In the News

Brown to perform “I Go On Singing” in Harrisonburg, Va.

Tony Brown will perform the original musical autobiography “I Go On Singing” at 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 9 at Lehman Auditorium on the Eastern Mennonite University campus, Harrisonburg, Va..

“I Go On Singing” is Brown’s original tribute to Paul Robeson, all-American athlete, scholar, champion orator, international recording artist and star of the stage and screen during the 1930s and 40s, written for Brown by playwright Andrew Flack. Brown’s telling of Robeson’s story is a 75-minute song-filled, multi-media presentation that reveals him as a towering figure in 20th century American history.

Accompanied by collaborative pianist and Hesston College music faculty member Ken Rodgers, photo projection and a narrator, “I Go On Singing” is equal parts historical documentary and live concert experience. Using Robeson’s own words from his autobiography “Here I Stand” and comments from legendary peace activist and artist Pete Seeger, the show traces Robeson’s humble beginnings as a preacher’s son in Princeton, N.J., to his international celebrity and pioneering activism on the world stage.

Brown is an international promoter of peace, Hesston College sociology faculty member and artist in residence and founder of Peacing It Together Foundation, an organization that serves the global community as a resource for peace and social justice. He uses music and the spoken word to bring people together across the divides of race, culture and religion. His travels have taken him to countries such as Bosnia, Moldova, Northern Ireland, Uganda, Ethiopia, the Philippines, China, Japan, South Korea and Colombia, where he has seen music transform and heal.

“I Go On Singing” premiered to inspiring reviews in Princeton, N.J., in 2011 and Wichita, Kan., in 2012. Brown also performed it at A Hesston College Homecoming in September 2012.

Photo release - Honoring Dr. King

Hesston College sophomore Bonita Garber (Bainbridge, Pa.), third from right, shares during a panel discussion about her experiences and views with gender roles Jan. 16. The panel discussion made up of students and faculty was part of the college’s week-long celebration Jan. 14 to 18 of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life. The week’s theme, “Gender Around the World and on the Hesston College Campus,” featured author and local college professor Aikiiki Daisy Kabagarama in the keynote presentation Jan. 14. Pictured from left are sophomore Tim Bixler (Indianapolis), biology instructor Lorna Harder, history instructor John Sharp, sophomore Mallory Eicher (Berne, Ind.), sophomore Neal Brubaker (Goessel, Kan.), communication instructor Kendra Burkey, business instructor David LeVan, Garber, education instructor Marissa King and sophomore Matt Hershey (Harleysville, Pa.).

Hesston College part of new program encouraging healthy behavior for students

As college students return to schools this spring, there is renewed interest in ensuring their health and wellness. This includes managing risky behaviors like drug use and excessive drinking, which are the most common health issues on college campuses.

This semester, students at Hesston College will have extra resources to make sure they stay healthy. These resources include mental health and substance abuse counseling services via Telemedicine, a technology that allows the student and mental health provider to meet over a secure video conferencing connection.

“Students who avoid substance abuse treatment often do so because of a lack of access to counseling services or because of stigmatization,” said Les Sperling, chief executive officer of the Central Kansas Foundation. “Telemedicine helps us overcome these barriers by providing a safe, confidential connection with a licensed counselor in a neutral environment.”

The counseling services are free to Hesston students, because of grant funding through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The grant was awarded to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City and the Central Kansas Foundation in Salina to improve substance abuse prevention and treatment among rural college students.

“Our goal is to identify those students that are high-risk early and assist them so they can stay in school,” said Eve-Lynn Nelson, Ph.D., psychologist at KU Medical Center. Nelson said many studies have examined alcohol and drug abuse on college campuses, but those studies haven’t focused on colleges in rural communities.

“Students attending college in rural towns face unique challenges in substance abuse treatment and prevention. Our project addresses those challenges,” said Nelson, who is principal investigator on the grant.

Hesston College has two trained campus counselors on staff who meet regularly with students to support them as they process topics and issues that may arise as students are on their college journey, such as depression, anxiety, personal growth, interpersonal conflicts and stress management. Adding Telemedicine to their counseling services expands the way in which they can assist students more specifically.

“Telemedicine is an important resource for Hesston College students because it meets a need that is best addressed by a clinician specifically trained in substance abuse and chemical dependency,” said Julie Lehman, Hesston College campus counselor and on-site coordinator of the project. “Students make decisions about lifestyle choices and habits, and Telemedicine offers them a place to process these choices or to address habits that interfere with their success.”

