In the News

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.

Auditory element to become part of campus

The sounds of students across campus will soon not be the only sounds heard coming from Hesston College. The pleasant chiming of bells and music will join the college’s repertoire as campus anticipates the addition of a carillon system to enhance the auditory and spiritual atmosphere on campus and throughout the surrounding community.

The carillon system designed by Schumerich Carillon Co. in Quakertown, Pa., is a digitalized system of regular clock chimes that will be used throughout the day, along with a music selection each day and ending at the close of the evening. The exact campus location is yet to be decided by a small representative campus group.

“The alumni relations department is pleased to be able to add this significant and quality auditory instrument to campus as part of the recent campus transformation, and for the Hesston community’s enjoyment as well,” said Dallas Stutzman, director of Alumni and Church Relations.

The idea for a carillon system has been a topic of discussion since the college’s Centennial celebration in 2009. With the development of the north campus entrance, the college decided it seemed appropriate to give the campus a symbolic auditory element to the visual change of the new north entrance.

Stutzman says the carillon selections will be able to be heard at some distance and a pleasant addition a few times a day for those within reach.

The college’s celebration of the new campus entry at 11 a.m., Friday, Sept. 25, will include the first official chiming of the new alumni carillon bells.

by Emily Kauffman

Golf benefit to honor Larry Martin

Larry Martin’s history with Hesston College spanned 60 years, and the faithful support and love for students he and his wife Donna so generously gave will be honored at the third annual Hesston College Student Scholarship Golf Benefit Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Hesston Golf Park.

Benefit information and registration can be found online. Registrations must be made by Sept. 21.

Proceeds from the benefit, sponsored by Excel Industries, will provide nursing scholarships in honor of the Martins, as well as benefit the Hesston College Student Scholarship Fund, which provides institutional scholarships and grants for 99 percent of full-time students.

Participants will also have the opportunity to win one of two Hustler mowers generously donated by Excel, as well as other prizes from local businesses and supporters. The second Hustler mower will be auctioned off.

Larry Martin first came to Hesston, Kan., from Minot, N.D., to attend Hesston Academy, the college’s high school, from which he graduated in 1956. It was here that he met and married Donna (Bontrager), also a 1956 Academy graduate and member of the Hesston College class of 1958, thus starting an enduring relationship with Hesston College.

The Martins returned to North Dakota, but Hesston College remained an important part of their lives. Their two sons, Kendall and Kirby, both graduated from Hesston, and Larry served as a member of the Alumni Advisory Council and as a member of the Board of Overseers from 1984-92. In 1995, Larry and Donna moved to Hesston and Larry began working for the college as a development officer in 1999 until his retirement in 2013.

Larry was at home working in Development as he loved meeting people and hearing their stories. He was also passionate about the work and mission of Hesston College, and his support extended across campus, including frequenting Lark athletic events.

Larry was diagnosed with glioblastoma – an aggressive brain cancer – in early June 2015, and passed away Aug. 15. While it was hoped Larry’s contributions to the college could be honored in person during the golf benefit, they will instead be remembered graciously and fondly, as well as recognize the ongoing support from Donna and their family.

The entry fee is $500 for a four-person team or $125 for individual golfers and includes a prime rib dinner. Individuals or businesses can also sponsor a hole for between $200 and $500.