APU Alumnus Challenges Football Team to Do the Right Thing

This article was originally published on APU.edu.

When Andre Johnson ’85 addressed Azusa Pacific University’s football team before their homecoming game in October, it brought back memories from his days as a Cougar. As a student, Johnson was a star cornerback, anchoring the defense while legendary running back Christian Okoyoe shredded other teams up on offense. Terry Franson, Johnson’s track coach at the time, reflected, “Andre was one of the finest defensive backs in APU football history. I cannot remember him ever getting beat on a deep pass. He recently spoke to our team on courage—he put his life on the line for others when no one else would.”

Franson, along with current football head coach Victor Santa Cruz, asked Johnson to visit campus and share his testimony in front of more than 100 players. Johnson told the team that life will present moments to each of them when they will need to make a choice. “I asked them, ‘Are you going to play it safe and stand on the outside, or are you going to charge into the situation, despite the danger, and do the right thing?’”

Johnson’s talk focused on one event that changed his life forever. August 8, 1998, was a night just like any other when the alarm began to sound at the California State Prison Los Angeles, located in Lancaster. Johnson, a veteran prison guard at the time, sprinted from his position in the yard to the housing unit where the alarm was triggered. As he arrived, he looked in and saw more than 100 inmates involved in a riot and a female correctional officer standing in the center of it all with no way out. While other guards waited outside the cell block for backup to arrive, Johnson charged in.

“The second I got through the rotunda doors, I was attacked by several inmates. They knocked me to the ground, injured my neck, and bruised my ribs and knee,” he said. Johnson stood up wearily, knowing he was going to have to fight his way out, and grabbed his baton. “A few inmates tried to take my baton, and I knew if they got it, that would be the end,” he said. “I held onto it and struck back.”

Eventually Johnson was able to clear the inmates away. He made his way to the female officer, who had also been attacked and was lying on the ground, incapacitated and unresponsive. Johnson picked her up with the help of an inmate. “By the grace of God, we got her out. She was in the middle of the riot, so I didn’t know if we would make it, but the inmates saw us carrying her and nobody attacked us,” Johnson said. Other officers called for emergency medical help while Johnson rushed back into the mess.

Johnson moved through the housing unit, securing it room by room. He made sure inmates got on the ground, like they were supposed to when the alarm sounded. After backup arrived, the other officers finally joined in, and they finished securing the housing unit together. “It only took 22 minutes to win the housing unit back, but it felt like hours,” he said.

A lot of things went wrong that night. The housing unit gunner, who was in charge of keeping the area secure with nonlethal rounds, failed to pull the trigger. “He had just come out of the academy, which is never supposed to happen. The inmates saw him panic and the riot started snowballing,” Johnson said. A number of officers chose to stay out of the cell block. “They didn’t want to risk getting hurt,” he said.

In the aftermath of the riot, Johnson’s adrenaline began to wear off and he started feeling severe pain in his ribs and neck, prompting a trip to the hospital where doctors determined he had a hairline fracture and a bulging disk in his neck, which eventually required surgery. Soon after the operation, Johnson received an industrial retirement from the prison.

For his heroism, the California Department of Corrections awarded Johnson a Medal of Valor, the highest award given to a California correctional officer. After receiving the honor, Johnson chose not to speak of the experience for the next two decades. “When I first began with the department, I would bring home all of the stories from the prison. It got to be too much for my family, so I stopped talking about my work and kept everything to myself,” he said. “Now, I’m ready to share my story in hopes of encouraging others.”

After Johnson delivered his testimony at APU, several players approached him to ask questions. “They were interested in the story. I’m glad they took something away from it,” he said. “My faith is strong and I will continue to try to do the right thing. I hope they will too.”

Ready to Lead on Campus and Beyond

This article was originally published on APU.edu.

“When I began my college education at APU, I was a huge introvert. It was hard because so many people here are really extroverted. Then I felt a calling. At first, I was scared and didn’t step into it, but once I did, I realized God had a whole new world of leadership waiting for me. I recognized that I could use the gifts God has given me on campus and beyond.”

Stepping out in faith, Renee Hoffman decided to take a chance on several leadership roles at APU. These risks paid off and Hoffman grew as an obedient Christ follower. During her freshman year, she served as an ambassador, taking care of prospective students when they visited. As a sophomore, she became an Alpha leader, guiding freshmen in the beginning of their collegiate journey. Hoffman proceeded to serve as a Discipleship Group leader, helping friends dive deeper into the Bible. Last summer, she co-led an action team in Hungary and the Czech Republic, where she shared the Gospel through skits and flash mobs with people on the street.

All of these opportunities encouraged Hoffman to add a leadership minor on top of her psychology major, prompting her to a discovery. “God has called me to spread love and joy, and to not keep my relationship with Jesus Christ private, but to live it out and share it in any way possible on a daily basis,” she said.