Hesston College is the third school to offer counseling through the three-year project. The project will expand to rural colleges across the state and add a substance abuse prevention component, using social media and virtual worlds. The project is a collaboration between KU Medical Center’s Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth and Area Health Education Centers, the Central Kansas Foundation, and rural Kansas colleges.

Sweet Honey brings vocal prowess, rich harmonies to songs for a better world

The internationally renowned women’s a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock comes to Bethel College’s Memorial Hall stage as the third concert in the 2012-13 Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series.

The group performs Saturday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are currently on sale weekdays at both Bethel and Hesston Colleges.

Since Bernice Johnson Reagon founded Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973 (along with Mie, Carol Maillard and Louise Robinson) at the D.C. Black Repertory Theater Company, this ensemble has been a vital and innovative presence in the music culture of Washington, D.C., and in communities of conscience around the world.

The name comes from Psalm 81:16: the promise to a people of being fed with honey out of the rock. Honey is an ancient substance, sweet and nurturing, while rock has an elemental strength that endures the winds of time.

The metaphor of sweet honey in the rock captures these African-American women with a repertoire steeped in the sacred music of the Black church, the clarion calls of the civil rights movement and songs of the struggle for justice everywhere.

Rooted in a deeply held commitment to create music out of the rich textures of African-American legacy and traditions, Sweet Honey In The Rock is known for a stunning vocal prowess that captures the complex sounds of blues, spirituals, traditional gospel hymns, rap, reggae, African chants, hip hop, ancient lullabies and jazz improvisation.

Sweet Honey’s collective voice, occasionally accompanied by hand percussion instruments, produces a sound filled with soulful harmonies and intricate rhythms.

In nearly 40 years of existence, Sweet Honey In The Rock has brought music to communities across the United States and around the world with a voice of hope, love, justice, peace and resistance. Sweet Honey invites audiences to open their minds and hearts and think about who we are and how we treat each other, our fellow creatures who share this planet and, of course, the planet itself.

Sweet Honey’s 20th CD, “Experience…101,” received a 2008 Grammy® Award nomination. Sweet Honey was then asked to compose new material to celebrate the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s 50th anniversary. These two artistic treasures of the African-American experience performed a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration throughout the United States, with the music released on a CD entitled “Go in Grace.”

“Go in Grace” was Sweet Honey’s 23rd CD. In addition, they have appeared on numerous tribute albums and collections.

Sweet Honey was honored to accept an invitation from President and Mrs. Obama to give a concert at the White House Feb. 18, 2009. In 2010, the group created a tribute concert, “Remembering Nina, Odetta and Miriam Makeba,” performed several times during the 2011-12 season.

In April 2012, Sweet Honey premiered its first-ever orchestral collaboration, “Symphony 10: Affirmations for a New World,” in performances with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. William Banfield wrote the music and Sweet Honey members the lyrics.

Last May, Chicago Theological Seminary presented the members of Sweet Honey with Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees, given to those whom have, in their work and in their lives, embodied the seminary’s core value of “transformative leadership toward greater justice and mercy in church and society.”

In addition to Maillard and Robinson (Reagon retired from the group in 2004), Sweet Honey In The Rock members are Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil and Shirley Childress Saxton (sign language interpreter).

Single tickets for Sweet Honey In The Rock are $27 or $23. 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) or visit the HBPA website at www.hesston.edu/hbpa.

HBPA is funded in part by the cities of Hesston and North Newton, Excel Industries and Hustler Turf Equipment (Hesston) and area patrons.

Choirs to present collaborative concert in historic prairie cathedral

For a singer, few things compare to hearing the reverberation of a choir ring through vaulted cathedral ceilings. But in Kansas, cathedrals are hard to come by. The Hesston College Bel Canto Singers and the Goessel High School Elbiata Singers managed to find one of the few scattered on the Kansas prairie – St. Fidelis Church: The Cathedral on the Plains in Victoria, Kan. – will collaborate to present a concert in the unique space.

The combined choir will present a program of sacred and secular choral music with the theme “A Prairie Winter Sojourn” at 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27. 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.

Located north of Wichita, Hesston College and Goessel High School are only about 15 minutes apart and both are well known for their outstanding performing arts programs and long traditions of vocal excellence. Bel Canto Singers and Elbiata Singers are Hesston College and Goessel High’s premiere choirs with members selected by competitive audition. Bradley Kauffman of Newton, Kan., directs Bel Canto and Renae Schmidt Peters of Hesston, Kan., directs the Elbiata Singers.

