Campus Preview Event Invites Hundreds

In just a few days, the Oakwood University campus will be filled with visiting students from across the United States and abroad for Oakwood Live! The "campus preview "weekend event is scheduled for October 11-13, although some of the visiting students and their chaperones will begin arriving as early as Friday.

Potential students will explore and preview the unique qualities of "the Oakwood experience." Prospective Oakwoodites and their chaperones will spend three, jam-packed days touring the campus, attending classroom presentations, concerts and sports and other fun activities, and connecting with "future roommates" from across the US and other territories.

Registered attendees who complete an application can be awarded a $500 Oakwood Live! Scholarship (to attend Oakwood) just for participating!

For more information, call (256) 726-7356, or click here to register or view the schedule by clicking here.

Oakwood's Aeolians Minister at Carnegie Hall

Photo by Rohann D. Wellington

The performance of the Aeolians of Oakwood University on Sunday, October 4, brought the audience at New York's historic Carnegie Hall to its feet, rendition after rendition. Under the director of Jason Max Ferdinand, D.M.A., they performed with a full orchestra and with soloist Brandie Sutton, '05. The Aeolians and Sutton were the guests of the Altino Brothers, known for their classical interpretations as well as their artistic and innovative renditions of well-known traditional favorites.

Dr. Ferdinand is following in the footsteps of former Aeolians director, Dr. Jon Robertson, whose Aeolians also performed at Carnegie Hall in 1988.

The Aeolians will continue their musical journey on October 16 with a concert at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Legendary soprano Kathleen Battle will grace the stage with the Aeolians, along with jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut

Dr. Ferdinand said that the performance at Carnegie Hall was, "without question, one of the biggest platforms that we will mount here in the continental United States. The thought is both humbling and a tad scary. Carnegie Hall sits as the mecca of artistic expression and Kathleen Battle is one of the most acclaimed voices of all time. Our preparation, in my opinion, is benefiting from the fact that the Aeolians perhaps totally don't grasp the giant implications of both. I am learning that the Kathleen Battle concert will be filled with music and civic luminaries of all spheres of life. In the meantime we will continue to prepare with practice and prayer."

For more information about the performance, the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, or the Oakwood Music Department at (256) 726-7278 or 7277.

Oakwood Serves and Learns in Community Classroom on AGAPE Day

by Naomi Coggs, student writer

Since 2005, Oakwood University has designated one day during the fall semester as AGAPE Day, when classroom instruction is officially set aside so that students, employees and administrators can "depart to serve" the Huntsville/Madison County area, and learn in the "community classroom."

Yesterday, October 6, was AGAPE Day 2015. The day began at 8:45 a.m., when approximately 500 volunteers in their bright yellow t-shirts boarded the buses to be transported to work sites in the greater Huntsville area. Work projects included painting, planting, weeding, general cleanup, assisting senior citizens, and reading to elementary school children. There were a total of 35 work sites this year including the CASA Community Garden, the Alabama Constitution Village, the Huntsville Botanical Garden, Christmas Charities Year Round, Downtown Rescue Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Huntsville Historic Depot, and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

AGAPE Day was first launched in 2005 as an initiative between the Division of Academic Administration and the Freshmen Studies Department. It is now coordinated by the Department of Service Learning. Patricia Daniel, coordinator, shared, "AGAPE Day was a blessing to those who rendered service and to those who were beneficiaries of the service. Students who participated want to continue relations with those they served. Community members and service recipients appreciate the way that Oakwood is helping underprivileged people, and want us to return in the near future."

You can search social media for AGAPE Day photo at #AgapeDay2k15.

Oakwood on the Road Scheduled for Atlanta

On October 24, President Leslie Pollard and the Division of Advancement & Development are hosting a day with Oakwood University at the Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, 291 Hamilton E. Holmes Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

The day includes Divine Worship service; an afternoon concert with the world-renowned Aeolians; and concludes with an "Oakwood on the Road" reception on Saturday evening, for all Oakwood alumni and friends in the greater Atlanta area.

President Pollard, administrators, students, faculty, and staff will be in attendance, to tell you about the latest developments at Oakwood. Enjoy the lively fellowship, get a bite to eat, and come prepared to get involved and support your Oakwood University. For more details, email alumni@oakwood.edu, or call (256) 726-7039.

Alumni Notes

Nehemiah James Mabry, '09, recently graduated with a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with specialization in Structural Engineering and Mechanics from North Carolina State University. He merged his love of God, community and engineering into the creation of STEMedia, which produces creative content and video to motivate students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In 2014, STEMedia sponsored the first TECHNIMETRIC STEM Poetry Jam at NCSU. He was awarded the 2012 National winner of "Stay with It" an engineering competition hosted by Intel and MTV. On July 26, Nehemiah married Jennifer Charles, '12. Nehemiah's words to live by are "Don't just have the next BIG thing.....Create It!"

About Oakwood

The mission of Oakwood University, a historically black, Seventh-day Adventist institution, is to transform students through biblically-based education for service to God and humanity.