June 2016

Some say that middle schoolers are similar to adults in nursing homes: they want desperately to be able to contribute to society, they just don’t have the “wheels.” At EMMS, we provide students the “vehicle” to make service possible. We believe that “compassionate service to the world” is important at the middle school level–where students…

You may be aware of re-structuring, scheduling and grading scale changes at EMS beginning in the 2016-17 year. We’d like to take this opportunity to present what these changes are and how they will benefit EMS. To create a healthy bottom-line, while providing competitive opportunities for students, our middle and high schools are moving to…

In the summer of 2015, Nathan Alleman invited me, his former history teacher, to breakfast at a local restaurant in Harrisonburg. Twenty-two years after graduating from EMHS, Dr. Alleman, now from Waco, Texas, wanted to sit down and thank the faculty in his high school for teaching him how to think critically. It’s a rare…

In the fall of 1944, during World War II, Paul Swarr trans- ferred to Eastern Mennonite School for his senior year of high school and said “this was life-changing for me.” From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Swarr sang in a choir under the direction of J. Mark Stauffer and gained experience singing in a men’s quartet. His…