In the News

Spring break a time for continued learning

Hesston College sophomore Olivia Miller (Newton, Kan.) arrived in India for spring break 2014 not knowing what to expect from cultural differences and learning experiences tied to her nursing major. Miller, along with 10 other nursing students and two sponsors, spent the week experiencing first-hand just how different India is from the U.S. in everything from cultural practices and hospitality to stark differences in health care.

Travel for continued learning was a popular option for Hesston College students during spring break, March 8 to 16. Four groups traveled around the globe to experience their majors of study in new locations and cultures and learn beyond typical campus projects and interactions while serving others.

Aside from nursing students in India, another group of nine nursing students traveled to Russia with faculty leader Gregg Schroeder and his wife Cindy. Education instructors Tami Keim and Marissa King led eight students to Puerto Rico, and 14 students spent the week serving with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) in Duluth, Minn., accompanied by Disaster Management Program director Russ Gaeddert and campus pastor Todd Lehman.

Led by Nursing faculty member Jean Rodgers and Hesston Mennonite Church pastor John Murray, the Hesston College India delegation spent spring break in the southern village of Chiluvuru where they observed and assisted doctors at Menno-Clinic, India, a privately-operated affordable medical care option for the region’s population.

The students spent several days at the clinic working in a rotation to participate in different aspects of the operation – taking blood pressures and pulses at the initial check in, observing cataract surgeries and other procedures at the eye clinic and helping doctors in the exam room, lab and pharmacy.

They also toured government-run hospitals where they experienced nursing in a much different way from the holistic care they are taught in Hesston’s program, reminding students why they choose to pursue nursing and to note the practices and behaviors they hope to carry with them as they begin their own careers

“One thing that impacted me and tugged on my beliefs was the lack of patient centered care at the government hospital we visited,” said Miller. “The head doctor himself said that the hospital was a teaching hospital and the priority was not the patients but the students who were learning in that facility. This really clashed with what we focus on in Hesston’s program. Patient-centered care has and will always be at the core of my beliefs and practices as a nurse.”

The Hesston College nursing students who visited Russia participated in a roundtable discussion with midwifery and nursing students at the oldest midwifery school in the world in St. Petersburg and toured the College of Midwifery. The group also traveled to Veliky Novgorod where they participated in a conference on Simulation in Nursing Education at the Medical University, toured the hospital to see how nursing care compares to the U.S., toured Victoria Children’s Rehabilitation Center and School and spent a day in the small village of Utorgosh where they played games with children and taught them English words.

Back in the U.S., the Minnesota group worked on siding, painting and laying floors in three new houses being constructed for those affected by floods in June 2012.

The construction and leadership skills that sophomore Jeffrey Smoker (Harrisonburg, Va.) has learned through classes, service opportunities and a summer field experience assignment with Mennonite Disaster Service following his freshman year, prepared him to serve as a crew leader for his peers during the week.

“As crew leader, I got to know the six people in my crew much better than I had before,” said Smoker. “I enjoyed teaching my crew new skills, such as how to hang siding on a house.”

While Disaster Management students were braving freezing temperatures in Minnesota, education students focused on educational pedagogy in the sun and warmth of Puerto Rico.

The group visited classrooms and observed and conversed with teachers and students at Summit Hills, a preschool to 12th grade private Mennonite academy in San Juan on the northern coast, and at Academia Menonita Betania, a Mennonite school in Aibonito, the central mountain area of the country.

“Our students represented interest and study across the educational spectrum, so our conversations were informed not only by all we had observed but by classes, practicum, tutoring working in public schools and our on-campus preschool lab,” said King.

Parkinson’s Disease fundraiser to feature Hesston College faculty member

“Each Other’s Light,” a Parkinson’s Disease fundraiser reception and show featuring acclaimed baritone Tony Brown and retired master ballet dancer and teacher Alexander Tressor will be at 6:30 p.m., Friday, April 11 at the Reflection Ridge Retirement Community, 2300 Tyler, Wichita, Kan.

Dwight Roth, former Hesston College social science instructor, is organizing the event along with Parkinson’s Association of the Plains in Wichita. Roth was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in January 2013 and since that time has worked to empower others with the disease. Parkinson’s Association of the Plains’ mission is to provide to people with Parkinson’s a support group, updated information about medical research, community resources and possible discoveries related to care.

The fundraiser will feature Brown singing from his wide repertoire of spirituals and inspirational music and a dance performance by Tressor. The event’s theme is taken from one of Brown’s CDs of the same name.

