It’s impossible to see the world with four walls blocking your view. Just ask Lindsay Erger. She and four of her fellow Cougars braved the woods of northern Minnesota during January interim for Discipleship Plunge, a ten-day course aimed at helping students discover what it means to be a purposeful follower of Jesus.

“The scenery was beautiful!” Erger says. “Our cabins were on the edge of a lake. Nothing obstructed our view and that made God feel very close.”

While Erger was roughing it, classmate Jamie Andersen was getting her passport stamped for the first time. She joined a dozen or so students on a London tour, visiting historic landmarks and exploring the city and outlying areas.

Andersen and Erger are among a growing number of USF students taking advantage of travel opportunities. In addition to the Northern woods and London expeditions, students sailed the high seas in the British Virgin Islands, studied the science and culture of Hawaii and retraced the steps of Jesus in the Holy Land.

Although students earned credits for their travels, the elective classes were graded on a pass/no credit basis. And even if she didn’t boost her GPA, Erger says the lessons learned were far more important.

“Besides the reading and group discussions, we had solitude time each day,” she explains. “I see now how valuable it is to be alone with God, how powerful that is as a spiritual discipline. I couldn’t learn that on campus.”

Andersen agrees. The highlight of her trip was a visit to Windsor Castle, but years from now she thinks it’s the cultural lessons that will have stuck with her.

“People were so nice to us,” she says. “I tried ‘cottage pie,’ learned the English serve peas with nearly everything and felt safe using public transportation. That makes things more real when you have to go back to reading it in a book.”

A theology professor led the largest group to the Holy Land, which was a cooperative effort with Sioux Falls Seminary.

“This was a really great experience. I think every student should travel before they graduate,” Andersen says.

INTERIM TRAVEL COURSES ENRICH STUDENTS’ LIVES

It’s the story feel-good movies are made of: small-town boy moves to the city, discovers what he’s made of and makes it big.

But this isn’t the plot of some Hollywood blockbuster – and the ending hasn’t been written yet. Rather, it’s the story of Taylor Calmus, a University of Sioux Falls student spending the spring semester at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Studies Center. It’s a peek into the life of a budding filmmaker, straight from the South Dakota plains.

Calmus grew up in Howard, S.D. When he was 12, he and his brother started building BMX dirt jumps in his dad’s cow lot. To record their adventures, they bought a camcorder on eBay. “We started making our own short spoof films that we put together in a show we called ‘Bad TV,’ much like MAD TV or SNL,” he says.

Fast forward a few years, and Calmus found himself at USF. “I liked the idea of being in the great city of Sioux Falls, where I already had friends and connections and would only be an hour from home,” he says.

USF’s Best Semester Program was a bonus, too. That’s how Calmus wound up in Los Angeles. “This program offers me experience in both life and education that I really could not receive anywhere else,” he says.

After all, sometimes the best way to learn is to jump in with both feet. So for Calmus, school this semester is a suite on the 16th floor of a skyscraper on Wilshire Blvd., where he’s taking four classes: Theology in Hollywood, Motion Picture Production, Hollywood Production Workshop and Acting for Film. He’s also doing an internship with a small production company called Tandem Arts. “I’m learning a lot about the business as well as getting to actually be on the computer editing and doing other work,” he says.

Even though Hollywood is often about who you know, not what you know, USF prepared Calmus well for the challenges of Tinseltown. “My theatre classes taught me a lot about taking charge and getting involved,” he says. “They developed my hands-on skills. My media studies classes introduced me to the technical side of production. It was nice to have some hands-on experience with quality equipment before hand.”

And his small-town origins? That’s just another advantage. “In the city there’s so much going on it seems as if we never stop and there’s no time for reflective thought,” Calmus says. “Growing up in the country helped me develop stronger creativity skills.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!USF student spends semester studying the film industry in Los Angeles

Ian Blumer (’11) is a creature of habit. At least where Interim is concerned. The USF junior has dedicated his last three Januarys to mission work on the Haitian island of La Gonave.

Each year has brought new firsts for Blumer…his first visit to the island…his first conversation in Creole…his first trip without his dad. But this year’s first will always stand alone — it was Blumer’s first earthquake.

