Greetings again! So to continue our meet and greet here at McCormick via the web, I’m pleased to introduce you to McCormick Senior, Ed Bird.

Fun fact about Ed: he used to be a chef.

Enjoy all you McCormick bloggers!

~Peace

Shelley D.

Greetings, McCormick.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ed Bird.  I am a senior at McCormick in the M. Div. program.  It is a proud thing to say that I have many hats I wear in both McCormick and the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.  Among these, my greatest joy, privilege, and responsibility is to serve for the third year on McCormick’s Student Session.  This year, I serve as co-moderator of Student Session with Michele Edwards, with whom I have been a colleague and friend since I came to MTS in Fall 2008.

Student Session, simply, “…seeks to serve the Masters Level students and their families of McCormick Theological seminary through communication, advocacy, and nurture…”  Among our responsibilities, we seek to foster open and respectful dialogue among all entities on campus; to provide space for students to share their needs and concerns; and to enable participation of student in the life of MTS.  We are accountable to you—the student body – in this mission.

Every student has a representative on Session; every student is invited to attend Student Session meetings; every student has the right to voice at Session.

There are currently ten student groups seeking to be a community and a resource, a voice and a vote at Session for students of various identities.  They are:

Acts 10:15
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender concerns group.

Session representative: Sylvia Miller

Anti-Racism at McCormick
Students doing anti-racism work in the McCormick community.

Session representative: Caroline Underwood

Asociacion de Estudiantes Latino/as de McCormick  (A.E.L.M.)
Latino students and others interested in Latino issues.

Session Representative: Jeniffer Rodriguez

Commuter Student Group
A support group for commuter students.

Session Representative: Marge Van Der Wagen

Eco-Justice Student Group
A group for individuals concerned about environmental issues.

Session Representative: Peter Sanders

Global Community
International students and friends.

Session representative: Chingboi Guite

Korean American Students Association (K.A.S.A.)
For Korean students and their families.

Session Representative: Wonduk Jang

Pan‐African Students Organization (P.A.S.O.)
A group for African, African-American, and Caribbean heritage students.

Session representative: Walonza Lee

Peacemakers
Students interested in peace-making work and justice issues.

Session Representative: Jon Phillips

Women in Ministry
Students interested in women’s concerns in ministry.

Session Representative: Sylvia Miller

Each of these groups sits at Session and offers concerns from the perspective of students they represent in their group. Additionally, each class (Junior, Middler, Senior) has three members of their class sitting, speaking and voting for them. McCormick Deacons also are represented by Shelley Donaldson; the McCormick Herald Newspaper by Sara Otieno; and Residence Life by Matt Ploeger.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, what you want and hope for at McCormick, no matter what year you are or what student groups you feel most akin to.  YOUR VOICE IS CRUCIAL to make McCormick a community, a place for the Monarchy of God on Earth.

If you are not affiliated with any of the above student groups, and you want your voice heard, please consider speaking with one of the elected representatives.  They are:  Juniors; Kristin Riegel, Matthew Downey, and Jung Jae Lee.  Middlers:  Alex Wirth, Amber Ellingtion, and Tracy Nolan; and Seniors, Michele Edwards, Abby Mohaupt, and Ed Bird.

Session meets every first Monday in Rm. 241 at 4p.   If you can’t make it, get in touch with anyone listed above ASAP and share your thoughts and ask to have them brought to the table.  Session will work hard for you; already this semester we helped obtain clocks in MTS classrooms, a microwave in the vending machine area by Buchanan Lounge, and a Commuter Students bulletin board also near Buchanan, between the Lounge and Student Mailboxes.

Blessings and peace to you and yours and all of the McCormick Community.

Ed

(Photo courtesy of Ed Bird)