their Lenten commitments and fast during the past 35 days up to today.  Fasting is a very powerful and meaningful experience, if done correctly and completely.  There is a lot of joy involved in this week including two of my favorite Sunday mornings.  The first being Palm Sunday, I love when the children of the church parade in with palm branches to signify the entering into the city of Jesus on that Sunday many years ago.  Then again, there is nothing quite like Easter morning.  The joy and celebration during morning worship, either at sunrise or a reasonable hour.  Altogether it is a good week.  There is, and should be, a few days of sorrow also included in the celebratory week.  Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are two of those days that remind the believer of the sacrifice of Jesus for each of us.  Remembering these two days helps to make Easter morning that much more of a celebration!

There is also another, although somewhat less important, reason why I greatly enjoy Holy Week. 

Easter Break.  Class has begun to get a little crazy and the assignments have begun to pile up all around it seems in the two weeks since Spring Break.  I know that I need some time to rest and relax before I plunge into the rest of the semester.  At Palm Beach Atlantic we are graced with two days off of school in celebration of Easter.  We get Good Friday and Easter Monday off of classes so that we can travel home to spend time with family on this most important of Sundays.  It allows for time to paint Easter eggs, or go on an egg hunt (either letting you act like a kid, or maybe just spending time with important children in your life).  Either way, the Easter Break is a vital and important part of the spring semester at PBA.  All of my friends who attend secular universities are always jealous!

PBA's FLY ON US Program

Today on campus, many prospective students and their parents can be seen walking around because of the fact that there is an Open House today.  One of the best ways for a student to know if PBA is a good fit for them is to come and visit campus.  Open House provides a glimpse into the real everyday life of a PBA student.  It allows the student to stay in the residence halls with real students and also experience the cafeteria and a chapel service.  While I was wondering around the school website I noticed a new and exciting program offered out of the admissions office.  The new incentive is called FLY ON US.  The logistics of the program are that Palm Beach Atlantic will reimburse a prospective student's airfare up to $200 for one visit to PBA.  That is a fairly large amount of money that can be put toward the cost of tuition.  This program is to encourage students to come to campus, because when they do they will surely be hooked and enroll.  The campus is beautiful and full of life, even on a day when it seems that the sky will open up in any minute and a monsoon will occur. It seems like students do not have any excuse for not visiting campus anymore and anyone who is interested should contact the admissions office and schedule a visit today.

Palm Beach International Boat Show

This weekend a huge event is coming to the waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach.  It is time for the 25th Annual Palm Beach International Boat Show.  This is one of the best boat shows in the entire country and features more than $350 Million worth of watercrafts and accessories to go along with them.  The Intracoastal Waterway is filled with boats and yachts plus a few floating islands to spend the day.  Many PBA students attend the event every year to check out everything from small inflatable boats to 150 foot mega-yachts.  Admission to the event allows you to take tours of all of the boats and just enjoy a day in the sunshine.  The event allows for PBA students to see what they can, maybe, afford if they work hard.  This is good motivation at this moment in the semester when exams and papers are piling up. Tickets are $12 online or can be purchased at the event for $14.

Bring on the Warm Weather

Spring has begun, well, it did two days ago.  I have been waiting, impatiently I might add, for this winter to end.  I do not like cold weather.  There is one exception to this rule, I can handle cold only when I am snow skiing.  It helps to have all the specialized clothing and layers.  I tolerate the cold for that week, and then want to be home in sunny Florida, hopefully on a beach.  I want to give all of you props who spend the winter up in the northern states, and when I say northern I mean Georgia and Alabama.  Everything else even farther north just seems ridiculously cold to me and I cannot even imagine an entire winter spent up in Illinois or North Dakota.  Despite a little bit of rain this morning, this has turned into a nice day in south Florida.  Much nicer than I would assume is happening in Chicago with a wind chill of 39° or even New York City for that matter, at 52°.  I am thankful that I was born in Florida but even more thankful that I decided to move south and get away from the artic cold in West Palm Beach.  I am pretty sure that no one is basking in the sun in a bathingsuit on Lake Michigan today, yet the beaches down here will be occupied.

Spring Break!

Ah, Spring Break, just saying the words would make any student happy. At PBA we just finished up our Spring Break and students are returning to campus from all around the world. The adjustment is difficult, as always. Mission Trips are a very important part of the PBA experience, and I would highly recommend taking at least one during your time in college. I went to Santa Cruz, Bolivia my freshman year and it was an experience I will never forget. Sophomore year I took a trip to Guatemala City, Guatemala with a couple friends. Junior year a couple of friends and I road tripped up to Ponce Inlet, Florida to spend the week together at the beach.

