In the News

Christian Palestinian pastor to speak on Israel/Palestine conflict in chapel presentation

Hesston College will host Rev. Alex Awad, a evangelical Christian Palestinian leader, on campus for chapel and lunch on Monday, September 5.

During an 11 a.m. chapel, Rev. Awad will speak on “A Christian Palestinian Pastor’s Experiences in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.” Chapel is held in the Hesston Mennonite Church Sanctuary on the Hesston College campus.

Following chapel, students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome to join Rev. Awad for lunch and further discussion in the Bontrager Student Center Dining Hall. Lunch can be purchased at the door.

Rev. Awad is being hosted in Kansas, September 2 to 6, by the Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA) in response to the Israel/Palestine resolution adopted at the MCUSA delegate assembly in Kansas City in July 2015. The resolution is “A statement of support for our Palestinian and Israeli Partners in Peacmaking,” which commits MCUSA to learning and discernment of the Palestinian-Israeli context and how to support peach and justice there.

Awad has a long-standing and close relationship with Mennonites. He served as a headmaster at Hope Mennonite School near Bethlehem, Palestine, in the 1980’s. When Bethlehem Bible College was founded with support from Mennonites, he became a professor and dean of students there.

Photo release - 2016-17 year opens with energy

Hesston College welcomed new and returning students to campus and a new year during Opening Weekend Aug. 19 to 21. Classes started Monday, Aug. 22.

In featured photo above: Freshmen Kendall Richardson (Lodi, Calif.) and Jasmine Pankratz (Abbyville, Kan.) take their first roommate picture shortly after moving into their dorm room Aug. 19.

Photos from opening weekend 2016: (left) Students and parents line up to outside of Bontrager Student Center to check in for a new year with admissions counselors Allie Shoup and Michael Smalley; (center) Bel Canto Singers perform at Friday evening Opening Celebration Aug. 19 as the first campus-wide event for the year. The evening’s speakers, women’s basketball coach Jeff Jacobs and Director of International Admissions Dave Osborne spoke on elements of Hesston College’s Philosophy of Faith Formation; (right) Freshman Nicole Loewen (Hutchinson, Kan.) sprints back to the front of the line in a relay race during Sunday evening Mod Olympics, Aug. 21.

Harvey County organizations learn ALICE

caption - A group of higher education representatives present on their take away points from Harvey County ALICE training on July 26.

Hesston College hosted fifty representatives from Harvey County education, public health, fire, EMS, law enforcement, emergency response fields and large local employers for ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Execute) training on July 25 and 26.

The seminar, conducted by the ALICE Training Institute, a national organization, was a “train the trainer” model, giving participants tools to supplement lockdown procedures and broaden their knowledge base on best practices for violent intruder response. The training was provided through a grant Hesston Chief of Police Doug Schroeder received from the Hesston Community Foundation Response Fund.

“These training sessions give organizations information to conform to state and federal guidelines in the event of an active shooter or other violent intruder situation,” said trainer Justin Pan. “It offers regular people options to be proactive in a response beyond a typical lockdown or shelter in place while they wait on law enforcement to arrive.”

Some methods participants learn include learning how best and quickest to inform other people on the premises of a violent person’s location and other details, how best to assist with providing information to law enforcement, evacuation plans and tactics for distracting and disarming a violent person.

Participants learn how to take what they’ve learned and present it back to others in their organizations and institutions to improve lockdown procedures.

Campus mourns tragic loss of alumna

The Hesston College community is heartbroken over the tragic loss of 2011 alumna Sheralynn Neff (North Newton, Kan.) in a skydiving accident in Oklahoma. Sheralynn was a high-achieving student who was involved with many different areas of campus life. She earned an associate of arts degree in Bible and Ministry with Dean’s List honors, served as a ministry assistant during her second year and participated in both choir and concert band. Music faculty member Ken Rodgers remembers Sheralynn as a genuine and talented person. “Sheralynn was one of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet. She was very bright and fun and had so much talent and potential. I feel such profound sadness for her family and the people who knew her. But I’m thankful for the people she did reach and touch.” The Hesston College community offers prayers and the peace of Christ to Sheralynn’s parents, Dana and Kathleen, and brother Darnell (2007 Hesston graduate).

Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts 2016-17 season to feature artists from around the world

The contemporary jazz dance company Big Muddy Dance Company will open the season, Nov. 11, at Krehbiel Auditorium in Bethel Colleges’ Luyken Fine Arts Center. Founded in 2010, St. Louis’ Big Muddy Dance Company seeks to build a love of dance by providing fun, experimental and highly entertaining performances. Consisting of 11 full-time dancers, the group was named “Best Local Dance Company” as Reader’s Choice in 2013 and Critic’s Choice in 2014 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

HBPA will celebrate the holidays with Cantus, acclaimed by Fanfare as “the premier men’s vocal ensemble in the United States”, Dec. 3, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. One of only two male choruses in the country, Cantus returns to HBPA for the first time since 2003.

The highly-acclaimed Ladysmith Black Mambazo will showcase the sounds of South Africa on Feb. 7, at Bethel College’s Memorial Hall. Introduced to the world through Paul Simon’s classic Graceland album in 1986, South Africa’s favorite male a cappella chorus has sold more than six million records. Mambazo won its fourth Grammy for Best World Music Album in 2013 and earned its 16th nomination in 2015.

Described as the “hottest guitar trio in Canada,” Montreal Guitare Trio will perform March 7, at Bethel College’s Krehbiel Auditorium in the Luyken Fine Arts Center. Glenn Levesque, Marc Morin and Sebastien Dufour are known to charm the ears of listeners with their sense of rejuvenation and humor.

Rounding out the season will be classical music’s most dynamic new chamber group, Sybarite5, on April 20, at Hesston Mennonite Church. A Sarasota (Fla.) Herald Tribune review said the group’s “rock star status is well deserved. Their classically honed technique mixed with grit and all out passionate attack transfixes the audience…” With a repertoire ranging from Mozart to Radiohead, Sybarite5 is the first string quintet to win the Concert Artists Build International Competition.

HBPA season tickets are available from $75 to $85 for adults. Single tickets can also be purchased for individual performances. Discounts are available for students and senior citizens.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 620-327-8158 or go to hesstonbethel.org.

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 (Hesston), the Hesston and North Newton Community Foundations, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Kansas Creative Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and an award from the NEA. Area businesses and patrons provide additional funding for the HBPA series.

Public invited to submit third-party comments for BSN accreditation

Hesston College Nursing will host an onsite accreditation visit by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) Sept. 28 to 30, 2016. The purpose of this visit is to seek initial nursing accreditation of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.

In accordance with its Procedures for Accreditation of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs, CCNE provides the opportunity for program constituents to submit, in writing, third-party comments concerning a program’s qualifications for accreditation status. Third-party comments must relate to the CCNE Standards for Accreditation of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs (2013). Written and signed third-party comments regarding the Hesston College BSN program will be accepted by CCNE through Sept. 7.

Comments are shared only with the CCNE evaluation team appointed to review the Hesston College BSN program. At no time during the review process are these comments shared with the program the Accreditation Review Committee or the Board. During its review of the program, the evaluation team will consider third-party comments, if any, that relate to the accreditation standards.

Those with comments regarding the BSN program at Hesston College may send them to the CCNE at thirdpartycomments@aacn.nche.edu or:

Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
ATTN: Third-party comments
One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530
Washington, DC 20036

Community read celebrates ingenuity and overcoming obstacles

For the fifth year, Hesston College invites individuals and groups in the local communities to join students, faculty and staff for a community read during the fall 2016 semester starting in August.

