QuickNotes | January 2026

Laurissa Mancia, junior graphic design major, won first place in a competition to redesign the Collegedale city logo on February 17 at City Hall.  

Mancia’s work was selected from among three finalists in the competition that was open to all Collegedale residents and Southern students. Each one presented logo designs and background stories, and the Board of Commissioners voted on a winner. City leaders will now work with Mancia directly, contacting her for any design adjustments that might be needed, according to Vice Mayor Tonya Sadler. 

The other finalists were Joe La Com, ’05, associate professor in Southern’s School of Visual Art and Design; and Larnell Samuel, a senior graphic design major on campus.  

Mancia said in an interview with the Southern Accent student newspaper that she started her design process by learning about Collegedale’s history.  

“It’s always good to know the background before you start designing,” she says. 

She also gained inspiration by taking dozens of walks around Collegedale trying to get different views.

“Overall, I sat down at my table drawing for hours,” Mancia recalls. “I spent weeks trying to figure out something that wasn’t just traditional [or] expected.”  

Jason Allin, Collegedale planning manager, told the Accent that the commissioners wanted a revised branding identity for the city in addition to a new logo. His favorite part of the project was witnessing the participants from across the city come together to compete. 

“We’re super excited and grateful … for everyone who applied. It was very difficult to pick.” Allin says. “I was glad I wasn’t having to decide, because I liked all three designs.” 

- Lillie Lelko, sophomore journalism major

After growing up in Pennsylvania and graduating from Blue Mountain Academy (BMA), Kris Eckenroth, ’99, took a leap of faith and moved to Tennessee to attend Southern. It was not Southern’s outreach or promotional efforts that brought him south, but the university’s very own students—friends who were a couple of years ahead of him—who convinced Eckenroth’s class to visit Southern for their senior trip. Eckenroth enrolled as a business major.

Southern had a lot to offer spiritually, and during his sophomore year, Eckenroth felt the pull to be more consistent in his daily relationship with God. He began asking for a calling and found himself praying: “Lord, if you want me to speak for You, have somebody ask me.” Four days later, God answered his prayer through the task force chaplain that year, Ryan Ashlock, ’98, who invited him to speak for Student Week of Prayer. Though he was very nervous, Eckenroth knew he had to say yes.

The presentation went well, and Eckenroth began to question if God was trying to pull him toward ministry. The answer came more quickly than he was expecting. Over the next few weeks, several people mentioned they felt impressed to tell him he should be a pastor.

Eckenroth accepted the call and returned the following year as a junior theology major. Thanks in part to Jack Blanco, ThD, the dean of the School of Religion, he was able to make a plan to complete his degree without adding to his tenure in college. After seminary at Andrews University in Michigan, Eckenroth spent a year ministering in the Pennsylvania Conference of Seventh-day Adventists before returning to Southern to serve as chaplain for Enrollment Services.

After three years, God led Eckenroth back to Pennsylvania, this time for 12 years as Youth and Young Adults Ministries director for the conference, then as administrative pastor for the BMA church and pastor for Grace Outlet. He also oversaw church plants for the conference and developed a passion for “connecting the disconnected.”

“I knew the area, and I knew the young adults who were missing in my home churches,” he notes, “so I went to the conference president, and I proposed planting a church specifically targeting young adults to reconnect them.” The plant soon grew, with most attendees being unchurched. Eckenroth’s strategy was to begin partnering with existing organizations to draw people to church within their comfort zones. “We connected with the Children’s Home of Reading, the Animal Rescue League, and the public school,” he says.

After Eckenroth was called back to Collegedale to serve as associate senior pastor at Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventist on campus, his experience with church planting inspired the book, The Retroactive Church, and gave him the idea for Retro Ministries.

“This area’s become very Adventist-centric,” he explains, “But there are a lot of people who have become disconnected from the church.” Seeing the need and channeling his prior experience, Eckenroth began Retro Ministries as a partnership with local Adventist churches on Friday nights. “Whatever we do can spill over, funneling people into churches on Sabbath,” he adds.

Retro Ministries has grown out of and moved through several locations, landing at the Collegedale Spanish American Seventh-day Adventist Church known as Su Casa, just up the hill from Southern, as their long-term home.

A spiritual home for many, Retro Ministries has become a place to gather on Friday evenings for an evangelistic message. The focus is intentionally on building relationships, not only spiritually but also by nurturing guests with a meal and time for fellowship in a welcoming environment.

Retro Ministries also ensures that each member is prayed for by keeping a database of prayer requests. “Prayer is big—the base of our ministry,” Eckenroth says. Before their very first meeting, the leadership group prayed over the ministry, and that continues every Wednesday night to this day.

Not just confined to the four walls of Su Casa, the ministry has expanded to outside locations, partnering with Chatt Foundation, Chattanooga Food Bank, and Ronald McDonald House. “We have five baptismal study locations happening every week. Our largest one is at Four Corners in the For You Art Gallery and Tattoo,” Eckenroth reports. This specific location has already resulted in three baptisms, and other locations continue to have a similar impact. Retro Ministries is changing the lives of both participants and business owners. Kris shares one specific example: “Vanessa Lippard, owner of the gallery, became reconnected and is now studying biology at Southern.”

