In the News

Submissions being accepted for play writing festival

For the second year in a row, members of the local communities can exercise their creativity and storytelling abilities through play writing with Hesston College Theatre’s “Pen to Paper to Performance” play writing festival.

Submissions for the 10-minute play festival will be accepted through March 16. Eight winning submissions will be notified March 23 and will be produced in the final showcase event April 27 and 28. Playwrights of winning submissions will receive a percentage of the box office earnings.

“Last year was really successful, and we ended up with more submissions than expected for a first-time event,” said Hesston College Theatre Director Rachel Jantzi. “People have already been asking if they can contribute again this year, and we’ve had interest from new writers as well. I want this to be an annual event, so I’m excited that people are interested and wanting to participate. It’s important to offer an outlet to people who want to express themselves and have a voice but don’t want to do it through performance.”

The first “Pen to Paper to Performance” festival in 2017 featured seven plays by six community playwrights and covered a wide range of genres from comedy to drama. Jantzi hopes that the 2018 festival will bring a similar diversity of topics and genres and inspire even more people to try their hand at play writing.

The plays are performed at the final event by Hesston College Theatre students and directed by Jantzi.

Task force wraps up work with recommendations to improve procedures and practices related to sexual misconduct

Hesston College’s Task Force on Sexual Misconduct and Interpersonal Safety wrapped up its work in October 2017, leaving the college with six major areas of recommendations to improve procedures and systems related to sexual misconduct at Hesston College.

The recommendations include:

• implementing modules to raise awareness of sexual misconduct and options for victims
• establishing a transparent reporting and investigating procedure for incidents of sexual misconduct
• developing a system in the institution including policy development and the hiring and assigning of personnel to manage issues of sexual misconduct
• creating a system which supports victims of sexual misconduct
• creating a system which holds offenders of sexual misconduct accountable for their action
• forming a system of institutional accountability which prioritizes transparency and proactively mitigates future incidents of sexual misconduct

Hesston College’s administrative council affirmed moving forward with the recommendations starting immediately.

In an email sent to Hesston College faculty and staff on Nov. 3, President Joe Manickam wrote, “Our plan is that all major areas of recommendation will see implementation begin before August 2018 with the majority of the recommendations being completed by December 2018.”

Each of the recommendations was accompanied by detailed ideas for implementation. President Manickam, Director of Human Resources Monica Miller and the four vice presidents who comprise the administrative council are leading the charge to evaluate and choose the best implementation processes for each major area of recommendation.

Hesston College’s Task Force was assembled in October 2016 and began its work of reviewing, researching and analyzing issues of sexual misconduct related to the college in December 2016. The group was independent of Hesston College board and administrative control or oversight. Over the 10 months, members conducted surveys, interviews and delved into the college’s policies and history to form their report and recommendations for improvement.

Class learning focuses on community outreach and connections

One of two things can happen when you present eager and energetic elementary-aged kids to be led by college freshmen and sophomores for 20 minutes – chaos or connection. The latter was the case for Hesston College’s Recreation Leadership students during the fall semester as they provided the game programming during WOW (Whitestone on Wednesdays) at Whitestone Mennonite Church (Hesston).

The arrangement between the course and the church follows Hesston College’s promise to give students hands-on experiences in their first two years of college, and professor Clay Stauffer says the arrangement accomplished just that.

“Having our class work with the kids at Whitestone was a really good thing as it gave the students experience interacting with people they didn’t know very well,” Satuffer said. “It’s one thing when you’re leading your classmates in an activity, but to do that for strangers – energetic kids no less – really gives our students good practical experience for their future careers.”

The Recreation Leadership class is an experiential-based learning course through event coordination in real life settings. Aside from planning and leading games weekly at WOW, the class also organized and hosted the college’s annual two-mile run/walk, The Manickam Mosey, which drew about 225 participants during Homecoming and Inauguration Weekend in September.

Whitestone’s WOW program gives children in kindergarten through fifth grade a place to worship and learn more about their faith with their peers through Bible study, activities and a meal. A description on the church’s website says, “It is a time meant for building relationships and learning about God’s love and the teachings of Jesus.”

“The WOW children thoroughly enjoy interacting with college students,” said Kara Swartzendruber, Whitestone Family and Children coordinator. “One strength of the WOW program is intergenerational relationships, and having Hesston College students involved in leading games enhances that connection between generations.”

As an integration class, the Recreation Leadership course draws students from a wide range of majors, including sports management, exercise science, physical education, education, pre-physical therapy, business and still deciding.

