In the News

Photo release - A sister school partnership

Hesston College and Bluffton (Ohio) University perform at "A Celebration of Gospel: Music and Worship in the African-American Tradition" at Hesston College.

A combined choir of Hesston College’s Bel Canto Singers and Chorale and Bluffton (Ohio) University’s Gospel Choir perform under the direction of Bluffton’s Dr. Crystal Sellers Battle during “A Celebration of Gospel: Music and Worship in the African-American Tradition” Oct. 27 on the Hesston College campus. The high-energy evening performance featured each individual choir as well as the combined mass choir with guest composer, arranger and gospel historian Rev. Dr. Raymond Wise (Columbus, Ohio). The Bluffton choir used the trip as a way to connect and collaborate with Hesston College, its Mennonite Church USA sister institution. The mass choir also performed in Hesston’s Monday morning chapel service and Bluffton campus pastor Stephen “Tig” Intagliata shared a short message.

Hesston College students support school for former child soldiers

When Hesston College student leaders discovered a need for fundraising for a Ugandan school for former child soldiers, they rose to the challenge.

Fueled by a passion for service for others, they are recruiting more students, faculty and staff to showcase their talents for the cause.

The Hesston College Peace and Service Club, led by co-chairs sophomores Josh Landis (Sterling, Ill.) and Kendrik Mast (Harrisonburg, Va.), will host a talent showcase featuring Hesston College students, faculty and staff at 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 3 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. A free-will donation will be collected during the event with proceeds benefitting the Anthony Brown Baritone Comprehensive School in Pader, Uganda in East Africa.

The Anthony Brown Baritone Comprehensive School is named in honor of Hesston College sociology instructor, artist in residence and internationally acclaimed baritone and promoter of peace Anthony “Tony” Brown. The school, run by the Ugandan organization Friends of Orphans, provides a free education for formerly abducted child soldiers, orphans and other vulnerable children in the war-torn country.

Uganda has been devastated by more than 20 years of civil war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the government. The LRA has abducted an estimated 40,000 children to fight, making up 90 percent of LRA soldiers.

For those fortunate enough to escape from the LRA, reintroduction into society is not always easy. The Anthony Brown School has an agricultural component, and local production is part of its income and sustainability plan. Students receive a typical education while also learning agricultural trades that eventually help them secure jobs and support themselves. The school is in need of $2,000 to ensure it can maintain high quality education.

The school operates modestly, but is committed to helping as many troubled youth as possible. The fundraising project is the kind of thing students in the Peace and Service Club are committed to doing. They plan one peace-related activity and one service-related activity each month.

“We wanted to help with this project because it is something practical we can do as college students,” said Landis. “It is a need that we can help satisfy while helping to improve other people’s lives.”

Acts in the talent showcase will include vocal selections by Tony Brown, poetry by President Howard Keim, choral pieces by the Bel Canto Singers and a student magic act among others.

Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts season offers eclectic lineup

The 2013-14 Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts season will again feature five varied and exciting musical performances from around the world at Hesston College and Bethel College (North Newton, Kan.) venues.

“This year’s HBPA season features something for everyone,” said HBPA director Matt Schloneger. “We’re especially excited to be presenting the Soweto Gospel Choir for the first time since 2006 and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the world’s premiere guitar ensemble, for the first time. We’re also happy to be making use of Krehbiel Auditorium in Bethel College’s newly renovated Fine Arts Center for two of our concerts this season.”

The season kicks off with JazzReach featuring Metta Quintet, a dynamic, nationally recognized New York-based ensemble of some of today’s brightest emerging jazz artists at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, at Bethel College’s Krehbiel Auditorium. JazzReach is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation and teaching of jazz music. Metta Quintet is the organization’s resident ensemble featuring some of the organization’s most esteemed, creative artists.

