Asbury University Kicks Off Spring Semester

February 3, 2021

by Lexie Presta ’23, Journalism

Asbury University has successfully launched into the spring semester, welcoming approximately 50 new students to campus.

Heather Dongell, Director of Student Engagement, organized an entire weekend (Jan. 8-10) dedicated to settling in these students, offering campus tours, meetings with the Registrar’s Office, Student Accounts, and Health Services. On Friday evening in Jameson Auditorium, President Dr. Kevin J. Brown personally welcomed and gave a prayer of dedication for these new students and their families.

“Asbury University is a student’s story of belonging, believing, and becoming,” Brown said.

Resident Directors also spoke that night to share details about living in the community while abiding by COVID-19 protocols. All students are still required to be in “mask mode” at all times when outside of their dorm rooms unless they are eating and/or physically distanced. Faculty and staff have encouraged students to maintain the motto “Stay Healthy, Stay Here” and check their FACTSSS (Fatigue, Aches, Cough/Congestion, Temperature, Loss of Senses – taste/smell, Sore throat, Stomach ailments) symptoms every morning.

Classes began on January 11 and will end April 29. Commencement is scheduled for May 1. Due to COVID-19, this semester’s schedule has been shortened with the elimination of spring break. However, the new implementation of Eagle Days acts as a replacement. They are spread throughout the semester to offer students, according to the Provost’s Office, time for “community-building, rejuvenation, and keeping pace academically.”

Also, students took a break from classes on January 18 to celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and will enjoy a four-day weekend in April for Easter.

Construction on the new Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) is also underway. The basement floor and exterior footers have been poured with the interior footers and exterior block walls on the basement nearing completion.

Asbury’s goal for the CLC is to bring together future entrepreneurs and scientists, health-care professionals and marketing experts to learn from, and with, each other. It will house the Dayton School of Business and the School of Science, Health and Mathematics, and feature state-of-the-art technology and lab spaces, a 400-seat auditorium, breakout rooms for hosting conferences, common areas and sales training rooms.

Winter sports teams, too, are in full swing as their seasons officially kicked off. In February, both of the nationally ranked men’s and women’s swimming teams in the NAIA will compete in the AAC Conference Championships with the women looking to defend their title from last season.

Daniel Harris, Sports Information Director, said the men’s basketball team is “off to its best start in five years” by riding a seven-game winning streak. The Lady Eagles currently stand at No. 2 in the NAIA in three-pointers made per game (13) and are tied for second in the River States Conference for most wins so far this year.

“All of our spring sports will return to action with men’s and women’s golf and tennis, baseball, softball, lacrosse,” said Harris. “Men’s and women’s soccer will also play their conference tournaments in April. There will be plenty of opportunities for students and the Asbury community to come out and support all of the teams this semester.”

The Communication & Theatre Arts department announced its theatre production schedule. Take No Prisoners!, directed by Carol Anderson, hits the stage first with multiple shows on March 11-13 and 18-20. Tickets will go on sale soon. On March 27, the 10-Minute Play Festival will broadcast the creativity of Asbury students with short plays written and directed by them. Admission is free and prizes will be given for best comedy, drama, actor, actress and crowd favorite.

Viking Summer, a tale of a summer love that “celebrates life in its many forms,” will be performed at the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival by Asbury students after being commissioned to Asbury by the Beating Heart Group of Linlithgow, Scotland. The Surrendered Class of 2023 is also working on a film festival in March with plans for a junior musical hopefully next fall. Finally, the annual comedy show Friday Night Live will display hilarious improv and sketches written by students for students on April 23.

Events such as a Bob Ross Painting Night and a Back To The Future movie night have already taken place. The spring semester looks bright and Asbury’s campus continues to thrive even under unusual circumstances.