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In this Issue
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Greetings from Alex Miller '75, VP for Institutional Advancement 
I made a loop this morning down Hwy 213 past the dining hall and Wall Science Building, out Athletic Street between the football stadium and Wren Student Center and back up Bailey Street between what I still call "girls hill" and the amphitheatre. You won't believe the activity on campus. As you drive by Wall you immediately see the construction site of the new Ferguson Math and Science Building. The parking lot behind Wall is closed and the new building fills the space from there to where you turn right onto Athletic. As you make the turn you can see the drilling rigs to your left cattycorner across the street in what was a gravel overflow parking lot. We will use a geothermal system to heat and cool the new science building and the wells are being drilled there. Passing above the home side stands you look down on the field where five people are stretching the new synthetic playing surface. We're told this will be completed in about two weeks. My line of sight was interrupted as I pass the two story steel superstructure of the new Scott Merrill Press Box. I know from the architectural drawing this structure will have a brick veneer and will be an impressive "first sight" that many of our future athletic prospects will see when the make the turn onto Athletic Street for the first time at some point in the future. These are exciting times at Mars Hill College. I feel like the kid whose parents have made the move to the suburbs. We are definitely not in Kansas any more. The campus has always been beautiful to me but it's taking on a newer, fresher look. Come see us. As a popular hotel chain advertisement says, "We'll leave the light on for you." Two Scholarships Funded Two scholarships created by families with strong ties to Mars Hill have recently been fully funded. The Vann Scholarship was developed by Carolyn Vann Irvin of Williamsburg, VA through a charitable remainder trust which named Mars Hill College as a charitable beneficiary. The college recently received proceeds from the trust following Mrs. Irvin's death in April at age 101. The scholarship is named in memory of Mrs. Irvin's three brothers, who all attended Mars Hill: Dr. Herbert M. Vann '11, Dr. John Williard Vann '11, and Rev. Luther R. Vann '20. The Vann connection to Mars Hill runs deep. Carolyn Irvin's father, Luther, was college physician in the 1920's and her step-mother, Cornelia Howell Vann, was Dean of Women for eight years and taught Spanish for another twenty-eight years. Carolyn Irvin was actually expelled from Mars Hill for smoking while her step-mother served as Dean of Women! Ties between the college and the Vann family continue to this day. The family's beautiful rock home on Main Street in Mars Hill, built in 1934, was recently given to the college by the late Cornelia Vann Becker '47, half-sister to Carolyn Irvin. Students eligible for consideration for a Vann Scholarship must maintain a 3.2 grade point average while demonstrating traits of good citizenship and potential for promise of future service. The William and Ann Hill Educational Fund was created by William B. Hill '36 and his wife Ann. "Bill" Hill spent his career serving the Lord as a pastor, chaplain, and Baptist administrator. He accepted his first pastorate in 1939 with the Columbia Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. By 1942, he was serving Uncle Sam and attended the U.S. Army Chaplain's School at Harvard. During World War II "Captain" Hill served in the Pacific Command and when the Korean Conflict began, he was recalled to active duty, becoming one of the first chaplains in the newly created U.S. Air Force. Returning to civilian life in 1952, Bill was called to pastor the First Baptist Church, Joliet, Illinois. Other ministerial stops included service as Church Extension Minister for the American Baptist Church Mission and pastorates in Detroit and again in Seattle. The Hill's retired to the Raleigh area in 1979 and enjoyed their 60th wedding anniversary in June of 1999. They had an ongoing love of Mars Hill and all things Baptist, which led to the establishment of the Hill Educational Fund prior to Bill's death in February, 2000 and Ann's passing in November, 2005. JoAnne Alexander Receives Baptist Heritage Award 
JoAnne Weber Alexander of Statesville and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, received the 2007 North Carolina Baptist Heritage Award from Mars Hill College during an April 26 ceremony in Greensboro. The event is co-sponsored by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, North Carolina Baptist Foundation, and the Council on Christian Higher Education. The North Carolina Baptist Heritage Award recognizes individuals and couples who represent exemplary giving and service to organizations associated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. JoAnne Alexander's association with Mars Hill College goes back to her student days. She graduated in 1957 and was honored in 1993 as alumna of the year. In 1980 she was elected the first female chair of the college's board of trustees. Over the years, she and husband Tom have expressed their generosity to Mars Hill College in many ways, including the stained glass window in Broyhill Chapel and establishment of the Alexander Music and Hart Tennis scholarships. JoAnne is currently spearheading an auction to bring greater visibility to the college's fine arts program while serving on the cabinet for the college's Values and Vision capital fundraising campaign. An outstanding vocalist, JoAnne served for several years on the faculty of Mitchell Community College, toured Europe as a soloist and vocal coach, and started the Video Teaching Aids marketing company for music education videos. She is active in church life, having served as a soloist and deacon at First Baptist Church of Statesville, and currently as a member of First Baptist Church of Blowing Rock. Baccalaureate, Commencement Send Spring Grads Into the World 
