California Baptist University

from

I t’s been a while since I last wrote an email that didn’t start with I hope you’re doing well during this COVID season. So I feel like it’s only fitting that I use this line to intro duce Angelos 2020-2021. I hope you’re doing well. Let’s not pretend we aren’t a little upset at this year. Instead of frenzied cheers at basket ball games, late night conversations and hurried searches for life partners, we battle racial injustice, a divisive election and a global pandemic. The list seems to get longer every month. In the middle of all these changes, you might be wonder ing, how could we possibly have ended up with adapt for this year’s theme? OK, you probably aren’t but just play along. To adapt, according my personal definition, is to orient yourself toward excellence in response to turbulent sur roundings. This year presented every student, faculty and staff member with a choice: the choice to metaphorically turn on or off our Zoom cameras. For a lot of us, myself included, it’s infinitely easier to shut ourselves off to the world while we put our plans on pause and wait out a solution, but that’s not adapting. Adapting is accepting that our lives might never be the same after 2020. Adapting is deciding to use the seasons we’re given as a chance to grow. Adapting is turning on our cameras, facing our weaknesses and orienting ourselves toward the One who is most excellent. This book, as you might notice, is shorter than it has been in recent years, missing many pages typically filled with stu dent activities and traditional events. For this historic year, that’s our way of adapting. Instead, at risk of sounding cheesy, the pages in this book tell a story of one Lancer Nation building community through creativity and determination — the story of many students who choose to smile even brighter despite the masks that cover their mouths. It’s an honor to be telling this story.