Keepers of The Covenant to unveil new project

Ryan Lay films while Maria Vanegas interviews Dean Tucker about her opinions on the covenant. – Lilly Nixon-Perkins

On the evening of Nov. 13, 2017, senior Grace Plemmons began conducting interviews by the Covenant Stone on campus, supervised by Dr. Jesse Smith, lecturer in Mathematics, and filmed by both sophomore Ryan Lay and multimedia communications specialist Jacob Haskew. This marked the beginning of the new project on campus revolving around the Maryville College Covenant. This project seeks to investigate what the covenant means to people who live it every day.

The Keepers of the Covenant organization was started on Oct. 20, 2000 under MC President Gerald Gibson. Every year since, there have been eight student members, three staff and three faculty members who are deemed as Keepers of the Covenant.

If youve ever been to a Covenant Ceremony you can thank the Keepers for organizing it, as well as developing the Spirit of the Covenant Awards.Starting this semester, though, you can expect something new from the self-proclaimed group of patriots.This will be the first in a series of articles to be published in the Echo that aim to highlight the individual meaning of Scholarship, Respect and Integrity, as well as covering the Spirit of the Covenant Awards.

With each article in the series following this one, there will be an accompanying video posted on the Highland Echo website to go along with that articles Covenant theme, though you can also look out for them to be posted on the MC Facebook and YouTube pages as well. These videos will consist of informal interviews conducted by the Keepers to ask the opinions of faculty, staff and students on our Maryville College Covenant.

The project itself is meant to be more than just a series of videos and articles, though.

“This project is meant to encourage students, faculty and staff alike to think about what the Covenant is, what it means to them, and to the entire college, Smith said.

The Covenant is meant to be something that inspires the Maryville College community and, hopefully, inspires insightful, productive conversations. The way that Smith suggests we make the Covenant productive in our everyday lives is to make sure that we are actively working to create that conversation within ourselves, as well as within the community.

Keep an eye out for our Keepers of the Covenant around campus, and if you see them filming and you have a strong positive opinion about the Covenant that you would like to share, go speak to them! The more participants the merrier, and you might even find yourself on the Highland Echo website.

If you have any inquiries about the project please direct them to Dr. Jesse Smith at [email protected].

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