In the News

Hershberger awarded KICA Faculty of Distinction

The Kansas Independent College Association (KICA) proudly announced the selection of seventeen college faculty members to receive the association’s Faculty of Distinction award. Michele Hershberger, Hesston College Bible and ministry faculty member, was named Hesston’s recipient of the award. The honorees will be recognized at a workshop and award reception in Newton, Kan., on Nov. 3.

The KICA Faculty of Distinction program celebrates excellence and achievement among faculty at the 18 accredited private colleges and universities in Kansas. Honorees are nominated by the President and/or Chief Academic Officer of each KICA member institution.

Hershberger has been chair of Hesston College’s Bible and Ministry Department since 2000. In addition to teaching, she is the author or co-author of three faith resource books as well as curricula and articles for periodicals and academic journals. She has also been a frequent speaker and playwright for Mennonite Church USA youth conventions. During her tenure at Hesston, Hershberger took time to serve as adjunct instructor in youth ministry at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) (Elkhart, Ind.) in 2003, and taught Bible and youth ministry classes at LCC International University (Klaipeda, Lithuania) in 2009-10.

Before coming to Hesston, Hershberger served as youth pastor at Zion Mennonite Church (Hubbard, Ore.), conference youth minister for the Pacific Northwest Conference of the Mennonite Church, head of the Bible Department at Western Mennonite School (Salem, Ore.) and project associate for The Giving Project for Mennonite Church USA.

She holds an associate degree from Hesston College, a bachelor’s degree from Goshen (Ind.) College and a master of arts degree in theological studies from AMBS.

2009 Hesston College Nursing graduate named KHA Healthcare Worker of the Year

Hesston College 2009 Nursing Graduate Lisa Harrelson, RN, a critical care nurse at Wesley Medical Center, was recently named a Kansas Hospital Association’s (KHA) Healthcare Worker of the Year. The Health Care Worker of the Year Award recognizes and honors the excellence of health care workers statewide.

Annually, each participating KHA member hospital nominates one employee who has made significant contributions to the betterment of their hospital by routinely going above and beyond the call of duty.

Due to her nomination for the award by Wesley Medical Center, Harrelson attended the KHA Convention held September 10-11, 2015, and while there learned of her selection as one of two Kansas Hospital Association’s Healthcare Worker of the Year Awards, receiving a trophy and a cash award of $500.

The award is well-deserved recognition for Harrelson who persevered to pursue higher education, overcoming the challenges of an undiagnosed learning disability. When she was applying for college, she suffered rejection after rejection from college after college but kept praying that God would show her the way forward, which he did with an introduction to students and alums from Hesston College.

“I was working at Wesley Medical Center and had the opportunity to work with Hesston students in clinical, and there are also some Hesston grads who work there. I asked everyone what they thought of the school they went to, and Hesston was the only school that everyone I asked said how awesome their education was. I kept hearing about the teachers and how supportive they were. Many people said, ‘Lisa, you would love Hesston because they will go the extra mile to help students learn.’ “

In addition to the KHA award for her award-winning, compassionate nursing, Harrelson was lauded in 2014 for on-the-job creativity with the founding of her unit’s “Because We Care” cart, which helps comfort patients and their families going through difficult times.

More of Lisa’s story from Hesston College Today

My True Potential

by Lisa Harrelson as told to Carol Duerksen

Everybody who graduated from the Hesston College Nursing Program in 2009 has a story, but Lisa Harrelson…Lisa has a story that must be told. Lisa has a story that testifies to the courage of a young woman with a learning disability, the mystery of God’s perfect timing, and the willingness of a nursing program to go the second and third mile with a student.

This story is told in Lisa’s own words.

God placed the desire in my heart to be a nurse at a really young age, but I didn’t know how I could ever be a nurse, given the obstacles I had to overcome just to get into a school. I only had a 7th grade education, and this was a deep wound in my life. My parents took me out of school because I struggled so much. I was seen as not paying attention, or lazy. I failed first grade because I had great difficulty reading and writing. No one had an idea why I was struggling. I thought I was mentally challenged, and I remember telling my mother that over and over. No one knew I had a learning disability.