Every break I felt the need to travel somewhere to have a fun and relaxing spring break. This year, my final year, it hit me. Why would I want to leave this paradise where I live for school for spring break? The stress of travel takes away from vital beach and relaxation time. In the past PBA has charged students to remain on campus during spring break, this year they decided to drop that expense which means free housing ALL spring break right near the beach. What more could a college student ask for? I do not actually live on campus, I live with 3 roommates in a downtown condo within a mile of campus, but I would have enjoyed living on campus for the break as well.

Being that I am from the metro Orlando area, I have many friends from home who attend the large state schools in Florida. In the past, PBA has always had spring break at another week than everyone else in the state. This year was different, we lined up with mostly everyone. We also happened to line up with the college one of my roommates transferred from in Illinois. What does this mean? My condo was full of good friends the entire week. Every college student around the country dreams of spending their spring break in sunny south Florida. So I stayed here and brought old and new friends here to spend a great and tranquil spring break getting my tan on at Clarke Beach (below) and at the pool/hot tub (mid right) in my condo. If only spring break was two weeks!

Spring Break Presidential Address

Spring Break Mission Trips

Palm Beach Atlantic University senior Ashley Anderson has been to the Dominican Republic twice on mission trips, and she's headed there for a third time this weekend. "In my mind there is no better way to spend my spring break," said Anderson, 22, who is majoring in psychology and minoring in cross-cultural studies. "I love to help those in need and to serve God and my brothers and sisters in Christ." Anderson, of Bowie, Md., is co-leader of an eight-member team that leaves Friday and will spend the week in the mountain town of Peralta, where the University partners with a network of churches. In the past, team members have volunteered with construction projects, interacted with local children and led church services. "We're just trying to prepare ourselves to be flexible for whatever they have us do," said senior international business major Jeffrey Boyle, 22, the team's other co-leader from Bartlett, Ill.

Similar mission projects will take place in various countries across the Caribbean and Central and South America next week. In all, more than 100 students serving on 10 PBA mission teams will visit such places as Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Peru and Jamaica for spring break, which runs from March 7-13.

This year, the 13-member Haiti team has received a great deal of attention in the wake of the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake in the island nation. The decision to proceed with the trip came after numerous discussions with Mission of Hope, the University's partner organization near Port-au-Prince that operates a church, school, orphanage and hospital. The students' safety was a top priority, said Christian Dzadek, the University's coordinator of interational service projects. Team members said they expect they will be helping with the relief effort to some degree, as well as assisting the organization with its ministries. The Haiti team, like the others, has undergone extensive training for the past several weeks. Students also raised their own money for the trips.

icole Valentin, one of the leaders of the seven-member Guatemala team, said her team has met once a week since November to practice the leadership activities they will be teaching at different schools there. The group is sponsored by PBA's Impact Leadership Team. "We also shared our personal testimonies with one another and discussed our motivation for the trip," said Valentin, 20, a junior accounting major from Orlando. Her co-leader, senior mathematics major Rod Venegas, 23, is a native of Guatemala City. He believes the leadership activities that his team will share with local students will benefit his homeland in years to come. The team's aim, he said, is "to plant seeds, knowing the impact it can have in the individual lives of those kids."

Sarah Thomas, 19, a freshman nursing major from Boca Raton, also is looking forward to interacting with young people this spring break. She is co-leader of a 10-person team that is departing for Cochabamba, Bolivia. The team will lend its assistance to Children's International Network, which operates an orphanage and ministers to boys on the street. "I have been very anxious to go all last semester and even more so now," said Thomas, who went on her first mission trip to Mexico at age 11. "I feel like my best self on mission trips, almost like I am fulfilling my purpose here on Earth."

Musical Theater Production: She Loves Me

During this past weekend and this week the Musical Theater department at Palm Beach Atlantic University will be putting on the production She Loves Me for their annual spring musical. The musical is based upon a book by Joe Masteroff, the song lyrics are by Sheldon Harnick and the music in the production is by Jerry Bock. This production is one of the world's most charming musicals. This little gem of a show by the creators of Fiddler on the Roof and is about two perfume shop coworkers who dislike each other, but are actually in love with each other's pen-pal persona. Based on Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo, this story has been made into three popular movies: The Shop around the Corner with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, In the Good Old Summer Time with Van Johnson and Judy Garland, and most recently, the romantic comedy blockbuster You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It is a timeless classic that originally premiered upon Broadway in 1963 and enjoyed a reward winning revival in 1993. The original Broadway poster from the original show is pictured to the right, and two of the cast members from the PBA production are pictured to the left (Sierra Minot and Daniel Schwab). The production is excellent at PBA and one of the many perks of the university during the springtime when the annual musical comes around. I would highly recommend seeing it this week at the remaining performances in the Helen K. Persson Recital Hall in Vera Lea Rinker Hall. Tickets are $15 general admission or 2 for $25, $10 seniors 65 years and older, and only $5 for students.