In Focus: Students

A FRESHMAN'S VIEW FROM EXILE by Bryce Bachelder '10

"Wait--where is Rider?" That's the usual question I'm asked when I say I live in Rider Hall.

For all who are curious, Rider Hall is, according to Google Earth, 1777.88 feet (.34 miles) from the chapel, 1785.66 feet (.34 miles) from Lane, 1354.94 feet (.26 miles) from the front door of Jenks and 1486.75 feet (.28 miles) from Barrington. Most importantly, Rider is 23,006.36 feet (4.36 miles) from the famed Nick's Roast Beef.

However, I am amazed by Rider's community. We Rider folk don't associate the word "Rider" with the building itself but with the people inside the building. Despite the long walk to--well, anywhere on campus--and the complete lack of estrogen, things are pretty kickin' around here.

Explore Google Earth: earth.google.com

FACEBOOKED  by Kelsey Klerowski '10

Feeling a little guilty for using Facebook so much? If not, it probably means you did not attend the convocation in which students walking into chapel were greeted with the phrase on the projector screen "Your Synthetic Life: Convocation has added you as a friend." Some students recognized that phrase from the popular networking site Facebook. Seniors Bridget Barrows and Lindsay Kronzer discussed how this medium distorts images in everyday relationships. Mediated communication, they said, is a useful tool in keeping contact with friends and family, but it must be handled with caution and prudence. Facebook allows us to project a synthetic image of ourselves to our friends, the people with whom we are supposed to feel most comfortable. Said Barrows and Kronzer, "We need to be aware of what we are creating because we are responsible for what we portray."

LEARNING FROM ST. FRANCIS by Jonathan Crawford '08

Bread Groups are small-group fellowships that meet weekly for at least one semester and are eligible for alternative chapel credit. We are reading The Way of St. Francis by Murray Bodo, O.F.M., a Franciscan brother and writer-in-residence at Thomas More College, Kentucky. One of Bodo's consistent points is that we are not called to imitate Christ but to follow him. If we do exactly what Jesus did in the first century or what Francis did in the 13th, we are not living the gospel. So we discuss ways that we can live these gospel virtues--love, peace, prayer and chastity, and so on--today. Francis was a normal human being who lived an extraordinary life; a saint who was fully engaged in the world and yet a man of deep prayer, with an intimate relationship with his heavenly Father. It is from him we get the saying "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."

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