When I was 18, I got my GED. I remember the day I went to go get my mail and pulled the envelope out and it said “pass.” I slumped down at the mail box and wept. I decided that day I would never share my painful education hole with anyone. I was going to try and get to college to be a nurse. I took some general education courses through colleges in Wichita. I inquired into three different nursing programs and was turned down. I didn’t have an SAT or an ACT test score. My learning disability was a problem. My 7th grade education was a problem. I had no algebra, no chemistry, no biology, no computer. I was missing four years of high school and these schools didn’t want to take that gamble on me.

I kept praying about this, because I knew God was calling and I just knew if he called, he would open up the right doors. I was working at Wesley Medical Center and had the opportunity to work with Hesston students in clinical, and there are also some Hesston grads who work there. I asked everyone what they thought of the school they went to, and Hesston was the only school that everyone I asked said how awesome their education was. I kept hearing about the teachers and how supportive they were. Many people said, “Lisa, you would love Hesston because they will go the extra mile to help students learn.”

I needed to hear that. At Hesston, I would be more than a number—my teachers would know my name and things about me that would help me overcome my education obstacles. I worried about finances and how much Hesston would cost. People told me there are many grants and things that Hesston offers, and kept encouraging me to check it out. Hesston is 45-50 minutes from where I live, and that was a long way. But God kept opening doors.

I will never forget my first campus visit to Hesston. Everyone, as they walked by, said hi. I felt like I was at home the minute I set foot on the campus. There’s a man who keeps the grounds—I don’t know his name—but every time I would see him he would smile or wave. The students are full of life and no matter how old you are, you fit in. I could go on and on about every area of the campus and the people who work in those areas and the differences they made in my life.

And the teachers…I can’t say enough about the teachers. You can do anything with the right support around you. There are many gifted teachers in this world, but there are few who will pick you up when you feel you can’t go on. This is not a job for them—it’s a true ministry. I can’t tell you how much healing I have received in this program. They helped me realize my true potential, not the messages I had told myself my whole life.

The day I graduated from Hesston was amazing, but I still had to pass boards to really be a nurse. As I sat down to test, I knew that no matter what happened I was going to keep coming back until I made it! Mid way through the test I could feel a little panic set in and I cried out to God, “Please help me now—I need wisdom!”

It’s kind of complicated to explain how the test is set up, but I can tell you that when I was done, I knew that I’d either done extremely well or really badly because I answered the minimum number of questions a candidate can answer – 75. I feared the worst. I told my family that there is nothing within me that thinks I passed. I waited a day and a half, and when I got the results, I cried the hardest I ever have cried. I didn’t believe it and I kept having my husband check the spelling of my name on the licensure information. I was in disbelief until the next day when it came in writing: Lisa Harrelson has passed. I am now an R.N. I am still in shock. It feels like a dream.

I have already been working for a week in the medical intensive care unit at Wesley. I am finding my past is no longer holding me back. I am free! I will always thank God, and I will always thank Hesston College.

Lisa Harrelson prays that God will put people in her path to whom she can minister. Apparently, God honors those prayers.

Gary Voth, Hesston, Kansas, was in his third week at Wesley Hospital in Wichita due to a pulmonary embolism (blood clot near the lungs). One medication that was supposed to help had left him in excruciating pain for sixteen hours, with damaged nerves, and unable to walk. The doctors recommended Gary begin another medication, the blood thinner Coumadin. That night, worried and uncertain about the future, neither Gary nor his wife Gladys could sleep in the hospital room.

Around 2 a.m., Lisa Harrelson entered the room. It was a busy night and they were short-staffed, but Lisa was determined that her patients wouldn’t know that. As a nurse assistant, she took Gary’s vitals, and as she did, she could see fear on the faces of the couple in the darkened room. She began to talk with the Voths about Gary’s medical situation.

“I shared about my husband having a similar medical scare several years ago,” Lisa recalled. “I talked about the fear I experienced with my husband having to be on medication for life and living with the fear that he may get another blood clot. Then, after awhile, I was afraid that maybe I shared too much. I really want to focus on my patients and not what I have gone through, but in that moment I just wanted to offer them some kind of hope.”

