October-November 2012

From the President

Dear Wheaton Parents,

Despite the cold weather over this past Family Weekend, we enjoyed warm fellowship with nearly 1,500 parents and siblings on campus.  Our Thunder football and men’s and women’s soccer teams scored victories in their contests against Millikin University, and our choral groups and annual student Talent Show provided a feast of entertainment for our families. 

On Saturday morning I hosted a prayer breakfast attended by nearly four hundred parents.  Parents Council chair couple Greg and Mary Belle Thompson led the parents in prayer, as the beautiful sound of petitions all over Coray Auditorium went up for our students and for Wheaton College. 

As I shared with our parents on Saturday morning, we are pursuing four Strategic Priorities.  At Wheaton we want to approach this in the way Paul instructs us in Philippians 4, where he expresses a global command with no exceptions: we are to avoid anxiety as we let our requests be made known to God.  As we bring our burdens to the Lord in prayer he will give us the gift of his peace.  We are continually to have an attitude of prayer, praying on every occasion in a disciplined, intentional way—in bed, in the shower, in the car, on the phone, even during conversations.  It is appropriate to ask God for things, but we do so with thanksgiving, praising God for his blessings.

Please join us in specific and particular petition for Wheaton College as we pursue four Strategic Priorities at this stage of our history.  The specific items for praise and petition as we pursue these priorities are offered to you in the article below.

In Christ’s Service,

Philip G. Ryken
President

Parents Praying for Wheaton's strategic priorities

Please join us in offering these petitions in prayer as Wheaton pursues its four Strategic Priorities.

1. Globalize a Wheaton education through expanding scholarships, revising the curriculum, and doubling the number of students who receive academic credit through of-campus cross-cultural experiences.

• Thank God for 150 Wheaton alumni, faculty, staff and student representatives at Lausanne 2010 in Capetown, South Africa, symbolic of the worldwide Wheaton family.
• Thank God for the amazing cross-cultural riches on Wheaton’s campus through more than 200 international students and “missionary kids.”
• Pray that we can double the current number of 250 students participating in cross-cultural studies for college credit.
• Pray that Wheaton may become a school of choice for students around the world who want to be prepared to serve in the global body of Christ. 

2. Deepen Ethnic Diversity through implementing a comprehensive plan to communicate the biblical imperative for ethnic diversity and foster a truly welcoming environment for people of color.

• Thank God for the significant progress made on Wheaton’s campus to diversify over the past thirty years, greatly increasing the number of students of color who fill visible leadership roles on campus, and who encourage their family and friends to be involved with Wheaton. 
• Thank God that out of last year’s difficult “Chapel Tweet” experience many good suggestions came for student training in diversity at HoneyRock and in Chapel.
• Thank God for the approval of the Trustees to invest significant funds to move the Office of Multicultural Development to new offices in the Beamer Center at the center of student life.
• Pray for President Ryken and the Trustees as they revise the Community Covenant showing how ethnic diversity in the body of Christ is divinely designed, missionally strategic, and eternally celebrated.
• Pray for the faculty as they revise the General Education curriculum to cultivate a Christ-centered understanding of ethnic diversity. 
• Pray for God’s blessing on developing relationships with Hispanic leaders in Chicagoland, and on visits with the local Hispanic pastors underway.
• Pray for additional funding for ethnic minority students, like the Alvaro Nieves and Don Church Scholarships.  

• Thank God that Wheaton has been able to maintain its liberal arts educational identity.  Since 1990 such institutions have declined from 210 to 130 in the US.
• Thank God for the establishment of the alumni “Wheaton in Network” to connect Wheaton students seeking mentoring and networking in a wide variety of life callings.
• Pray for our faculty as they continue to work through General Education curriculum revisions.
• Pray for the faculty and administration as we draft a framework to help students and families understand vocation in the context of the liberal arts.

4. Enhance Music and the Performing Arts through initiating a formal process to plan and construct a new Conservatory building.

• We have so much to thank God for in our history of educating through music and the performing arts:  professors of great quality through the decades, a very high level of excellence in our Conservatory, a large number of non-Conservatory students active in our ensembles, and the facilities we have in McAlister and Pierce Chapel. 
• Pray for the new facility planning process, working with the architect, the acousticians, and the faculty to provide for programming needs for a new conservatory and Center for the Performing Arts.

Family Weekend Thanks

Our thanks to the more than 1,400 parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings who joined us for Family Weekend this past weekend.  The moments enjoyed and connections made during Friday's and Saturday's events were truly memorable.  We encourage you to mark your calendars for next year's Family Weekend: November 8-9, 2013.

Wheaton Athletics Update

 The fall has been full of action for the Wheaton Athletics Department. This fall, four programs have been nationally ranked the Thunder men’s cross country, football, women’s soccer and men’s soccer programs.

The Wheaton women’s tennis team won the program’s eighth consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW)Championship during the conference tournament the weekend of October 5-6. Wheaton has won 18 CCIW Women’s Tennis Championships, more than any other team and the program has a streak of 50 consecutive regular season victories.

Wheaton hosted a naming ceremony for its new baseball facility, Lee Pfund Stadium, on Saturday October 6 as part of the College’s homecoming activities. The first phase of the stadium was recently completed in 2012, with planning and fundraising ongoing for the $1.9M second phase to complete the project.

For up-to-date news and results on Wheaton’s varsity teams, visit this link to Wheaton Athletics.  You can also follow Thunder Athletics on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our text-message service that will send scores and results directly to your phone; fans can also sign up for our weekly athletics newsletter.

For more information on Wheaton’s 10 club sports please visit the club sports website. 

