鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure I would find meaningful work in computer science. I thought I should be in direct service, and I tried to find a way to do that kind of work, but it wasn鈥檛 what I was best at,鈥� said Shenk-Evans.

Now director of information technologies at the Capital Area Food Bank, Shenk-Evans oversees the technological systems within a new 123,000-square-foot warehouse and office that provide food to more than 500 partner agencies, which in turn feed 478,000 people in the Washington D.C. metro area. His goal is to develop technology as a strategic asset so that more hungry adults and children can be reached.

And while he may not be meeting those hungry people face-to-face every day, Shenk-Evans says his work is enriching and fulfilling. 鈥淎t some point, I鈥檝e decided to be at peace with the idea that I鈥檓 a technologist,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat is how I serve. It took me 15 years to be able to say that: I am good at this. I鈥檓 not a spokesman or a fundraiser. I鈥檓 a mission-focused technologist and this is my contribution to society.鈥�

Now Shenk-Evans can tell his story of 鈥渞unning away from computers鈥� with a sense of humor. In his first year of Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS), he turned down a computer teaching position in Jamaica in favor of an agency liaison position at the Capital Area Food Bank.

鈥淎lmost immediately, someone was programming a custom inventory management system and he needed help,鈥� Shenk-Evans said. 鈥淲ithin a few weeks, I was the database administrator.鈥�

At the end of his first MVS year, he requested a different part-time position and was placed in a job referral program at the Spanish Catholic Center. 鈥淎gain, I was trying to get away from computers, but I have a tendency to want to make things as efficient as possible, so I developed a database so they could track applicants, jobs, and employers.鈥�

In the ensuing years, Shenk-Evans earned a Master鈥檚 of Divinity at Duke, which included taking a restorative justice course at 黑料正能量, and took a two-year stint as executive director of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate. There, his true aptitudes emerged.

鈥淣o matter what I did at this small non-profit, the IT work always fell on me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 spent two years automating our office to make our organization more efficient. I set up the first email system, [and] the first network, and implemented a database to track our mortgages.鈥�

Finally, a friend pointed out that his strengths 鈥� administrative and IT experience with non-profits 鈥� would be useful at his company, Community IT Innovators. From 2000 to 2010, Shenk-Evans was a senior consultant with CITI (described further on page 12). Then he returned to the Capital Area Food Bank as its first full-time IT director. Shenk-Evans now supervises a staff of three: a GIS specialist, an information systems manager, and a network administrator.

Asked what advice he would give others following in his footsteps, Shenk-Evans said:

For a long time, I had a narrow definition of what meaningful work was. I thought direct service was the most important way to help. Then when I tried to do it, I found out that I wasn鈥檛 very good at it. I had other skills. If you鈥檙e trying to do something that is outside your true skill set, you won鈥檛 be as effective at your work. Keep your mind and heart open to different ways to serve. Keep in mind that you鈥檒l only be happy if you use your gifts to the good. Try to find the intersections between what the world needs, your gifts and God鈥檚 calling.

Her experience reflects the new ways and new places that education takes place these days for 黑料正能量 students, including , , grant-funded research and practicums, and being part of a cohort at a site to which 黑料正能量 faculty come for classes.

Enns, from Winnipeg, Canada, lived in the nation鈥檚 capital at . While taking two courses at the center, she worked at , an interfaith coalition that seeks to end anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. As an intern with the organization, she used her experience as co-editor of , 黑料正能量鈥檚 student newspaper, to produce a bi-weekly newsletter, compile fact sheets, and otherwise pitch in on the group鈥檚 various initiatives.

An internship through 黑料正能量鈥檚 Washington center is more than just a taste of real-world work and an opportunity to develop contacts, ideas, and credentials for life after college. It鈥檚 also a launching point for deeper examination of the relationship between faith, values, and career.

鈥淗ow do we as Mennonites engage the state, and how much do we build our alternative systems?鈥� asked Enns, whose great-grandparents were part of the mass migration of Mennonites from Russia to North America during the turbulent years after the Bolshevik Revolution.

What relationship, exactly, should a person of faith hold toward advocacy in a secular environment, she wonders. Doesn鈥檛 faith like hers, one that prescribes action on behalf of 鈥渢he least among us,鈥� require this sort of entanglement with the wider world? But does this very entanglement with the wider world undermine the foundations of her faith?

Enns doesn鈥檛 have answers to her questions yet, but she knows she would like to continue doing faith-based advocacy after she graduates this spring. In fact, her plans at this point are to join .

During her four-year career at 黑料正能量, Enns took advantage of other non-traditional ways of learning.

Soon after she arrived on campus as a first-year student, she took an optional field trip with her Restorative Justice and Trauma class to a penitentiary, where she participated in three days of a Quaker-developed 鈥淎lternatives to Violence Program鈥� with inmates.

In her sophomore year, Enns satisfied 黑料正能量鈥檚 cross-cultural requirement by creating her own semester-long study experience in the African nation of Chad, where her parents were serving with .