The book selection for the 2016 read is “Spare Parts” (2014, FSG Originals) by Joshua Davis. The book tells the true story of four undocumented teenagers, born in Mexico but living in Phoenix, who were inspired by their high school science teachers to build an underwater robot out of “spare parts” and compete against corporate-sponsored collegiate teams. The teens prevailed against underfunded public school programming, poverty and other struggles to find success and improve their futures.

Davis will visit the Hesston College campus and speak at Hesston Mennonite Church on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 4. Through a grant from the Hesston Community Foundation, he will also make additional local presentations during the day on Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The 2016 community read is again engaging the wider community as well as Hesston High School, Hesston Middle School, Hesston Public Library (HPL) patrons and a Newton Public Library book club. Individuals are invited to participate through these more public forums or on their own. HPL will have 22 copies of the book available for the public. It will also be uploaded to the eLibrary and an audio book will be available.

The book has also developed into a major motion picture released in 2015, with well-known actors George Lopez and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Explore Kansas! trip to attend Orchestra on the Oregon Trail

Hesston College alumni and friends are invited to take part in the college’s annual Explore Kansas! trip to northeast Kansas, Sunday, Sept. 4. The 2016 chartered bus excursion includes attending Orchestra on the Oregon Trail (OOOT) near Marysville in Marshall County, Kan.

The original plan for this trip was to attend the Orchestra on the Oregon Trail near Marysville in Marshall County, Kan. Due to low ticket sales, that event has been canceled, but Hesston College has put different activities in its place.

The day trip will start with taking part in Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church (St. Benedict, Kan.), an Eight Wonders of Kansas Overall Finalist and Top Eight Art Wonder of Kansas, with a presentation about the church to follow. Hesston College music faculty member Ken Rodgers will play a mini concert on the church’s 1916 Tracker pipe organ. The afternoon will include a stop at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, and culminate with a fried chicken dinner at Brookville Hotel in Abilene.

The cost for the trip is $75 per person. Reservations are encouraged as soon as possible as space is limited, and no later than Friday, Aug. 12. Call Alumni Relations at 620-327-8109 or toll free at 866-437-7866 to register. Tickets can be purchased by sending a check or via phone using credit card. Reservations are first come, first served and no refunds will be given.

Those who registered at a higher rate before the OOOT cancellation will receive a $20 refund.

Exterior and interior photos of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, St. Benedict, Kan.

Call for musicians for homecoming gala concert

Community and alumni musicians are invited to participate with Hesston College and Hesston High School students and alumni in the joint homecoming gala concert, The Promise of Living, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.

Homecoming 2016: Home Sweet Hesston will be Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, and will be a shared celebration of Hesston College, Hesston High School and the greater Hesston community. HHS will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Dual alumni of HHS and Hesston College will serve as presenters and performers throughout the weekend.

The gala concert will feature a wide variety of genres and performance groups highlighting the vast range of musical gifts of HHS and Hesston College students and alumni.

Concert organizers, performing arts faculty member Russell Adrian and Alumni director Dallas Stutzman invite community and alumni choral singers and instrumentalists to perform at the concert as members of the gala chorus and orchestra. Music materials will be provided by the college and sent in advance for individual performance preparation.

The rehearsal and performance schedule for the Gala Concert is as follows:

• Thursday, Sept. 29, 7 to 8 p.m. – Rehearsal for orchestra; 8 to 9 p.m. for choral
• Saturday, Oct. 1, 4 to 6 p.m. – Joint choral/orchestra rehearsal (Out of town alumni unable to make Thursday’s rehearsal can just attend the Saturday rehearsal.)
• Saturday, Oct. 1, 6 to 7:30 p.m. – Complimentary college and community picnic
• Saturday, Oct. 1, 8 p.m. – The Promise of Living Gala Concert

Register as a performer by calling the Hesston College Alumni office at 866-437-7866 or online.

Registration for the complete weekend and more information regarding homecoming can also be found online.