The Wichita (Kan.) Chamber Chorale, the region’s premiere choral ensemble, will present its annual Christmas program at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5, at Hesston College. The chorale, now in its 36th season and under the direction of Dr. Mark Bartel of Friends University (Wichita, Kan.), is a professionally trained adult vocal ensemble which explores a wide repertoire of musical styles. The chorale will be joined by the Wichita Brass Quintet and will feature Hesston Mennonite Church’s Andover tracker pipe organ.

Acclaimed Broadway singing actress and Bethel College alumna, Rachel de Benedet will perform Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Tell Me on a Sunday” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 31, in Bethel’s Krehbiel Auditorium. The musical is a one-woman telling of an English woman’s journey to “make it” in America through disillusionment, betrayal and personal victory.

The world-renowned and Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will perform at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27, at Hesston Mennonite Church. The group is made up of four uniquely accomplished musicians who perform concerts with a repertoire ranging from bluegrass to Bach.

The season’s final performance will feature the two-time Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 28, at Bethel College’s Memorial Hall. The choir celebrates the unique and inspirational power of African Gospel music with a repertoire ranging from the traditional African gospel to Bob Dylan. They have performed on television and for world leaders and entertainers. The Soweto Gospel Choir performance will also be the kick-off event for the month-long “Spring Into the Arts” festival in Harvey County.

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

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 620-327-8158 (Hesston College) or 316-284-5205 (Bethel College), email hbpa@hesston.edu or visit the HBPA website

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts Series, now in its 32nd year, 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, the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, Excel Industries and Hustler Turf Equipment (Hesston), the Hesston Community Foundation and area patrons.

Hesston College to host disaster and trauma response professional

Hesston College will host trauma educator and pastor Ruth Yoder Wenger on campus Oct. 29 to 30. The public is invited to hear stories of her work with several national disaster organizations during a 7 p.m. presentation Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center and during an 11 a.m. Hesston College chapel service Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the Hesston Mennonite Church Sanctuary.

Wenger will be joined by Paul Unruh (Hesston, Kan.), a community worker with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), for the Tuesday evening program entitled “Bridging Gaps: Stories of Peace and Hope in a Troubled World.” Hesston Mennonite Church pastor John Murray will serve as moderator.

Wednesday morning’s chapel service will focus on “Finding God in the Midst of Trauma.” Consideration will be given to traumatic incidents that befall students, including anxiety, depression and conflicts with friends.

Wenger (New York, N.Y.) is the director of training for the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN) where she facilitates disaster chaplain and spiritual care worker trainings. She is co-author of the Interfaith Disaster Chaplain training curriculum.

She also serves as executive vice president of New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS), where she represents MDS on the board of directors and represents NYDIS among its partner organizations. She is a training coordinator for Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) NYC where she trains leaders in the effects of trauma on individuals and communities and the steps towards healing.

Wenger was MDS’s Restoring Hope Project Manager in New York City following 9/11. Prior to the September 11 attacks, she directed community based education programs in the Northwest Bronx. She is also pastor of North Bronx Mennonite Church and moderator of the New York City Council of Mennonite Churches.

“We are pleased to host Ruth Yoder Wenger on campus,” said Russ Gaeddert, director of the Hesston College Disaster Management Program. “Her experience with disasters and working with the people who go through them is beneficial information for students, pastors, disaster response volunteers and leaders of churches or organizations.”

Area singers to join for celebration of gospel music

Hesston College will host a choral festival, “A Celebration of Gospel: Music and Worship in the African-American Tradition” at 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 27 at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. The concert is free and open to the public.

Led by the Bluffton (Ohio) University Gospel Choir, under the direction of Dr. Crystal Sellers Battle, the concert will feature Bluffton and Hesston’s choirs – the Bel Canto Singers and Chorale – as well as local church choirs. A mass choir comprised of all the choirs and local independent vocalists will also perform three songs composed by Dr. Raymond Wise (Columbus, Ohio), a composer, arranger and gospel historian who will be in attendance.

