What follows is a brief bio of each Cardinal & Cream staff writer for the Spring 2019 semester.
Hunter Bollinger
Hunter Bollinger is a junior public relations major and photojournalism minor. He really enjoys writing articles that are more opinion-based than interview-based, things such as Weekend Watch or Music Monday.
Bollinger rushed SAE when he entered Union as a freshman. Bullied in high school, Bollinger knew that he wanted to rush and gain the kind of brotherhood he knew a fraternity could offer him. Being an only child, that kind of brotherhood and community is something that he feels like he missed out on growing up. He knew that he wanted to reinvent who he was when he came to college.
Bollinger lives in a small town near Nashville. He spent this past summer counseling at a church camp and says that it was the best summer of his life. In his spare time, Bollinger enjoys hunting for fun and photography. He dreams of one day living in a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains and having a Clydesdale horse as a pet.
Michael Chapman
Michael “Chap” Chapman is a junior journalism major and the host of the Layup Lines Podcast right here at Cardinal & Cream. He loves sports too much for his own good and hopes to be a sports writer or a coach when he leaves this place. Also, Chapman is lame and doesn’t have social media other than Facebook, so friend him I guess?
Nathan Chester
One look at Nathan Chester’s Instagram, and you can tell he’s a selfless person. Chester doesn’t like to talk about himself. All of his posts are about other people, his roommates, his friends and his frat brothers. He says he doesn’t do it to be humble, but ironically, that just makes him more so.
He cast his eyes down bashfully when asked about his tendency to highlight others in his timeline, but it’s nothing he’s shy about online. His favorite of his stories is a feature on his favorite person at Union, and every post radiates the energy of a person who loves the camaraderie of other people. His posts highlight the events in his life that strengthen the bonds between him and his friends. I’ve never spent much time with him outside of class, but through talking to him and looking at his social media, I can tell he’s a great friend, teammate and frat brother.
Sabrina Clendenin
Sabrina Clendenin is a senior public relations major. Her dream job is running social media accounts and doing photography for national parks as well as setting up partnerships with outdoor equipment companies like REI and Patagonia to promote the use of their products in the parks.
Clendenin decided to pursue a degree in public relations after watching the movie When in Rome, starring Kristen Bell.
“She was a PR person and was putting an event together,” said Clendenin. “I was just kind of fascinated by how she was like this one-woman show, coordinating this entire event and seeing everything come together.”
After researching various facets of the field, Clendenin entered college as a public relations major and “never really looked back.”
A two-week road trip with her family last summer sparked Clendenin’s interest in national parks.
“I just kind of fell in love, going through all the national parks and seeing how different they all were and recognizing why it’s something that people want to keep sacred and protected,” she said.
SaraBeth Conley
SaraBeth Conley, a public relations major, grew up in middle Tennessee, just near the Alabama line. Conley has a heart for Denver, Colorado where she has visited twice on mission trips with her home church. Her love for the city led her to apply for a summer program in Denver through the North American Mission Board. Conley and her team will be focusing on church planting and building relationships with refugees in the area. She is excited by the opportunity to go with a team who has the same vision and passion for the city. Living 2 months on mission in this context is an exciting opportunity for further Kingdom work within the city.
Conley is also looking forward to the personal growth that she and her teammates will experience. The university years provide mission opportunities that are unique solely to college students: 2 months of focused, intentional investment. Conley’s summer plans give an encouraging reminder of the ample opportunities available to university students — ones that utilize unique passions and gifts.
Hannah Eason
“We don’t even have a red light in our town,” says every small-town person. Just ask Hannah Eason about her small town.
A sophomore at Union University, Hannah Eason knows all about the small-town life. Eason grew up in Bells, Tennessee with her 3 sisters. But the first chance she got to run, she took it.
“I had to get out of Bells, but the funny thing is that I didn’t get that far from home.”
Eason ran to Union University with her diploma and all of the college credits she obtained her senior year of high school.
Eason chose to follow her passion of writing when she chose her major of journalism. Her passion for telling a story has carried her in life.
“I write for fun, and my dream is to take all the stories I have written since is I was young to today and make them into a book.”
After Eason graduates from Union, she plans to further her career in law school. This dream comes from her past of being in mock trials during high school, where she played the role of a prosecutor. She wants to bring justice to the crimes of Nashville.
Lydia Gandy
From Kenya to South Africa to Tennessee, Lydia Gandy has called many places home. Her parents were missionaries in Kenya for nine years, South Africa for three years and currently live in Central Asia; Gandy is a sophomore and moved to Tennessee two years ago. It was in South Africa at a youth camp (they actually slept in tents) that she met her current boyfriend of three years, Keegan.
Gandy also has an internationally recognized degree from Kohl Makeup Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. She plans to use her degree and background in makeup in conjunction with her public relations degree from Union to do PR for a makeup company.
She came to Union as a result of her two older sisters, Natalie and Gillian. Gandy is the RA of Grace 2 (fun fact: the room she and Gillian live in now has housed the Gandy girls for the past four years).
Randall Kendrick
If there is one word that describes Randall Kendrick, it would have to be “creativity.” Like most creators, Kendrick is not driven by money or any other sort of material drive, but rather by his love for movies and storytelling in general.
“I just love movies. I always have from the time I was younger. And it has always been a dream of mine to create something on the big screen that other people will want to see.”
