NPU and CBC Host Welcoming Party for CHIC2K3 Students

North Park University (NPU) and Covenant Bible College (CBC) made sure that first impression was a good one at a welcoming party for the 5,000 students at CHIC2K3: Reaction Thursday afternoon before the event's opening worship service. NPU handed out free sno-cones and water bottles while both schools offered students an opportunity to ask questions about the school. With most of the CHIC2K3 students having arrived at the University of Tennessee on Thursday morning, NPU's Mark Olson and CBC's Del Pease were busy people.

"About 32 percent of the undergraduate population are Covenant students," said Olson, NPU's dean of enrollment and director of church relations. "North Park exists - in a general and broad sense - to further the Christian mission in the world. We see our presence here at CHIC as an effort to support the Covenant's mission and help make CHIC a good experience.

"We want to expose people to North Park," Olson continued. "And we ask people we've brought here to approach this week with a servant's heart. We work closely with the CHIC planning team to meet some needs and ranges from such things as providing water bottles and we're providing 10 workshop leaders to provide expertise in those areas. We also have five coaches running sports clinics and others who are available as emergency counselors."

CHIC has been a catalyst for many future North Park students, said Olson. About 25 students per class were originally alerted to the school through initial contacts made at CHIC and Olson stated, "CHIC is about our largest source for names of prospective students and will continue to be for three years." Covenant Bible College's support has been invaluable too. About 20 of CBC's students from last year attended NPU the following fall and the two schools enjoy a strong partnership, said Olson and Pease.

Olson said that events like the welcoming party can give students information as simple as the school's location (Chicago). "So many people come here (to CHIC) with no information at all about us, so we're often working with a blind slate," he said. "If a kid knows anything about North Park at all, we're happy. But we know that many kids are just starting to look for a college. They don't know what to ask, so they're getting some basic information."

To help students gather more information about NPU, the school has given each lead church youth leader at CHIC with a welcome packet, along with a CD with music from NPU's Sunday night College Life and Thursday chapel services. The album is called "Cry Holy" and is available at Covenant Bookstore. The album was recorded last spring at NPU.

Thursday's welcome party is less of a recruiting tool for CBC (with 180 students on three campuses), although between 60 and 70 percent of CBC students have some Covenant connection.

"We don't see CBC as an i nstitution as it is a movement of God," said Pease, CBC's director of admissions. God is calling more and more people to a life of discipleship and service. CBC has been created so that students can better understand God's word and become equipped to become his full disciples. So we spend a lot of time at CHIC talking to students about life and choices and finding out how they're doing with God, not so much about us as an institution. We realize that Covenant Bible College is not for every student and North Park is not for every student."

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