“It sounded like a train was rushing by and then the shaking started. The first thing we did was get out of the building,” Blumer says. “It was very disorienting. It felt like you were trying to stand on a wavy water bed.”

The January 12 quake lasted less than a minute. The island — located about 60 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital and the quake’s epicenter — experienced minimal damage. With cell phone and Internet service down, it took two days for Blumer and his teammates to discover the full extent of the destruction. As news spread, the island’s inhabitants began taking boats to the mainland to bring back injured family members for treatment at the clinic where Blumer volunteered.

“There was nothing we could do for broken bones. The doctors did what they could, but we made lots of referrals,” Blumer says.

The Mitchell native eventually turned up the island’s only working Internet connection. He sent word home to reassure loved ones, and then he attempted to confirm the group’s travel plans, a task Blumer’s dad — who was along this year — ultimately took over. In the meantime, the group carried out its medical clinic as planned. Early the following week, thanks to some help from another organization, Blumer and his teammates boarded a crab boat headed for the mainland, where they would spend the night on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. They left La Gonave unsure if their flight would pan out the following morning.

“It was pretty shaky, but we decided to go for it. At 7 p.m., I found out our flight had been confirmed,” Blumer explains. “We didn’t see the worst of the damage, but what we did see was definitely a mess.”

While Blumer awaited his flight home from inside a tent, USF senior Jacqueline Emanuel (’10) also prepared to return to the U.S. She was one of 12 students who spent Interim serving in an orphanage located on the neighboring island of Jamaica.

“We weren’t in danger, but just knowing we were in the same vicinity was scary,” Emanuel says. “It was hard to know that we could easily leave, but the people affected couldn’t.”

Once home, Emanuel prayed for a way to help. God answered swiftly in the form of an e-mail from Karen Sumner (’95), associate vice president for student development, life calling, and leadership, announcing the USF Help! For Haiti! campaign. Sumner is spearheading the campus-wide effort to collect donations for Mission Haiti, an organization that supports an orphanage and several schools in the Les Cayes region. Mission Haiti’s building was damaged in the quake, forcing children and their caregivers to live in tents. Food, water, medicine and hygiene needs are pressing. Mission Haiti is scrambling to open another orphanage to house youngsters who lost their families in the upheaval.

“Our students are interested in helping. Many have already offered to help come up with ways to raise funds,” Sumner says. “Besides the financial aspect, we want to inform people about life in Haiti before the earthquake — many families live on less than two dollars a day — and we’re devising educational opportunities for our students to experience the culture firsthand.”

Sophomore Aubrey Bohl (’12) and senior Alisha Cerkowniak (’10) will lead the way over spring break. The friends — who started a t-shirt company to benefit Mission Haiti — plan to volunteer at the organization’s orphanage. They aren’t sure what they’ll be faced with, but they’re inspired by the selflessness of others.

“I do know we have to ride 50 miles in the back of a pickup,” Bohl says. “But that’s nothing in comparison. One of the orphanage’s employees has been living off cookies so the kids could have his food. What a sacrifice!”

Ian Blumer would add thankfulness to Bohl’s thought. “Every year I’ve gone, I’m more thankful for what I have — even more so this year. It’s impossible not to want to help.”

TIES TO HAITI RUN DEEP FOR USF STUDENTS

Debra Dittmeier was afraid of algebra. The social work major graduated high school with basic math skills, but when she decided to pursue her undergraduate degree, Dittmeier knew she’d have to face her fear. Some algebra is required for graduation from USF.

“I thought algebra wasn’t for me,” Dittmeier says.

Until this Interim that is. Dittmeier and 22 others enrolled in Talent Reconsidered: The Interaction of Nature, Nurture, and Agency in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Taught by psychology professor Mike Grevlos, the class explored the roles biology, culture, motivation, and extensive practice have on a person’s performance. It pushed beyond the standard nature versus nurture discussion to include emerging research regarding genetic make-up and adaptation and considered how genes don’t necessarily limit one’s ability to acquire new skills.

