A Welcoming Sign

Gordon Admissions Dept. Furthering Efforts to Foreign Countries

By Christian Bradley

Wenham, MA- The dream of a Christian education doesn’t always spring from what most college students would consider to be a “normal” background. Gordon College has become a second home to students from all around the world. Despite the fact that Gordon’s international population has greatly increased in the past decade, college administrators continue to work hard every day to further strengthen Gordon’s international community.

The college community has made great strides in increasing the international population on campus, but there are still some uncertainties for students that are considering coming to Gordon from a foreign country.

“The language barrier, of course, is an issue,” says executive vice president Dan Tymann,“We also have to deal with student visas, making sure our institution meets the academic standards of international students, making them feel as if they are right at home when they are in the Gordon community, and on our part, developing more of an understanding of the customs and cultures that they are coming from.”

Another hurdle that international students have to deal with when applying to Gordon includes getting a sufficient score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam.

The TOEFL is a test of academic knowledge and acts as an assessment of English ability that is often a preferred alternative for international students when compared to the SAT.

“The SAT includes cultural nuances that are much more familiar to students that grew up in western cultures,” says senior admissions counselor Lindsey Koditek. “The TOEFL takes out those cultural nuances that foreign students might struggle with when taking the SAT, and it tests them on academic English and English ability in a social setting.”

After scoring high enough on the TOEFL, international students must deal with more personal aspects of the admissions process. A few of the steps in the process is an interview with Koditek or another admissions counselor, visiting campus, and determining their financial aid package. Technology plays a huge role in the admissions process, and, in many ways, eases some parts of the application process for international students that can be very stressful.

“Some international students that come in are dual citizens, so they are eligible for federal financial aid, says Koditek, “but true international students must fill out a College Scholarship Service(CSS) profile that connects them to scholarships, grants, and aid that may be available to them because they aren’t able to get federal aid, their financial aid packages from Gordon will often be more than the package of an American student.”

The CSS profile is a service connected with the College Board, who also administers the SAT’s. International students fill our their CSS profile so that they can enter an online database that is filled with grants and scholarships that are available strictly for overseas students trying to study in America.

Newer technology such as Skype and instant messaging, according to both Koditek and Tymann, have given the Gordon admissions department the opportunity to develop a much closer relationship to prospective international students. Often, students are able to do their admissions interview with a counselor via Skype. Admissions counselors are also able to develop a bond as well as keep tabs on how prospective students are doing by way of instant messaging.

“There have been a number of international students who utilize our website, use campus tour videos, and read our student blogs. A lot of them have become quite clever with using our website, it shows what a wonderful tool the internet has been for international students,” says Koditek on how technology has benefited prospective students.

Tymann and Koditek both mentioned that the Gordon community is trying to develop an international relationship in other parts of the world, especially in China. Tymann is joining two other colleagues later this month in a trip to Hong Kong to meet with high school principals and superintendents to not only discuss what Gordon has to offer students, but to also help clear up any uncertainties that the international community may have in regards to the topic of studying abroad in the United States.

“Bringing foreign countries to us is part of growing intellectually and spiritually, we need to be willing to meet people with much different experiences,” says Tymann on the importance of diversified cultures in the Gordon College community.

The admissions department recognizes its role to diversify campus in order to give more varied perspectives from students and professors to coaches and other faculty workers. Enabling more international students to come to Gordon is a good start in the diversifying process.

“Last year we brought in one of the largest amounts of international students ever,” says Koditek. “Admissions is committed to bringing in international students. We anticipate that we’ll see a more diversified number of students in years ahead. It’s phenomenal to see how God is at work around the world.”

Eyes On the Prize

It's amazing to see the effect that truly great journalism can have on its readers, viewers, and followers. After watching part of the docoumentary, Eyes On the Prize, I felt inspired to make a difference writh my writing in order to give other people the same experience.

Making a documentary requires more hours of time than most people can even imagine. It requires video and audio editing, placing video clips in certain areas, adding music, and interviewing people who are knowledgable of the documentary's topic.

Eyes On the Prize  beautifully illustrates the racial struggles that went on in the south during the 1960's. It shows the many differences between the north and south that still exist in many aspects today. I believe as an aspiring journalist, that it's extremely important to consider the audience in any case, but espescially when covering a topic as sensitive as racism.

Seeing videos of little girls being sprayed by fire hoses and getting chased away by police dogs can followed by Martin Luther King's inspirational "I have a dream" speech, at first glance is just a couple of video clips. But the way in which the video footage was shown in the documentary was shown with perfect timing and coordination, fully capturing the emotion of the viewer.

What people did to fight racism in the 60's is without a doubt admirable, and their efforts are praised by this documentary. Seeing this documentary made me think personally about what kind of racism I see around me today. Racism still exists today and the civil rights movement of the 60's is not over, which is exactly why we as a society need to make sure to stay properly informed about the events going on around us in our world

"Good Night, and Good Luck"

During a time in American history where communism was deathly feared, Edward Murrow stood up against those who were making communism out to be something that it wasn't. Murrow, the former CBS journalist, on many occasions called out politician Joseph McCarthy as McCarthy was often known for drawing conspiracies that were non-existent. In particular, accusing his rivals and political foes of being communists. People were afraid of communism mostly because they weren't educated on the topic, and McCarthy took advantage of peoples' lack of knowledge on the topic by making it seem like he was more patriotic than any of his foes. Murrow not only criticized McCarthy's ridiculous accusations, but he also called out the government on their handling of Milo Radulovich, a member of the USAF that was facing sanctions because his father subscribed to a Serbian newspaper and his sister had somewhat radical political views. McCarthy's response to Murrow's criticism was to simply point out that Edward Murrow was himself a communist; a fact that is completely untrue. The story revolves around Murrow's career in the 50's, but the behind-the-scenes message is one that Murrow endorsed many time: television should more often be used to inform the public of what is going on around them. Murrow's view was that journalists have a civil duty to report the truth to people, even if it means bringing some fire and criticism to themselves. In a world where television is dominated by reality shows and political programs whose content is often so ridiculous it's comical, it seems we have to a point gone in the direction where Murrow hoped we wouldn't. American journalists do inform their audience, but it is often that news is spiced up or coupled up with untrue speculation, in order to make money and get more readers.