After graduating in May 2020, Hoffman plans to pursue a career as a behavioral intervention therapist, working with children with special needs. She is currently assisting a young boy with OCD and ADHD, helping him catch up on his reading abilities. “I love working with kids,” she said. “I want to take those leadership qualities God has given me and use them in my line of work to embody my walk with Christ.”

Regenerating a Passion for Science and Music

This article was originally published on APU.edu

Cristian Aguilar, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry, discovered his passion for biology at a young age. As a child, Aguilar would research organisms and animals, how they functioned, and the environments where they lived. He was taken by the curiosities of sea creatures and marine life, aspiring to one day become a marine biologist. Yet, just a few years later, Aguilar fell in love with another subject – music.

“I come from a very musical family. I followed in my older brother’s footsteps when I started playing saxophone in fifth grade,” Aguilar said. “I played all the way through junior high. Once I got to high school, I joined marching band and began learning different instruments. Twice a year, I would pick up a new instrument. I would usually try to play whatever part the band was missing.”

After high school, Aguilar decided to pursue his first love – science. He attended Cal Poly Pomona for undergrad, getting his degree in biotechnology. Then he went on to grad school at UC Irvine, obtaining his Ph.D. in developmental and cell biology. It was here that Aguilar began his research on regeneration by studying the axolotl, a Mexican salamander.

“The axolotl is pretty much the only adult vertebrate organism that has complete regenerative capabilities. If it loses a limb to injury, no matter how minor or major the injury, it regenerates or replaces whatever tissues have been damaged. It’s remarkable,” Aguilar said. “Humans have very limited regeneration capabilities. If we can understand how the salamander is able to accomplish these tasks at the cellular level, then we can tweak our healing abilities and improve upon them to develop therapies where humans have a better regeneration response.”

If this sounds like a sci-fi movie, there’s good reason behind that. While he was in grad school, Aguilar’s lab worked with Sony Pictures on The Amazing Spider-Man. Aguilar worked with actors Rhys Ifans and Emma Stone to show them how scientists studying regeneration would work in a lab. In the movie, Ifans’ character used regenerative science to grow back an arm, before ultimately turning into a giant lizard. Aguilar’s notes were featured in various scenes in the movie.

While it might not be to the extent of the movie, Aguilar said he thinks scientists will achieve a breakthrough in the next 10 years or so for human regenerative abilities to operate at a higher level, like the axolotl. Aguilar studies the salamander’s ability to form stem cells, and said this research represents a key intersection between his faith and his scientific study.

“As we work on improving human healing, something the Bible definitely instructs us to do in terms of alleviating pain and suffering, there are a lot of ways to do that, including stem cell technology. Stem cells are incredible cells. They have the capacity to become any other cell in the body, but where we get those stem cells can be problematic,” he said. “The axolotl’s cells are unique because they are adult cells that return to their stem cell form naturally. These organisms have been created by God to do this. Studying this particular mechanism is more amenable to my faith."

When he’s not teaching or researching, Aguilar indulges his other lifelong passion – music. As an undergrad, Aguilar volunteered as a marching instructor at his alma mater, Charter Oak High School. After graduate school and a few years of teaching at APU, Aguilar reached out to Charter Oak’s new band director, Joel Lopez ’07.

“After the first year of volunteering, Joel said, ‘You definitely have a knack for this. I want you to be the assistant band director.’ I said ‘Absolutely.’ I’ve been doing that for two years now,” Aguilar said. “The band had fallen on hard times. We helped them grow from a band that didn’t qualify for championships to a band that won silver last year. It’s been really good.”

To stay sharp, Aguilar also performs with APU’s Symphonic Band. Aguilar had to take this semester off due to a lab he teaches during rehearsal time, but he plans to rejoin the band in the spring, where he will play the euphonium.

“After graduating from college, I put my instruments away. It didn’t feel good to lose that part of my life,” he said. “To be in a group and play again, working on my musical expression is amazing; it’s exactly what I needed.”

This is Aguilar’s life. On any given morning, he may be teaching an upper-level biology course to college students, and just hours later, he is working with high school musicians to help them refine their craft. While many parents encourage their children to focus on just one thing, Aguilar recommends that students pursue their passions, no matter how different they may be from one another.

“It’s important to explore different areas because that’s ultimately what makes us complete as humans. I’m not just a scientist. Even though I love biology more than most, if I only focused on biology, I wouldn’t be happy,” Aguilar said. “I’ve been very fortunate to keep music as one of my art forms along with my scientific study. They inform each other and help to enhance my ability to do both. Music has a lot to do with creativity. It played a big role in me becoming a research scientist and trying to creatively approach scientific problems. My knowledge of science and biology has informed my musical ability too. When I play music, I’m conscious of how I’m manipulating my diaphragm to control my wind output, to make a certain tone, or cause a certain amount of vibrato. It’s a lot of little things like that which maybe most musicians don’t think about, but because of my biology training, I’m constantly integrating my scientific knowledge with my artistic performance.”