Graduating seniors of Mars Hill College can make a difference in the world by remembering what they've learned in their college days. That was the message Erwin Potts, a 1952 Mars Hill graduate and retired chairman of McClatchy Newspapers, gave at the college's Baccalaureate Service on Friday, May 11. "If you can find a way to carry forth the spirit of Mars Hill College into a larger world, maybe, just maybe, you can make a difference," he told the audience in Moore Auditorium. Western civilization got its priorities wrong, Potts said. Despite an overwhelming amount of scientific and technical advances following World War II, he said, "we never learned to get along with each other; we never learned that wars never solve anything." He urged the graduates to apply the values they've learned as they move forward with the rest of their lives. "I don't know Mars Hill today that well, but at 150 years old, its core values are pretty well established." Those values, he said, are the same ones he learned as a student at the college 55 years ago: an emphasis on the humanities and the "creation of a living and caring spirit in people." Potts was the keynote speaker at an event which also featured the premiere of the third choral composition created for the college's Sesquicentennial Celebration. "The Gates of Morning" was composed by Dan Locklair, class of 1971, and set to retired professor and dean C. Earl Leininger's poem "A Teacher's Reverie." Along with the college choir members who performed the choral work, several other students also played roles in the Baccalaureate Service. Graduating seniors Rebekah Ludlow, Blake Hart, Kristine Pugh, and Tommy Keller all spoke, and David Fields conducted the college choir in another choral work. 
Mars Hill College held spring commencement exercises Saturday, May 12, in Moore Auditorium, awarding degrees to 162 graduates. The invocation was given by graduating senior Quennise Giles of Lauderdale, Florida, and commencement addresses were given by graduating seniors Mary Margaret Fulk of Dobson, North Carolina, and Christophe Aline of Reinach, Switzerland. Music was provided by the seniors of the Mars Hill College Choir. The commencement was one of the final events of Mars Hill College's sesquicentennial celebration, marking the 150th anniversary of the college's founding in 1856. Matthew Cannon of the class of 2001, a board member of the non-profit ChooseAneed.org, delivered a special message to the class of 2007. High Honors for Rev. Sue Fitzgerald 
At MHC's spring commencement ceremony, Rev. Sue Fitzgerald was awarded an honorary degree. In receiving the Doctor of Humane Letters, Rev. Fitzgerald told the audience, "Mars Hill College allowed me to fulfill a dream: a dream of ministry; today you are affirming this work in Mars Hill and western North Carolina." That ministry to the Mars Hill community has spanned more than 40 years, first as Minister of Education at Mars Hill Baptist Church and then as Director of the Center for Christian Education at Mars Hill College. North Carolina State Representative Ray Rapp, who is also Mars Hill College's Dean of Adult ACCESS, then presented Rev. Fitzgerald with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state's highest civilian honor, which is presented for outstanding service to the state. Here is text of her remarks: One verse in Isaiah continues to speak out to me. Every morning God makes me eager to hear what God is going to teach me. This morning is no exception, for you have given me a gift. The gift is greater than the hood or this piece of paper that's inside of here. For you have affirmed my ministry in western North Carolina and in Mars Hill for these past 43 years. That's a real gift, a real gift. Thank you, Dr. Lunsford and thank you, faculty and trustees, for this affirmation. Mars Hill College allowed me to fulfill a dream, a dream of ministry that kept unfolding to many possibilities of service. When I proposed to Dr. Bentley my ideas of Mars Hill College serving churches in western North Carolina, he said, 'I like it, but I'll have to talk to Mars Hill Baptist Church (where I was working) and see if they would let you work half time." My reply was, "Either you get all or nothing." And he looked at me sort of funny and he said, "But suppose in a year's time you do not have any work, and you will be out of a job." My reply was, "It will work." Today you are affirming that this work in Mars Hill and in western North Carolina was important. This means a great deal to me. My ministry has been a joy and continues to be a joy, even past formal retirement. I listen to all the words you said and I must ask myself, what will I learn through this gift? What does this say to me? I'm no spring chicken but I'm still eager to learn. I am still learning and seeking to live out what I learned about myself, about you, about the larger community, about the universe, and especially about God. This gift makes me want to continue to listen, to reach out, to serve wisely. I want to be open to the uniqueness of me that God is still continuing to create in me. Now, just a word--I can't