St. Fidelis Church is located less than 15 minutes east of Hays. The acoustics make the two-hour drive worthwhile for the choirs and the audience.

“This performance gives the choirs an opportunity to present a specific type of legato music within a sympathetic architecture,” said Kauffman. “Bringing the legato voice together with a generous, live acoustic can be a uniquely inspiring experience. It is an aesthetic that inspired medieval and renaissance to modern composers.”

St. Fidelis Church was nicknamed The Cathedral of the Plains by William Jennings Bryan in 1912. The Romanesque church completed in 1911 features many elements found in its European inspiration, including German windows and works of art, Austrian hand-carved stations of the cross and an Italian marble altar. In 1971 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a “building of architectural significance,” and was named one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas in 2008. The church is open to the public every day of the year, with mass being celebrated daily.

A charter bus leaving from Hesston at 1 p.m. Jan. 27, will travel to the concert for anyone wanting to attend. Seats on the bus can be purchased for $25 by calling Hesston College Alumni and Church Relations at 866-437-7866. Reservations and payment must be received by Friday, Jan. 25.

Art gallery features central Kansas artist

Artist Kurt Wolf of Salina, Kan., is the featured artist with his assemblage wall art and sculptures made from scavenged items in the Hesston College Regier Friesen Gallery in the Friesen Center for Visual Arts through Feb. 17.

Wolf’s exhibit, “Up From the Scrap Heap to the Art We Keep: Recycled and Repurposed Sculptural Assemblages,” is eclectic with pieces identifiable as old tools, hardware, instruments and other common items fashioned in a new way.

“I am just absolutely infatuated with the idea of conservationism in art,” explained Wolf in his artist’s statement on the reason behind the exhibit.

Wolf earned a degree in art education from Bethany College (Lindsborg, Kan.) and is in his 29th year of teaching three-dimensional art at Salina South High School.

The gallery is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Martin Luther King Jr. Week to focus on gender issues

Hesston College’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week Jan. 14 to 18 will explore gender issues with the theme “Engendering Diversity: Gender Around the World and on the Hesston College campus.” Dr. Akiiki Daisy Kabagarama, author and local college professor, will be featured for a keynote presentation Jan. 14. All events are free and open to the public.

Dr. King’s early career focused on African-American civil rights. As the women’s movement of the 1960s gained momentum alongside Dr. King’s work and the Civil Rights Movement with similar messages of equality, respect and understanding, King’s work expanded into a concern for universal human rights.

The week’s events at Hesston will consider gender as a space for discussion, learning and inclusion on the Hesston College campus and around the world, especially as they relate to justice in light of King’s life and teaching.

Dr. Kabagarama will introduce the theme with “Martin Luther King Jr. and Gender” at the campus’ 11 a.m. chapel service Monday, Jan. 14, at Hesston Mennonite Church. Dr. Kabagarama will explore what it means to be masculine and feminine in her home country of Uganda compared to those roles in the United States.

Dr. Kabagarama teaches psychology and sociology at Butler Community College (El Dorado, Kan.), ethnic studies with an emphasis on diversity at Wichita (Kan.) State University and philosophy at Friends University (Wichita, Kan.) and Newman University (Wichita, Kan.). She has also authored eight books on promoting peace and cultural understanding and is a minister, poet and storyteller.

Hesston College biology instructor Dr. Hugo Boschmann and environmental biology instructor Lorna Harder will explore the biological impact on gender in “Of Environment and Men: What in the World is Happening to Males?” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15, in Kropf Center 150. The presentation is based on studies from around the world that assert that, in general, women are ascending in terms of social status and a sense of well-being while men are declining in these areas. The session will include discussion on the implications of Dr. King’s concern for human well-being in terms of a growing number of young adult males who struggle in areas from academic prowess to career possibilities.

Education instructor Marissa King will lead a panel discussion on gender roles during an 11 a.m. chapel service Wednesday, Jan. 16, at Hesston Mennonite Church.

A point-counterpoint discussion and presentation on “The Demise of Guys and the Rise of Women” with art instructor Lois Misegadis and former sociology instructor Dwight Roth will be at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 17 in the Friesen Center for Visual Arts 125. It will focus specifically on the struggles facing young African-American men in the United States.

DawnEna Wiebe, manager of the Newton, Kan., Ten Thousand Villages store will present “How Women Around the World Benefit from Ten Thousand Villages,” a focus on the company’s work with fair trade products, during an 11 a.m. chapel forum Friday, Jan. 18 at Hesston Mennonite Church.

