Last week, Adventures in Faith had its usual activities on campus, with some changes.
The AIF series was started in the mid-1970s by Roger Frederickson, …. not sure how to say who he is…
It has been held in the winter time in the past, but due to concerns with weather delays, the events were moved to late September.
John Holzhuter, the coordinating director for Frederickson Center programming, said that the change in the events was to expand on just putting speakers in classrooms.
“Although we’ll have some class time, it really is different events for students to come on their own time, and secondly, to sort of partner that with the community as well,” he said.
Holzhuter said there are two big events being targeted in the community. One for educators, and the other for caregivers.
Phyllis Tillinghast, a care giver coordinator and case manager who works for the East Central Kansas Area Agency on Aging, said care giving is important because of the impact and importance it has on the community.
“About a third of the U.S. population is giving some kind of informal care,” she said.
Tillinghast, who works with the population of people over 60, said the volunteer work caregivers do is invaluable to the nation’s economy.
“If those people were paid, it would amount to about $375 billion,” she said. “That’s about twice as much as nursing homes and in-home care.”
Holzhuter said the events that were more visible to students were designated for specific areas of interest.
In order to keep interest in programs, the events were no longer mandatory, or in a class.
“It really is ‘here are some times, here’s what’s going on, you can come if you want to come,’” he said. “That makes a pretty big difference.”
Holzhuter said the biggest goal of all this work is to give students their own view of what faith looks like on campus.
“(President Eichner) is going to moderate sessions where he’s looking to see ‘what is faith leadership, what is faith programming and how do we make sure we are modeling what we say?’”
One speaker included an alum that was named superintendent of the year in Kansas last year.
“They are very much talking about faith in action and the legacy kind of thing, so a number of programs get involvement or help with community issues,” Holzhuter said.
Holzhuter said that other alums with specialties, as well as University of Kansas graduate and former basketball All-American Wayne Simien.
“We tried to make it so that whatever your interest is, primary or secondary, there’s something going on,” he said.
Holzhuter said that the main goal for the Frederickson Center is to be a “hub for inner-faith dialogue and connection.”