Along with enjoying the sounds of gospel music, concert attendees will have an opportunity to learn about gospel music’s rich history and connection to other styles of music and worship.

Photos from Homecoming 2013

Gloria Solis, a 1980 Hesston College graduate and chief nursing officer and chief operating officer at Saint Luke's East Hospital in Lee's Summit, Mo., gives the keynote presentation, “The Future of Nursing: It’s in our Hands,” as the kickoff to Hesston College's Homecoming symposium Sept. 27.

Left - Harold Winsinger of Hesston, Kan., won the Big Dog mower given by Excel Industries at the first Hesston College Student Scholarship Golf Tournament sponsored by Excel. Winsinger returned the mower and it was put up for auction and purchased by Norm Yoder of Henderson, Neb. Pictured from left are Bob Mullet, vice president of Excel; Paul Mullet, president and CEO of Excel; Yoder and Winsinger. The new event hosted 68 golfers and proceeds benefited the Jim Boyts Scholarship. Right - Bethany Miller (Hesston, Kan.) and Megan Miller (Wichita, Kan.) talk with Amanda Yoder (Goshen, Ind.), a fellow Hesston College Class of 2008 alumna during class reunions Sept. 28.

Children enjoy a barrel train ride around campus at the Friday night Family Festival. Alumni, faculty, staff, students and local families came out for the event that included children’s activities, a barbecue picnic and Larks athletic events.

Journalist encourages Hesston College and community to embrace differences

Remaining comfortable does not allow for change or growth. That’s the wisdom author and former New York Times journalist Warren St. John shared with Hesston College students, faculty, staff and community members during a presentation of his experiences researching his book “Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference” (Spiegel & Grau, 2009) Sept. 19.

“Outcasts United” recounts the journey of refugees settling into and adapting to American life in the small southern town of Clarkston, Ga., through the experiences of a refugee boys’ soccer team. The story illustrates the challenges and rewards that come with creating community in an atmosphere where people do not seem to have much in common – a situation that St. John reminded the audience is common not only in refugee resettlement, but for many life experiences, including college as students enter a new place with people from different backgrounds, cultures and life.

“I genuinely feel this story has something to say for many aspects of life,” said St. John. “What was happening in the Clarkston community was so complicated and the lessons so complex, I wanted the reader to be able to come to their own realizations and draw their own conclusions for practical life application.”

Spearheaded by Hesston College’s First Year Experience, St. John’s book is being used as the college’s campus-wide common read for the 2013-14 year with the theme Extending Home: Stories of Migration and Transformation.

Migration – or rather refugees being flung into a new place and completely foreign society for political, religious or safety reasons – is the means by which St. John was able to illustrate what much of the United States will likely face as refugee resettlement continues in earnest and the country’s demographics continue to shift.

“Refugee resettlement was moving at such a fast pace in Clarkston, it was like seeing the United States in fast forward and glimpsing the problems and solutions much of the country will see in 10 or 20 years,” said St. John.

Representatives from area refugee resettlement agencies Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry (EWARM) and the Wichita branch of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) were also present to offer more information about how the refugee experience is impacting south central Kansas.

Since the IRC arrived in Wichita in 2011, they have helped resettle about 200 refugees and hope to assist 160 more in the next year.

“A lot of communities are scared when they hear about people migrating and settling among them,” said Sain Lengeju, a volunteer with IRC who migrated from Kenya and is working toward her masters in social work at Wichita State University. “St. John’s book and the way Hesston College is using it is important because it shows people that refugees are human beings.”

A man who simply goes by Okita arrived in Wichita from the Democratic Republic of the Congo four months ago and says he was surprised at how welcoming the community was.

“It is challenging coming to a new home, but many people have welcomed me and helped me become independent, and that is encouraging,” he said.

Transformation, St. John said, is what happens when people reach out and embrace change, differences and stepping outside their comfort zone, and it is the key to thriving despite change.