Volleyball downs academy of art in three sets

This article was originally published in ZU News.

Azusa Pacific volleyball defeated the Academy of Art Urban Knights 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-20) on Friday night. After a slow start, the Cougars dominated the second set and held on to a tight third set victory. 

The first set was very even for both teams. APU and Art traded points back and forth for 25 minutes, all the way to 17-17. From there, APU was finally able to put together two runs, of three and four points, to take the set 25-19.

“It was our lack of execution from the service line in the first set, and also receiving their serves. It was a combo of our offense not doing as well as they could have been and giving them too many points by missing too many serves,” said head coach Chris Keife.

After a close first set, APU opened it up quickly in the second. The Cougars put together runs of four and seven points, bringing the score to 19-7. Art rallied back three points, but the Cougars easily closed the set 25-11.

“Just finally being able to lock down on our blocking and our defense gave us opportunities to use our offense again and again,” said freshman Annaka Jorgenson.

APU jumped out to a quick lead in the third set, but they weren’t able to open it up. The Cougars grabbed leads of three and four points multiple times, but the Urban Knights kept cutting the lead back. Nevertheless, the Cougars pushed through and put away the Urban Knights 25-20 on a kill by senior Aliyah Morrison.

“[Closing out] That’s something that we’re still learning … that’s just volleyball. We’re getting better at it game by game. You don’t want to go to a fourth set, because then it’s all up in the air. It’s nice to just end in three,” said senior Julianne Miller. 

Miller finished tied for second on the night in kills with nine. Sophomore Katarina Radisic matched her total with nine, while Jorgenson paced the team with 12. Other leaders for the Cougars included senior Sara Wagenveld with four blocks, junior Mina Andjelkovic with 21 assists and senior Bailey Hennington with 11 digs.

“It’s really awesome to see how our practices are showing on the court. Our team practices hard in the gym and we try to make each one count,” Miller said. “With Annaka being a freshman, it’s just showing that her work ethic in insurmountable. Our team has such a work ethic and it shows on the court.”

With the win, the Cougars improve to 20-4 on the season. APU will head to La Mirada tomorrow to take on their rival, Biola, in a Cornerstone Cup matchup. The match begins at 7 p.m.

APU is back in the black

This article was originally published in ZU News.

Just one year after reporting a nearly $20 million loss, Azusa Pacific has returned to the black with a gain of $4.8 million. 

The university achieved this feat under the guidance of CFO Ross Allen by cutting costs wherever possible, including big portions from faculty and staff retirement plans and raises.

“It was phenomenal,” Allen said. “We laid out the changes that were required and the organization responded.”

This is Allen’s eighth time helping with a “distressed entity,” where operations of an organization need to improve for the organization to stay financially afloat. 

“No other organization has responded so consistently and persistently as this organization has,” Allen said. “That’s a testament to who the people are.”

The people, mainly faculty and staff, were a huge part of the turnaround. Last year, APU cut the 403b (retirement plan) of all faculty and staff, meaning the university would not match what staff put into their retirement fund.

“The dedication of this team, the willingness to sacrifice, all of the employees bore a part of this,” Allen said. “The retirement plan was 8 percent of everybody’s compensation until last November when we suspended APU matching contributions. $5 million of the almost $25 million turnaround was from people’s 403b.”

Faculty and staff also had to deal with another setback; APU did not give out any raises last year. According to Allen, that’s another 2 percent of faculty and staff’s compensation.

However, as of Nov. 1, according to Allen, faculty and staff began to receive 2 percent raises again. The university also brought retirement plan matching back, although they are doing it at a lower percentage.

“We started at 4 percent as of July 1, 2019, so half of what it was before, with a goal to eventually get higher,” Allen said. “We continue to watch and see how we can do that. We’re sitting in a much better spot, but we’re going forward with that same intentionality and discipline.

Other significant portions of the budget cuts included the closure of the High Sierra program (which saved $1 million, and has since been replaced by the Zephyr Point Tahoe program), housing restructuring (renting out approximately half the units in Alosta Place to the public, and turning Smith Hall into office space), and staff reductions (although some positions have been refilled). Allen said the small things were important too.

“A big part was just being thoughtful about what we spent. Whether people went to travel for conferences or conventions or training, we pulled back on every area we could. Small things played a big role,” Allen said. “We said no more charging in when we went to lunch. In most organizations, you would charge that to the organization if it included business discussions. The message we had is if you do go out to lunch, you or one of your peers would be paying for it yourself.”

An important component in the turnaround was the way Allen and faculty/staff members talked about it.

“David Peck [Vice President for University Relations] used the term financial stewardship. That resonated well, that we are stewards of your, the students’, parents’ and donors’ money. That’s not our money. We are called to be good stewards of everything we have,” Allen said. “We used a consistent theme of every $20,000 is a student, because net average funding per student, after scholarships is $20,000 roughly [per year]. We used a correlation between the cost we spent and a student. Everything we could cut out or save, we did. People resonated with that and rallied around it.”

