In Focus: Students

ANDREW BRETON'S SUPER MARIO BROTHERS REENACTMENT GOES NATIONAL
What started as a Golden Goose talent show performance for junior Andrew Breton has blossomed into an Internet sensation on Google Video and YouTube. It was aired on MTV's Total Request Live Segment on July 25, 2006, and the video was also featured on VH-1 and VH-1's Best Week Ever website.

Breton, a youth ministries major, cocreated and starred in a real-life production of the Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers video game, specifically Level 1-1. Breton, dressed as Mario, runs through scenes jumping on turtle shells, squashing goombas, throwing fire balls, jumping into green tunnels and even pausing halfway through the level. "My favorite part was probably when I jumped into the tube for the first time and heard people laughing. The crowd reaction was fantastic, and the standing ovation was definitely a highlight."

Golden Goose is an annual event at Gordon, and is held in A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel. "We never would have pulled this off without all the people involved," says Breton. In fact, he had eight ninjas, two costume artists, four stage hands, a prop and set designer, and a camera man helping out.

While Breton and his friends have considered creating another performance reenacting a different level of Super Mario Brothers, there are no plans currently underway. Says Breton, "It wouldn't be like us college students to plan ahead, right?" View the performance on Google Video

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS by Timothy Lewis '08
Stories have always been a kind of fuel in my life. Dinnertime at my house lasted as long as three hours, each of us sharing what had happened in our day in the most dramatic fashion possible. Stories and their impact on our lives and culture-this is what directed me to study communications and media at Gordon. Through my internship with the South African Council of Churches this past summer, I sat in on parliamentary hearings on the welfare of the elderly and the state of correctional facilities. On safari, our group had a Jurassic Park-like experience with an angst-ridden, vision-impaired teenage elephant. I experienced beautiful people living in both poverty and disease, and flourishing wealth. I'd like to prescribe some wisdom that the program or the country had to offer, but I'm afraid I'm unable. I trust that God will provide the most appropriate time to explore the stories that He has placed in that box.

Tim Lewis is the student director of the Campus Events Council (CEC) at Gordon and participated in South Africa Seminar in summer 2006.

MIKE DRAKE '08: 2006 MEDALIST IN GOLF TOURNAMENT
"One of my goals this year, as captain of the golf team, was to win at least one of our tournaments. I started off our season by coming in fourth at the University of New England Invitational. It was a good way to start-I experienced what it was like to be close to a win, and that gave me the drive to try harder."
-Mike Drake '08

Mike Drake finished first and the team finished fourth at the Gordon College Fighting Scots Invitational held at Turner Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts on October 4, 2006.

Photos
1. Golden Goose and Mario make a great team
2. The sun sets in the Unfolizi nature reserve where we took two days to be on safari. Taken by Tim Lewis.
3. Mike Drake with his 2006 medal.

<< BACK