Nearly 3,000 chapel and conference makeups were expected to reach the desk of Lauren Turner, chapel accountability coordinator, last Tuesday, February 5. 1,431 students need to make up chapels from last fall, and 1,525 need to makeup conferences. On average, fifteen chapels and 6 conferences per student are required to be made up.
Choosing to skip out on attending chapel to take a much needed nap or to finish up that hermeneutics paper costs a lot in the end when makeup CDs cost $3.50 each.
“Although I thought it was a hassle to purchase fifteen chapels, after listening I realized the value in the chapels themselves exceeds any amount of money,” said freshman Delia Baltierra.
A large amount of money is being generated with such a large number of students purchasing chapel makeup CDs and work sheets. The makeup CDs are sold on a recovery basis accounting for the costs of materials, staff time to record, edit and to duplicate according to Jill Watson, supervisor for the Media Center.
Watson said any money gained from CD sales stays with Media Services providing the media with supplies and student staff for production.
With the loss of the 10:30 a.m. chapel this semester, some students are worried about fewer options leading to less opportunity to complete the chapel requirements. However, having one option for chapel created a guaranteed class-free block of time from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., ensuring every student’s availability to attend chapel.
It does mean however, that more people will be crowding the gym, which leads to slower scanning and fewer open seats. Turner confirmed that the gym capacity has been checked, and based on the number of students in attendance the gym is capable of holding all the Biola students.
Already some students have begun to notice the benefit of a single 9:30 a.m. chapel. Freshman Torie Fields was one of them.
“Because all the classes are scheduled around the chapel time, it is much easier to avoid the problem of makeups,” Fields said.
In the past, Biola only offered one morning chapel, but according to the AS Chapel Board Chair CJ Casciotta, the 10:30 a.m. chapel was instituted to allow for more classes as the student population continued to grow.
“By instituting two back-to-back chapels, it allowed Biola to offer classes at both 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.,” said Casciotta. “It was meant to conserve classroom space.”
With the business building and other additions to Biola campus, the problem of classroom space has been relinquished, meaning that the 10:30 chapel could be discontinued.
The return to one large chapel session also allows for the school to come together as one to worship and learn about God. It also takes some of the pressure and time commitment off of the people who make chapel happen.
“The option of a single chapel at 9:30 is better because it increases the feeling of oneness and community among the student body and easing the jobs of the many people running the chapels,” Casciotta said. “Many times the behind the scenes work of running one solid production rather than two very different productions in two very different venues back to back goes unnoticed and underappreciated.”
Rumors about a change in chapel requirements for the current semester are false, according to Lauren Turner, chapel accountability coordinator. Chapel requirements are in the process of being modified for fall 2008. However, exactly what those changes are have not yet been released. In the future, these chapel requirement changes will likely have an affect on the number of chapel makeups that students will be allowed to turn in each semester.
