Inspire, Fall/Winter 2011

many ways its identity was brand-new. “We knew that God had just started the school,” she told me, “and we enjoyed the fellowship and the opportunity to have a Christian education.” She described how everyone had an unpaid campus job to help keep the school running and the costs low. Sometimes they canceled classes to pray that God would provide funds to pay the faculty. “I have heard David Jeremiah ’63 say that when he was young, his family wouldn’t have had food if it were not for the garden that his mother grew,” she said. “People now don’t know how much sacrifice went in to building the school.” They were a tight-knit community, brought together by their faith and desire to have a Christian education, squished together on a small campus in the middle of nowhere, making their own fun and watching God work. These Are the Days My grandparents both recently celebrated their 50th class reunions. I helped glue crepe paper to their parade float last year, and I can testify that their class is still close. They knew who was there and who wasn’t; who was coming and when or why not. They even knew whose hips and knees and backs were going or gone! While I was busy sticking yellow squares of paper into the chicken wire, I listened to their stories. I thought how strange it might be 10 or 20 or 50 years down the road to come back to campus, a student from the past, and try to recall what campus is like now. It’s still a small campus, although not as small as it was when my grandparents were here — their whole campus was just the southeast corner of my campus, which in turn will probably be the southeast corner of campus in the future. Back to the Future I would love the opportunity to travel back to this time in my family and school’s history, but I’m pretty sure I would stick out like a sore thumb in the late 50s. I fit well on campus now; I’ve found a place where I can be myself and grow in Christ. As a caffeine-addicted, slightly hedonistic, night-owlish Jesus-lover prone to bursting into song, thriving on Frisbee, Nerf gun battles, random adventures, and deep conversations with friends, what more could I ask for than to live on a college campus? Except maybe to live on this campus, with the added encouragement of chapel, regular prayer with my brothers and sisters, faculty and staff who care about students, and the chance to put my faith into action in every area of my life. Instead of traveling back to 1959, I decide to go back only 11 years in the past. The year is 2000, and my family is on campus for my mother’s 15-year class reunion. Cedarville has just recently become a university, and my 10-year-old self is looking at the new “Cedarville University” apparel in the bookstore. “Will I go to Cedarville when I’m older like you did?” I ask my mom. “If you want to,” she says. “You will want to,” I whisper to my 10-year-old self. “You’ll love it.” Katie Entner ’13 is a technical and professional communication major from Midland, Michigan. Her family tree includes several Cedarville graduates, including her grandparents, John ’60 and Sandy (Millikin) Entner ’59, her mother, Debbie (Battaglia) Entner ’85, and several aunts and uncles. While their heritage is important to her, Katie enjoys making her Cedarville experience her own. You may contact her at krentner@cedarville.edu . Katie Entner ’13 reminiscing with her grandparents, John ‘60 and Sandy (Millikin) Entner ‘59. John and Sandy met at Cedarville in the 1950s. Left: Sandy introduced Debbie (Battaglia) ‘85 to her son, Michael, and they have now been married 25 years. Right: The Entners have made Cedarville a family tradition for more than 50 years. CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY 17 my cedarv i l le