Category: Features
Impromptu moment with Cambodian girls leads to gift of connection for ACU volleyball player
While some students took time off this summer to relax with their families, many Wildcats spent their summer serving and learning. Londyn Gray, a senior journalism major and ACU volleyball player from Weatherford, Texas, traveled to Cambodia on a trip organized through ACU’s WorldWide Witness program. There, she worked with Cambodia Christian Ministries, teaching … Continued
ACU students fill their summer serving, learning around the world
Summer has come to an end, and the ACU campus is again bustling with activity. While some students took time off to relax with their families, many Wildcats spent their summer serving and learning. Here are just a few of the activities our students engaged in over the summer, ranging from international mission … Continued
Repurposed leather from Southwest Airlines becomes symbol of hope for Costa Rican village
What can you do with leather from old airplane seats? Students in ACU’s Social Enterprise Consulting class in the College of Business Administration are working with entrepreneurs in Costa Rica to find out, and in the process they are helping change lives. Ten students traveled to Costa Rica over Spring Break to … Continued
Third-grade teacher becomes inadvertent Instagram influencer
By day, Katelyn (McLarty ’14) Cole is an elementary school teacher, wrangling third-graders for the Northwest ISD in Fort Worth, Texas. But in her off time, the ACU alumna has become a popular Instagram influencer with more than 90,000 followers who share her passion for books. An avid reader – she made her … Continued
Nursing, engineering students turn classwork into real-world missions experience
In a country where more than 50 percent of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 150,000 children are orphans, hope is a precious commodity. A group of nursing and engineering students from ACU traveled to Honduras in May to work with Living Hope, a nonprofit ministry focusing on families, children and abandoned … Continued
Students lend a hand in Nicaragua with Wildcat Academics on Mission program
Grace Russell (’21) stepped out of her comfort zone to travel to Nicaragua last summer on a combination study abroad and mission trip. “I had always been too nervous or shy to go on mission trips or lacked the resources,” she said. But ACU’s Wildcat Academics on Mission (WAM) program put both of those … Continued
Former FBI agent heads new online criminal justice program at ACU
Brenda McAdoo has spent the last 24 years on a mission: to protect the American people from criminals here and terrorists abroad. As a special agent and crisis negotiator with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, she investigated and brought justice to crimes against children, violent crime, organized crime, and international kidnapping. So after … Continued
10 Questions with Kent Brantly, M.D.
The COVID-19 pandemic might feel like déjà vu for Kent Brantly, M.D. (’03), who contracted the deadly Ebola virus in 2014 while serving as a medical missionary in Liberia. He became the first Ebola patient to receive the experimental drug ZMapp and the first to be flown back to the U.S. for treatment. Six years … Continued
Ghana native inspired to use business, ministry degrees to advance family’s nonprofit
During his seven years at Abilene Christian University, Jack Oduro found a place to call home – a community, he says, that has offered “parent figures, mentors, friends of a lifetime and opportunities for growth that have shaped the person I am today.” But a piece of his heart remains with the people of his … Continued