[Editor’s Note: The following is a column written by Maggie Platt, a graduating senior from Carmel, Indiana. Platt served as a student blogger for Anderson University during the 2006-07 academic year].

I could not have asked for a better last weekend of my college experience! A bunch of us seniors have been taking advantage of every moment to play frisbie in the Valley, have one last dinner at Perkins, compete in some intense euchre match-ups, and watch movies (mainly chick flicks!) late into the night.

But the grand finale was really Saturday night. The Alumni Office held an event called The Senior Send-Off, which was comprised of several hours of live music, food, and celebrating the seniors’ journey over the last four years [Photo (l-r): Graduating seniors Jenny Kant, Melissa Ritchie, Maria Pickett and Kelly Knarr celebrate during Senior Send-Off].

I was so honored that the Alumni Office asked me to speak and introduce a brand new tradition to our campus. But to understand the significance of this new tradition, you need to know a little bit about what goes on during the opposite end of the journey: Freshman Orientation.

Unless you have been an Anderson University student, you probably don’t know much about the Freshman Hike. It takes place on the first night of your college experience. Walking around campus, led by upperclassmen, you get to meet your new classmates and visit all of the places you will be making memories in for the next phase of your life. And during this hike, everyone passes by and touches a large rock on one end of the Valley.

This rock marks the spot where the founders of our school knelt to pray over the land that would one day become Anderson University. Generations of students have touched this rock as they began their Anderson experience, and I was no different.

Saturday night we started a new tradition. Just as we passed by that rock at the beginning of our freshman year, we returned last night as the Class of 2007 to revisit the rock. A faculty member and I both gave challenge statements to the gathered crowd: Go out and impact your community and world. This is what we have been prepared for. Four years of our lives have been dedicated to changing and being shaped by this wonderful place, and it is now time for us to go forward, embracing all that God has given us and all the ways He is going to use us in the coming years.

–Maggie Platt is a graduating senior from Carmel Indiana. She is majoring in family science and psychology. Anderson University’s commencement weekend is scheduled for May 5.

Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.

The Anderson University softball team defeated Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Bluffton University 4-3 and 1-0 Sunday on Senior Day at Raven Field.

The Anderson University baseball team split a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Hanover, losing the first game 8-4, but rebounding to win the nightcap 20-14.

The Anderson University men’s tennis team lost to Franklin College 5-1 in the first round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday at the West Indy Racquet Club in Indianapolis.

The Anderson University baseball team pounded out a season-high 18 hits en route to a 13-10 victory over Hanover College on Friday at Raven Park in the three-game Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series opener.

Graduating senior Janelle Good recently received the Stevenson Outstanding Student Award for her work as a biology student. As an outstanding student, Good was selected for the $5,000 award by Dr. Blake Janutolo, dean of the College of Science and Humanities, and the biology faculty. The Stevenson Award is made possible through a gift by Dr. Jerry and Patricia Stevenson.

Good, is the daughter of Stephen and Rachel Good who currently serve as missionaries to Mozambique through World Relief. As the seventh recipient of the Stevenson award, Good plans to continue her studies in sustainable agriculture that promotes natural processes which turn away from conventional methods of cultivation.

AU alum Lawrence Brownlee looked at the list and it was lengthy. More than 100 family and friends will be in the audience Thursday night when the tenor makes his Metropolitan Opera debut.

There was mom and dad, who were driving in from Ohio. Then there were four sisters and a brother, and all their spouses. Add in an aunt, three cousins, two high school choir directors, three voice teachers, his first piano instructor, the dean of Indiana University’s music school and the former dean of Anderson University [AU persons in the audience will be AU President James Edwards, Dr. Carl Caldwell, Dr. Fritz Robertson, Dr. Jeffrey Wright, and Dr. Darlene Miller just to name a few]. The group could fill a small auditorium.

The Anderson University baseball team defeated Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Franklin College 6-5 on Tuesday at Raven Park.

Ethel Willard is 74, retired and admits she could use some help from time to time. So when a group of Anderson University students knocked on her door approximately three years ago, she was overjoyed.

“They’ve helped me in many ways,” said Willard. “I had difficulty getting my gutters cleaned, and they did that. When I had eye surgery, they just came by to check on me. I think they are just wonderful.”

Willard is not the only one who has benefited from students who participate in AU Neighbors, a student-led ministry designed to serve the community while building relationships and offering prayer.

Norman and Stacey McMillian said the group has been a blessing.

“They have come down, cleaned out my gutters, planted flowers, cleaned up the brush in our yard and even remodeled our bathroom,” said Norman, 50. “I’m at the point where I can’t climb the ladders and do all the things I used to. They are out here about every other week asking if we need anything done.”

Their 10-year-old daughter, Alyssa, also likes the group because “it’s fun hanging out with college kids.”

AU Neighbors was established in the fall 2005 by students Matt Ingalls and Sean Hudson.

Read a column about the AU Neighobors program written by AU student founder Matt Ingalls for Relevant magazine

Both on the cross country team, Ingalls and Hudson began to notice that families and individuals in the area needed help.

“Sean and I were leading a Bible study, and we talked about how struck we were by the neighborhood around AU,” said Ingalls, 21. “We felt we needed to so something.”

Going out once a week on Sundays, Ingalls and Hudson gathered a group to knock on doors and just offer help — in any way.

“We just decided this was the best way to help people and get to serve people and pray for them,” said Ingalls. “We explain to people who we are and just ask them if there is anything they need us to do. We’ve been turned down, but we’ve also built some lasting friendships.”

When Ingalls and Hudson launched the program, there were about eight students involved. Today, there are about 30 who cover seven “districts” mapped out by student leaders.

Not only has the ministry grown on AU’s campus, but it has been picked up by four other Christian schools as well.

“Last year, a girl at Huntington College caught wind of what we were doing and decided she wanted to do the same,” said Ingalls. “Sean and I invited her here first to follow us through what we do, and then we went there to take her and her friends around the neighborhood.”

According to Stuart Erny, director of campus ministries, under which the Neighbors ministry falls, Indiana Wesleyan University, Taylor University and a college in Michigan have all started Neighbors ministries.

AU Neighbors has several goals but their motto says it all: Serve, love, pray.

“We’re here just to love on people,” said junior Joshua Weiger, 21. “Our goal is to unite the community of AU to the broader Anderson area while serving them and praying with them.”

Along with those they are helping, the students involved admitted they take away just as much.

“I love it,” said Lindsey Marler, 20. “You go into it thinking you are going to help them. Then you realize they are helping you. I feel like we’re doing exactly what God has called us to do — love, serve, pray. It’s more than rewarding. I’m amazed to see God’s hands unfold.”

With summer rapidly approaching, the students threw a celebration recently behind Park Place Church of God for all the neighbors.

With a giant inflatable moonwalk, badminton, Frisbees and even a piñata, the kids in the neighborhood were having a blast.

“I’m having so much fun,” said Alyssa, holding a potato chip. “It’s good food. I like the games.”

As the afternoon progressed, more and more neighbors came out just to sit and talk or bring their kids out for some fun.

“That’s the whole idea,” said Ingalls. “We just want to build relationships and let people know we are here to love them.”

Along with serving the community around Anderson University, both Hudson and Ingalls said they would like to have local churches get involved to minister to even more people.

“We are more than happy to talk to pastors or members of churches who would like to start this in their community,” said Ingalls. “It’s easy, and we can show them how to get started.”

Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.

The Anderson University baseball team defeated non-conference rival Taylor University for the second time in a week 11-8 on Monday afternoon in Upland.