Slipp Finding His Way at Gordon

Wenham, MA- Students spend hours upon hours deciding where it is they want to spend their college years. It is often viewed as perhaps the most important four years of a person’s life, so making a solid decision on where to go to college can impact a person’s future in more ways than they can imagine.

Matt Slipp, of Gorham, ME, decided during his time at The Juilliard School in New York, that the school simply wasn’t for him.

“At Juilliard you are a musician, dancer, or an actor. You are basically their product and once you get out of the school, you’re out of their prepared system. Everybody was the same and there weren’t many ‘individuals’ there” said Slipp on what made him decide to shake up his college plans.

Matt, a freshman opera singer, transferred to Gordon this fall and is looking to start fresh, majoring in both music and psychology.

“Of course being in New York City was fun, but it only stays fun if you have money and can afford to go out and do things.”

Slipp said that though he enjoyed being in New York, he finds solace in being in a small town environment, like Gordon, because it makes him feel more at home.

“I’ve learned at college that I like to be a big fish in a small pond. A small town environment is what’s best for me. It almost makes me feel more wanted to always see people that I know around campus.”

Matt is starting over his college career at Gordon and could not be more excited about it. Being able to be around people that study different fields other than music and people who have many different interests were very attractive traits of Gordon that have not only attracted Matt to attend, but many others as well.

“When I came here to visit my best friend, I immediately fell for the campus. It was like love at first sight. It felt so different, in a good way, being here. It was something that really spoke to me.”

Classic Book Loses Relevance in Some Aspects

Wenham, MA-William Zinsser's first version of On Writing Well was written over 30 years ago and his ideas are still closely followed by present-day writers and journalists.  But a few of his ideas have gotten lost or ignored over time as the world and the fields of writing/journalism have evolved. Zinsser says in the opening pages of his book: "I urge people to write in the first person and use I and me and we and us. They put up a fight."


Growing up students often learn that when writing a formal piece, such as an article or published piece, the word "I" should never be used when referring to any part of the piece that shows opinion or possible bias. Zinsser said that "they[writers] think they must earn the right to reveal their emotions or their thoughts. Or that it's egotistical." Because the common belief on when it is acceptable to use the word "I" is very much a large gray area, writers either overuse the word "I" and turn their writing into a hate/love piece, or they are afraid of not being politically correct enough; therefore taking any personal opinion out of their writing.

"I definetly feel as if many writers are afraid to take a stand because they are afraid of the criticisms that may follow," said Katie S., 19, of Wenham. Right now we live in a world where declaring something for what it is is often looked down upon, where minority groups have more power because they have the ability to hold the majority accountable for being politically correct and trying to please everybody. In many cases people do not want to hear the truth, or they already know the truth but would prefer to deny its' occurrence as it is not favorable to their beliefs. “Still,” Zinsser says, “we have become a society afraid of revealing who we are…Americans are unwilling to go out on a limb. A generation ago our leaders told us where they stood and what they believed. Today they perform strenuous verbal feats to escape that fate.”

Maybe writers denying themselves their own opinions is simply a facet of writing that has developed overtime, but Zinsser makes it very clear that a writer can report facts while still expressing themselves through words. “Good writers are visible behind their words,” says Zinsser.

Gordon Students Informed by Various News Outlets By Christian Bradley

Wenham, MA- In analyzing our society as a whole, we have developed media so far that anybody with an e-mail account and internet access can go online and initiate or comment on news by creating their own blog or website.

Gordon College students choose to discover their news in different ways, but for the most part most people share the same common source that can be helpful in a search for news, but can also pose a problem when validity and ethics come into play: the internet.

The same common theme amongst Gordon students and professors is that most seem to get quickly reeled in by the news stories that are posted with flashy photos on the front page of "homepages"; such as MSN, AOL, Yahoo, CNN, NPR, or even ESPN.

Of three interviewed students, they all agreed that though blogs aren't always a reliable source. Blogs do make it extremely easy to simply google a subject and read the search results of whatever news story was searched, but the question that always comes into play is the worry of the possibility of bias or infidelity in the blogs that are being viewed.

The three students, between the ages of 19-21 agreed that many websites now specialize in a certain type of news, or at least to consumers they associate the name of a news company with a specificity in a certain kind of news.

The two males that were interviewed both quickly agreed that when anytime they need to find something out about sports, they just go on to ESPN.com, while the female student did also agreed that she has noticed sports journalism being dominated by ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

For political and entertainment news, the students listed a variety of websites, and, interestingly enough, the prospect of consuming news through television or newspaper never even came up in conversation unless they were asked how often they watch the news on TV or read it in a newspaper. Being college students, all of them agreed that there wasn't enough time in the day to be able to sit down and read a newspaper, while two of the students said that television news seems to be very reptitive and biased.

Though the internet may not always be reliable, it appears that the internet has become the primary source for news for some of the busiest people in the world: college students.