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The year was 1916. The Boston Red Sox captured the World Series. Charlie Chaplin signed with Mutual Studios to earn an unprecedented $10,000 per week. And spouses Earl and Mabel (Irwin) Burgess earned degrees from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.

Thirty-five years later (1951), a new house cost $9,000. Television continued to grow with popular programs like “I Love Lucy.” And Earl’s daughter, Muriel Burgess Nelson, like her older brother, Roger, became a Morningside College graduate.

Fast forward to 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade. “The Godfather” won an Academy Award for Best Picture. And Steve Nelson, Muriel’s eldest son, was the first of four Nelson siblings to graduate from college at Morningside.

By 2011, world population exceeded 6.9 billion. An earthquake in Japan triggered a deadly 23-foot tsunami. Atlantis launched for the final flight of the space shuttle program. And Kara Nelson Nitz, Earl’s great-granddaughter, became a Morningside alumna.

Interviews with several members of the Burgess/Nelson/Nitz family proved that attending a United Methodist-related college today is not your dad’s ... or your grandmother’s ... or your great-grandparents’ experience. At the same time, the attributes these alumni and others cite are among the reasons students today continue to choose United Methodist-related colleges:

• Excellence in academics
• Intentional faith development that is decidedly United Methodist
• Commitment to community and service
• Close relationships among students, faculty and staff
• Encouragement to pursue one’s passion as well as prepare for an occupation
• Scholarships and loans to enhance affordability

Muriel Burgess Nelson

When Methodist preacher’s kid Muriel Burgess headed to Morningside from Algona, Iowa, in 1947, her brother, Roger, was already a student there. Deciding on the Methodist school was easy. “My parents had both gone there, and I just liked the place,” she recalls. She received a clergy family scholarship.

At Morningside, she lived in Dimmitt Hall and roomed with the winner of the first “Sioux City Sue” pageant. 

“I was always athletic,” she says. “I played in the band. I played field hockey, which sounds crazy. I liked basketball.”

As on many church-related campuses of the era, chapel was required. “Every Wednesday morning,” Muriel says, “we had to attend church services.” 

Majoring in physical education, Muriel “got married 10 days after graduation.” She and her husband, David E. Nelson, raised four children. The couple owned and operated Hughes-Nelson Funeral Home in Storm Lake, Iowa, before retiring in 1990 and moving to Spirit Lake. David died in 2012.

Today, Muriel is an active member of Spirit Lake United Methodist Church, who remembers Morningside fondly. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996 and served on the board of directors from 1991 to 1993. Since her husband died, it has been harder for her to get to the campus. 

But Muriel still loves Morningside football. The games are streamed, so she rarely misses them. 

Would she recommend Morningside College? “Definitely,” Muriel says. “You’re a person, not a number. It’s a very good school. It’s a nice-sized school. The president, John Reynders, is so good. I think he could name every student.” 

Steve Burgess Nelson

All four of Muriel’s children also went to Morningside. Steve, the oldest, enrolled in 1970.

“I didn’t have an idea of what I really wanted to do when I grew up,” says Steve, now of Overland Park, Kansas. 

“Morningside offered a lot of options to try without needing to commit to a single course of study,” he says. He ended up majoring in biology and German. 

“Dr. Harold Rundell from the biology department was instrumental in helping me become who I am today,” Steve says. “I appreciated his lessons outside the classroom that taught the importance of faith and stewardship in everyday life.” 

Steve worked part time as a respiratory therapist to earn spending money. “Decades later,” he says, “I am an associate executive director for the American Association for Respiratory Care, so it must have been a good starting point. The computer classes got me to divert into computer security for a decade or so, which also helps with my position as chief information officer.” 

The Vietnam War affected college campuses, large and small. When Steve was a high school senior, four students at Kent State University in Ohio died after National Guard troops opened fire on protesters. “Tension was palpable in Sioux City,” Steve says. “I remember exchange students from Africa wondering about troops storming into the dorms, as they had experienced in their home countries. 

“It was comforting to realize that the Morningside environment was very unlikely to burst into flames. Open discussions were held with respect for all sides. The mandatory convocations introduced us to very divergent views. As I look back at those lectures, I realize that even though they weren’t ‘religious,’ they were key to building my beliefs.”

Steve’s favorite memory of Morningside College? “Graduating and knowing I was ready to try anything I wanted,” he says. “Without the ability to try out all the different areas of interest at Morningside, I have no idea where I would be now, but I doubt I would have had the breadth of experiences I did.