“I provide a variety of ideas so students can form their own opinions,” Grevlos says. “The reality is, we can’t easily separate what plays into our talents. Many students were more confident of their view at the beginning of the class than at the end because new perspectives challenge common views of talent.”

When Dittmeier signed up for Talent Reconsidered, she believed that a person’s environment — the experiences he or she is exposed to — played the largest role in developing potential. Though the class confirmed her hunch, the aspiring social worker did have her eyes opened to new ways to support her opinion.

Even better, Grevlos gave her a chance to put her belief to the test. As part of the course, he challenged each student to learn a skill they weren’t usually good at. Dittmeier tackled algebra and made a life-changing discovery.

“It’s interesting to think that our genes aren’t limiting, we are.” she says. “Algebra wasn’t intimidating when I realized I wasn’t math-minded because I’d never practiced it, not because I wasn’t able to do it.”

When the class concluded, Dittmeier — with her husband’s tutoring — had worked through an entire algebra textbook. But she took away much more than a few equations.

“Anything is possible with God. I don’t think He limits our gifts, we just pick and choose which things we want to go with,” says Dittmeier. “I plan to acknowledge more of what He makes available to us. I think everyone should.”

PSYCH STUDENTS GET PERSPECTIVE ON TALENT

Studying the greats is one thing. Being in the presence of them is quite another. Singing Camerata students discovered this during their January European concert tour.

They visited the homes of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They saw the original pianos and harpsichords on which their famous works were composed. And they performed in grand, historic cathedrals, halls and churches nearly every day as they traveled through Budapest, Vienna and Prague.

But a trip like this is not purely recreational, says Dr. David DeHoogh-Kliewer, assistant professor of music and director of choral music. Obviously, learning took place. “Our students valued the opportunity to meet those in attendance and, at the end of each concert, made their way through the aisles to personally thank each audience member for attending,” he says. “These performances provided rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for students to raise their voices in praise in some of the oldest and most awe-inspiring houses of worship in the world.”

In sharp contrast to the beauty of the European cathedrals was the Terezin Concentration camp near Prague. “Students watched in disbelief as we viewed a propaganda film used to promote this site as a vacation destination for Jews,” DeHoogh-Kliewer says. “Here, our singers performed ‘Lux Aurumque (Light of the World),’ heeding our call to share God’s light in a dark world.”

It’s an experience that simply cannot be replicated by text in a book, says Jessica Ekdom, a senior music education major from Fargo. “This trip has enabled me to broaden my worldview and has greatly impacted my spiritual walk and relationship with Christ,” she says.

Between performances, the USF delegation’s song was enhanced by service, particularly in Vienna, where the group met Dr. Jutta Unkart-Seifert, a former world-renowned opera singer and director of the “Casa Felice,” a Romanian orphanage. “Dr. Jutta’s words challenged us to use our music and Christian compassion to support charity throughout the world,” DeHoogh-Kliewer says.

The students presented her with five suitcases full of toys and clothing for the children. “It’s a great feeling to know that a small difference could be made in the life of a child who has no real home or parents,” says Dan Hodges, a junior English and communications studies/theatre major from Sioux Falls.

Despite cultural differences, students discovered music is a common denominator. “Even though we live in different places, speak different languages and eat different foods, music is a common bond we share,” Ekdom says. “It was fun to share the message of hope in Christ through our music with people of all ages.”

SINGING CAMERATA TOURS EUROPE, SHARES MESSAGE OF FAITH

When God asked, “Whom shall I send?” Karmyn Marchand and Kayla Jones didn’t mess around. Instead, they packed their bags and headed for the border.

The two friends spent the summer volunteering with Casas por Cristo. Based in El Paso, Texas, the organization’s name in Spanish means “Houses because of Christ” and is dedicated to building simple, decent homes for families living in Juarez, Mexico. Those who benefit from the program are screened by local pastors, and – in keeping with the free gift of Christ’s redemption – receive their new homes free of charge.

As interns with the program, Marchand and Jones would set out early on Monday mornings. Each led a group of volunteers across the border. Once in Juarez, the USF students had to locate job sites, make sure the correct construction materials were on hand and see that each home was completed by Friday. Then they’d return to El Paso for the weekend only to start over with a new group of volunteers the following

Monday. Their work was rigorous but worth the sacrifice.