The turnaround is especially impressive when considering that APU’s incoming freshman class dropped significantly.

“Our freshman class, as everybody knows, is down. We expected that and planned for it. We’re fighting around that,” Allen said. “But the growth of other programs [graduate, regional campuses, online programs] are helping a lot. The working adults on regional campuses grew by 20 percent last year. Some of these programs, like the Doctoral Physical Therapy program, are growing rapidly.”

Although APU is no longer in the red, it is important to know how the university ended up there in the first place. Allen said he addressed this at the faculty and staff kickoff last fall. 

“I made the comment that APU had operated as a mom and pop organization, and we did our budget on a spreadsheet, and there’s elements of truth to that. We have operated more informally. We’ve grown fast and been entrepreneurial, but we have not put in the systems and processes in place to support this larger organization,” Allen said. “We’re now implementing a system that will move us from Excel to a robust planning and forecasting system, which we’ll have in place for this coming year.”

According to Allen, one of APU’s biggest issues was that they did not “close their books,” or do a thorough check of profits and losses, as often as they should have. Allen added that most higher-ed organizations only close their books a couple times a year, whereas most businesses close their books every month. They also generally plan their annual spending on an annual not monthly basis. 

“APU had informal processes, like is common in most of higher ed. This caused us to say, ‘No, we want more of a rigorous process,’” Allen said. “We now close the books on the fifth day of the month. The team has gotten it down, and that’s as good as any organization. When you can close the books that quickly, then we have time to look at and review it, talk about it as a leadership team.”

According to Allen, APU implemented monthly budgeting to more carefully track the university’s progress throughout the year. Allen publishes the financial reports every month on Total Access, which is accessible to all APU employees.

APU President Paul Ferguson said he is proud of the work Allen and others at the university have done in facilitating the turnaround.

“The remarkable turnaround in the financial health of APU reflects several aspects of the APU character.  This turnaround has been possible by the partnership and resiliency of the APU Community in directly addressing budget challenges.  This turnaround reflects the wise and talented leadership of Vice President Ross Allen and his team with budget managers across the university,” Ferguson said. “The university-wide commitment to ongoing budget discipline coupled with consensus-based strategic planning also reflects the hopeful and long term commitment of the APU Community to renewing our Christ-centered mission and impact with a strong fiscal foundation.  I am so proud of the APU Community for their efforts and service during this difficult season.”

Auditors

APU met with its auditors last week to discuss the school’s financial standing. 

“We had a three page report from the auditors last year noting the weaknesses that APU had. We worked with them, and making sure those were documented and communicated,” Allen said. “All of those have been addressed and resolved.”

According to Allen, the university is currently in the process of getting its forbearance and waiver lifted, a financial process which has just had its legal requirements met.

Next steps

Although APU is back in the black, Allen said the university is still being cautious in the way they handle all financial matters.

“Even though the turnaround was great, and we’re now positioned to be in a better position, every year you have to still achieve breakeven and not post a loss,” Allen said. 

Allen and other administration members will look at which departments on campus are performing well, and which need to show improvement. According to Allen, growth is imperative.

“We have $225 million to spend. There’s a lot of choices you can make in that and they’re not easy. Each of these choices are difficult and you’ve got to weigh them against each other,” Allen said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is assess and evaluate how we can do things more effectively.”

For now, Allen is happy that APU is no longer in the red. Although he has worked through seven of these situations before, including several multi-billion dollar companies, Allen said this was the most remarkable turnaround.

“In the future, we can be a model for how to do things moving forward for other Christian private universities. They can look to us as a resource,” Allen said. “God has worked through this. He’s helped us develop things. He didn’t create this problem, but he’s helped us develop things that will be a great foundation for us going forward.”

APU Launches Zephyr Point Tahoe Study Away Program

This article was originally published on APU.edu.

In January 2020, 12 Azusa Pacific University students will travel to picturesque Lake Tahoe, where they will spend the spring as the inaugural class of APU’s new Zephyr Point study away program. The program focuses on the connection between the humanities and natural sciences, allowing students to explore the interaction between modern society and the environment.

Program director David Williams designed the semester in three phases. In the first, students will go on an introductory back-country trip. “I’d love to see students with zero outdoor experience attend,” Williams said. “If you want to learn how to travel in God’s creation safely and ethically, it’s an amazing place to do that.” Students will explore Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas to the fullest, while hiking, skiing, mountain-biking, paddle-boarding, kayaking, and swimming.

During the academic portion of the semester, students will take a humanities class on nature, and they can choose their electives from required general education courses. The class selection offered at Zephyr Point makes it possible for students from any major to study there. Special course offerings are designed for kinesiology majors who can benefit from the unique environment for their training.In the final component of the semester, Williams will lead a five-day trip to Yosemite Valley, where students will combine their knowledge from the first two phases to learn in nature.