“I would wholeheartedly recommend Morningside. The education from a liberal arts college helped me sample a broad spectrum of knowledge. I had the time to find where my passion was and, ultimately, got the specific education that I needed in graduate school.”

Steve’s siblings followed him to Morningside – Nancy (Class of ‘76), Jon (‘78) and James “Jim” (‘80). Jim met his future wife, Susan “Sue” Iler (‘81), there. Today they live in Cherokee, Iowa. Sue teaches fifth-grade reading and language arts, and credits Morningside for preparing her well.

“I was interested in becoming a teacher,” she says. “I visited several colleges and felt Morningside was a good fit for me. My actual experience far outweighed my expectations.”

Jim and Sue have two adult children, Matt Nelson and Kara Nelson Nitz. Kara continued the Morningside College family tradition.

Kara Marie Nelson Nitz

Like her grandparents and Uncle Steve, Kara is into sports. Morningside Coach David Nash recruited Kara, of Cherokee, Iowa, to run cross-country and track.

“When I visited Morningside,” she says, “I felt it was a great community and everyone there seemed to be genuine, which was what really caught my attention. 

The whole admissions team knew my name. ... It felt like a second home.” 

She says Coach Nash was like another parent to her.

“I can remember many times I went to him when I was stressed about classes or didn’t know what to do when I was sick and he was always there to lead me in the right direction,” Kara says. 

“Coach Nash’s priorities were faith and family.” That extended beyond teammates and coaches to siblings, parents and grandparents. “The team as a family was the most important aspect of my college career.”

She attended some campus ministry events such as Bible studies and other get-togethers. “I loved them all!” Kara says.

Kara majored in counseling psychology at Morningside and then got a master’s in school counseling. “My major directly helps my career as a school counselor,” she asserts. “I am also a supervisor of a gym and do personal training and instruct fitness classes. I use my background in counseling psychology on a daily basis, whether it be with my students at school helping them with personal issues or picking a college, or my clients at the gym while they go through lifestyle changes to improve their overall health. Both places allow me to be an influence on others’ lives.”

During her Morningside years, she admits, “I did not appreciate all the resources I had and the knowledgeable people I was surrounded with, but now, I look back and feel so blessed to have everyone in my life who helped me through college.” 

While Kara graduated just four years ago, she already sees amazing changes on campus – especially the renovations to Dimmitt Hall, where both she and her grandmother lived as students.

“I can’t imagine how it’s going to change when I am my parents’ age or my grandparents’ age,” she says.

Barbara Dunlap-Berg, associate editor of Interpreter, grew up Lutheran in Sioux City, Iowa, and majored in journalism at a nearby Lutheran university. A United Methodist since 1980, she is a member of Hillcrest UMC, Nashville, Tennessee.

Why attend a United Methodist-related College:

College is the most formative time in your life in terms of figuring out who you are, what you believe, and what you feel called to do in the world. Find a college that welcomes your faith – and your questions – but doesn’t try to dictate exactly what you should believe. United Methodist-related colleges do just that. 

Melanie Overton, assistant general secretary for schools, colleges and universities, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry

United Methodist-related colleges absolutely get “IT,” the unmistakable connection between the spirit, mind and body and the direct link it has to the enlightened mind. 

When students decide to attend a church-related college or university, they expect to be:

• servant leaders,
• socially aware and involved in justice issues and changing the world,
• grounded in biblical principles,
• have intentional attention paid to the quality of their spiritual journey.

Cynthia A. Bond Hopson, assistant general secretary, The Black College Fund and ethnic concerns, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry 

Read more about “Why Choose a UM School” at www.gbhem.org/education/scu/why-choose-um-school

United Methodist Schools, Colleges, Universities, Seminaries

Morningside College in Iowa and Southwestern College in Kansas are among the 119 United Methodist-related schools, colleges and universities in the United States. Liberal arts institutions for the most part, they include 13 seminaries and 11 historically black colleges – including one stand-alone medical school – and a high school serving students along the United States-Mexico border. Enrollment ranges from several hundred students at undergraduate institutions known for their academic excellence to the more than 30,000 enrolled at several internationally known research universities. For quick look at United Methodist-related colleges from Alaska and Washington state to Florida and Maine to California, visit www.gbhem.org/findaschool.