There is a local, small, used-to-be Baptist private college called Wingate University or "The Gate" by its students nearby. It's twenty-five minutes without traffic and green lights on a good day. Today, Howard and I took Steve to watch a swim meet there and tour the school as yet another possibility for him (we had a great tour guide btw, a Wingate alumnus). They have an amazing swim team and a quaint but good-sized campus. I think this may be in his top three of nearby, smaller student body with a swim team schools ranking up there with Grove City College and Gardner-Webb U. We have one LAST college to visit this fall, Lenoir-Rhyne, about an hour and a half away. And then, he will have to take these four schools, pray hard about swimming recruitment and scholarships and see where the Lord directs. Personally, his dad and I are pulling for Grove City (so he could be with his sister) OR Wingate (so he could be near home). But, of course, it is all in God's hands and Stephen's preference and which college offers him the best deal when the time comes. Thankfully, he has another year to pray and think about this next step as he enters his gap year of intense swim training and mostly full-time work.
