My Top Ten Wheaton College Pics - Part Two

PART TWO - GRADUATE EXPERIENCE

As I wrap-up my time here on the campus of Wheaton College I thought I would post a couple quick top tens. I arrived at the campus of Wheaton College, situated in the suburbs of Chicago, in August of 2012 and immediately starting taking pictures to capture the experience. It has been a blast these past two years living in a city that gets to see all four seasons. I have been truly blessed to get to experience my graduate schooling at such a beautiful and historic Christian college campus. This post and the next one will each be a collection of photos that I personally took during my time here at Wheaton College. The first post will be my ten favorite pictures of the Wheaton campus and the second part will be my ten favorite pictures of the experience of being a graduate student. For structure I've ranked the pictures, but don't take the rankings too seriously; I certainly didn't. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

*These pictures find their way into this Top Ten not necessarily because they look great, but because I think they represent well what graduate life was like for me. I hope that by the end of the list you will have gotten a good taste of the many educations I received while at Wheaton College.

*Bonus

April 2013 - End of the semester studying

This picture is a perfect example of what end of the semester studying began to look like for me. In all my classes I only had one final exam. Instead, most of my classes preferred long term papers.

*Bonus

January 2013 - Saint Procopius Abbey 

I received the opportunity to experience several spiritual traditions outside of my own while part of the grad school. This picture is from a trip to a nearby Catholic Abbey. I was also able to visit an inner-city "Catholic Church" and experience a Taize service. 

*Bonus

December 2013 - Hanging out before class

#10

October 2012 - 'Foundations for Biblical Interpretation'

I love this picture because it was taken very early in my Wheaton experience and I can still see in it all of my early anxiousness and excitement. Also, I wanted to capture the beautiful 5th floor seminar rooms, where the our world-class Bible & Theology department is housed.

#9

August 2012 - Wheaton Thunder football game

Being part of the graduate school typically meant that all of our classes and meetings took place in one building. Still, I tried to make it to as many campus events as I could. There was always something fun like sports games, special lectures, and improv shows going on.

#8

February 2013 - Heavy snowfall on campus

I decided to attempt walking to class (I live about 15 minutes away) during a heavy snowfall just for fun. It probably wasn't the best idea, but I was able to snap this photo in the process. I don't know if I will live in the south the rest of my life or not, but I will always remember the amazing fall and winter seasons here at Wheaton!

#7

September 2012 - Realizing the amount of studying I have to do

I thought this picture captured well the overwhelming feeling I got when I first added up all the books I had to read and write papers on. I think I used this as my Facebook profile picture for several months

#6

October 2013 - CFM Department at the SPCE Conference

I was invited as a guest of the Christian Formation and Ministry department to attend the Society of Professors of Christian Education Conference that took place in downtown Chicago. This picture is of another student and I sitting alongside three department faculty members. I will always remember this event as the moment I realized the nobility and necessity of the Christian educator to the body of Christ.

#5

September 2012 - Ravi Zacharias speaks on campus

You didn't think I would post more Wheaton pictures without posting another photo of me with Ravi Zacharias did you? Besides being all kinds of prideful about this photo, I put this here because it represents to me the unique blessings of being a Wheaton student. They give their students a chance to meet all the big names out there. The only person I really wanted to me but didn't get to was N.T. Wright. He was actually visiting the campus the semester before I showed up!

#4

December 2013 - Wheaton professors Dan Haase and David Setran

This picture was taken just after I finished my comprehensive exam for the degree. This picture represents how influential the faculty (especially these two men) have been in my time here at Wheaton. The entire staff has allowed me to meet with them (over and over) to discuss, challenge, and air my ideas.

#3

May 2013 - Eating with Jon Chunn and Evan Weppler

One of my absolute favorite things to do was to grab food with fellow cohorts and discuss class and life.

#2

December 2012 - 'History & Philosophy of Ministry' 

This is a photo of me giving a presentation to the class on evangelist George Whitefield. I chose this photo because it represents several important things to me: 1) I was thoroughly engrossed in the project and presentation. It stands to this day as one of my favorite school projects of all-time 2) You can tell by the slimness of my clothes and jawline that I was at my lowest weight here. Subsequent end of semester study binges threw off my health routine and I have yet to get back on board with it. This picture represents a real high point for me; where I was physically, spiritually, and mentally at the absolute top of my game.

#1

September 2013 - 'Teaching for Transformation'

Everything great about my educational experience at Wheaton College comes together in this photo. This was taken during an after class discussion between the professor and some students. The class was 3 hours long, yet this discussion went on for nearly 30 more minutes afterwards. The amount of interest, enthusiasm, encouragement and collaboration that took place during this little after-class discussion was incredible. This is the kind of moment that I am convinced cannot happen in an online course and cannot happen with students who are disengaged and just looking for a decent grade before they move on. This wasn't just a passionate discussion between the professor and one interested student; this was a self-motivated learning discussion that began with engaged students that then enveloped anyone lucky enough to be close enough to it...as I was. I wrote a blog about this moment a few months back. I encourage you to read it.

Part One