Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2021

ATHLETICS FACILITIES NAMED Cedarville’s outdoor sports complex has been renamed the Pete Reese and Gene Reese Athletic Fields. Pete Reese ’60 and Gene Reese are both natives of Cedarville and graduated from Cedarville High School in 1956 and 1953, respectively. After finishing high school, Pete enrolled at what was then Cedarville College, graduating in 1960. He was a dominant force on Yellow Jacket basketball teams, scoring 1,930 points in the days before the 3-point shot and had 1,027 rebounds. In 1984, he became a charter member of the Cedarville University Athletic Hall of Fame, and his number 43 jersey was retired by the Hall in 2005. Gene was a lifelong farmer in Greene County, raising cattle, pigs and growing crops on what became 1,800 acres. He invested in the village of Cedarville, purchasing three buildings that housed apartments and bus inesses , and supported community activities like the Cedarfest Labor Day celebration. After 23 years’ service at The Master’s University in Los Angeles, Pete returned to his alma mater in 1988. He served as assistant men’s basketball coach from 1988 to 1997, then as the university’s director of athletics from 1998–2008. He supervised the outdoor athletic facilities staff from 2008 until his retirement in 2017. Together, the Reese brothers built Cedarville’s varsity soccer fields. Twice. Pete also oversaw the construction of the current baseball/softball complex, the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course, and multiple practice fields. Gene provided the large equipment to excavate and grade the property which would become Cedarville’s tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, soccer fields, and the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. The athletic fields named for Pete and Gene encompass all of Cedarville’s outdoor sports venues. The renaming will incorporate the names for existing venues. For instance, the cross-country facility will be called the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course at the Pete Reese and Gene Reese Athletic Fields. STUDENT SURVEY AFFIRMS WSJ RANKING Cedarville has been ranked No. 2 in the country for student engagement by the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education for the past two years. Now, in the most recent National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Cedarville students gave equally high marks based on their own Cedarville experiences. Of the Cedarville students who responded in the 2020 NSSE, 95% said they had experienced a high-impact learning activity at Cedarville, such as service-learning, learning community, research with faculty, internship, s tudy abroad, and culminat ing senior experience. “Cedarvi l le graduates need to understand their field, master the skills demanded of it, and critically analyze information of all types to be successful in their vocation,” explained Thomas Mach ’88, Vice President for Academics. “The end goal is producing disciples of Christ who use their vocations as platforms for Gospel ministry.” According to the survey results, 92% of seniors also answered positively to the prompt that they “perceived gains in thinking critically and analytically.” In addition, 86% agreed that Cedarville had contributed to “developing or clarifying a personal code of values and ethics,” and Cedarville also contributed to “working effectively with others.” “The investment Cedarville faculty and staff make in the lives of students helps them solidify their faith in God, their understanding of the Bible, and their commitment to live lives of integrity,” Mach added. The NSSE is administered by the Indiana University School of Education. Survey results for 2020 were gathered from nearly half a million first-year and senior students at 521 U.S. and 63 Canadian universities. CAMPUS NEWS 38 | Cedarville Magazine