Williams created the semester with Ryan McKenzie, Zephyr Point director of program ministries. “This is for students looking to break away from the campus experience, to get out of the city and spend a semester at Lake Tahoe, which provides space and time to explore personal depth and growth in who you are in the kingdom of God,” he said. Zephyr Point Conference Center has offered Christians an environment of serenity since 1924.

“Here, the fabric is thin between heaven and earth,” McKenzie said. “At Tahoe, we come face to face with God as He reveals Himself through His creation.”

Cost for the Zephyr Point semester will be the same as a traditional semester at APU. There are no extra charges and scholarships transfer. In addition, unlike most study away programs, students will have employment opportunities during the semester. “Students can work at the conference center in hospitality, foodservice, housekeeping, maintenance, and administration,” McKenzie said. “We host lots of Christian conferences and students will have the opportunity to see behind the scenes what goes into making a religious nonprofit work.”

Over the course of the semester, Zephyr Point students will partner with other APU students in the Sacramento study away program, which focuses on public administration and policy writing. “Lake Tahoe provides the perfect location for students to examine environmental issues quite broadly – historically, philosophically, biologically, theologically. Sacramento provides these students with opportunities to work on policies regarding specific issues like water rights in the West,” Williams said.

After this spring, Williams said the Zephyr Point program aims to expand its size. “We envision having 30-40 students per semester,” he said. “Each semester would consist of 12 APU students, along with students from other schools in the Council of Christian Colleges & Universities.” He envisions the program as a similar size to APU’s former High Sierra program.

Williams worked at High Sierra for 13 years. He said the new program offers students a similar experience in an even more beautiful location. “When you’re at these awe-inspiring sites like Lake Tahoe, it tends to raise your game academically and spiritually because you’re surrounded by something that’s just so awe inspiring every day,” he said. “We’ve been able to harness the reverence that’s inspired by Tahoe and connect it to a living learning community. I know this setting will be powerful and efficacious in the development of students’ lives in mind, body, and spirit.”

In My Darkest Hour, God Showed Up

This article was published on APU.edu.

“When I broke my back, it felt like it might be the end. I was panicking and in so much pain. Lying there on the ground, I began to pray. Suddenly, I felt the Lord’s presence cover my body. It was the first time I truly felt Him. I heard Him say, ‘I’ve got this.’ My pain didn’t go away, but I could handle it. From that moment on, I’ve had a deep knowing in the core of my being that He has a plan and a purpose for me.”

When she was 13 years old, Taylor Fiddyment dedicated her life to Christ at an altar call at a Christian rock concert called Joshua Fest. Four years later, at 17, she faced the biggest challenge of her life while riding ATVs with friends in Lemmon Valley, Nevada. “I had ridden ATVs many times, but this was just a freak accident,” she said. “I was going around the edge of a bowl, but I wasn’t going fast enough and my momentum didn’t carry me around. I jumped off but the quad rolled over and landed on my shoulders, crushing me.” Fiddyment was rescued and brought to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a spinal cord injury and told she would never be able to move or feel her legs again.

After six months of rehabilitation, Fiddyment returned home. “People look at me and think I should be sad, or less motivated than I am because I'm in a wheelchair. I just don’t see it like that,” she said. As a student at Azusa Pacific University, Fiddyment takes a highly active role, including participating in Mexico Outreach, which she has done eight times in the past two years. “Serving in Mexico has been a profound experience. I love going out there with my team and helping in any way I can,” she said. “It’s an incredible chance to see how God moves and spend time with the APU community.”

After graduating from APU, Fiddyment plans to combine her love of service with her international business degree. “My dream job is to work with a team that travels the world and consults nonprofit organizations on how to use their resources efficiently,” she said. “I’m excited for whatever the future holds. Jesus has given me joy and a sense of adventure that makes my life fun. He is the reason I’m able to do all I do.”

Switching Back to the Light Side

This article was originally published in ZU News.

I remember the day I got my Galaxy S8. I was sick of my iPhone dying every four hours after a full charge and I wasn’t going to shell out more than a thousand dollars for a new one. After getting my first Android device at the AT&T store, I was convinced I had made the right decision.

I was wrong.

After getting the Galaxy, I posted on Instagram, “Made the switch to the dark side,” which was greeted with a plethora of polarizing reactions. All of my friends with Android devices of their own were very excited and said things like, “We’re glad to have you here,” or “You made the right choice.” My friends with iPhones criticized me and said I’d regret it. 

They were right.

Here’s the thing: I loved my Galaxy. It was phenomenally better than my previous phone, the iPhone SE (a special edition iPhone which was the size of an iPhone 5 with the processor of a 6S). My galaxy’s screen was much larger; the battery lasted more than 10 hours longer; it was faster; it took photos that made me look like a good photographer (I’m not); I could customize it much more; the list goes on.