The Ten Thousand Villages store will also be set up in the Smith Center lobby outside of the Mary Miller Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 17 and 18 selling fair trade products. Fair trade provides under- and unemployed artisans around the world with an opportunity to earn vital income and improve their quality of life by establishing a sustainable market for their handcrafted products.

The Hesston College Campus Activities Board will host a coffee house and open mike for students, faculty and staff to share performance art pieces at 9 p.m., Friday, Jan. 18 in the Erb Hall Larks Nest.

Hesston College announces fall 2012 academic honors

Hesston College announced the names of full-time students whose fall semester grades earned them a place on the Dean’s List (3.90-4.00) and Honor Roll (3.50-3.89).

Hesston College – Academic Honors – Fall Semester 2012 (Full-time students completing 12 hours or more)

Dean’s List 3.90-4.00 Freshmen

Alyssa Becker – North Newton, Kan.
Denver Coblentz – Hartville, Ohio
Mason Davis – Mustang, Okla.
Rebecca Eichelberger – Geneva, Neb.
Kelvin Ferbianto – Jakarta Utara, Indonesia
Mariah Friesen – Burrton, Kan.
Brandis Henderson – Redding, Calif.
JD Hershberger – Hesston, Kan.
Marissa Hochstetler – Strang, Neb.
Cory Kerbs – Nevada, Mo.
Makayla Ladwig – Wichita, Kan.
Joshua Landis – Sterling, Ill.
Nadia Loveta – Jakarta, Indonesia
Mitchell Martin – Milford, Neb.
Morgan Martin – New Holland, Pa.
Kendrik Mast – Harrisonburg, Va.
Elsa Miller – Millersburg, Ohio
Muna Mohammed – Ethiopia
Nathan Peters – North Liberty, Iowa
Jared Regehr – Moundridge, Kan.
Eyan Roth – Hesston, Kan.
Tyler Roth – Canby, Ore.
Amy Seibel – Lawrence, Miss.
Sarah Telleen – Haven, Kan.
Tien Tran – Hochiminh City, Vietnam
Hannah Weaver – Inola, Okla.
Sierra Wyse – Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
Jasmin Yoder – Sweet Home, Ore.
Jenna Yutzy – Hesston, Kan.

Dean’s List 3.90-4.00 Sophomores

Asbel Assefa – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Amber Baker – Newton, Kan.
Brooke Beckerman – Inman, Kan.
Seth Bitikofer – Saint George, Kan.
Cory Bowman – Millersburg, Ind.
Neal Brubaker – Goessel, Kan.
Joel Dick – Wichita, Kan.
Mallory Eicher – Berne, Ind.
Jill Eigsti – Goshen, Ind.
Crystal Emery – Marquette, Kan.
Grant Fenton – Hesston, Kan.
Samuel Foxvog – Tiskilwa, Ill.
Vicky Gunawan – Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
Adam Heisey – Elizabethtown, Pa.
Taylor Hutchinson – Hillsboro, Kan.
Rhett Imel – Olathe, Kan.
Andrea Kelley – Archbold, Ohio
Nicholas Ladd – Hesston, Kan.
Jacob Landis – Sterling, Ill.
Olivia Miller – Newton, Kan.
Michelle Moyer – Monticello, Ill.
Mollie Nebel – Hesston, Kan.
Gregory Nolt – Partridge, Kan.
Keisei Ohta – Kanagawa, Japan
Josanna Raber – Wooster, Ohio
David Rudy – Manheim, Pa.
Alyssa Rychener – Hesston, Kan.
Paul Schoenhals – Archbold, Ohio
Derek Swartzendruber – Shickley, Neb.
Rachel Tippin – Newton, Kan.
Matthew A. Weaver – Hesston, Kan.
Ron Wenger – Adair, Okla.
Michaela Zook – Hesston, Kan.

Dean’s List 3.90-4.00 Unclassified

Philip Kauffman – Hesston, Kan.