For 10 weeks between her junior and senior years, Enns was part of a offered at 黑料正能量 that gives college students a chance to be an intern, mentored by a pastor, in a congregational聽 setting. Her assignment was at .

黑料正能量 offers a variety of other new ways and places for students to pursue their education.

More and more graduate students are taking their courses online, usually studying from their homes. The was the first unit at 黑料正能量 to offer distance learning, and now most of 黑料正能量鈥檚 also offer courses online.

Nurses who are studying for a master鈥檚 degree in nursing leadership and management don鈥檛 have to come to campus very often (or to .).聽 The program is designed for working nurses who need to maintain family commitments and remain on the job. Jeanette Nisly 鈥�96, for example, is and raising two children with her Guatemalan husband.

Sometimes the students are surprised to see that online learning actually offers more interaction with class members and professors than a traditional classroom. A faculty advisor provides ongoing support for students and helps with logistics, technology questions, and other issues. Students also receive support from staff, graduate writing tutors, and library staff.

Other non-traditional learning opportunities at 黑料正能量:

• , which offers a mix of study through the annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute at 黑料正能量 and experiences in the students鈥� home countries. The first group, in 2012, included 12 women from Africa and the South Pacific. They were selected from more than 100 applications. Funds for the program are provided by USAID and the German development organization, EED/Bread for the World.

• . The latest example, announced in February, is a $20,000 grant from the United Service Foundation that will send eight undergraduates to foreign locations (Colombia and Iran in 2013), supervised by an 黑料正能量-linked mentor. The grants are for peacebuilding and development majors, who are required to complete off-campus practicums.

• . Many of the students enrolled in 黑料正能量鈥檚 programs run from Lancaster, Pa., don鈥檛 actually go to classes at the center鈥檚 facility in a business park. Students in the pastoral studies program, for example, attend classes this spring at Lancaster Mennonite Conference offices or sites in Philadelphia, Hatfield, and Morgantown. The three-year program, called , is for new pastors or prospective pastors.

• Taking trauma courses all over the world. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, established a program to help community leaders deal with the trauma of disasters and conflict. Called , the program has trained more than 7,000 people worldwide. The training seminars take place at 黑料正能量, across the United States, and all over the world in places like Lebanon, Haiti, and Mexico.

As garden coordinator for the Primavera Foundation, Stahl-Wert plans and manages community gardens at transitional housing properties in Tucson, Ariz., where she is in the middle of a two-year term with Mennonite Voluntary Service, a Mennonite Mission Network聽program.

Each week, Stahl-Wert, 22, works alongside residents, many of whom were formerly homeless, as they care for gardens and harvest their own fruits and vegetables. Together, they grow peas, potatoes, carrots, corn, melons and squash聽year-round.

Stahl-Wert said the purpose of the project is to increase food security by teaching garden skills, providing fresh, healthy food for the tenants, and engaging people in life-giving collaborative聽work.

Many of the residents at the two main properties where Stahl-Wert works had no prior gardening experience and were initially skeptical the gardens would be聽fruitful.

Much of Stahl-Wert鈥檚 early work focused on teaching people gardening basics and convincing them the project was worth their time. As plants began to sprout, optimism did聽too.

鈥淭hese are people who have lived rough lives, who were very cynical about the gardens in the beginning,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut after a year of continuity, of watching the idea grow, they get very excited when they see the vegetables. It鈥檚 a tangible sort of聽joy.鈥�

At first Stahl-Wert was the only person to tend the community gardens regularly. Now, four women from one of the housing properties routinely work with聽her.

Sometimes the women even prepare meals together. Stahl-Wert will never forget the first time she invited her gardening friends to cook dinner together using their own聽produce.

鈥淭hey claimed to not like vegetables,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut once they tried the dishes, they said they loved every single one. That night they ate ridiculous amounts of聽vegetables.鈥�

Stahl-Wert, who earned a degree in environmental sustainability in 2011 from 黑料正能量 in Harrisonburg, Va., was not sure what she wanted to do after graduation. The Pittsburgh native didn鈥檛 feel her skills were marketable and was not interested in working simply to make聽money.

When she came across the MVS garden coordinator position in Tucson, it seemed like the right fit. For Stahl-Wert, an avid gardener, MVS offered the perfect intersection of her interests in environmental science and social聽justice.

Stahl-Wert also enjoys the simple, communal living she experiences in her MVS unit聽house.

鈥淚 have been happily surprised to find myself in a voluntary service position that has a lot of responsibility and space for my own creativity,鈥� Stahl-Wert said. 鈥淸Primavera was] interested in starting gardening programs but didn鈥檛 have the resources to create a full-time staff position to do聽it.

鈥淲ithout a volunteer like me to get the garden program running, it may have never happened. That鈥檚 a pretty cool role for a recent college grad and first-year MVSer to聽play.鈥�

Courtesy Mennonite Mission Network