Chapel yesterday consisted of an incredible talk given by Dr. Ward, followed by Chaplain Messner giving the announcement that the college would be officially closed at 11:45 a.m. due to the incoming snow/ice storm. Amazing. It started snowing around 12:00 p.m. and didn’t stop until well into the evening. Last night, everything froze over with about an inch or so of ice. The trees are covered with ice, and all students have been confined to campus for the next 24 hours.

It’s been a lot of fun. I spent a lot of yesterday and this morning taking pictures.. some of which will soon hopefully make it onto here. This morning, Mac hosted a pancake breakfast for any students on campus to raise money for Haiti. From 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the RAs flipped pancakes – plain, banana, blueberry, chocolate chip, and whole wheat. I took over one of the RA’s positions for an hour or so. It was fun, and a lot of the students from campus came down to have pancakes and hang out. Pray for Haiti. I don’t know how much money we raised, but they need prayer. Tabitha Kapic was recently appointed the National Director of Medair, and they have been doing some great work down in Haiti. If anyone is looking for ways to donate money or time, let me know and I can point you in her direction.

Mary Frances and Me

It’s such a beautiful day today! The rain and fog has really been taking over the mountain recently, but it’s finally sunny and blue skies again. The trees on the mountain are incredible. Fall is definitely one of the most beautiful times of the year on the mountain.

Last night was fun. I stopped by Dr. Quatro’s house and played a game of foosball, went trick-or-treating with some people, and then went to the All Hallows Eve Party on campus.  Mary Frances dressed up as Helen of Troy, and I went as the Spirit. It was fun to hang out with people and mingle. After that, I watched August Rush with a group of friends. It was a good night.

Carter Hall

We are excited to invite you and your family to come and check out our view from high atop Lookout Mountain! The single best way to decide on a college is to experience it firsthand. We strongly encourage you to come visit Covenant. We believe that after you tour our campus, sit in on a couple of classes, and meet some of the people who make Covenant what it is, you’ll find that Covenant offers an educational community like no other.

October 1-3, 2009 

You are invited to Covenant for Campus Preview Weekend on October 1-3, 2009. CPW is an excellent opportunity for prospective students and their parents to experience Covenant up close and personal. The weekend is specifically designed to provide comprehensive, helpful answers to your questions about Covenant.

Check-in begins on Thursday, October 1st from 3:00 – 5:00pm and the weekend concludes on Saturday, October 3rd following breakfast.

During Campus Preview Weekend, you can:

• Attend classes
• Worship with the Covenant community in chapel
• Live in a residence hall with current students
• Meet President Nielson
• Get to know faculty and staff
• Have fun at campus events
• Talk with financial planning counselors
• Get a free Covenant t-shirt!

The Overlook

Every year, the Campus Activities Board (CAB) at Covenant hosts a college dance  and event called Kilter. It’s a different theme every year – this year it was “Kastaway Kilter” and it was held at the Tennessee Aquarium downtown. Both exhibits (freshwater and saltwater) were open for us to roam through, take pictures, and have fun for the evening. Outside, on the back overlook above the river, we had a DJ and a dance. The idea is for everyone to dress up in a “Kastaway” theme – essentially from the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I recommend it.

"Wilson"

People dressed up as pirates, ship-wreck survivors, Fed-Ex people (you have to see the movie), characters from Gilligan’s Island, fish, Peter Pan (don’t ask), Indians (again, don’t ask), and lots of other fun (semi-related) themes…

My younger brother Johnny came up for the event. He dressed up as Nemo from “Finding Nemo.” He told me before coming up that he was going to “show those college students how to party.” Secretly, I think he was just trying to make himself feel better about going to a college dance party with some 500 college students as a sophomore in high school… just a hunch.

Every year in the spring, Covenant holds a music festival called BakerTree. Students from all over campus come together to play music – whether it be original songs they wrote or songs from well-known artists and bands. Traditionally, it’s been on the chapel lawn with the musicians playing on the chapel steps. This year, it was on the held on the Dottie Brock Lawns with the musicians playing in the breezeway of Brock Hall.