“Students bring what they’ve learned in other classes and are able to apply it to real world situations and experiences,” said Stauffer. “We talk a lot about servant leadership in event leadership, so opportunities like this allow students to see what that really means in practice.”

Each week at WOW, a Hesston College student would plan and lead the children in three games with the help of two of their classmates. The children were divided into groups based on their ages, giving the college students a chance to work with different age groups and developmental levels and learn skills like conflict management and teamwork.

“Leading games at WOW will definitely help me in my future career,” said freshman Cassidy King (Cochranville, Pa.), who is studying special education and physical education. “WOW gave me experience teaching kids, learning how to speak to the different age groups and adapting to children who learn in different ways. I had so much fun getting to spend time with the kids and watching them laugh and play together.”

“Learning how to communicate the rules of the games in the best manner was a challenge,” said sophomore pre-physical therapy major Preston Judd (Hayden, Ala.). “Once everyone understood what was supposed to happen, it was rewarding to watch them learn and create new strategies as the game went along.”

Stauffer and Swartzendruber would agree that an important take away for both the college students and the children was the connections.

“In this class, servant leadership includes community outreach,” said Stauffer. “The students really enjoyed the connections they made.”

Conference to take proactive approach on confronting injustice

What can one person do to stand against “the troubles of this world?” The challenges are monumental: economic injustice, gender inequity, race relations, water and land conflicts. What difference can I make? The 2018 Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series (AVDS) will explore these questions and their answers with the theme “Before the Unthinkable Happens: Confronting our role in injustice.” The conference will take place on the Hesston College campus Feb. 23 to 25 of 2018.

The AVDS Series offers a hands-on process where issues of oppression are addressed and begin to be dismantled. Specific leadership strategies will be applied to race relations, gender inequity and economic injustice.

“Throughout history, changes have most often been made by small groups of people who share a singular focus on an issue they are passionate about changing,” said planning committee member and Hesston College staff member Carlota Ponds. “No one person conquers an issue alone, and no one can successfully address all issues. Yet, each of us can become an effective agent for change on the issue we care deeply about.”

A continuation of last year’s event, “When the Unthinkable Happens,” that looked at responding with resiliency when communities are in the middle of trauma-related events, AVDS 2018 will provide a space for sharing passions and learning about strategies for fighting injustice with others in your congregation and in your community.

The Kansas Leadership Center will help in developing skills to clarify purpose, begin outcome plans and impact our future. Dr. Drew G.I. Hart, from Messiah College and an additional conference partner, will strengthen our biblical theology of justice in order to become faithful disciples and ethical believers.

Save the date now and watch for more information to come through the Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series website and brochure. Online registration will open early January 2018.

Masterworks concert “Light Eternal” brings comfort to holiday season

Hesston College Music and Theater will present the annual masterworks performance at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 9, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. The program, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna (Light Eternal), will acknowledge the light that Christ brings to our world.

The Hesston College community and wider community has experienced several losses in recent years, including the deaths of Hesston College employees and close family members and the shooting at Excel Industries. Yet, the Advent season, reminds us that Christ entered a world of darkness and brings us comfort and peace.

“When audience members arrive they will have the opportunity to write the name of a loved one on a glass holiday ornament that will be used during the performance to decorate a Christmas tree,” said Hesston College music faculty member Russell Adrian.

Adrian will conduct the chorus made up of three Hesston College choirs and community participants. In a collaboration with Hesston College Theater, the five movement work will be interjected with theatre pieces and holiday music that allows performers and audience members to remember the lives of loved ones as we celebrate the Light that comforts us during the Christmas season. Finally, the work closes by confessing that Christ is the savior of the world and asking for perpetual light.

Hesston College Theater Director, Rachel Jantzi, has pulled scenes from 15 different works and woven them together in a powerful narrative that brings the meaning of the Lux Aeterna to life. Theater students will participate in interpreting these scenes.

“The music and theater pieces are incredible,” Adrian said. “There will be opportunities for the audience to sing Christmas carols with the choir and orchestra.”

Tickets for the concert are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free of charge for Hesston College students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Hesston College Bookstore in person or by calling 620-327-8104.

Smithsonian traveling exhibition exploring water’s environmental and cultural impact coming to Hesston

From above, Earth appears as a water planet with more than 71 percent of its surface covered with this vital resource for life. Water impacts climate, agriculture, transportation, industry and more. It inspires art and music.