“Being comfortable is not the best strategy for getting the most out of an experience,” St. John said. “The lesson I learned is that if you embrace change and power through the awkward moments, you will be rewarded.”

Transformation is also a message Hesston College’s First Year Experience coordinators hope students will discover as they work with and research the Extending Home theme this year.

“It is events like this that help students reflect on their own migration to a new community,” said Hesston faculty member and FYE co-coordinator Karen Sheriff Levan. “I hope they will find connections and gain empathy from others’ stories of migration and transformation.”

Fall enrollment reflects strong national and international recruitment model

Hesston College reports official fall 2013 enrollment numbers of 449 students from 32 states and 17 countries. New students number 219.

A wide variety of cultures, countries, backgrounds and experiences are well represented at Hesston College with 64 new and returning international students, making up 14 percent of the total enrollment. The percentage of Kansas students and those from out of state are almost equal with 44 percent of the total student population from Kansas and 42 percent from other U.S. states.

“Hesston College has a long tradition of attracting students from across the country and around the world, which ultimately enriches the experience for each student,” said Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, vice president of Admissions.

There are 327 students living in the dorms, or about 73 percent of the total student population, a number that has held consistent for the last several years. Of on-campus students, 57 percent are from states outside of Kansas, 24 percent are from Kansas and 19 percent are international.

Bel Canto Singers to tour west central Florida

The Hesston College Bel Canto Singers will present the program “Dwelling in Thresholds” in west central Florida, under the direction of Bradley Kauffman, during a Fall Break tour Oct. 12 to 14.

The “Dwelling in Thresholds” program is inspired by the college’s campus-wide focus on refugee resettlement during the 2013-14 year led by the common-read book “Outcasts United” by Warren St. John.

“We are exploring the ways the music itself is a threshold for contemplation,” said Kauffman. “The concert will include an examination of the musical scale and how composers harness specific notes within the scale in order to elicit different types of impact. Our repertoire encompasses six languages, sacred and secular idioms and renaissance to twenty-first century, all in an exploration of how God calls people to dwell together.”

The full Bel Canto tour includes:

• October 11, noon – University of Tampa
• October 11, 7 p.m. – Bahia Vista Mennonite Church, 4041 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota, Florida
• October 13, 9 a.m. – Bay Shore Mennonite Church, 3809 Chapel Dr., Sarasota
• October 13, 10:30 a.m. – Covenant Mennonite Fellowship, 3205 Southgate Cir., Sarasota
• October 14, 10:45 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. – Sarasota Christian School, 5415 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota
• October 14, 7 p.m. – Iglesia Menonita Arca de Salvacion, 3645 Michigan Ave, Fort Myers

All performances are free and open to the public, though a free-will offering will be collected to defer expenses.

Members of Bel Canto Singers are selected by competitive audition during the preceding academic year. The roster for 2013-14 has 22 students from nine states and two countries.

Members of Bel Canto are Rachelle Adrian, Mountain Lake, Minn.; Laura Baker, Protection, Kan.; Mary Bender, Harrisonburg, Va.; Spencer Berning, Newton, Kan.; Josh Booth, Goessel, Kan.; Davis Cook, Goessel, Kan.; Rebecca Eichelberger, Geneva, Neb.; Rachelle Haarer, Goshen, Ind.; Galed Krisjayanta, Surakarta, Indonesia; Havela Lehman, Canby, Ore.; Matt Lind, Harrisonburg, Va.; Jay Marsten, Murpheysboro, Ill.; Morgan Martin, New Holland, Pa.; Karli Mast, Hubbard, Ore.; Holly Peters, Hesston, Kan.; Cameron Ponce, Elkhart, Ind.; Nathanael Ressler, Mount Vernon, Ill.; Rebecca Rhodes, Arthur, Ill.; Jason Schroeder, Harper, Kan.; Jeffrey Smoker, Harrisonburg, Va.; Emily Taylor, Inman, Kan.; and Taylor Zehr, Archbold, Ohio.