2010 Spring Semester

 

   

What is New?

FRRC:

Deborah has started a new center for children.  It is called the Family Resource and Recovery Center and it is located on 13th and Missouri, Suite 100.  If you are in Behavioral Studies you should go down and take a tour.

   

 

   

Current News

Off to Korea

Our son recently (January of 2009) left for Korea to teach in a small school about 5 minutes from North Korea. We miss him but know God is going to stretch him and teach him many new things.  He will be a blessing to those he meets and his mom and I will definitely have to go over and visit him.  Update January 2010 - We just finished a fantastic visit with J and Siwon (his fiance).  The pictures at the top of the home page are of them, enjoy.

   

 

   

Recent Events

My Dad's Book

My father has just finished writing a book and my brother and I finally got it published.  It is titled "How Big is Your God?" and dedicates one chapter each to the different names Scripture gives to God in the Old Testament.  You can go to Amazon and buy it now, yea!!!!  In the search box put the title and my fathers name - Richard Pettitt.  I had no idea how long it would take to get this done, but we are certainly excited that it is out there now.

   

 

How can this be my 11th year at Southwestern?

My Christmas break has been filled with many family activities.  I guess that is one thing great about having time to just spend with family.  Our son came home for 3 weeks with his wonderful fiancĂ© from Korea.  Her name is Siwon and she will be a wonderful addition to our family.  The pictures above were taken on some of our outings over the break.  We went up to the Rim and had a great time sledding and then going to the Strawberry lodge for "hot drinks".   We toured the city and J shared some of his pictures from Korea.  I hope you enjoy the pictures of our son and his fiancĂ© as much as we do.

Picture for pondering:

  • I choose this picture because I wanted to be reminded of this special young man every time I opened my website this spring.  One of the books I read over Christmas was about how this amazing young man from Africa built a windmill to power his family's home.  The title of the book is The Boy who Harnessed the Wind.
  • I titled this picture "Ingenuity - I love it".
  • Much of the time he was working on this people called him crazy.  What persistence he showed, I hope I can show just a little of this trait this semester.
  • Be THANKFUL for the mind God has given you.

windmill

Classes I will be teaching

  • Calculus II:  This will be the second semester of a two semester course.  The application of math to the world around us has always been fascinating to me.  The second semester incorporates many concepts, probably the main one being techniques of integration.
  • Physical Science:  This semester I will be "skiing over the surface" of 4 basic areas of physical science:  physics, chemistry, geology, and astronomy.
  • Educational Technology: OK, OK, I know you have heard it too many times before but I love teaching this one too. The influence of computers and the Internet on education is tremendous. I hope all my students when they come out of this class remember "Curriculum should drive technology, not technology driving curriculum.

A few books I have enjoyed reading over Christmas:

  • Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder: This is a book about a young man from Burundi who survives the Hutu/Tutsi tragedy and comes to America to continue his education.  If I ever complain about anything just remind me of this book.
  • The Boy who Harnessed the Wind  by William Kamkwamba: This is another book about an African young man who despite extremely tough times develops a wind mill to bring electricity to his home.  If you want go to the TED website and see a 4 minute clip on his life.
  • Jesus for President by Shane Clairborne:  I enjoyed reading this one (actually I reread it over the break), it challenged my thinking.  Afterwards I went to Columbus, Ohio to the Mennonite yearly conference (July 2009) and listened to him speak.  Ask me about it and what I learned.

Verse for the semester

  • "In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God."

Flash and Music

  • For a little fun with music and flash click here, the video is about 90 seconds long.  Adobe flash is one of my favorite software programs and it is amazing what the software can do.