Honor Roll 3.50-3.89 Freshmen

Laura Baker – Protection, Kan.
Garrett Byler – Belleville, Pa.
Stephen Cabe – Niles, Mich.
Mitchell Denlinger – Denver, Pa.
Ippei Fujimoto – Miyazaki-ken, Japan
Tsegamihret Gebru – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Crisentia Gregor – Banyuwangi, Indonesia
Narumi Hayano – Aichi-ken, Japan
Matthew Hiebert – Peabody, Kan.
Abigail Hochstetler – Arthur, N.D.
Myu Kobayashi – Kanagawa-ken, Japan
Weihao Kong – Hefei, China
Brandon Kutrubs – Brunswick, Ohio
Trevon Mast – Weatherford, Okla.
Amy Nussbaum – Union, Mich.
Rebecca Rhodes – Arthur, Ill.
Samuel Ruth – Wichita, Kan.
Jerek Shoemaker – Newton, Kan.
Kendal Slabach Brubaker – Harrisonburg, Va.
Rebecca Slabaugh – Goshen, Ind.
Rebecca Souther – Newton, Kan.
Emily Taylor – Buhler, Kan.
Trevor Toews – Hesston, Kan.
Souzy Tuseku Nkole – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Andrea Voth – McPherson, Kan.
Pake Wise – Sand Springs, Okla.
Taylor Wright – Salem, Ore.
Carley Wyse – Archbold, Ohio

Honor Roll 3.50-3.89 Sophomores

Ashley Beatty – Washington, Iowa
Joshua Burkholder – Warden, Wash.
Broxton Busenitz – North Newton, Kan.
Taylor Ermoian – Hays, Kan.
Taylor Fritz – Atglen, Pa.
Bonita Garber – Bainbridge, Pa.
Herane Girma – Alexandria, Va.
Jenae Hershberger – Goshen, Ind.
Samuel Hinga – Nairobi, Kenya
Keenan Jensen – Hesston, Kan.
Cody King – Wichita, Kan.
Frederick Lehman – Dalton, Ohio
Junau Louis-Jean – Les Cayes, Haiti
Mariah Martin – Glenwood Springs, Colo.
Jeptha Miller – Millersburg, Ohio
Alisa Murray – Orrville, Ohio
Marissa Schuett – Wichita, Kan.
Courtney Unruh – Hesston, Kan.
Leah Unruh – Walton, Kan.
Matthew R. Weaver – Goshen, Ind.
Pierre Zook – McMinnville, Ore.

Hesston College Aviation receives full-motion simulator

Hesston College Aviation and Air Traffic Control students will fly high while planted firmly on the ground when they return from Christmas break in January. As part of the college’s Delivering the Promise capital campaign, Hesston College received a generous anonymous gift which helped to fund a Redbird MCX C182 G1000 GFC700 flight simulator. The full-motion simulator was delivered Dec. 18 and replaces a flight training device that had been part of the program for 12 years.

“We are grateful for the generous gift that helped us purchase such a technologically advanced piece of equipment that will help the Aviation program, students, faculty and staff in such an important way,” said Yvonne Sieber, vice president of Advancement.

The Redbird simulator is a full-motion device geared toward Crew Resource Management and two-pilot cockpit training with single and multi-engine configurations. It provides real-world situational experiences as students learn to operate in the pilot/copilot environment most common in the aviation industry.

“The new simulator will make Hesston College Aviation a stronger program,” said program director Dan Miller. “With equipment as sophisticated as this, students can be presented with a variety of scenarios, including emergency situations, as represented by a Technically Advanced Aircraft.”

The anonymous gift used to help purchase the simulator was given to the college in honor of Wilbur Bontrager, Middlebury, Ind., an alumnus who studied aviation during his time at Hesston in 1973 and a dedicated supporter of the college. Bontrager, who serves as member of the Hesston College Board of Overseers, is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Jayco, Inc., one of the world’s leading recreational vehicle manufacturers.

As compared to the flight training device it is replacing, the simulator is the program’s first full-motion device, as it can pitch up and down and roll left and right simulating the movement of an airplane. The instrumentation is all behind a glass panel, consistent with modern aircraft, and the instructor co-pilot seat is equipped with enhanced computer capabilities to offer a wider range of flight scenarios.

“We will be able to elevate our lesson plans to match the variety of learning options the simulator provides,” said Miller. “Students will become stronger aviators and gain a higher level of professional maturity during their time at Hesston College.”

The Redbird simulator joins a fleet of two no-motion flight training devices that will remain with the program, giving students procedural and technique training before stepping into the larger device. Hesston College’s Aviation program has more than 50 students enrolled for the 2012-13 year and has trained more than 700 pilots since the program was started in 1970. Air Traffic Control was added as a plan of study in 2010 as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative and is the only program in Kansas and one of 36 nationwide with FAA approval.

In addition to the simulator, the Delivering the Promise campaign, which was launched in 2012, is also raising funds for a new airplane, avionics upgrades on existing planes and a facility remodel at the college’s hangar and office at the Newton City/County Airport, upgrades to campus pianos, the remodel of the performing arts building, Northlawn, two new tennis courts and a new campus entrance.