Fall Semester 'Two Cents' Event features Dr. Blander and Dr. Brand as Panelists

From left to right: Dr. Joshua Blander, Deborah Goncalves, Dr. Steele Brand | Photo by Kaitlyn Tejero

The King’s Student Council hosted this semester's second ‘Two Cents’ event on Tuesday, Nov. 17 on campus featuring Dr. Steele Brand and Dr. Joshua Blander as panelists. 

Led by Deborah Gonçalves, Director of Student Events, the event provided students with an opportunity to get to know their professors in a more casual setting. Questions were sent in ahead of time from students and ranged from practical advice to funny personal experiences. 

Students who have ever had Blander as a professor may have wondered who “Flerp” is, (Blander’s name on Schoology). 

“It’s just a string of letters I typed into Schoology when I found out that we could put our names in there and change them. I have left it there ever since and I enjoy having people every semester ask me who Flerp is,” he said. 

One of Brand’s stories involved pranking people with goats, while Blander recalled the time he once covered a frat house in toilet paper. Both stories incited a great reaction from the audience. 

Gonçalves asked Brand if he were to have dinner with anyone who it would be. The audience was not surprised to hear him choose King Alfred, but he said another contender would be Quintus Fabius Maximus. 

“I would love to be able to meet those guys and just to listen to them,” Brand said. 

Blander, on the other hand, said he would choose John Dun Scotus, a famous philosopher. 

“He died relatively young and it would be wonderful just to sit and talk and ask him questions about the ideas he never got to fully develop,” Blander said.

Brand offered his advice to seniors saying that the most important thing to do after graduation is to connect with a church, calling this action important for developing crucial habits and rituals. 

Near the end of the event, the audience was invited to ask some last-minute questions of their own. 

Lydia Marlin, Director of Spiritual Life, asked the professors what struggles they have encountered while teaching during the pandemic.

“We all think about 2020 and how crazy this all is, it can make us lose sight of what we need to pay attention to which is that there is this incredibly deep world that we inhabit,” Blander said. “We need to understand our places in it and understand how to further God’s work.”

According to Gonçalves, the next ‘Two Cents’ event will take place on February 9, 2021.