On Sept. 23, classes were cancelled and students, faculty and staff volunteered a day of work in the Michiana community at such organizations as Goshen Parks and Recreation (above) as part of the 11th annual Celebrate Service Day. Then on Oct. 24, students and community members participated in 350.org’s International Day of Climate Change by walking with banners, signs and enthusiasm to the Elkhart County Courthouse in downtown Goshen (below), where they gathered for music, speakers and signing petitions. Learn more at blog.goshen.edu/gogreen.

On March 10, 115 Goshen College students, faculty and staff helped the Feed the Children organization distribute food to more than 5,000 Elkhart County families hit hard by recent job losses (above). Throughout the year, the Music Center’s Community School of the Arts offers an Acorn Scholarship program, helping Elkhart County children of all income levels receive professional music lessons for as little as $1 per lesson (below). The program received the 2008 Indiana Youth Investment Award, as it has provided $75,000 in scholarships to 170 children since its sliding-scale system began in 2003.

What is a celebration without a parade? During this year’s Homecoming festivities in early October, to honor 40 years of SST, alumni children made drums, carried flags from around the globe and marched through campus (above). On the south portico of the Union on Sept. 2, days after the summer Olympics had ended, friends and family waved good-bye to the bus carrying 21 students headed to China for fall SST (below). Though 351 GC students have gone to China for SST since the program began in 1980, this group was the first to live with host families.

(Photos by Jodi H. Beyeler)