Principia students know how to be inspired. The campus itself helps with that. One of the first things most guest speakers who visit the campus say is how beautiful, peaceful, and inspiring it is. And after the 2006 Public Affairs Conference on “Cyber Alert: Confronting the Abuse of Digital Information,” two visiting speakers were overheard trying to figure out how they would possibly fit into the next year’s topic — democratization — so they would be able to return to Principia. They liked it here that much.

When students and graduates talk about what they love about Principia, they use the word “atmosphere.” What do they mean? It seems to have something to do with Christian Science. And it’s not just about reading the Lesson and saying “God is Love.” Students at Principia are active healers and thinkers. If you’re down or not feeling great, your friends are there to help — or let you work things out on your own. If you have questions about Christian Science (or life in general), you’ve got 550 people around you with answers — and that’s just students.

The Christian Science Organization (CSO or “the Org”) helps meet the need by running Sunday church services and Tuesday testimony meetings, including some get-togethers in house living rooms. Other students organize Sunday evening hymn sings in the Chapel. The CSO’s World Outreach Committee is active, too, because Principians don’t like to make their dedication to Christian Science and healing a secret.

Principia College’s whole man character education in the liberal arts setting — with the foundation of Christian Science — gives students space to explore a lot more than academics. There’s not an academic class on character education. The lessons learned come from the entire Principia experience — from intellectual, social, physical, moral, and spiritual pursuits. Over a hundred years ago — before character education was a buzz phrase and everyone was trying to do it — Principia’s founder Mary Kimball Morgan was pioneering in her understanding and application of character education.

“I went to public school and was in public club volleyball, so there weren’t any Christian Scientists,” says freshman Anne Goodrich-Stuart. “My junior year I hurt my ankle, and right when it happened, it swelled up right away really big and was discolored, and it looked really bad. My coach picked me up and took me to the trainer. She put a splint on it and said ‘It’s probably broken,’ and sent me to the doctor.

“It turned out to be worse than broken. They said it was a very severe sprain, torn ligaments, and I had a nine-month recovery . . . and I eventually quit volleyball.

“So when I came here I was still dealing with that, it wasn’t 100 percent. During pre-season it would hurt sometimes and it would hold me back sometimes. I pushed through it and didn’t give it any power, but I was still wearing my ankle brace. And it was during the first game of the Lincoln Christian match that I went down, I landed on someone’s foot going into the net. The same thing happened. It felt the same, and I was like, ‘Not again.’

“Right away I realized the atmosphere I was in was completely different this time. I had players and coaches coming to me right away, telling me the truth. It was so amazing and helpful, because I had never been in that situation before. I got back in my room and people were checking on me and leaving me messages. There was so much support, and I knew that I wasn’t going to have to do it alone, and that helped a lot.

“By Friday, this happened Tuesday, I wasn’t playing, but I could stand and jog around. That was a big step, because before, when I had hurt it my junior year, I couldn’t even stand for a couple of months. That was such a big deal. It really showed me that Christian Science works. I’ve had little healings, but nothing that major before. This just really proved the truth to me, it made everything so clear. I don’t have any problems with my ankle now. I’ve rolled it since then, and it’s been fine. Any time I do that now, I don’t let the fear in. That’s the biggest thing for me, not letting the fear in. And I don’t wear my ankle brace any more. It wasn’t just a healing of that injury that time. It was a previous injury, and that whole belief of an incomplete ankle, and it was just really amazing.”