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NPU and CBC Host Welcoming Party for CHIC2K3 Students
KNOXVILLE, TN (August 1, 2003) - It's been said, "You don't get a second chance
to make a first impression."
North Park University (NPU) and Covenant Bible College (CBC) made sure that
first impression was a good one at a welcoming party for the 5,000 students
at CHIC2K3: Reaction Thursday afternoon before the event's opening worship
service. NPU handed out free sno-cones and water bottles while both schools
offered students an opportunity to ask questions about the school. With
most of the CHIC2K3 students having arrived at the University of Tennessee
on Thursday morning, NPU's Mark Olson and CBC's Del Pease were busy people.
"About 32 percent of the undergraduate population are Covenant students,"
said Olson, NPU's dean of enrollment and director of church relations.
"North Park exists - in a general and broad sense - to further the
Christian mission in the world. We see our presence here at CHIC as an
effort to support the Covenant's mission and help make CHIC a good
experience.
"We want to expose people to North Park," Olson continued. "And we ask
people we've brought here to approach this week with a servant's heart. We
work closely with the CHIC planning team to meet some needs and ranges from
such things as providing water bottles and we're providing 10 workshop
leaders to provide expertise in those areas. We also have five coaches
running sports clinics and others who are available as emergency
counselors."
CHIC has been a catalyst for many future North Park students, said Olson.
About 25 students per class were originally alerted to the school through
initial contacts made at CHIC and Olson stated, "CHIC is about our largest
source for names of prospective students and will continue to be for three
years." Covenant Bible College's support has been invaluable too. About 20
of CBC's students from last year attended NPU the following fall and the
two schools enjoy a strong partnership, said Olson and Pease.
Olson said that events like the welcoming party can give students
information as simple as the school's location (Chicago). "So many people
come here (to CHIC) with no information at all about us, so we're often
working with a blind slate," he said. "If a kid knows anything about North
Park at all, we're happy. But we know that many kids are just starting to
look for a college. They don't know what to ask, so they're getting some
basic information."
To help students gather more information about NPU, the school has given
each lead church youth leader at CHIC with a welcome packet, along with a
CD with music from NPU's Sunday night College Life and Thursday chapel
services. The album is called "Cry Holy" and is available at Covenant
Bookstore. The album was recorded last spring at NPU.
Thursday's welcome party is less of a recruiting tool for CBC (with 180
students on three campuses), although between 60 and 70 percent of CBC
students have some Covenant connection.
"We don't see CBC as an i
nstitution as it is a movement of God," said Pease, CBC's director of
admissions. God is calling more and more people to a life of discipleship
and service. CBC has been created so that students can better understand
God's word and become equipped to become his full disciples. So we spend a
lot of time at CHIC talking to students about life and choices and finding
out how they're doing with God, not so much about us as an institution. We
realize that Covenant Bible College is not for every student and North Park
is not for every student."
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