And she did.

“Lisa’s calm reassurance of God’s nearness and guidance, plus the practical ups and downs of living with Coumadin, were the right prescription of nursing care,” Gladys said, her voice breaking. “God’s timing was perfect. Even a year later, we still recall her confidence and reassurance that any medication has its uncertainness, but God is constant.”

Lisa and the Voths credit God with her placement in Gary’s room that night. At the time, she was working in a “floating pool.” Each night, when she arrived at work, she would go wherever the need was the greatest. She worked in 16 different departments. That night, she was where she needed to be.

Just as she was this past Easter Sunday morning. Near the end of the service, one of the band members, John Jayne, noticed what seemed to be the sound of someone snoring nearby, then Mary Shook asking her husband if he was okay. Buddy Shook’s head had dropped down and he was having difficulty breathing. A paramedic from the congregation was at his side quickly, and soon other medical professionals from the congregation came to pick him up and lay him on the floor.

“I wasn’t fearful as I jumped up from my seat to help,” Lisa recalled. I was thinking that someone had passed out because we had 900 people there and it was a little hot. As soon as I got to Buddy, it was clear that he had lost his blood pressure. His face was gray. We scooped him up and I started CPR. I recall the incredible feeling of hearing hundreds of people all around us praying for Buddy.

“I think about so many times at Hesston College I was told ‘you are the equipment.’ The teachers wanted us to know that we were not to rely only on monitors and machines but on God and ourselves as well. ‘Treat the patient, not the machines,’ they would say. That day I had no machines—I just had God and my training. I could have done everything possible and Buddy’s outcome could have been different. Buddy didn’t die—he came back to life. Now, every Sunday Buddy comes up to me and hugs me and thanks me. If I never have another opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, that Sunday was worth all the blood, sweat and tears of school.

“I have heard so many stories of how that Sunday changed so many in that audience. People made new commitments to God. One young lady made a decision to become a paramedic—she said that God had been calling her to do if for a long time and she was ready to answer the call. It changed all of us. Buddy had some sore ribs and that is taking some time to heal, but he tells me it’s a beautiful reminder of resurrection Sunday!”

John remembers a story Lisa told him a few years ago, when her husband was laid off from work and Lisa wanted to go to nursing school but didn’t have the money. “Someone in our church walked up to her and handed her a check for the exact amount she needed for her class, and told her that God said to give this money to Lisa! And a few years later, there we were, watching Lisa jump into action, being able to save Buddy’s life with the training she received because of the generosity and obedience of another. Wow! I am totally in awe of our Lord!”

Jazz and silent films to open performing arts series year

The jazz ensemble Hot Club of San Francisco opens the 2015–16 season of Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts Oct. 24 at Bethel College.

Cinema Vivant, celebrating the imagination and innovation of early filmmakers Ladislaw Starewicz and Charley Bowers, starts at 7:30 p.m., in Krehbiel Auditorium in Luyken Fine Arts Center on the Bethel campus.

In the Hot Club tradition of Django Reinhardt, Cinema Vivant features vintage silent films accompanied by live gypsy swing.

Imagine yourself in the French countryside in the 1930s, where a gypsy caravan sets up camp in a field outside town, luring the locals for an evening’s fun. The wanderers travel with a film projector that they point at the side of a barn.

As the images flicker to life beneath the stars, gypsy musicians play their guitars and fiddles, matching every movement on the screen with characteristic virtuosity, passion and humor.

Before World War I, European filmmaker Ladislaw Starewicz pioneered stop-action animation, creating a never-before-seen movie experience. A gifted storyteller who used the new medium of animation to illuminate his fantastic imaginings of the secret lives of ordinary objects, Starewicz has become an obscure cult hero.

On the other side of the Atlantic, American Charley Bowers revolutionized the industry in the 1920s by combining animation with live action.

Cinema Vivant features There It Is (1928), a recently rediscovered film by Bowers. This whimsical comedy is about a mysterious occurrence investigated by Scotland Yard.

