September 2011 Archives

The Concordia St. Paul University Homecoming game versus Minnesota State Mankato took place on September 24, 2011.  Concordia's Golden Bears entered to fireworks and roaring applause. The "student section" of the bleachers was relatively small and began to grow in size as the first half went on. Comet the Bear did his best to pump up the crowd. However, after Mankato had scored 41 points to the Golden Bears' 6, many students left at halftime for the carnival. In the second half of the game the Golden Bears did hold their own and managed to score 21 more points. Unfortunately, it was not enough and the Mavericks beat the Golden Bears 57 to 27. Some students never stopped screaming for the trailing Bears and showed school spirit despite the humiliating loss. Many penalties were called in the duration of this larger-than-life football game, most of which were in favor of the Mavericks. In the end, Concordia's Golden Bears couldn't complete the obligation of which the rest of the student body held them to.

Concordia, being the only private university in the division, seems to be out of their league in the area of football. People have said that loss brings greater knowledge than victory. If that were true in the Golden Bears' case, doctorates would be handed out in the locker room. Although stepping up and bringing their score from a mere 6 at the end of the first half to 27 at the end of the game, the Golden Bears lack the required proficiency in both offense and defense to beat the Mavericks or any other Division II team. Many missed throws and tackles easily defend this statement. The scoreboard alone makes a proclamation. The defense was unable at most attempts to stop the Mavericks from getting to their end zone. The offense was not able to, in most cases; break through the line of scrimmage to get the necessary points to win. With better coordination, less emotion, and more evenly matched adversaries, the Golden Bears would stand a better chance at a victory.

In truth, I was one of the fans that stayed in the stands for as long as I could, before I had to work, screaming my heart out in support of my school's team. Unfortunately, they did let us down at our homecoming. The arrogance and minimization of opponents that our Golden Bears showed on the field today is what allowed the Mavericks to triumph over us by such a large margin. There certainly was no lack of fan support in the section I was sitting in and we never gave up home on our team. Many of the penalties that were called upon the Bears today were fair and just the team members breaking the rules. Too much emotion, especially with homecoming, could have easily led to the Bears' downfall. I also did not feel that God or faith was incorporated at all in this game. Faith and learning is what Concordia is based on, and without the presence of either of these elements on the field today, I do not believe that our homecoming game was a good display of being human and Christian in an interconnected world.

The Convocation on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 opened with a simple comparison. The basic point was that though people at Concordia like different sports teams or come from different places, they are all here now; united in the Christian gospel. All students of Concordia are God's chosen people. The presentation was then segued into the school's mission statement. As a group, the mission statement was read aloud for effect. Then the speaker began to state what he felt the purposes of a mission statement were:  to live a certain way, to stretch one's mind, to broaden the audience past the school's borders, to utilize technology, and to include college. Before further detail was indulged, a convocation schedule for the remainder of the year was discussed. The speaker needed ideas for spring convocations and asked students to suggest some, although not right at the moment.

The speaker then switched the microphone over to College President Ries whom he introduced as reasonable, caring, and a good listener. President Ries went on to speak about the mission statement and its importance to the college. He pointed out to students that a mission statement must be lived out and understood. He wondered what Concordia Students respected most about Concordia and had the students write three things on an index card that was collected at the end of the convocation. President Ries continued to discuss important elements that other students and panels. These elements included: urban, multi-cultural, small, affordable, caring, religious, welcoming, and so on and so forth. President Ries then compared the mission statement to a promise that is due to all students of Concordia. He went on to explain that promises need to be compelling, differentiating, and true. They also must specify the area in which Concordia lies, college-wise.  The convocation was closed with a video from the C.A.L.L. (Community Action, Leadership, and Learning) center. The video focused on "Serving God and Humanity" by doing service trips, and volunteering.

The intent of this convocation was to rally the students of Concordia to not only be interested in creating a new mission statement, but standing by it and getting into volunteer work. The initial speaker spoke of the content of a mission statement and its purpose. President Ries then stepped in and began his comparison of a mission statement to a promise, giving the mission statement a feeling of much more importance. The elements that were listed were used to promote Concordia and inspire students to remember why they chose to go to college here. The purpose of needing students to write drafts of the mission statements was revealed after all the aforementioned information so that the students would be behind what a mission statement stands for.  As Kristin Schoon said, "Students need to know of the rewards that Concordia has to offer."

Personally, I feel the whole convocation was an attempt to ignite the student body to write drafts of mission statements. I also believe that of all the elements and factors the speakers were mentioning throughout the presentation would be impossible to incorporate into one statement. Also, I agreed with Kyle Sorknes when he said, "That everyone's college experience was different." Therefore, one statement cannot possibly sum up the lives of all Concordia's students, past, present, or future. I simply feel that the speakers were overly optimistic about how accurate a mission statement can truly be to that of an entire student body. A strength of Concordia according to one student, may be a weakness to another. I feel the fact that this University is an interconnected reality between being a human and a Christian was under represented in this convocation. To me, this is a huge part of the reason I chose Concordia and it was only vaguely mentioned.  Lastly, I believe the addition of the C.A.L.L. video at the end seemed irrelevant to the convocation as a whole; although, admittedly, one of Concordia's qualities is the volunteer and leadership opportunities. Personally, I did not feel it drove the point home.