help but say a little word or two to the graduates. Pretty soon, you will hold a piece of paper. What are you going to do with yours? Each day is a new day for you. Your learning days are just beginning, for this part of your education is only to open you up so you will be able to listen to hear what God is doing, what God is creating in you, what God is seeking to show you and tell you, that you might be, in some way, able to find answers to the problems in the world. But this applies to all of us, young and old. We've never been in this moment before. The gift of each new day opens us up to new ventures and new possibilities of service, and new ways to learn to serve. Thank you, Dr. Lunsford. Thanks you, faculty and trustees for this gift. I pray that I will use it wisely, continuing to minister in the best way to those things that are open to me and the needs that confront me each day. Thank you. Stadium Field Begins Turning Green 
The renovations and upgrades happening in Meares Stadium are in full swing. Work crews last week began installing the new synthetic field turf that is one of the key components of the Ammons Football Center project. The actual installation of the turf follows weeks of careful grading of the field and installation of foundation layers and the drainage system for the MaxPlay Artificial Grass System on which the Lion football, soccer, and lacrosse teams will play. 
Meanwhile, the Merrill Press Box continues to rise above the home grandstands. Within the past week, workers have connected the facility into the campus water lines and added the roof.
Ferguson Building Begins Turning Green in a Different Way 
As construction continues on the main structure of the Ferguson Math and Science Center, a new phase of the project is now also underway. Work has begun on the environmentally friendly geothermal system that will heat and cool the building. The college decided to use such a system because it's more cost effective than traditional systems, and because it will greatly reduce the amount of fossil fuels needed to heat and cool the building. The project will involve 96 small wells drilled into the ground beneath a parking lot at the corner of NC 213 and Park Street (the road next to the chapel, which goes to the MHC physical plant and the Mars Hill town recreation park). Pavement has been removed from the lot and the ground has been marked for the wells. It will be a closed loop system, meaning fluid will be pumped through the pipes that connect the wells to the building, and the fluid will be either heated or cooled to the underground temperature, approximately 56 degrees Fahrenheit, before being circulated back through the building's heating/cooling system. After the system is installed, the lot will be repaved and will again be used as a parking lot. 
Workers will have to lay lines under Park Street and NC 213; they've bored under 213 so they didn't have to block traffic on the busy highway, but probably will dig across Park Street when they get to that part of the project. This is the first such geothermal project on campus. The possibility of using a similar heating and cooling system on future building projects depends in part on the availability of a large enough area near the building where the underground well system could be installed. 
Work on the Ferguson building itself is coming along quickly. The walls continue to reach higher as workers lay block, and you can see in the photo they've now begun spreading gravel which will be needed when they get ready to pour the concrete flooring on the ground level.
The Hill Stays Busy All Summer 
While summer classes are not nearly as heavily attended as those during the fall and spring semesters, that doesn't mean that all is quiet on campus during the summer. The summer months are filled with the sights and sounds of reunions, conferences and camps. The MHC class of 1957 got things started this summer with its 50th reunion. About 80 class members and dozens of guests, including spouses and other family members, as well as members of adjacent graduating classes, returned to the Hill for an exciting weekend of activities. 
That same weekend saw the second of MHC's ministers' conferences for the year, this one featuring Dr. Chuck Bugg of Gardner-Webb University. The third ministers' conference comes up next month, when Dr. Jim Henry, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and longtime pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando, Florida, will lead the two-day conference July 20 and 21 on "The Pastor: Growing in Christ and Growing the Church." For more information about the conference (for you or your pastor), contact Dr. Gordon Benton, Director of Church and Community Relations, at (828) 689-1276 or by email at gbenton@mhc.edu 
Music has also been in the air as Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week brought dozens of people to campus to learn new skills in their enjoyment of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, shape note singing, and other elements of traditional music. This annual event features nationally known experts and grows more popular every year. The summer will also see the campus occupied by church groups of all ages, music and sports camps, and the world renowned Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre. For more information about summer conferences at MHC, visit the Conferences & Events Web site.
And finally... World's Worst Jokes 
Our theme for this issue, as will be painfully clear to you once you read beyond this line, is "summer."
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