The J.N. Andrews Honors Program has a long history of encouraging its students to excel by supplying a supportive and intimate community around each student. The Honors Program continues to exhibit this community building through its bi-annual tradition and co-curricular event, where the department heads, as well as the student officers of the program, help organize and lead a vespers dinner. Honors students, non-honors students, families, and staff filed into the vast lobby of the Howard Performing Arts Center, which was transformed by Dr. L. Monique Pittman, the Director of Honors, and her team into a lovely dining room and performing stage.
Before the program's start, Dr. Pittman was willing to share her knowledge of the Agape Feast, its history, and its importance in bringing together the Honors family within the greater Andrews community.
Interview with Dr. L. Monique Pittman
When was the Honors Agape Feast first organized, and what is the primary goal of this program?
“I took over as director of Honors in 2007-08, and I inherited that tradition from the director before me, Gordon Atkins, and it was an annual event. I continued the tradition, but decided to make it twice a year, so we had that kind of gathering each semester. The goal, especially in the fall, is to mark the spiritual start of the term, gather the larger community of Honors and friends – non-honors friends are always welcomed. Especially in the fall for the freshmen, it’s important to see the wider Honors group.”
How many non-Honors students and staff usually attend the Agape Feast?
“People will bring roommates and friends who aren’t in honors,…I’d bet…about 20-25% that come [are not in Honors]. All of the Honors Council, the group of people who help us make policy for the program, come. Friends of Honors, let’s say, who have been research mentors for a long time, we always try to invite them.”
How do you choose what speakers and participants to use for this event?
“The Honors student officers make a lot of the decisions. We usually like to invite faculty members associated with the program or alumni members who are in the area. We think of all different questions about representation when it comes to who we have up front. We try to think of how frequently we have women, men, people of color, so that we’re giving that big sense of who we are.”
Do you have any particular memories of specific iterations of the Agape Feast that have stuck with you over the years?
“They are all really precious to me! Every Agape feast channels that whole history of them that I’ve been a part of. The routines of it trigger those memories of students passed. And I love it when alumni come back too!”
What are you looking forward to the most with this year’s Honors Agape Feast?
“I love seeing everybody gathered! For me food is meaningful. Breaking bread together gives a sense of meaning and home, so I always love seeing everybody gathered. Seeing the freshmen get integrated into the program, I think, is enriching.”
What would you say to an Honors student, or any other student, who hesitates to come to the Agape Feast to convince them to attend?
“Please join us! This is about finding a place that is welcoming and open where we practice Christ’s openness of love. The goal is to show that love and embrace and welcome others. We’re so happy to be together, to worship, to celebrate, in this case, the start of the new year, and to find your people in that mix.”
Once doors opened at 6 pm on Friday evening, guests lined up for soups and sparkling drinks, and had a lovely assortment of breads, cheeses, and fruits at each table to pick through. Guests were then given time to sit with their friends, classmates, and teachers and fellowship before the worship service began. Several students who had volunteered earlier went to the front to perform, speak, or lead out in singing with the whole gathering, as everyone had song lyrics on their seats. Towards the end, Professor Kylene Cave, who serves as an Assistant Professor of English within the English and Honors Departments, spoke on her experiences through an extremely difficult health challenge, a stroke, and dealing with that while the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to accelerate across the world. She was able to find the value in being still with God through her physical and mental struggles, just as her illness put her in forced stillness. She asserted that being able to pause for God and be still with him despite the stressors that revolve around human life, especially a college lifestyle, will help bring clarity and peace into our lives. After being left with Cave’s testimony, all in attendance could leave encouraged entering the school year.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.