It’s always a great time. It was such an incredibly beautiful day yesterday too… tables and chairs were set out on the lawn for people to sit and listen, and then dinner was moved outside while we continued to enjoy some great music. Covenant even brought in some bouncy castles for students/staff to enjoy.

The Economy of Sound (Asher Payne and Zach Terrell)

In the evening, a concert was hosted featuring the two student bands Left-Handed (Chris Nystrom and co.) and The Economy of Sound (Asher Payne and co.). It was phenomenal. The vast majority of the songs they performed were originals, including the song Ivory Ivory which The Economy of Sound performed at Mountain Affair last year (and won 1st place with). It was a great performance.

Blake Bozarth, a junior at Covenant, recently founded and is president of the Debate Society at Covenant. I thought I would share it with you avid and aspiring intellectuals who enjoy a good debate. Here is a little information about their recent successes in the tournament The Patrick Henry Communicator Classic from the Covenant website.

Two Covenant students finished in the top five overall as the newly formed Covenant College Debate Society competed in its first tournament, The Patrick Henry Communicator Classic, at Patrick Henry College on January 24, 2009.  As part of the National Forensics Association (NFA), the tournament hosted 33 students from four schools, including Covenant and North Carolina State. Covenant’s young Debate Society made an impressive showing. Zach Robbins ‘12 finished in third place overall and captured the first place speaker award. Blake Bozarth ‘10 finished in fifth place overall and earned the second place speaker award. Along with Robbins and Bozarth, four other Debate Society members competed: Hannah Vanbiber ‘11, John Rogers ‘09, Ali Morgan ‘11, and Rosemary Shelden ‘12.  Vanbiber received the thirteenth place speaker award. Click to continue »

I went to Knoxville last night for a concert called AFTERdark. It was hosted by Kanakuk Kamps. There was a speaker named Joe White, and Matt Wertz, along with a few other artists, sang and played worship music. It was right on UT campus… in the fraternity park called Fiji Island. It was incredible. I went with Olivia, Jen, and Pelts.. three good friends from school.

There is a group on facebook that talks about what AFTERdark is and what their mission is. Check it out here.

Every year, down on the beautiful lawns of Coolidge Park, Chattanooga hosts a swing dance festival for anyone and everyone to come to. It’s just an awesome night that is full of good jazz and swing music played by a live band, along with some pretty amazing swing dancing. I went down with my hall, the Five Points, on Saturday night… along with our sister hall, Chi Alpha. It was incredible.

It brought back a lot of good memories of my first few times being at Covenant… and actually being taught how to swing dance at some of the dances that Covenant threw – Jazz on the Overlook, Castle in the Clouds, Spring Banquet.. to name but a few of them. Good memories.

Be looking out for the CAMPUS PREVIEW WEEKEND that is coming up soon near the end of March!

On March 27-29, 2008, Covenant is hosting Campus Preview Weekend. The weekend provides an exceptional opportunity for prospective students and their parents to experience Covenant up close and personal, so that students may make informed decisions about where they might be spending four invaluable years of learning and living. Campus Preview Weekend is specifically designed to provide comprehensive and helpful answers to your questions regarding Covenant.

Tonight is Spring Banquet at Covenant. Every spring, we have a big dinner and dance down in Chattanooga. The last few years it’s been hosted at the Hunter Museum of Amercan Art. It’s always a beautiful place to have it. From the amazing dinner to the dancing and music to the fact that it’s held in a beautiful art gallery — Spring Banquet is always a lot of fun.

Jonathan, one of my friends, is coming over to my room in the next half hour to get spiffed up with me. I’m wearing a black pin stripe suit over a white button down shirt… Jonathan is going to let me borrow some of his cuff links and a tie — maybe pink? We’ll see. It’s going to be a good time. This year, we’re having a DJ play music on the veranda, and downstairs in the main lobby, we’re having a live jazz band play swing music! I’m excited – I learned how to swing last summer and since being at Covenant, and I definitely enjoy it.

I’ll put pictures up in the next couple days…