In the News

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.

Art gallery features founder of traveling roadside attraction

Kansas artist Erika Nelson of Lucas is the featured artist in the Hesston College Regier Friesen Gallery with her show “Stories from the Road” Sept. 16 to Oct. 18.

“Stories from the Road” is a multimedia presentation of Nelson’s travels across the country, including a sketchbook project entitled “Travel with Me,” framed snapshots from a decade on the road and the popular Route 6 attraction Wigwam Village at Holbrook, Ariz., and a sideshow extravaganza banner for “The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.”

Nelson is the founder and curator of the traveling roadside attraction and museum The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. She is a consultant to cities wanting to create their own roadside attractions to increase tourism, marketing and economic development. Nelson’s art has been exhibited and is part of collections nationwide. She is also a national researcher, speaker and educator on grassroots arts environments, roadside attractions and the World’s Largest Things.

A reception and chance for the public to meet the artist and hear about her work will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 18 in the gallery.

The gallery, located in the Friesen Center for the Visual Arts on the Hesston College campus, is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Hesston College theatre to present popular courtroom drama

The Hesston College Theatre Department will present five performances of the fall drama “Twelve Angry Jurors,” directed by Laura Kraybill, Oct. 3 to 6 in the Northlawn Studio Theatre on the Hesston College campus.

“Twelve Angry Jurors,” by Reginald Rose and adapted by Sherman Sergel, tells the story of a jury considering the fate of a young man accused of murdering his father. Opening just as the jurors move to deliberation, eleven of the jurors agree on a guilty verdict, with only one not guilty.

Many of the jurors have reasons for discriminating against the defendant, including his race, background and one juror’s own troubled relationship with his son. Throughout the play, the lone juror with a verdict of not guilty sows reasonable doubt in the minds of the other jurors, illustrating the controversial and difficult elements of the judicial system and how personalities, backgrounds and life experiences drive a person’s views.

The drama is based on Roses’ 1954 teleplay “Twelve Angry Men” that aired on CBS. The play adaption, with a title change to “Twelve Angry Jurors” to allow for a gender-diverse cast, premiered on Broadway in 2004, winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2005.

“This play is one of the most beautifully constructed play scripts I’ve encountered,” said Kraybill. “The writing and plot are tight and pack a punch. It’s a mid-twentieth-century classic, and we need to be exposed to the classics since they exhibit well-rendered traits of the time in which they were written and inform our social norms today.”

Despite the nearly 60 years separating the play’s setting and Hesston’s prodution, its message speaks to issues relevant today, Kraybill said.

The Hesston College production, featuring a cast of 12 students, challenges audience members on their own biases by making them feel part of the jury panel.

“The audience can expect to feel like they are part of the jury on the case, simply because of the seating arrangement,” said Kraybill. “Audience members will be seated on almost all sides of the stage and seats will be raised slightly higher than normal, giving the feeling of looking over the shoulders of the jurors in front of them. The entrance to the theatre will be through the jury door onstage, furthering the sense of the audience entering into the story.”

Show times are at 7 p.m. Oct. 3, 7 p.m., Oct. 4, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct 5 and 3 p.m. Oct. 6. The play has a run time of two hours including an intermission, and is rated PG for mature themes.

Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children 5 or older. Tickets can be purchased through the Hesston College Bookstore in person, by phone at 620-327-8105 or online at books.hesston.edu. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended. Tickets will also be available at the door 45 minutes prior to show time and are subject to availability.

Acclaimed journalist to present at Hesston College

Warren St. John, journalist, former New York Times reporter and author of Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference, will present on his research of the refugee experience and resettlement at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 19, at Hesston Mennonite Church. The event is free and open to the public.

“We are thrilled to welcome Warren St. John to our campus,” said Hesston College First-Year Experience co-director Marissa King. “Author visits are a wonderful way for students to connect the content of the text to the process and research that authors like St. John do every day.”

Outcasts United (Spiegel & Grau, 2009) illustrates the challenges and rewards of creating community in an atmosphere where people do not seem to have much in common through the true story of a refugee boys’ soccer team in a small Georgia town. The book has been published in seven countries and has been a common read at more than 40 colleges and universities as well as in city-wide programs.

Spearheaded by Hesston College’s First-Year Experience, the book is being used as the college’s common read for the 2013-14 academic year with the theme Extending Home: Stories of Migration and Transformation. It will guide classroom discussions and campus-wide events focused on how communities and individuals respond to displacement and resettlement.

“Extending home changes everyone,” said FYE co-director Karen Sheriff LeVan. “The concept of extending home harkens a relationship between long-time residents and new members that is inclusive and transformative, with mutual reciprocity intended. Yet as ‘Outcasts United’ depicts, such mutuality is rarely comfortable and is consistently challenging. It does not come quickly or easily.”

Aside from the New York Times, St. John has also written for The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Wired and Slate and is the author of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania (Broadway Books, 2004).

A reception and book signing will follow St. John’s presentation in the Hesston Mennonite Church Community Center with refreshment provided by The Lincoln Perk and Salted Creamery. Reception attendees will receive book signing order numbers upon arrival. Books will also be for sale at the reception.

