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The Echo
Taylor University, Upland, IN
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
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Features

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Tyler Smith: tours, travel and Thailand

By Marco Aguirre · Friday, March 21, 2025

You may have previously seen him give a family a campus tour — if he didn’t first give you a tour. Junior Tyler Smith is the admissions intern to Andy Gammons, executive director of admissions. 

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Passion meets praise in chapel band leadership

By Contessa Hussong · Friday, March 14, 2025

Dust and dry earth have never withered the love of God. From the rainless skies of Zimbabwe and Arizona to the March mud of Upland, the Lord’s character is indeed a consuming fire — one junior Chloe Pistelli and senior Tinashe Madakadze hope to honor through their own praise and passions. 

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CIE brings energy to entrepreneurship efforts

By Kendall Beck · Friday, March 14, 2025

On a campus like Taylor’s, there are innumerous opportunities for students to pursue existing leadership roles, yet It takes a special student to carve their own path in leadership. Senior Briona Graham and junior Lextin Willis believe their involvement with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) has offered them a space to do just that.

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Love, Twooge: PA, DA partners practice floor renewal

By Contessa Hussong · Friday, March 7, 2025

Sometimes, love looks like butterfly wings. As the culture of Gerig’s second floor — known more affectionately as “Twooge” — has shifted in recent years, so too has its definition of love and sisterhood, drawn to life through this year’s theme of renewal.

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Kevin Trees: more than a maintenance job

By Marco Aguirre · Friday, March 7, 2025

Kevin Trees has observed Taylor University’s history of community for over two decades. Trees is a custodian in Samuel Morris Hall and has worked at Taylor for 21 years, from supply delivery to housekeeping manager to custodian.

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Just say yes: Yoder embraces kaleidoscope of faith

By Contessa Hussong · Friday, Feb. 28, 2025

Point a kaleidoscope to the sun and the colors will glow like tinted honey. As the dial turns, shapes arching and twisting, expanding and collapsing, new designs will slowly take shape, almost as if they were waiting to be discovered. This is the image Chad Yoder, lead pastor at Pierce Church, has of God.

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Spotlight on Who’s Your Coffee Roastery

By Kendall Beck · Friday, Feb. 28, 2025

College students and their coffee. There’s quite a reputation there. If you’ve ventured off campus in search of a good old-fashioned cup of coffee in recent years, it’s likely you’ve stumbled across Who’s Your Coffee Roastery.

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‘The grandmother of Christian fiction’

By Charlotte Ostric · Friday, Feb. 21, 2025

Lorne Oke, Taylor’s head men’s and women’s golf coach, knows that his mother Janette Oke’s stories are characterized by humility and a down-to-earth desire for telling truthful, heartfelt stories about community, family and God.

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Soccer player by day, EMT by night

By Marco Aguirre · Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024

Emergency jobs can bring a lot of pressure, but this student has learned the skills to handle it. Junior Morgan Fletemeyer is a biology pre-med major who works as an emergency medical technician (EMT) at the Marion General Hospital.

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Ben Gerig: worshipping through songwriting

By Marco Aguirre · Friday, Dec. 13, 2024

Chapel band, Fall Fest, an album — ain’t it strange how one student has done these and then some? Junior Ben Gerig is a Christian ministries major at Taylor University. He released a Christian album in January 2024. The album is titled “Ain’t It Strange,” and it contains five songs, with the first song sharing the same name as the album.

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Telling the story of all: “Always and Forever”

By Charlotte Ostric · Friday, Nov. 22, 2024

Grief is one of the most uniquely individual yet universal human experiences. Donna Downs, associate professor of communication, captures the complexity and weight of the emotion in the simple prose of a children’s story titled, “Always and Forever.”

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Hank Voss: Raising up workers for the harvest fields

By Kendall Beck · Friday, Nov. 22, 2024

Just as we embrace the slowness that winter brings each year, there are times in our lives where the right answer is found in rest. Hank Voss, assistant professor of Christian ministries, is celebrating eight years at Taylor University by taking a sabbatical.

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Rebecca Lindsay: The journey of motherhood

By Annie Meldrum · Friday, Nov. 15, 2024

Amidst all that, Rebecca’s journey as a mom has been far from typical. Elizabeth, her first daughter, was born with a rare genetic disorder which requires constant care. When Elizabeth was 6, Rebecca gave birth to twin daughters. In a season of wondering if she was equipped to take care of one child, she suddenly had three.