The vision of becoming a high school class president has no doubt inspired many careers. But it’s not likely that many aspiring student government leaders have taken a path to success like that of recent Trevecca graduate Darby Faccinto.

Keilani Afalava, a 2020 graduate of Trevecca’s Doctor of Education in leadership program (Ed.D.), knew that learning to be an effective leader would be crucial if she wanted to meet the career goals she’d set for herself.

Serving as a voice of extensive industry experience is something many of Trevecca’s faculty members have in common, and at times that depth of knowledge brings an opportunity for special exposure.

No matter which direction you travel heading away from Trevecca’s campus, you can access an interstate. This may make for quick connections, but the impact of so much traffic also takes a toll on the community. There are not enough trees to offset the pollution caused by the interstate traffic, and the amount of land devoted to holding space for the interstates has limited the amount of green space for area neighborhoods. 

Eight years into a career that involved transition training for military service members, Wade Jaynes decided to pursue a degree in instructional design at Trevecca Nazarene University. His time for school activities was limited due to a full-time job and family life. 

Much of Andrew Holt’s career has been marked by divine intervention. 

He never had plans to go to college, yet in 2015, he graduated from Trevecca with a degree in worship arts. And it never crossed his mind that, as the worship pastor with The Belonging Co., he would be able to reach so many people with his work, but as of this month, more than 1 million people have streamed his original song, ‘Holy – Song of the Ages.’ 

In just under two weeks, Trevecca’s first Giving Day will be underway! We can’t wait for the excitement and fun to unfold on March 25. So, what exactly will Giving Day look like? What can alumni and friends of the University expect?  

We recently sat down with Peg Cooning, vice president for external relations, and asked her those questions and more. Here’s what she had to say. 

With experience in higher education and choral arts, Dr. Tim Sharp is well prepared to serve as the program director for Trevecca’s Center for Community Arts Innovation. Based in Trevecca’s School of Music and Worship Arts, the center offers workshops and boot camps entirely online and is specifically designed for educators and those working in the community arts field. Sharp, who most recently was the Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), also previously served as the dean of fine arts at Rhodes College in Memphis, and earlier, as the director of choral activities at Belmont University.

A member of Trevecca’s faculty since 2013, Dr. Nyk Reed holds a bachelor’s in biology from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he was first introduced to genetics and developmental biology. He earned his doctorate at Meharry Medical College in 2010, completing his dissertation under the guidance of Douglas Mortlock in Vanderbilt’s Center for Human Genetics. Later, while working as a  postdoctoral fellow in Thomas Aune’s lab at Vanderbilt University, Reed began teaching life science at Trevecca.

At Trevecca, community really is at the core of who we are. Community is about more than our location; it’s a feeling of fellowship and connection with those around us. Community doesn’t just happen, though. It has to be nurtured.