Olivet Nazarene University - Aurora Yearbook (Bourbonnais, IL)

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Presentation To desire knowledge is no more to be educated than to want to be a bird is to fly. Knowledge must not only be accumulated but assimi- lated, integrated and applied before one can be accorded the compliment, He is an educated man. Accumulated knowledge is available in textbooks. Assimilation and integration come under the guidance of our understanding professors. Application, however, requires that some higher purpose motivates us — something not found in any textbook nor communi- cated through any other person. In the looser sense of the word, a college is for education and to be a college graduate is to be educated. To accept this statement at face value, however is to deceive oneself, for not every college leads its student body to a source of higher purpose that motivates ap- plication of their knowledge in a useful manner. Olivet Nazarene College for fifty-eight years has stood for the best of all that is implied in the word education. The academic training it offers its students under the training of dedicated educa- tors complements the finest mind. The physical environment neces- sary for formal study is under constant improvement. But more than these mere structural components of an educational institution, Olivet has incorporated into its program, the basic ingredient of true education, a motivating purpose. This is reflected in the college motto, Education with a Christian Purpose. In the painting by Rockwell Smith Brank, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, which is on the facing page, a professor gestures toward the paraphernalia of study in the various fields but points toward the Cross of Calvary as the ultimate inspiration. Olivet, also, pro- vides opportunity for study in all areas and in the same manner designates the Cross as the most essential aspect of the truly edu- cated personality. The Christian philosophy of education maintains that education should enable the Christian to attain a position from which he will have a greater influence for Christ than would have been possible otherwise. This is the philos ophy behind the motto, Education with a Christian Purpose. This, then, is the motivation that Olivet Nazarene College sup- plies its graduates. This distinguishes education from accumulated knowledge. To the Christian, being able to influence others for Christ is the highest ideal. Therefore, in humility and devotion, let us dedicate this book, The 1965 Aurora, to the ideal, Education With a Christian Purpose.

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Prologue On the following pages, you will be introduced to Olivet Nazarene College — a college which believes wholeheartedly in its motto, Education with a Christian Purpose . Ours is a college which traces its beginning to Georgetown, Illinois, where in 1907 a group of dedicated Christian laymen determined to establish a school where children could be not only educated but presented with the eternal truths of Christianity and Holiness. The year following its beginning it was expanded and moved three miles south to the site of what is now the town, Olivet, Illinois. Shortly thereafter, the initial founders, including two brothers named Nesbitt, whose sister Mary became the first teacher, were forced through financial pressure to give up the enterprise or go bankrupt. Searching for a group to carry on their established purpose, these men were pleased to offer their school to the relatively young Naza- rene Pentecostal Church. The Church continued the building program which had recently been instituted. By 1939, the plant consisted of five brick structures and several frame buildings on a fourteen acre campus. In that year, the college was again threatened with annihilation, this time by fire. The administration building which had housed classrooms, the library, laboratories, offices and the chapel was destroyed. Once again, though, the leaders of our college trusted in the promise. . . . all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Under the leading of divine inspiration, they were made aware of the possibility and necessity for expansion which would be most difficult in that location. Ninety miles to the north in Bourbonnais, Illinois St. Viator ' s College was also undergoing financial difficulties. With little more than faith in their God, the adminis- tration contracted to buy St. Viator ' s. The problems facing Olivet since 1940 when that purchase was made have been no less complex than they were in Olivet ' s earlier years. Financial difficulties have arisen. The need for immediate expansion had to be met. The problem of a student body too large for its facilities, has plagued Olivet from the first. Finally, in the spring of 1963, a devastating tornado struck our campus, damaging Burke Administration Building, Walker Hall, Greer Greenhouse, the smokestack, the Health Center, Miller Dining Hall, Birchard Field House, and almost completely demolishing Trailerville. A million dollars in school property, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal property was destroyed in less than thirty seconds. Yet, Olivet remains strong and true to the principles upon which it was founded. Established to provide its student body with an education in a distinctively Christian atmosphere, it remains dedicated to its motto, Education with a Christian Purpose.