Summit Christian College in Gering, Neb. has been named first on a list of the top 50 Most Affordable Small Private Colleges in America. The ranking, generated by AffordableColleges.com, cited Summit’s low tuition, low student debt, and low student-to-faculty ratio, which allows for a high success rate for student achievement. Summit Christian College received a score of 8.86 out of 10 among the top 50 private colleges in the United States with enrollments under 2,000 students. That is a lot of colleges! Summit Christian College, established in 1951 at Platte Valley Bible College in Scottsbluff, currently offers five areas of instruction, Bachelor of Arts in Bible, Bachelor of Science in Bible, Bachelor of Science in Ministries, Associate of Arts in Bible, and a Certificate in Christian Foundations. The college is also currently in the process of developing a new online option, Summit Bridge, which utilizes the Zoom video streaming technology. “We are very focused in what type of degrees we offer in order to meet the needs of the students we are attracting,” said SCC President David Parrish. In ranking the top 50 Most Affordable Small Private colleges in America, AffordableColleges used 11 areas of criteria including student enrollment rate, full-time retention rate, graduation rate, and student-to-faculty ratio, which measures how invested a school is in taking care of its students. This data is crucial in determining how much value students are getting for their money, and helps to differentiate quality, affordable schools from schools that are simply cheap. The study also noted the academic success at a small private college where courses are taught by professors with a terminal degree. According to Mr. Parrish, there are more than 50 years of direct cross-cultural experience represented on campus and well over 75 years of combined teaching experience. This is extraordinary when considering the college’s size. All of Summit’s professors have graduate level degrees and love teaching in the close interactive atmosphere that the college student/teacher ratios foster. “All of our professors have great quality field experience, having served on missions boards, as pastors, in foreign mission fields or even as Bible translators. They bring quality field experience that our students can rely on,” Parrish said. “Students have told me that they believe that what the professors are teaching is credible because their experience and effectiveness in ministry makes what they teach practical.” Academic Dean Scott Gribble said the college has historically tried to offer quality programs at a very affordable price so that students going into ministry can do so without debt associated to their college education. Follow this link to read the full report at AffordableColleges.com.

We were seeing double this week as Tuesday kicked off Spirit Week for Summit students. The celebration allows students, staff, and faculty to let off some fall steam by dressing as twins (Tuesday), their favorite super heroes (Wednesday), and showing their Summit school pride (Friday). We are also looking forward to welcoming and meeting all the parents again on Friday for Parents' Day. Come back to campus and spend the day with your students in their classes, meet their professors, even take a few classroom notes! Enjoy morning coffee and donuts and lunch with us. The weather and scenery around Summit will be beautiful. We've got the Spirit!

This week we were privileged to have Mike Schrage as our guest. Schrage is the Executive Director of Good News Productions, Int'l (GNPI), which produces culturally relevant, Biblically based content in digital, video, and print format to accelerate global evangelism. He is also serving as President of the 2016 International Conference on Missions (ICOM), which will be held Nov. 17-20 in Lexington, KY. Schrage spent two days with us, meeting with faculty, students, and giving two presentations on our campus. He explained the current work and importance of GNPI in helping people access the Gospel in their native language in a way they can understand, and also the ongoing efforts to mobilize the church to worldwide action through the use of technology to enhance the process of disciple making. This year's ICOM theme is "Mobilize: Disciples Making Disciples" and Schrage drove that message home for Summit students by challenging them to become active disciple makers through three simple steps: Be Kind. Be Generous. Point others to the Word. Summit faculty members are planning to take a group of interested students to the 2016 ICOM in November. To learn more about GNPI go to http://gnpi.org/. To learn more about ICOM 2016 go to http://theicom.org/

We enjoyed a BLESSED MORNING Friday, Aug. 26 with all the Summit students, faculty and staff for our annual Fall Advance to the Wildcat Hills south of Gering. The early morning showers did not dampen our spirits as we enjoyed the end of the first week of classes with great food, fellowship, beautiful scenery, lots of laughs, heartfelt worship and inspiring words. God is good...and beats in the heart of Summit!

Summit Christian College held its annual Convocation on Aug. 24 in the chapel. This special event serves as the official welcome and kick-off to the new academic year, which will culminate with our Graduation ceremony in May. Eleven new students signed the SCC Book as Registrar Andi Grant explained that this signing marks the beginning of the students' life of learning at Summit. Upon graduation each will sign out. Several students were also presented with scholarships. Seniors Dustin Amack and Sarah Amack were each awarded the Senior Scholarship, which comes with a 100% tuition waiver. The Academic Dean's Scholarship was presented to Sarah Amack, Tristan Bridges, Emily Brown, KylieDean Gulley, and Kyler Schmidt. Summit President Dave Parrish presented a valuable and challenging message about the importance of obedient faith and encouraging all students to put their obedience and faith to work in order to have the fullest impact upon theirs and others' lives and the Kingdom of God.