So why did I switch back?

Honestly, the novelty of the Galaxy wore off pretty quickly. All the things I had never been able to do on an iPhone, like swiping to form words faster or downloading a bunch of Pokemon and other Gameboy games from my childhood onto the phone, were pretty great. But they soon became second nature and stopped being special. Customizing the home screen with widgets and putting apps wherever I felt like was empowering, but it also became normal. 

However, what also became normal was the endless stream of things I disliked about the Android system. Almost every app is less user friendly. My most used app, Spotify, didn’t have one of my favorite features, swiping right on a song to queue it. Instead, you had to hold it down and hit add to queue. It sounds dumb, but it took five seconds longer with each song and grew annoying. Some of my other most used apps – Facebook, Instagram, MLB At Bat – had more complicated interfaces that made them much more tedious to use. 

There were also a bunch of apps that I took for granted on my iPhone, mostly Notes, Voice Memos, Podcasts, Maps and Messages. 

The first two I use all the time in my job as a journalist. There are similar versions of the apps on the Google Play store, but they usually come with ads which makes them annoying to use and they don’t work as well. Apple’s Notes and Voice Memos apps are very simple, nothing superfluous, no ads. I missed that right away. 

The Apple Podcasts app is also simple, but the biggest perk is that it has a huge number of podcasts on it that are not available on Spotify, Stitcher or any of the other podcast apps.

Every Android phone comes preloaded with Google Maps, which is always a bit ahead of Apple Maps, offering features that Apple usually gets a few years later, which is nice. However, it’s less user friendly and Siri doesn’t talk back to you (more on Siri in a bit).

Perhaps the biggest difference of any app was in Messages. Apple’s iMessaging uses data (or wi-fi) instead of SMS texting, which allows it to tell you when a message is delivered and if the recipient has read it (contingent upon them having read receipts on); it lets you text on your laptop (if you have a MacBook); and it turns your messages with other iPhones blue. 

This might not seem like much, but people love iMessage. They love it. They hate anyone who has an Android with green messages. In fact, the first thing my girlfriend said to me when I got my new phone was, “Yay! You’ll finally have blue messages!”  People with Androids “mess up” every group chat, meaning you can’t name the group chat and you get annoying texts of “John laughed at [the text].” I was that person who messed up the group chat for two years.

Now I’m not.

After two weeks with my new iPhone, I can definitely say I made the right choice to switch back. I only have to charge my iPhone 11 once every two days, instead of twice a day. My pictures look even better, a lot better with portrait mode, than on my Galaxy. The phone, especially the face unlock feature, is much faster. 

More than all of that, all of my friends and family members with iPhones, approximately 90 percent of everyone I know, like me again. Okay, they didn’t stop liking me because I got a Galaxy, they just liked me less. This was the first text I got from my dad on my new iPhone: “Welcome back to the (iPhone) family, Nathan.  You ventured off the reservation, learned the error of your ways, and came home.” Was he joking? I’ll leave that up to you.

There are lots of arguments not to switch to an iPhone. iOS doesn’t let you customize as much. Some Android phones have better cameras (even with the iPhone 11 Pro’s weird/fancy camera setup). Some Android phones have better battery lives. 

Then there’s the most common argument – iPhones are too expensive. No, they’re not. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves when people complain about how expensive new iPhones are every time they come out. Yes, if you want the top of the line iPhone 11 Pro Max with 512 GB of storage, it will set you back nearly $1,500. However, for most everyone, the regular iPhone 11 is good enough for nearly everyone and starts at just $700 (though I would recommend the 128 GB version which is $50 more expensive). 

That’s just $700 for a device that you will use for many (probably too many) hours each day. Every day I use my phone for dozens of things like listening to music, watching shows, sharing on social media, texting friends, reading books, to emailing professors, taking beautiful pictures, navigating to new places, calling my family, checking game scores, looking random things up online and countless other activities I forgot to mention. Spending a few hundred bucks on a device that will entertain you for many hours every day for years is not a bad investment. Stop complaining about it.

Okay, I’m done ranting.

There are a million little reasons why you should switch to an iPhone, or get a new one. However, the biggest reason is simple. Having an iPhone is incredibly inclusive. 

I remember sophomore year in one of my classes, we did a focus group for the APU Mobile app. The developer stood in front of the 25-person class and asked who had an Android phone to talk about the Android version of the app. I was one of three people that raised my hands. 

When I said I was switching to the dark side originally, I didn’t know how right I was. I got shunned by friends and family and was shut out of several group chats. I struggled to use some of my favorite apps because the android versions weren’t nearly as user friendly as their iPhone counterparts. I was unable to get the AirPods I wanted for two years (I now have them).  I could go on, but it boils down to this – when you have an iPhone, you’re a part of the Apple family. 

As my dad said, I’m part of the family again, and it feels good to be back.

Moxy Anne Brings Beauty to the Broken Through Music

This article was originally published in ZU News.