He has written and directed several short films over the course of his time at Union. He hopes that this will help him launch a career in the film industry after he graduates.
“I switched from being a theatre major to a journalism one because I realized that I can still create as a journalist — and because I don’t need to be a theatre major to get into the film industry. I just want to leave an impact.”
Elise Kolterman
With a ring on a finger and a full adult life facing her, it’s fair to say Elise Kolterman is ready but terrified to leave the college life. A senior public relations major, Kolterman is hovering on the edge of true adulthood with excitement, but admits to being a bit worried about the routine of regular adult life.
“College has flexibility to it. When I graduate, everything is going to change.”
Kolterman has already taken a job as the account manager of Passages, an organization that sends students to Israel. But despite all the business and fear of the unknown, she continues to dream of even farther down the road.
“I want to write a book someday. I’m interested in walking through the biblical role of women and men in leadership.”
For Kolterman, the future is bright and her dreams are big. Her fiancé, Caleb, is the most immediate future as she gets ready for her wedding. However, it’s clear that her passion to pursue Christ in the midst of change is unwavering.
Mary Madelyn Melton
Mary Madelyn Melton is a sophomore public relations major from Shiloh, Tennessee.
Growing up, she had her heart set on the University of Mississippi and knew that’s always where she wanted to attend college. However, after her mother convinced her to tour Union the summer before her senior year of high school, she knew Union was the place that she needed to be, and she says that she continues to love it more and more every day.
She began Union as an accounting major, but soon switched to public relations and knew that was a perfect fit for her. She believes that Christ has blessed us with the awesome gift of communication and that we must utilize it to interact with others and fulfill his mission.
“Union’s communication department is a tool in that process, equipping its students with the ability to communicate well, and Cardinal & Cream is a perfect example of this,” said Melton. “Over the semester, I hope to improve my skills and better learn how to communicate with others through the form of writing.”
Naomi Mengel
Passionate about story telling, encouraging others and photography, journalism major Naomi Mengel’s down to earth and easy-going nature shines through her writing. One of her favorite journalism pieces that she’s ever written was from high school.
“It was about how the modern world takes truth, goodness and beauty and distorts them and tears them away from Christianity and the Christian vision of the world. I just felt like it was a tightly written paper and felt really satisfied with it, and that was sort of the first time that I was like ‘Wow, I wanna do this for a living, I’d be willing to write school papers for a living.’”
She also loves taking pictures of people because it’s another way that she can tell someone’s story.
“I’ve always been interested in [photography] and I really like pictures with people in it and how they can tell a story visually with just a frame of that person’s life. So I think that’s something that I’d like to do alongside writing.”
Daniel Potts
Daniel Potts (Pottsie) is a man who can look at anything with a positive outlook. He’s someone who looks at his past and applies what he learns to his future.
He’s also a man of creativity and humor. From making music to working with film, he can turn anything to a visual or audible art.
When asked when he will put out a full album or EP, he had this to say:
“When there is a large enough listener base for it, but when it happens, it will be very cinematic and well worth your time… probably. In all seriousness, the music can range from very intense to very vibbey and wavy depending on how I feel because music is one of the ways that I cope and release.”
If you know the right people, you might be able to get a hold of some old film/acting work from Potts.
“My acting career is very short. Mostly idiotic comedic roles, but a SLIGHTLY more serious film is in the works that I will be on the directorial side of.”
Potts is also a man of sports. If you’re reading about any upcoming or previous sports events this semester, you can bet at least half of them are written by him.
Andrew Waddey
Andrew Waddey strives to be a man of class. When asked what a classy man looks like, Waddey said: “A man that keeps himself retained.” He also added that it helps to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan, an opinion that is certain to receive some feedback.
Waddey’s interest in the Cardinals stems from an overall love of baseball, a passion implemented by his father. Waddey claims that baseball is an “American Sport,” whose fans carry themselves differently than fans of other pastimes. He feels that followers of baseball carry themselves with a bit more maturity, or class if you will, and that his father demonstrated his by cutting into his own work life to take his young son to see the Cardinals.
Waddey sees his father as an unselfish man, a quality that Andrew took with him into Union’s Life Group Program. He felt that the opportunity helped him grow as a leader and said, “I was allowed to guide students in a direction that I was not given.” Waddey is referring to his arrival on Union’s campus as a transfer student, but he made friends quickly and has wasted no time getting involved. While he is not planning to return to Life Groups due to the desire to pour time into other areas such as Cardinal and Cream, he is excited to see one of the members of his own group prepare to apply for Life Group leadership themselves.
Waddey continues to grow into the man his father was as he develops his footprints on this campus full of leaders.
Cameron “Woody” Woodard
“I like art. I like to dance.”
Back against the wall. Feet outstretched. The perfect picture of someone who is at complete ease being asked about his life before college. It was as if he had told the story a million times before. Cameron Woodard, or better known to all his friends as “Woody,” let out a heavy sigh when asked about his past experience on the football field.
“I’m desperately trying to escape that,” he said reminiscing on his time before college.
Although an excellent athlete, Woodard was drawn away from the stereotypical jock interests. His passion was art and writing.
“The problem was that football was my identity,” Woodard said. Having grown up going on mission trips and being grounded in the faith, he knew there was more to his identity. It was at the beginning of college that he began the long road to changing the foundation of his identity from an excellent high school football player to follow the call into full-time ministry.