Holiday Airport Shuttles

The Student Activities Office provides discounted group airport shuttles to O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport during school breaks. Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Break shuttle sign-ups are currently taking place in the Student Activities Office, located in the lower level of the Beamer Center. Thanksgiving sign-ups will continue through November 16, and Christmas sign-ups through December 14.  One-way shuttle prices to both airports are $25, or students may opt for a round-trip to and from either airport for $45. 

For a schedule of shuttle times, visit our link on the SAO website.  Thank you for considering using SAO Group Shuttles.  Please contact us if you have any comments, questions, or concerns at student.activities@wheaton.edu.

Residence Life: planning for the holidays

As your students head into a busy stretch of the school year between now and Christmas we want to remind you that our staff is available to support them during their time on campus. Please encourage your student to connect with their RA, GRA or RD with any questions or concerns.

Also, please note that housing remains open during both fall break in October and Thanksgiving break in November. Campus housing does close for Christmas break at noon on Friday, December 21 and reopens at 1pm on Saturday, January 12. Only students with approval due to on-campus employment, athletics, international status, etc. may remain on campus between these dates. As the break approaches, students who need to stay on campus can request permission at the Residence Life website.

The Residence Life website is a helpful resource for your family as you consider housing options, storage information, policies of all kinds, meal plan information and the calendar of when housing opens and closes. Please feel free to reference it throughout the year at www.wheaton.edu/reslife and contact our office with questions at reslife@wheaton.edu or 630.752.5427.

Honor Your Graduating Senior

Purchase a senior tribute in the yearbook!  

You can purchase:

• 1/4 page for $75
• 1/2 page for $125
• Full page for $300

If interested, please send 1-4 photographs and some commemorative text to: 

C.P.O. W138  |  501 College Avenue  |  Wheaton, Illinois  60187

Or email: Tower@my.wheaton.edu

Deadline for senior tributes is February 15, but it would be much appreciated if sent in before that date.  If you have any questions, please email the yearbook at: Tower@my.wheaton.edu.

Student Activities

JustCo Illuminate Event.  On September 27, the Wheaton College Justice Coalition hosted a lantern festival to celebrate God’s justice and work in the world. Lantern kits were provided for students to create and decorate, and students were encouraged to write a prayer on their lantern. Midway through the event, there was a special time designated for prayer and thanksgiving, and then people lit and hung their lanterns in the quad. Each one of the clubs associated with the Justice Coalition offered a brief prayer: Student Global AIDS Campaign, International Justice Mission, A Rocha, Voice for Life, the Christian Feminist Club, and Plowshares. It was a wonderful night of food, music, candles, lanterns, and praise to God.

Student Health Services

 The Flu shot has arrived and is available for all active students and their spouses for a cost of $20.00. Students may walk into SHS during our open hours for this vaccine.  This vaccine does not cause influenza. Student’s accounts will be billed.  They will receive a “walk out statement” in their CPO box to submit to their insurance companies for possible reimbursement.  Flu clinics will also be available in October at the Beamer Center.

Did you know that SHS provides health preventive and promotional activities throughout the year?  Each month, SHS cooperates with Student 101 to publish an e-magazine for students and parents.  To view the October magazine follow this link.

SHS is a fully equipped medical office that active students and their spouses are welcome to utilize regardless of the type of health insurance they have.  SHS is staffed with 4 board certified physicians who are alumni of Wheaton College and one nurse practitioner.  The nursing staff is experienced in college health.  Students are welcome to stop in to speak with a nurse about their medical questions or be assessed free of charge.  Our hours are Monday through Friday 7:30am-5:00pm; Saturday 10:00am-12:00pm.

Our services include: physician appointments (cost $25.00); in house or out sourced laboratory services (rapid strep or mono tests for example), observation rooms, completion of small office procedures such as wart removal; registered dietician appointments, massage therapy; International travel clinic; vaccinations; pharmacy; free medical shuttle and more. For more information about our services go to our website or contact us at 630-752-5072 or Health.Services@wheaton.edu

All services that have fees are billed to the student’s account.  The student will be sent a statement in their mailbox that they can then send to the insurance company for possible reimbursement.  SHS does not bill insurance companies directly.

The Wheaton Fund: keeping Wheaton excellent 

We are always humbled and grateful when parents—past and current—give an unrestricted gift to the Wheaton Fund.  We know that your gift is over and above tuition, room and board and is sacrificial giving.  This past year nearly 2000 Wheaton Associate families gave about 70% of the Wheaton Fund gift total of $4.5M, while nearly 8000 households gave some gift to the Wheaton Fund.

These gifts help strengthen the mission of Wheaton on every front.  It would take an additional $100M in endowment earnings to provide the nearly $5M provided through gifts to the Wheaton Fund.  The Wheaton Fund is critical to the excellence of Wheaton, making possible not an average education, but an excellent one. 

We are also celebrating and encouraged by the 151 young alumni households who have committed to a gift on a regular monthly basis.  These young alumni are recent grads who might have loans, continuing education, and young families, and yet…they value their education so much that they give back to help keep Wheaton strong.

Your gift--no matter the amount, annual or one-time--has daily impact as it helps to nurture the formation of young Christian leaders.  Your prayers, also, are priceless.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Wheaton Fund, Wheaton Associates, We10 Associates, please contact Pam Sampson at 630-752-5925.  We also invite you to email us a wheaton.fund@wheaton.edu and request Dr. Ryken’s quarterly newsletter, the President’s Memorandum.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!

The Wheaton College Parent Relations staff
www.wheaton.edu/parents