La Sierra University energized as campus re-opens for fall IGNITE orientation

New year’s blessings

After dorm move-ins on Sept. 22 by students who plan to live on campus, IGNITE activities officially launched that evening with an inspirational Blessing Service at the La Sierra University Church. Designed for students and their families, the service provides a spiritually uplifting moment that seeks God’s blessings for incoming students as they move into a new chapter of their lives, many arriving from other states and countries.

Freshman health sciences major Jesse Leavelle arrived from Duluth, Minn. to attend La Sierra, with an eye on a career in sports medicine. Seated next to him during the Blessing Service was David Gonzalez who transferred as a sophomore from the University of Southern Mississippi to study pre-law and history. Both were excited about in-person classes and making new friends.

“It's just a nice change to finally get out of the cold weather coming into new weather,” said Leavelle. Original plans to enroll at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada were stymied by the pandemic, he said. Through advertising about La Sierra and the experiences of his parents who attended an Adventist college and his grandfather, a La Sierra alum, Leavelle decided to apply to the Southern California school and was accepted. “I’m really excited to grow closer to God here, you know, coming from a public school so it's just nice to get back and actually have classes that are in person and instead of online. Yeah, so that's what I'm most excited for, meeting new people.”

Gonzalez concurred. He opted for La Sierra rather than the other SDA schools his friends chose for the adventure of going to school far away and because he has family in San Diego where he was born. “I really expected to be on campus and I would have been pretty disappointed if we hadn't been, and honestly after a year of COVID, I'm pretty excited honestly to just be around people and to socialize once again,” he said. “Last year it was pretty hard.”

This year’s service was also a poignant experience for Campus Chaplain Jason Decena who was hired last June while the university was operating in a virtual format. The Blessing Service marked his first in-person presentation for a student function. “It's a miracle that you're here in this place, about to embark on a new stage of life, a brand new journey for you as a brand new spiritual journey,” he said. He talked about his interests in sports and likened college and the decisions students make along the way to a pitcher’s throw of a baseball and all the details, practice and planning that goes into controlling a pitch and where it lands. “So what we want to do right now is we want to acknowledge the moment that you are all in and the choices that you're lined up to make.”

Back in action

On Sept. 23, freshmen and sophomores divided into family groups led by 40 upper division students. The groups held general informational sessions then squared off in an afternoon of  energy-charged games on the school’s athletics field. The groups serve as a way for students to form solid connections with peers and provide a support mechanism going forward into the year and beyond. On the playing field, the newly-minted family groups yelled encouragement to their members as they used inflatable structures to play football toss, volleyball, basketball hoops, human foosball, jousting, climbed through an inflatable obstacle course and other activities. A few students paused to provide their insights and noted the importance of being able to attend college on campus together with their classmates.

Freshman biology major Daphne Prakash arrived earlier this summer from San Gabriel Academy to participate in the university’s Title V-funded STEM Bridge program which involves agricultural technology activities in the university’s hydroponic shipping container farm. Her sister, Karen, had attended the university and graduated in 2019. Daphne chose La Sierra for its family environment, she said. “The professors and everyone seemed really welcoming and nice,” she said. “I came on campus for STEM Bridge, and I was like, wow, I really like it here.”

She noted that being able to study on campus in classrooms makes a lot of difference in her ability to focus. “I felt like for me, I don't have the best self-control and so being online, with cameras and everything [it] felt really hard for me and I like having that eye contact and having engagement with people,” she said. Prakash also noted the university’s Covid-19 pandemic protocol as a safety element. “I felt like we were being pretty safe with the vaccine mandate and the testing and stuff so I felt, I felt … pretty safe coming on campus.”

Amber Huynh, a biomedical science major and honors student who graduated from Troy High School in Fullerton is a La Sierra sophomore who this week celebrated being able to continue her college education on campus after a first year of classes and activities on Zoom video conferencing.

“It’s definitely super cool,” she said. “I think I empathize immensely with the freshmen right now. I don't really know my way around campus so the campus tour with Megan [Eisele, family group leader] was super helpful. Definitely a lot more entertaining than I expected from an orientation. Just in general it's really nice to be able to meet people face to face. I met some of my sophomore classmates. I had met them previously online through Zoom, but it was super cool to see them in person.”

Aiden Eggers, a freshman business major from Loma Linda Academy whose aunt attended La Sierra also said he preferred the on-campus experience. “I'm more of a people person. I'm just trying to soak in the time, have like a good college life, just meet new people, make friends, all that kind of stuff.”

“At the end of the day, you know, being on campus isn't just about being able to walk to your classes, but it's the environment, about everything,” said Samuel Baker, a family group leader who initially transferred from Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa. A religious studies and pre-seminary major, Baker spent his freshman year at Oakwood University in Alabama before returning to his home in San Bernardino and continuing at Crafton. “I didn't actually want to go back into ministry. But I think that that was me kind of running away from my calling,” he said.

Baker chose La Sierra for its people, he said, and its diversity. “I’m looking for community. I’m a big people person and La Sierra seems to be a people university,” he said. “Ultimately I loved the diversity here on campus. And I really felt Kingdom culture here versus anywhere else. And what that tells me is that it's going to prepare me to go out into the whole world like the Bible tells us,” Baker said. “And so the reason I chose La Sierra is because of the diversity, and also the [Spiritual Life] leadership here … that is going to be able to kind of solidify me and to help me be the best.”

Baker recalled the voids that existed while trying to connect online over the past 18 months. “We're a Christian school, so we didn't get an opportunity to worship together. We didn't get an opportunity to really have that fellowship that I was really looking forward to and that college brings. And so being back on campus, just even being here at Ignite and having like everybody around, it's so solid. It really makes me happy.

"The campus is alive again. …I think that Covid was an opportunity for us to birth new life. And so now La Sierra is going to be something better than it was prior to coming out of Covid.”