There are also two Starewicz films in Cinema Vivant – The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912), a charming piece about the marital troubles of beetles, and The Mascot (1933), an adventure story about lost toys.

Hot Club of San Francisco celebrates the music of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli’s pioneering Quintette du Hot Club de France. HCSF borrows violin, bass and guitar instrumentation from the original Hot Club while breathing new life into the music, with innovative arrangements of classic tunes and original compositions from lead guitarist Paul Mehling.

Featuring the violin of two-time Grammy® Award-winning Evan Price, the vocals of Isabelle Fontaine and a swinging rhythm section, the group never fails to surprise and delight.

To hear the ensemble live, or any of their 13 albums, is to be carried back to the 1930s and the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris and the refined lounge of the Hotel Ritz. Often called gypsy jazz, the music of Hot Club of San Francisco has entranced audiences around the globe for more than 20 years.

Acoustic Guitar has hailed the group’s playing as intricate, scorching and often brilliant. HCSF frequently tours nationally and internationally — from Iceland to Lincoln Center to the Monterey Jazz Festival.

In addition to presenting Cinema Vivant, HCSF will do a two-day residency at Bethel, thanks to support from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Three of the events are free and open to the public:

• Oct.24, 3 to 4:30p.m. “Jazz Music: How to Listen”, a lecture and demonstration for kids, including interaction and short selections; part of BCAPA’s annual Hauntfest activities; Bethel College Academy of Performing Arts, 400 S. Main St. in Newton
• Oct.25, 2 to 3p.m. Gypsy swing workshop for intermediate to advanced guitarists Krehbiel Auditorium stage, Luyken Fine Arts Center
• Oct.25, 4 to 5p.m. Gypsy Swing 101, lecture and demonstration Krehbiel Auditorium, Luyken Fine Arts Center

Members of Hot Club of San Francisco will also work with the Bethel College Honors Orchestra Oct. 25.

HBPA season tickets are available from $75 to $85 for adults. Single tickets can also be purchased for individual performances at either Hesston College or Bethel College. Discounts are available for non-Bethel or -Hesston students and senior citizens (Bethel and Hesston students receive free tickets).

For more information or to purchase season tickets, call 620-327-8158 or go to the HBPA website.

The next HBPA program will help usher in the holiday spirit with Cherish the Ladies, a long-running, Grammy®-nominated, Irish-American group. Celtic Christmas is Dec. 3 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus.

Minguet Quartet, with guest pianist Andreas Klein,will be at Hesston Mennonite Church Feb. 1, 2016. The string and piano ensemble will feature composers like Bach, Mendelssohn and more.

The internationally famous, Grammy® Award-winning men’s a cappella chorus Chanticleer returns to HBPA series after five years Feb. 23 at Bethel College’s Memorial Hall.

Rounding out the season will be London-based The Swingles, April 3 at Hesston Mennonite Church. The vocal ensemble, whose members have changed over the years, pushes the boundaries of vocal music, with innovation that has resulted in five Grammy® wins.

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 Hesston and North Newton Community Foundations, Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding for HBPA is provided by area businesses and patrons.

Photo release - Bestselling author speaks to packed house

About 700 people gathered at Hesston College Oct. 5, completely filling the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary, to hear New York Times bestselling author Regina Calcaterra share her story of child neglect, interaction with the foster care system and how small acts of caring make a difference to a child in need. Led by the college’s First-year Experience course, Calcaterra’s memoir Etched in Sand has served as the community read for the college and greater community during the fall 2015 semester. Along with the college community and many interested individuals, groups participating in the community read included book clubs from Hesston Public Library, Newton Public Library and the Moundridge High School senior English class.

Historic Hesston home inspiration for author’s book

Hesston College ESL instructor and fiction author André Swartley (Newton, Kan.) presents to the campus community about writing in an Oct. 2 pre-release celebration of his fourth book, The Wretched Afterlife of Odetta Koop, set to be released Oct. 31. Swartley, along with his wife, Kate, owns the independent publishing company Workplay Publishing, which has published eight books, including three of his own. Swartley, a Hesston native, noted that his first three books were travel stories, but The Wretched Afterlife of Odetta Koop is a personally inspired story of home as he “grew up with a persistent terror of my house.” Swartley grew up in the historic home known as The Elms that was once owned by Hesston College and served as a dormitory.