Dozens of people gather in an alley next to Guitar Ninjas in Burbank. It’s 6:30 p.m. on a mid-September Saturday and the show is about to start. Families munch on tacos as two women dressed in ripped black jeans and leather jackets take the stage. Heartless the Duo is about to perform and they’re going to rock this quiet Burbank neighborhood, even if it’s only for an hour.

The duo opens with a classic from their namesake band, Heart, belting Barracuda like it’s 1977. Sydney Ellen strums her acoustic guitar, while Azusa Pacific alumna Moxy Anne (her stage name) sings the rock anthem, ‘You’d have me down, down, down on my knees/ Now wouldn’t you, Barracuda?’ Moxy’s voice is as deep and powerful as Heart’s lead singer Ann Wilson.

The duo follows with another rock ballad, Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” They have sang this song a thousand times, and it shows. Moxy builds up, staying quiet into the chorus, before letting the full rasp of her voice come out when she sings ‘Ramble on/ And now’s the time, the time is now/ To sing my song/ I’m going ‘round the world.’ 

Though she’s just in an alley of an LA suburb at the moment, this last line rings true for Moxy. Just months before, she was halfway across the planet, in China with the APU Chamber Singers.

***

Moxy and the Chamber Singers began their journey in Hong Kong in July, just two months after she graduated in May 2019 with a commercial music degree. The Chamber Singers performed at churches and other venues across the city. One of Moxy’s best memories from the trip happened on the group’s day off  in the city, which fell on her 22nd birthday. 

“My best friend and I decided to explore. We took the train to old-town Hong Kong. We found a secret bookstore and this little tea place. We just walked around and looked at old things. Then we got an amazing dinner and watched Victoria Harbor at night,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful city, with such friendly people. I want to go back, but I don’t know if they’ll let me.”

She is only half joking. 

On Aug. 30, Moxy released her first song as a solo artist, entitled ‘The Egg.’ Unlike the other rock songs she sings, this song is quite peaceful, quiet. Instead of sounding fierce, she sounds fragile. This is deliberate. In ‘The Egg,’ Moxy tells a story.

The song is a journey through multiple perspectives on the Hong Kong protests, which started after proposals of a bill that would allow Hong Kongers to be extradited to mainland China for any reason. The first verse opens with the Chinese government’s view, ‘Don’t go there/ Don’t do that,’ referencing how the government doesn’t want to let the people have their freedom. The second verse reinforces this, ‘Don’t act out/ Don’t play with fire/ Don’t grow up,’ showing how the government commands their people to not fight back.

The third verse changes perspective ‘Dare to think/ Dare to speak/ Dare to act.’ This ironic sentiment plays on the mottos of the Communist government and former Chairman Mao Zedong. 

“That was something they told the peasants of rural mainland China when they encouraged them to join the Communist movement. They told them, ‘Dare to think. Dare to speak. Dare to act,’” Moxy said. “I took that and turned it on its head, turning it into a transition from the voice of China to the voice of the Hong Kongers.”

The next two verses continue the pleas of the Hong Kongers, ‘We don’t want to watch it burn/ We just want the tides to turn/ And wash it all away/ And when we’re against the wall/ Standing on our last leg/ And when we have to choose/ I stand with the egg.’ 

This verse answers the command of the Chinese government saying ‘Don’t play with fire,’ by saying ‘We don’t want to watch it burn.’ Moxy said the Hong Kongers are just fighting for their freedom, not to destroy anything. The verse also hints at the title of the song in the line, ‘I stand with the egg.’ 

“It’s a very Eastern way of thinking. It comes from a quote [pictured below] from a Japanese author named Haruki Murakami,” Moxy said. “Essentially, the egg is a metaphor for our souls and for the ability of right to emerge as victorious over wrong, over oppression, over anything that tries to bring people down.”

Although the song is not a worship song at all, nor does Moxy categorize herself as a Christian artist, the song does reference two anthems of the Hong Kong protest based in Christianity. The lines are ‘Pray for us,’ and ‘Sing Hallelujah to the Lord.’ These were intentionally incorporated  into the song. As Moxy said, you cannot tell the story of the protests without them.

Moxy wrote and published this song in less than a month, an incredible turnaround time for a professional song. She said it was important to be as timely as she could be about it. She went on to perform it at the Hong Kong rally in Los Angeles just days after it was released.

“Performing at the Hong Kong rally in Los Angeles was incredible because I got to meet people who were free to express what they believed in and free to voice their opinions about the protests,” she said. “I love America because regardless of what the government is saying, we still have the freedom to express what we believe in … A lot of the people at the rally didn’t understand what I was singing in English, but they clapped for me anyways. People were genuinely happy because of my song, which is what I wanted.”

***

After ‘Ramble On,’ Moxy dives into her repertoire of rocks classics with Pat Benetar’s ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot,’ followed by Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ all the while trying to get the crowd to join in.