Brown is Hesston College artist in residence and teaches in the social work department. He is also an international promoter of peace through his music and the founder of the Peacing It Together Foundation, an organization that serves the global community as a resource for peace and social justice.

Tressor has danced with several ballet companies around the world, including the New York City Ballet, and on Broadway. He now teaches ballet and does coreography in the U.S., Europe and Russia, and is ballet master at the National Opera Theatres in Zagreb and Split in Croatia and the National Theater in Kosovo. Tressor also has Parkinson’s Disease, and, like Roth, lives by the principle that the disease has had an extremely positive impact on his life.

Tickets for the event are $50 per person. The reception will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the entertainment from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

For questions call 316-558-8869 or email billybass@hotmail.com.

Hesston College to host education professor in Melva Kauffman Lecture Series

Hesston College will host Dr. Kathy Short, professor in the College of Education at the University of Arizona (Tucson), for the Melva Kauffman Lecture Series entitled “Creating a Culture of Inquiry” April 3 to 4 on the Hesston College campus. All events are free and open to the public.

Dr. Short is a professor in the Language, Reading and Culture program and director of Worlds of Words, an initiative focused on encouraging thoughtful dialogue around children’s literature to build bridges across global cultures.

A free seminar entitled “Acting to Make a Difference in the World: Going Beyond Charity to Authentic Action” will be from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday, April 3, in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center on the Hesston College campus. The workshop will focus on ways to encourage authentic, responsible action in children working for change in a global society. Instructional strategies, children’s books and inquiry units will be shared to consider how teachers can invite children to take action to make a difference in their world. A certificate of attendance will be available to all participants and can be used as documentation by certified teachers for MyLearning Plan continuing education credit.

Dr. Short will also present at a campus forum at 11 a.m., Friday, April 4 in the Hesston Mennonite Church Sanctuary and resource a lunch discussion at 11:30 in the Bontrager Student Center Dining Hall Sauder Rooms. Lunch can be paid for at the door.

Melva Kauffman, a 1936 graduate of Hesston Academy and a 1939 graduate of Hesston College, was an English and education instructor at Hesston College from 1944 to 1977. Following her death in October 2003, her family established a lecture series that would continue Kauffman’s lifelong interests in learning and the humanities.

College to take sabbatical from Pastoral Ministries program for discernment process

A review process of the Hesston College Pastoral Ministries program by a specially appointed planning committee has recommended that the college take a one-year sabbatical from the program to assess how the college can best meet the changing leadership needs of Mennonite Church USA and the broader church.

The Hesston College Board of Directors accepted the planning committee’s assessment report, which described the program as unsustainable in its current form and recommended that the college take a one-year respite from recruiting students.

Since 1985, the Pastoral Ministries program has operated as a two-year residential program with a focus centered on adult learners seeking a new career path and for whom seminary was not an option. Low program enrollment over the past several years prompted college administrators and board members to question the existing program’s long-term viability in light of shifting church needs.

“We are trying to determine the best way for Hesston College to contribute to the pastoral and lay leadership needs of Mennonite Church USA,” said Howard Keim, Hesston College president. “As a result of this careful process, we have accepted the need for transformation in our approach to meeting these needs and are moving in a direction that will allow us to shape a program that will serve the church well.”

The sabbatical will allow for a discernment process in which the college can explore changes and leadership needs in the church and position itself to prepare leaders to meet those needs.

The planning committee included people with insight on Mennonite Church USA’s pastoral needs and knowledge of the college’s program. Members include: Dave Boshart, executive conference minister for the Central Plains Conference of Mennonite Church USA; Dee Custar, 1998 program graduate and pastor of Salem Mennonite Church (Waldron, Mich.); Karen Dalke, 2009 program graduate and pastor of Des Moines (Iowa) Mennonite Church; Michele Hershberger, Bible and ministry faculty member; Kenzie Intemann, 2013 program graduate and youth program director at Camp Amigo (Cassopolis, Mich.); Tim Lichti, pastoral ministries program director; Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, Hesston College vice president of Admissions and Financial Aid; Carlos Romero, executive director of Mennonite Education Agency; Howard Wagler, 1992 program graduate and pastor of Journey Mennonite Church (South Hutchinson, Kan.); and Norm Yoder, Hesston College Board of Directors member.

Lichti’s service with the college will conclude at the end of the academic year. He has served as program director since February 2010. The college will staff the program based on discernment of the program’s future scope and direction.

“We are grateful for Tim’s care for the students and the needs of the broader church, as well as his contributions as part of the planning committee,” said Keim.