The 2016-2017 academic year is here! Freshmen students have moved into their dorm rooms and many activities will take place this week before classes start on Monday, Aug. 22. We are glad you are here and are looking forward to a great new year at Summit! Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 17-19: New Student Orientation Friday, Aug. 19: Dorms Open for Returning Students Sunday, Aug. 21: New Students at Central Church of Christ Monday, Aug. 22:8:00 am - All School Breakfast9:00 am - Returning Student Orientation9:00 am - New Student English Exam and Bible Exam6:00 pm - Night Classes Begin Tuesday, Aug. 23: Day Classes Begin Wednesday, Aug. 24: Regular Class Schedule7:00 pm - Convocation Thursday, Aug. 25: Regular Class Schedule Friday, Aug. 26: 8:00 am to noon - Wildcat Advance

Summit Christian College is offering a NEW online learning experience, Summit Bridge, that is ideal for those who are committed to growing in their personal and professional ministry, missions, and leadership, but are not able to attend classes in person. Bridge courses can be taken for audit or credit toward a degree from SCC. Courses include: • Adolescent Education • Homiletics • Introduction to Christian Education • Comparative Religions • History of the Restoration Movement • Life of Christ • Teaching and Preaching from the Old Testament SCC is offering these classes at an introductory price of $295 per course. Classes begin the week of Aug. 22, 2016. A Bridge Q&A session will be held at Summit Christian College on Thursday, Aug. 4, at 7 p.m. for anyone interested in learning more. For more information, contact Scott Gribble at 308-632-6933 or email sgribble@summitcc.net or go to www.summitcc.net and click on the Summit Bridge tab.

Thank you to all the participants in the 2016 Summit Christian College Golf Tournament held June 20 at Scottsbluff Country Club. We had 55 total golfers entered, and raised over $30,500 for the college. The 2016 Top 3 fundraising teams were: John Steele (team captain) of Montana, $5,015; Jim Chandler (team captain) of Scottsbluff, $4,965; and David Parrish (team captain) of Scottsbluff, $4,550. Thank you also to all our hole and prize sponsors! Because of the generosity and commitment from our golf buddies and area businesses, we continue to fulfill our mission of educating leaders for Christian service.

Our Compass Team members Alex Fritzler, Houston Capellen, Emily Brown, and Melady Korell, aka "Gladiators for God," have returned from their first two-week sessions of service at summer camps in Stockton, Kan. and Mancos, Colo. They are now back at home camp in Gering for a week, helping Summit staff with campus and office work before they set off in July for Newcastle, Colo. and Erickson, Neb. before meeting up in Durango, Colo. for the Christ in Youth Conference. Besides having a lot of summer fun with Jr. High and High School campers, the teams' prayer is that eyes will be opened, hearts will be moved and lives will be changed through the impact of Jesus Christ.

It's that time again! Summit Christian College is taking orders for fresh, ripe, delicious Colorado peaches. Order an 18-pound box for your family and support Summit Christian College. Peaches are $30 per box. Please contact SCC at (308) 632-6933 by JULY 18 to place an order. We will contact you when they are ready for delivery.

Summit Christian College’s 64th commencement ceremonies were held on May 13, 2016. President David Parrish presided over the ceremonies and Dr. Paul Pennington of Cincinnati, Ohio challenged the graduates using Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” This year’s degree recipients (pictured left to right): back row: Houston Capellen (Cert. Christian Foundations), Jeffry McKean (Bachelor of Arts in Bible), Ryan Yates (Associate of Arts), Brooke Eckerberg (Bachelor of Science in Bible), Emilie Jones (Bachelor of Science in Bible), Rebecca Lillie (Bachelor of Science in Bible), Stephen Hayner (Bachelor of Science in Ministry). Front row: Andrea Phelps (Associate of Arts), Jadie Prohs (Associate of Arts), Danyele Bahn (Bachelor of Science in Bible).

Summit Christian College faculty, staff, and administration would like to congratulate the Spring 2016 students who have achieved Dean's List and Honor Roll. Dean's List (4.00-3.75 Semester GPA) Emily Brown Emilie Jones Kyler Schmidt Honor Roll (3.74-3.50 Semester GPA) KylieDean Gulley Sarah Amack Tristan Bridges Kellen Hood Part-Time Honor Roll (4.00-3.50 Semester GPA; less than 12 credit hours) Andrea Phelps Stephen Hayner George Jensen