The Facts

puc

Location: Angwin, California 1&frac;12 hours north of San Francisco

Environment: small college community in scenic Napa Valley, California's second most popular tourist destination (behind Disneyland)

Undergraduate enrollment: 1,646 44 percent male, 56 percent female

Annual cost for tuition, room, board, fees: $24,555 (add approximately $1000 for books)

School year: late September to mid-June

Distance to wakeboarding: 30 minutes

Distance to surfing: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Distance to Lake Tahoe's ski resorts: 3 hours

Call for more information: 1-800-862-7080

E-mail address: enroll@puc.edu

Nearest Taco Bell: 33 miles (but PUC is surrounded by some of the country's finest restaurants, including Taylors Refreshers for amazing burgers and shakes, and Guingni's, featuring "the best sandwiches in the world")

Squirrel population (rough estimate): hundreds of squirrels, but even more deer, cows, and skunks, and a few mountain lions

Famous local event: annual chili cookoff in Grainger Hall (men's dorm)

Distance to the nearest beach: 50 miles (Goat Rock)

Air-polluting industries near PUC: none

In the beautiful Napa Valley of California, nestled among grape vineyards, students find a nurturing college environment.

Gina C. was the first person I ever met from Pacific Union College. I picked her up at the airport in Warsaw, Poland. She walked off the plane, wearing a long, elegant coat (it was 85° F outside) and carrying a violin, a suitcase crammed with fuzzy sweaters, and a Caboodles case full of makeup supplies.

During the next few months as a student missionary she lost most of her lipstick. She slept in train stations, traveled through Yugoslavia during a war, and learned to really like cabbage. She even started playing Polish songs on her violin.

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Pacific Union College

In the beautiful Napa Valley of California, nestled among grape vineyards, students find a nurturing college environment.

Later I met a PUC student named Heidi. Uncontrollable travel nut who had been to about 50 countries. Heidi could get anything she needed using about 12 words of any language. We wandered through Siberia together and ended up riding scruffy wild horses in Mongolia.

And then came a second Gina. Also from PUC. We shared an apartment on a Russian island. At first she seemed quiet, but then she started teaching English classes, giving Bible studies, and preaching sermons. Now she's a pro.

Yeah, I'd say PUC students break a lot of stereotypes. They're slightly crazy. They like to help people. (And according to my experience, a lot of them are named Gina.)

You'll notice something else about the students at this northern California college. They think their school is incredible.

I don't blame them. PUC sits on a gorgeous green mountain high above the Napa Valley. That means you've got the Sierra Nevadas to the east (for a little snowboarding or skiing) and the Pacific Ocean to the west (surfing, anyone?). In between you'll find a web of rugged bike trails, scenic side roads, and wooded jogging paths that will keep you hustling for all four years of your college career.

Also, within an hour and a half of PUC's secluded campus lies one of America's favorite (and busiest) vacation cities--San Francisco. How would you like sampling authentic egg rolls in Chinatown? Cruising the steep streets in a cable car? Cheering for (or against) the 49ers, the Giants, the Sharks, or the Kings? You can find all this in San Francisco and other nearby cities, plus shopping, fine symphony, and even frog jumping (get your tickets early).

But not everyone likes to live on the edge. No problem. Even if you spend most of your life in a PUC dorm room, you can still stare out your window at the 1,800 acres of beautiful forest and fields around the college. And wherever you go on the main campus, you can access the internet through your notebook computer, because PUC was one of the first campuses to go wireless.

By the way, PUC has its own airport and offers a degree in aviation. It's also one of the few Adventist colleges with majors in art history, digital media, administrative services, and international communication.

Maybe you want to be a doctor. Have you heard that PUC is one of the top 10 schools in the U.S. whose male graduates are accepted to medical school? (It's in the top 20 for women graduates.)

Of course, you'll have tons of spare time in college (at least five or six minutes a day, guaranteed). At PUC you can join one of 25 clubs (like the surfing club) or start your own. They even have a Hawaiian club. The arts scene is diverse, including on-campus exhibits from top artists and photographers. And I've heard that PUC's student senate is one of the most active (and argumentative) of all the Adventist colleges.

Your lazy muscles get stretched in flag football, tennis, volleyball, jogging, cycling, gymnastics, or waterskiing. If you're really good, you can try out for varsity basketball, cross-country, volleyball, softball, or soccer. And if mountain biking's your thing, get ready for the Rumpstomper. This annual event, one of northern California's largest mountain bike races, draws 600 top riders to the PUC area.

Other students hit the streets to feed the homeless, hold church services in prisons, and interact with single-parent kids.

It's hard to actually define the overall atmosphere at PUC. One student described the campus as "cosmopolitan." But then I heard that the guys in one dorm have some kind of grunge contest during finals week. No shaving, no showers, that kind of thing.

Most PUC students are probably a lot like you--somewhere between the cosmopolitan and the grunge. You might feel right at home. Why don't you visit and find out?

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