Just came back from a most encouraging trip to MNU set up by student government representatives Brady Franklin and Mitchell Cloud.  One of my roommates, Reed, came along and we took an Amtrak train down from Naperville to Kansas City.  It was a beautiful ride that took us through fields of corn and wheat, and over both the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. 

Waiting for us when we arrived was a new generation of MNU students who have been stepping up to pursue stewardship with renewed vigor.  They are finding great support from staff, faculty, and administrators, and have been leading a recycling revival (so to speak!) along with planting a vegetable garden and going trayless in the cafeteria.

My chapel talk was part of a week-long Green Summit that also included a showing of the film Food Inc. and the launch of their Sustainability Co-op, which is a group of students, faculty, and staff who meet together to help their campus pursue sustainability.  After chapel, Brady took me on a campus tour where he shared their vision for replanting prairie plants on campus, expanding the vegetable plots to include fruit trees, more composting and, if their President’s idea come to fruition, perhaps even some terracing along the hillside. 

Throughout my visit and various meetings with students and faculty, I was struck by how much creative passion and thoughtful leadership the students are bringing to issues they care about.  MNU is becoming a very outwardly focused campus and its student leaders like Brady, Mitchell, and their friends, that are leading the charge.