Retro Ministries also changes lives through their online presence via YouTube, podcasts, SafeTV, 3ABN, and It is Written. With prayer, they continue to meet new partners who are willing to spread the message and grow the ministry.

Today, Eckenroth and his wife, Kristie (Kantor), ’05, and their kids have embraced Retro Ministries as a family ministry, and they are all in on reconnecting the disconnected.

Eckenroth prayed for a call, and God provided him not only an opportunity to speak but also a community to serve. Learn more at RetroMinistries.org.


- Danika Sepulveda-Gonzalez, junior biomedical major

This past October, the Student Managed Asset Risk and Return Training (SMARRT) Fund surpassed a major milestone of $1 million in stocks. The initial $500,000 investment, entrusted to a group of School of Business students in 2019, is part of the university’s endowment. Earnings are used to continually support scholarships and student programs across the campus.

The student team recently switched from investing in exchange-traded funds to single-equity stocks. This change led to an immediate increase in returns, accumulating a $272,000 profit in just one year. Business students have since achieved one of their top investment goals—to outperform the S&P 500, a benchmark average of the top 500 companies on the market. With a return rate nearly twice that of the S&P 500, the SMARRT Fund also outperformed several major hedge funds.

“One word to describe how I feel about this monumental milestone is ‘blessed,’” says Jonathan Amarandei, ’25, former president of the SMARRT Fund team. “I’m beyond blessed to have had the privilege of being a part of such a talented group of individuals.”

Business professor Joelle Akiki, DBA, who serves as faculty sponsor of the SMARRT Fund team, highlights the hard work and dedication of Amarandei along with Alicia Garver and Glenn Grakov, senior finance majors; Adrian Helm and Kylie Mastrapa, junior finance majors; and Eric Barnuevo, senior accounting major.

“I’ve been blessed with amazing students who value what they’re doing,” Akiki reports. “I’ve seen Christ work in their lives. The financial world can be very aggressive, but I’ve witnessed these student volunteers always keeping their focus on God while managing the fund as part of their class requirements.”

In addition to growing the fund, students learn invaluable lessons in managing assets. Enrolled in the SMARRT Fund course, they receive Bloomberg Terminal certification in the Bloomberg Finance Lab and develop responsible trading practices alongside leadership skills. The program will be housed in the new Ruth McKee School of Business building, slated to open this coming fall.

Akiki is grateful for the opportunities her student team has been given through God’s provision. “God is blessing Southern,” she adds. “We need to be good stewards of the money we’ve been entrusted with, because we’re ultimately here to build the kingdom! It’s not about doubling or tripling money but rather using it for God’s glory."


- Julia Juler, junior English major

“Before I became a social worker, I was a Christian,” says Candy Dolcy, director of field education and assistant professor in Southern’s School of Social Work. “Prioritizing service makes my life a living sermon without ever preaching one.”

She was raised with service as a significant part of her life, which directly impacted her career choice. “Social work lines up perfectly with the Christian mission,” Dolcy explains. “We have to meet people where they are and serve their immediate needs before they’ll be able to hear the love of God.”

When she began working at Southern, Dolcy recognized that service would be crucial to getting to know the Chattanooga community. “My role requires that I engage with members of the local community, and how else could I get to know people unless I volunteered?” she questions. “As a result, I’ve had the chance to connect organizations with my students and promote the incredible work organizations in the area are doing.”

Dolcy looks back fondly on her first service opportunity while on campus: an invitation from a fellow staff member to volunteer at the IRONMAN triathlon in Chattanooga. “We were doing such a simple thing, handing out water to runners, but in that moment, it was exactly what they needed, and they were so grateful,” Dolcy shares. “That did something to me.” The next year, she led a team of volunteer church members and students who pointed bikers toward the correct path. “It’s been a great way to get involved in the community,” Dolcy shares. “I love any chance to serve with students.”

Even during Dolcy’s first year at Southern, she was looking for ways to get students involved. In January 2022, she organized a group from the university to help with Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition’s annual Point-in-Time count, collecting data on the number and location of homeless individuals in the area. “I was glad to have students join me,” Dolcy says. “For a lot of them, it was their first time engaging with the unhoused community, so I had the chance to walk alongside them and mentor them, showing them that the people we were interacting with were people just like us.”

Dolcy has also volunteered as a mentor for Girls Inspired, an outreach program for girls in marginalized communities, run by Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists. She’s been working with the same mentee for three years, helping her navigate high school graduation and college. “I’ve loved having the chance to expose her to new things,” Dolcy shares. “She’d never been up to the mountains around Chattanooga before, and I had the privilege to take her and her sister for the first time.”

As director of field education, Dolcy has built relationships across the city of Chattanooga with people at organizations where she volunteers, and she makes connections for students wanting to get involved. Additionally, she’s worked with Chattanooga Purpose Center, a ministry of Orchard Park Seventh-day Adventist Church; helped organize the Chattanooga Human Services Provider Fair; and served as an assistant coach for a local girls’ basketball team.

“I have always believed that if we see a chance to serve, we should just do it,” Dolcy says. “I can’t answer every call, but even if I can’t answer the first time, I tell groups that I’ll do it next time.”

Rooted in her faith, Dolcy looks to Jesus as an example. “He wasn’t a doctor or a chef, but He still served those who were sick and hungry,” she explains. “The only credential I need to serve is that I’m a Christian.”


-Chehalis Eno, senior English major