“This was the hardest summer of my life,” says Marchand, who had to leave her husband, Jay, behind. “It was also the most purposeful. I knew when I got up in the morning what I was there to do.”

Jones and Marchand are just two members of the USF community who’ve gotten a view of God’s handiwork through Casas por Cristo. Amy Lowrey, ’97, has worked full-time for the organization since 2000, and Renee Beukelman, ’07, is a four-time summer intern.

Dean of Chapel Dennis Thum hopes to see more USF students take advantage of the Casas por Cristo experience. That’s why he’s raising funds and recruiting students for a trip to Juarez over spring break. Thanks to alumni John and Dorothy Shaw — whose generosity established a fund for experiences such as this — Thum’s fundraising efforts are much easier.

“Even though only a dozen students go, we all send, we all pray and we all become a part of this project,” Thum says. “We’re honoring the Shaws with our work, and we are teaching our students that they aren’t at USF just to learn how to make a living but to learn how to live Kingdom values.”

The spring break group, which will be led by Associate Vice President for Student Development, Life Calling and Leadership Karen Sumner, may include Jones. “I realized early during our summer experience that God kept putting me in uncomfortable situations. Eventually, I was putting myself there because I’d learned to trust Him,” she says. “I miss that uncomfortable feeling because I don’t have to rely on Him at home for the basic necessities.”

STUDENTS BUILD HOMES, CHANGE LIVES IN MEXICO

As Casas por Cristo’s director of programming and scheduling, Amy Lowrey, ’97, builds many houses. One family’s gesture of thanks came a month after their home was built when their daughter, Amy, was born. Lowrey visits her namesake often.

Karmyn Marchand, far left, and Kayla Jones, far right, learned to trust God for the grace to lead crews from the United States on one-week building projects.

Located over 1,200 miles from Sioux Falls, Casas por Cristo’s influence on the USF community is vast. Pictured left to right in Juarez, Mexico: Kayla Jones, Karmyn Marchand, Renee Beukelman, and Amy Lowrey, ’97.

The University of Sioux Falls isn’t just a window to the world, it’s an open door. No one knows that better than three seniors who stepped through that door to study abroad. LaRissa Felt, Katie Rowen and Melissa Pottebaum stretched the boundary of the USF campus in directions that challenged their intellect and so much more.

Pottebaum, a social work major from Sheldon, Iowa, studied in Cuernavaca, Mexico, soaking up discussions with everyone from the country’s political candidates to farmers on topics ranging from how people survive economically to why many Mexicans decide to migrate to the United States.

The cultural immersion, she says, was a life-changing experience. Maneuvering the Mexican landscape with her limited Spanish brought her

to appreciate the challenges non-English speakers face in America. She also learned tolerance for cultural differences.

“If I had stayed in Sioux Falls during my four years at USF, I would not have been challenged to think outside the box—both in concepts of social work and everyday life,” Pottebaum says. “I grew from being outside my comfort zone.” On the other side of the world, in Sydney, Australia, Felt was learning how to live like an Aussie. She was doing some soul-searching, as well.

“When you are put into a completely new experience, you learn a lot about yourself,” says Felt, an English major from Flandreau, S.D. “Religion and Christianity are expressed differently in Australia, and studying abroad forced me to figure out what I believe and why.” Rowen, a theology major, had a similar experience in a much different setting. This Arlington, S.D., native studied the philosophy of religion one-on-one with professors at the venerable Oxford University. Even more enlightening, she says, were the late-night conversations with the American students with whom she lived and learned.

“Being in a place like Oxford makes you take what you have learned and what you believe and put it to the test,” says Rowen, who explains that the atmosphere is conducive to challenging thought and dialogue.

With their backgrounds in international study, all three feel more confident to face the world once they graduate. Pottebaum is considering a social work career outside the United States. Felt is looking at additional international experiences like the Peace Corps. Rowen is planning to attend seminary.

“After attending Oxford,” Rowen laughs, “I know I can take the next step.”

STUDY ABROAD TRANSLATES INTO PERSONAL GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES