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. 

Feburary 8-10, 2010

By: Ben Lowe

Nestled in the valley of Buffalo Mountain, Milligan College is a Christian liberal arts school affiliated with the Christian Church.  They brought me in to speak in chapel and meet with students, staff, and faculty, as part of their stepped-up efforts to pursue environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Vice President Joe Whitaker met me at the wonderfully small Tri-Cities airport in TN and, along with other students and staff, made me feel most welcomed throughout my visit.  The theme I kept hearing was that pursuing environmental stewardship is a very new journey for them.   Even so, they’ve been making great progress in a relatively short time.  Milligan was one of a handful of campuses to win a creation care mini-grant from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.  Part of this grant was used to revamp their recycling program by adding new bins throughout campus and raising awareness among the community.  They recently completed an extensive energy audit of all their facilities and are now going back through to make targeted energy efficiency improvements. 

I was excited to get a tour of their new wellness center that will be officially opened after Spring break.  This building is set to become the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building in their county, and is a wonderful testimony of how important creation care is for the people of God. 

A lot of student leadership comes through Senior Marsha Allen who has rallied a small but very talented group of student activists together. Marsha also just joined the Renewal team as an intern and we hope to continue supporting their efforts at Milligan in any way we can.  With building awareness and enthusiasm from all sectors of their campus, Milligan is looking to continue building on these early achievements to help their campus become a regional leader in sustainability.