“You guys know you can sing along right,” she laughed. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you guys are watching. We’re used to people not paying attention at the gigs we do.”

After the Rick Astley bop, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up,’ got a few spectators to join in, Moxy was encouraged and decided to try to amp up the energy. 

“Are you guys ready?”  she asked. “We’re going to play the best rock song in the history of the world.”

After just one chord, everyone knew exactly what song she was singing. The crowd cheered and people who were quiet all night started singing Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin.’’ Moxy looked at Sydney and smiled, rejuvenated by the crowd’s newly intensified spirit.

Moxy followed this up with ‘Shallow’ from “A Star is Born,” giving Lady Gaga a run for her money when it came to the chorus, ‘I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in/ I’ll never meet the ground/ Crash through the surface, where they can’t hurt us/ We’re far from the shallow now.’

Much like Gaga in the beginning of her career, Moxy has the talent and the enthusiasm to become a star. She’s working these small gigs for now as it’s all she can get, but she’s happy to just be singing with her best friend. 

“I would love for performing to be the way I make a living,” she said. 

Moxy ends the night with two more of the greatest rock songs ever, Heart’s ‘Crazy On You,’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ Moxy sings these last tunes with more intensity than any of the previous songs, losing herself for a bit in the fast paced final verse of ‘Stairway,’ ‘And if you listen very hard/ The tune will come to you at last/ When all are one and one is all/ To be a rock and not to roll.’

The crowd applauds, then gives the duo hugs, before filing out. The night is quiet again.

***

After releasing ‘The Egg,’ Moxy released her next single, ‘Bella’s song.’ This track was named after her sister, and her story of struggling through anxiety and depression before overcoming it.

In the coming weeks, Moxy will release a song entitled ‘Haunted’ about her ex, followed by several songs from her senior recital at APU. She plans on releasing them together as an EP by the end of the year, and hopes to come out with another EP of original songs next year.

Moxy’s songs vary from singer/songwriter to hardcore rock. One night she’s in her all black punk outfit singing rock covers, and the next day she’s singing in a church. While the style of her music might change, her intention behind it does not.

“One thing that’s always been important to me, regardless of what kind of music I’m doing, is that it’s uplifting to people,” she said. “My reason for doing music is because I want to bring beauty to people who are broken.”

APU Volleyball Takes Down Point Loma in Conference Opener

This article was originally published on ZU News.

Azusa Pacific’s volleyball team won their conference opener against Point Loma on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Sea Lions 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-23). 

The Cougars relied on veteran leadership to secure the victory but also had strong performances by their underclassmen, including freshman outside hitter Annaka Jorgenson, who finished second on the team with 10 kills.

“Everyone did a really good job of just taking care of the things they needed to,” Jorgenson said. “We just really fed off of each other’s energy and I think that’s what helped us pull out the win.”

APU came out of the gate strong, going on an eight-point run in the first set. The Cougars never relinquished the lead, also stringing together a five-point and a four-point run to claim the set 25-13.

“We came out pretty strong emotionally. We knew what we wanted to do. We know how Point Loma plays,” head coach Chris Keife said. “We served well, which is one of the things we wanted to focus in on today… Our hitters did a good job of making good choices out there.”

Point Loma kept the second set much closer, staying within a couple of points of APU until the end when the Cougars went on a five-point run. During the set, seniors Julianne Miller and Sara Wagenveld paced the Cougars with four kills apiece. 

Overall, Miller led the team in kills, notching 11 in the match with a .524 attack percentage. Wagenveld finished third in kills (with nine), and led the Cougars with seven blocks.

“This is my last first conference opener. It was really fun to come out on a high note,” Wagenveld said. “It’s always fun to play against Point Loma because they always bring the energy. It’s great to bring our best against their best because they always save it for us. They seem to have it out for us, so it always makes for an interesting game.”

The Cougars started the third set off well, racing off to a six-point lead. However, Point Loma hung in there and nearly completed a comeback, drawing within two points. The Cougars’ big lead proved to be just enough, as the team held on to clinch the set and the match.

“Finishing is something we need to work on. It was unnecessarily close at the end,” Wagenveld said. “But I really liked how we started out really strong. Today, we really went about it in a business-like way, because we’ve won a few games where we don’t start out too strong, at least in the preseason …  We got a big run right away at the beginning of the game and kept that all the way throughout.”

Keife said he was proud of the way his team played today. He was very happy with the way Jorgenson contributed.

“She did a good job out there offensively. She managed the game. She’s a smart player,” Keife said. “She’s been an asset to our team since she got here.”

“It’s been a wild ride,” Jorgenson said. “The girls are amazing. Being a freshman is easy because they’re so welcoming and so uplifting …  [there’s] a lot of pressure going out there, but it’s a good kind of pressure. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

With the win, the Cougars improve to 7-2 on the season. Their next contest is at Holy Names on Friday at 6 p.m.