Mental Health | 7
Opinion | 8
Religion | 8
Lifestyle | 9
How to stop living through the motions
Keeping the Sabbath
Will a new temple be built in Jerusalem?
Student entrepreneurs weigh in on balance
April 9, 2025 Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Accent
Vol. 80 Issue 19
The student voice since 1926
Student Senate votes $100,000 for campus accessibility Matthew Orquia Editor-in-Chief Hayden Kobza Managing Editor On March 26, all 21 Student Association (SA) senators unanimously approved $100,000 to add more automatic doors across Southern Adventist University and renovate a university-owned van to help accommodate students with physical disabilities, according to the March 26 Senate minutes. The proposal was created by two senators, Amy Van Arsdell, senior history and Spanish major, and Nema Ogal, sophomore biochemistry major.
Dennis Negrón, vice president for Student Development, said $84,000 has been allocated for doors to be automatized, and the remaining $16,000 is for retrofitting a Southern van. Negrón stated in an email that student accessibility is one of the many plans Student Development is working on to make Southern fit for all students. “The goal is to have this campus fully accessible to the physically disabled in five years,” he stated. “In the year 2024-25, one of the goals is to install door openers on, at minimum, 10% of the build-
ings on campus, with completion of this project scheduled for year five, 2028-29. The money that Senate approved to retrofit a currently-owned van so that it is wheelchair accessible meets a different need, one that was added to the strategic plans this year because we now have two wheel-chair bound students at Southern.” Crystelle Toledo, freshman liberal arts education major, uses a wheelchair. In an email to the Accent, she expressed how ecstatic she is about the work the Senate has done for her and Heidi Burke, sophomore history teaching licen-
sure major, who also uses a wheelchair. “Meeting Senate was lovely; they listened to what Heidi and I had to say and were very enthused on our behalf,” Toledo stated. “I am excited to experience some of the off-campus activities other students get and be able to do so more easily and with much less stress. “I applaud Senate's gusto in the matter and great support,” she continued. “This is something I greatly appreciate, and I see a bright and hopeful future in the next generation of church and academic leadership.”
Burke stated that she is happy Southern has started with more projects like the van and doors but believes there is more work to be done. “Southern purchasing a wheelchair accessible vehicle would literally open up my world,” Burke stated. “It would allow me to participate in events that I desperately want to join. It would give me back the dignity of having a choice in what experiences I get to have. Southern investing in a wheelchair accessible vehicle would prove that this is a place where everyone belongs, on or off campus.”
See Accessibility on page 2
"Passionate about serving others" Studentwritten
play to premiere on stage Jehiely Balabarca Reporter
Ashton and Corbin Weiss led an 11-day mission trip in the city of Santiago. The group constructed walls of a church and offered a free health clinic. (Photo courtesy of source)
Southern students lead mission trip to Dominican Republic over Spring Break Matthew Orquia Editor-in-Chief Chloe Smith Reporter Over Spring Break, Southern Adventist University students led a group of 34 people to the Dominican Republic to help construct a church and provide medical clinics for the community. The trip organizers, twin brothers, Corbin Weiss, senior mathematics major, and Ashton Weiss, senior interdisciplinary studies major, embarked on the trip in hopes of sharing their love of service. “Ashton and I grew up doing Maranatha mission trips instead of family vacations,” Corbin Weiss said. “We knew that we wanted to share the joy of service that had been so transformational to us while growing up, and we wanted to share that experience with our friends here at Southern.” Of the 34 individuals on the mission trip, 25 of them were students at Southern. The team left on March 13, and the trip lasted a total of 11 days. According to Weiss, the
first several days consisted of building the Fuente de Salvacion Church in Santiago, while the end of the trip involved a health clinic that served community members and kids at nearby schools. Over the course of the trip, the team was able to nearly finish all the walls of the Fuente de Salvacion Church, according to Corbin Weiss. They also served a total of 70 community members at their health clinic, as well as 200 kids at the nearby school. John Hargy, senior biophysics major, said it was satisfying to see the walls of Fuente de Salvacion Church continue rising during the trip.
"And the last Sabbath, we were able to worship again ... in a completed church." “What was so cool about this experience, was that the first Sabbath we arrived, the church was just a still frame,” Hargy said. “ … And that last Sabbath, we were able to worship again in the church, but more than just a frame, a completed church.” According to Hargy and
Shelby Brautigan, junior character animation major, they both heard from a member of Fuente de Salvacion who had been praying for the church for fifteen years. Priscille Mikala, junior music performance major, said the heat was one obstacle to the team laying down brick for the church walls. “Some places and some times of day, the sun would just be on us, and I would say that was probably the hardest thing,” Mikala said. The group also had an excursion day where they ziplined, hiked at a canyon and visited a port city, according to Brautigan, who said the day was a highlight of her trip Mikala said one of the highlights of the trip for her was when the group would come together for worship in the evenings. “Every evening, someone different would share a devotional thought, and it was really interesting to hear the stories of older people that were on the trip with us that were missionaries for like 30 or 40 years,” Mikala said. For Hargy, another highlight was bonding with the
other students in the mission field. “I had known a number of them, but just getting to spend a whole week really working alongside your peers, alongside students, you get to know people in a really good way,” Hargy said. Emily White, senior music theory and literature major, was another student who joined in serving the Santiago community.
"Every student should take the opportunity to go on a mission trip at least once." “Our group had the chance to show the community that there are still young people like us who are passionate about serving others and the Lord,” White said, “and I think we did a great job of doing that.” According to Corbin Weiss, he was able to organize the trip through Maranatha, an organization that coordinates the construction of needed buildings with volunteers who wish to serve. He served as the project coor-
See Mission on page 2
Anaya Parker wrote her first draft of Breaking Tides in eighth grade. It was a quiet, handwritten, hopeful playscript born in the margins of notebooks between school classes. Nearly seven years later, that story is being brought to life by a full student cast at Southern Adventist University. Breaking Tides will be shown April 11, 5 p.m. in Southern’s Lynn Wood Chapel. Admission is free, but the cast recommends attendees get tickets to be guaranteed a seat. All those who can’t attend in person are invited to stream the play on the Breaking Tides Facebook page. The cast invites all students, faculty, and friends to attend the show.
" ... The play is set in 1940s Oahu, following Halia, and her family in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack." According to Parker, the play is set in 1940s Oahu, following Halia, and her family in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. It also features Halia’s best friend, Aiko, as she suffers the loss of her brother and struggles in a Japanese internment camp. Halia then decides to write a story about a wounded soldier for a newspaper competition, meeting a young Will, which opens her eyes to the racism present during the 1940s. It’s about memory, identity and how people find their way back to each other, imperfectly and painfully, but with grace.
Scan the QR code to reserve tickets for the Breaking Tides show on April 11, 5 pm. (Graphic courtesy of source) See Premiere on page 3