The Hesston Public Library (300 N. Main, Hesston, Kan.), in cooperation with Kansas Humanities Council will examine water as an environmental necessity and an important cultural element as it hosts “Water/Ways,” a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program. “Water/Ways” will be on view Nov. 18 to December 31.

“Water/Ways” tours six Kansas communities in 2017-18. Other host communities include: Eudora Area Historical Society; Thomas County Historical Society, Colby; Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City; Geary County Historical Society, Junction City; and Symphony in the Flint Hills, Cottonwood Falls.

“Through a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program, the Kansas Humanities Council is able to bring the resources of the nation’s premier cultural institution to museums, historical societies, and public libraries in Kansas’ small towns and rural communities,” said Julie Mulvihill, executive director of the Kansas Humanities Council. “Our six ‘Water/Ways’ hosts were selected because of their innovative plans to use the Smithsonian exhibition as a springboard to explore local stories of how water has shaped their own communities and the impact water will have on their future.”

The Hesston community has been studying about the water crisis during the fall of 2017 through a community read of Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis by Cynthia Barnett, led by Hesston College and the Hesston Public Library. Barnett spoke on the Hesston College campus and at other locations throughout the community on Nov. 2.

The Kansas Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization that supports community-based cultural programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities. For more information, visit www.kansashumanities.org.

For more information about “Water/Ways” in Hesston, contact the Hesston Public Library at 620-327-4666 or hesstonpubliclibrary@gmail.com or visit www.hesstonpubliclibrary.com.

Article used with permission from the Hesston Public Library.

HBPA to present Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet

Bringing a spirit of innovation to the world of brass repertoire, the Mirari Brass Quintet will perform Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet as part of the Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts season lineup at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1, on the Hesston College campus in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary.

Now in its seventh season, the Mirari Brass Quintet is made up of Alex Noppe and Matthew Vangjel on trumpets, Jessie Thoman on horn, Sarah Paradis on trombone, and Stephanie Frye on tuba.

The music of the quintet spans many centuries and genres. Christmas with Mirari Brass Quintet will feature Christmas-centric music with several traditional carols.

The Mirari Brass Quintet has added nearly two dozen works to the brass quintet repertoire since 2009, with group members also contributing a number of arrangements and original compositions. Mirari Brass has performed extensively across the United States.

Thanks to a grant from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, in addition to the public concert, the quintet will also offer educational outreach with area elementary school students and college students.

Reserved seating and general admission tickets for Mirari Brass Quintet are available online or by calling 620-327-8105. Single tickets are for sale in the Hesston College Bookstore and at Bethel College’s Thresher Shop in Schultz Student Center during regular business hours. Reserved seating is $27 (adults and senior citizens), and general admission seating ranges from $18-$23 with discounts for students and senior citizens.

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series is a collaborative effort of Hesston College and Bethel College, presenting five performances by world-renowned or regionally acclaimed artists each year. HBPA is funded in part by the cities of Hesston and North Newton, Excel Industries and Hustler Turf Equipment, the National Endowment for the Arts and area patrons.

Voice students break into semi-finals at competition

Hesston College voice students competed among the best collegiate vocalists in a four-state region at the annual National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) West Central Region Vocal Competition Nov. 4 to 5, at the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, Colo.). Nine students represented Hesston College during the weekend competition with three advancing to the semifinal round.

Students from colleges and universities of all sizes in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming compete against one another in the same class level and gender.

The Hesston students who advance to the semifinals in their divisions were Risa Fukaya (Zushi, Japan) in Freshman Women Classical, Kenton Schroeder (Harper, Kan.) in Freshman Men Classical and Therin Smith (Key West, Fla.) in Freshman Men Classical.

The students all study voice with Hesston College voice professor Holly Swartzendruber.

Annual talent show an entertainment option for families

Hesston College invites alumni, friends, parents and the Hesston community to the college’s annual Talent Show at 8 p.m., Saturday, November 18, at Hesston Mennonite Church. The show is free and open to the public.

The show will feature an eclectic mix of skits and songs performed by students, faculty and staff and is appropriate for families.

“The Talent Show is a long-running Hesston College tradition,” said Brent Brockmueller, resident director and staff sponsor for the mostly student-run event. The Bills and Normas, a group of eight sophomores, help plan and run the show and perform several skits during the hour-long show.

“Auditions are happening this week. We will see if Ken Rodgers will again offer a Julia Child cooking lesson as he has the last several years. That’s always a highlight,” Brockmueller added.

Arrive early for cookies and refreshments in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center from 7:15 to 7:45.

The show will also be available by live webcast.