Arriving in mailboxes this week, the summer 2015 issue of College of Charleston Magazine celebrates the people – students, faculty, alumni and staff – that make up the College of Charleston community. It celebrates our achievements, our determination, our character and our vision. The headlines you’ll find in the College of Charleston Magazine represent who we really are, always have been and always will be.

CofC Magazine

Ashley Arnold ’08 finds her stride on the cover of the summer 2015 issue of College of Charleston Magazine.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come.

Fear of Flying

Ashley Arnold ’08 was a record-breaking runner for the College and a Southern Conference freshman runner of the year who then abruptly gave it all up. Her entire life has been a combination of starts and stops. She is now competing in ultramarathons – and, in 2013, she won one of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the world: the Leadville Trail 100 Run, a 100-mile run known as “The Race Across the Sky.” Today, she works for a film and production company and is trying to make yet another comeback.

All in a Day’s Work

It’s not just the faculty, students and alumni that make the College special. There is an army of staff members working behind the scenes to make the campus safe, functional and beautiful. This piece highlights a few of the people who make this place run behind the scenes: building the graduation stage on the Cistern (Physical Plant), providing power to campus (Central Energy), patrolling campus for safety (Public Safety), making sure our technology works (IT) and keeping our campus beautiful (Grounds).

In Enemy Hands

This history piece explores the lives and experiences of various people connected to the College who spent time as prisoners of war. Looking first at some of our founders who were captured by the British and served their time either at home or at a fortress in St. Augustine, the piece then moves on to a former CofC president (Shepherd) who was captured at Gettysburg and was held in prisons in Maryland and Ohio. From there, we get a firsthand account from an alumnus who was captured in the WWII Battle of the Bulge and learn about his escape, his return to the prison and his liberation at the hands of the Russians. And, finally, we have accounts of an alumnus on the USS Pueblo whom the North Koreans captured during the Vietnam conflict.

The Jonesy

Sarah Jones ’09 was killed last year on the set of Midnight Rider just outside of Savannah, Ga. Her death grabbed national headlines, galvanized production crews across the country and revealed unnecessary safety risks in the film industry. In addition to film crews all over the world naming the first shot of the day “the Jonesy” to memorialize her, there have been several changes in the film industry’s set safety standards as a result of Jones’ death. This story looks at Sarah’s life and how her death has changed the industry.

These featured articles are just the beginning. Through a variety of alumni profiles, photo essays, student highlights and first-person essays, this issue of College of Charleston Magazine celebrates our institution, our campus, our graduates, our history and our faculty, students and alumni.