Representatives from local refugee associations, Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry (EWARM) and the Wichita branch of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), will host information booths during the reception.

According to EWARM, international aid agencies estimate between 12 and 15 million refugees in the world today. Most are forced to flee from conflict or persecution in their home countries.

EWARM, which started in 2012, partners with faith-based and civic organizations and individuals to assist in refugee resettlement in the Wichita area. To date the organization has worked exclusively with Burmese refugees, a group which has been given a high priority for resettlement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees due to the large number – nearly 150,000 living in nine refugee camps, many for two decades – along the border between Burma and Thailand. In 2012, EWARM resettled 22 Burmese refugees, with hopes of resettling 35 to 40 in 2013.

The IRC, a national agency founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, provides food, shelter, and legal rights in early stages of resettlement for refugees from 40 countries. The Wichita location is one of 22 regional offices and assists about 150 refugees to Kansas every year.

Photo release - A week of service

Misaki Murakami ’15 (Osaka, Japan) fishes with Schowalter Villa resident Allen Bitikofer Ac38 at Lake Vista as part of Service Week.

Hesston College held a service week Sept. 3 to 7, giving students the opportunity to serve in various ways on campus and in the local community. Projects included spending time with elderly residents at neighboring Schowalter Villa and the Hesston Area Senior Center, painting and cleaning at the Harvey County Homeless Shelter in Newton, serving meals at the Lord’s Diner in Wichita and packaging books for the Ethiopia Reads project.

Nursing alumni to be featured at A Hesston College Homecoming

Hesston College will host Homecoming 2013: A View From Everywhere with an emphasis on nursing and holistic health Sept. 26 to 29.

All alumni and friends are invited to the weekend celebration. Registration for all weekend activities is $10 per adult until Sept. 2, and $15 per adult starting Sept. 3.

The weekend will feature nursing and healthcare alumni professionals in a Holistic Health symposium from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 27, presenting on current trends and practices in the healthcare field. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Lisa Harrelson, a 2009 Hesston College Nursing graduate, will kick off alumni presentations as she shares about her life and nursing career during an 11 a.m. chapel presentation Friday, Sept. 27 at Hesston Mennonite Church.

Gloria (Balzer) Solis, RN, MSN, MBA, a 1980 Hesston College graduate from the nursing program, will present the symposium keynote address, “The future of nursing: It’s in our hands,” at 1:30 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church. Solis is Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at St. Luke’s East Hospital in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Other presentation topics include prevention and cure of osteoporosis, end of life care, life lessons from birthing mothers, caring for wound/ostomy patients, travel nursing, caring for trauma patients, epidemiology in a public health practice setting, rewards and pitfalls of medical mission projects, being a model employee and substance abuse, addiction and treatment.

A special continuing nursing education seminar will be from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at Hesston Mennonite Church. Local nurses may attend for two contact hours. Pam Beitlich, RN, MSN, ARNP of Sarasota, Fla., will present on “Passion and purpose in nursing.” Beitlich is a nationally known speaker with more than 30 years of experience in patient care, medical staff relations and nursing administration. The seminar is $15 and can be paid at the door without weekend registration. Participants registered for Homecoming Weekend may attend for no extra charge.

Hesston College Nursing alumni are invited to a networking session and continental breakfast from 8 to 9:15 a.m. prior to the seminar Sept. 28, at Hesston Mennonite Church, to connect with each other and former and current nursing faculty and staff.

A weekend highlight will be the show Laughter is Sacred Space by Ted & Company TheaterWorks, a comedy team led by veteran actor Ted Swartz (Harrisonburg, Va.) that uses humor and professional storytelling to talk about issues of faith and social justice, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28 at Hesston Mennonite Church. The show reveals the unique journey of working in theatre and church under the shadow of mental illness while offering hope and humor.

Laughter is Sacred Space will follow the annual Alumni and Friends Banquet featuring Sharay Lee, a 2012 Hesston College Nursing graduate as the presenter, a ticketed event that includes admission to the show. Tickets for the show for those not attending the banquet are $10 and can be purchased at the door or through the Hesston College Bookstore by calling 620-327-8105.

The Homecoming kickoff event will be the Hesston College Student Scholarship Golf Tournament Sept. 26 at Hesston Golf Park sponsored by Excel Industries, Inc. Proceeds from the tournament will support the Jim Boyts Scholarship Fund. The tournament’s registration and fee are separate from other Homecoming registration and fees. Information and registration can be found online.

Other weekend events include a Partner Appreciation Luncheon, a tailgate barbecue picnic and family festival, volleyball matches and men’s and women’s soccer games, class reunions for class years ending in 8 and 3, the annual Alumni and Friends banquet and a Sunday morning alumni worship service with Hesston Mennonite Church with former nursing faculty member Naomi (Kauffman) Lederach bringing the message.

Go to hesston.edu for a complete schedule and registration. Call Alumni and Church Relations with questions at 866-437-7866