Fall 2015 enrollment shows increase in number of returning students and higher academic achievement

A greater percentage of students returned to Hesston College in the fall of 2015 for more of the Hesston Experience as compared to returning students a year prior. Hesston College’s official fall 2015 enrollment numbers show higher than anticipated fall to fall retention by about 10 percent in nearly all primary areas.

Hesston students also continue to perform better academically as the average GPA for new students is 3.30 compared to 3.19 for new students in 2014, and the average ACT increased 1.1 points.

“We believe that the strong retention numbers are indicative of the high-quality experiences that our students are having at Hesston College,” said Rob Ramseyer, vice president of Student Development.

Total enrollment for the year is 409 students from 31 states and 13 countries. Kansas students make up 46 percent of the total student population while 43 percent of students come from other U.S. states and 11 percent are international.

There are 295 students living in the dorms, or about 72 percent of the total student population.

Bestselling author to visit Hesston College with messages of care and kindness

Hesston College will welcome New York Times bestselling author Regina Calcaterra to campus Oct. 5 to discuss her book, which has served as the fall 2015 community read, as well as her advocacy work with foster care. The presentation will be at 7:30 p.m., in the Hesston Mennonite Church Sanctuary on the Hesston College campus. A follow-up question and answer session will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Hesston Public Library.

The Oct. 5 presentation will be streamed live online through the Hesston College webpage, and will remain up for viewing past the presentation date as well.

Calcaterra’s book, Etched in Sand, (2013, William Morrow Paperbacks) has served Hesston College and the community as the fall 2015 community read. The book is the author’s memoir tracing her and her four siblings’ childhood experiences with abandonment, physical abuse and a fear of the foster system that was put in place to protect them. Small acts of caring laced in among the children’s pain makes their fearful existence survivable and acts as a stepping stone for each of them to boost his or her way out of the precarious cycle to become well-adjusted and successful adults.

Calcaterra is an attorney serving as deputy general counsel to the New York State Insurance Fund for the State of New York. She formerly served as the executive director of the Utility Storm Preparedness and Response Commission and the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption for the New York State Moreland Commission. She has also served as Chief Deputy County Executive in Suffolk County and as a frequent political commentator for major media outlets.

Bel Canto Singers and Goessel High School to join for concert in historic Kansas landmark

The historic Basilica of St. Fidelis Church, better known as “The Cathedral on the Plains,” will come alive with ringing voices when the Hesston College Bel Canto Singers and the Goessel High School Elbiata Singers present a collaborative concert at 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 25. The concert is free and open to the public, though a free-will offering will be collected to cover program costs and for the ongoing work of the church.

St. Fidelis is located in Victoria, Kan., 15 minutes east of Hays.

Hesston College is offering transportation for audience members to travel to hear the young, local talent in the Kansas landmark. Reservations must be made by Oct. 14, by calling the Alumni and Church Relations Officer at 620-327-8109 or 866-437-7866.

Hesston College and Goessel High School are located only about 15 minutes apart and both are well known for their outstanding performing arts program and long traditions of vocal excellence. This collaboration is the second time the premier choirs from the respective institutions have joined together to sing at the cathedral – the first being in January 2013. Since that time, both choirs have come under new leadership – Mr. Andrew Voth has been conducting Elbiata since the fall of 2013 and Dr. Russell Adrian took the reins of Bel Canto Singers in August 2015.

Photo release - Exploring missional engagement

Marvin Lorenzana of Mennonite Mission Network talks to students in Michele Hershberger’s Exploring Ministry class Sept. 10, at Hesston College. The students will each lead two other students on campus in a triad – an accountability group, which is part of MMN’s Missional Discipleship Initiative and Leadership Mentoring program. Lorenzana explained that the program’s mission is to nurture a culture around intentional disciple-making. For Hershberger’s students, leading the triad is hands-on experience in ministerial leadership.