In the News

Mennonite speed dating

Bible teachers from nine Mennonite high schools visited Hesston (Kan.) College and Bethel College (North Newton, Kan.) April 12 and 13. Hesston College Bible instructor Michele Hershberger devised an interesting method to introduce the Bible teachers to Hesston’s program. She invited a group of students to share their Hesston Bible course experiences with the teachers in the format of speed dating. The teachers made their way around the room with about three minutes to interview each student. Hershberger invited a broad range of students to participate, from conservative to progressive in theology and including some who identify themselves as agnostic.

“Students got to honestly share about their experiences in our Biblical Literature course,” Hershberger said. “It sparked conversations among the Bible teachers and Marion (Bontrager, also a Hesston Bible instructor) and me. The teachers loved interacting with our students and were impressed with their openness, and it provided each of us an opportunity to reflect on our teaching ministry. After the students left, our discussion focused on teaching methods using digital technology in the classroom as well as the challenges of teaching Bible to students with a broad range of Bible knowledge bases and faith experiences.”

In addition to Mennonite Schools Council teachers meetings, the group spent a day on Hesston’s campus and a day on Bethel’s campus. They met with administrators and Bible faculty, attended classes and convocation and took campus tours.

At Bethel, the visit coincided with “live music night” at the campus coffee shop, Mojo’s, which happened to feature Christine Crouse-Dick, Bethel associate professor of communication arts, and her husband, Christopher Dick, professor at English at Tabor College, as The Misguided Professors. The pair played and sang with Bethel junior Landon Bartel on string bass, Jesse Graber on fiddle and local pastor Eric Massanari on percussion.

Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts to host The Rose Ensemble for concert and residency

The culminating event of the 2011-12 Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts series will feature The Rose Ensemble, one of America’s premiere choral groups, for a three-day residency and program entitled “Land of Three Faiths: Voices of Ancient Mediterranean Christians, Jews and Muslims” at 7:30 p.m. April 27 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary on the Hesston College campus.

Based in St. Paul, Minn., The Rose Ensemble reawakens the ancient through imaginative performances of vocal music with historical instruments and a vocal sound critics have called “supernatural.” Their repertoire spans 1,000 years and 25 languages of vocal music and offers fresh perspectives on history, languages, politics, religion and world cultures and tradition.

“The Rose Ensemble brings music to new life with exquisite musicianship and thoroughly researched historical performance practices,” said HBPA Director Matthew Schloneger.

“Land of Three Faiths” is the result of years of intensive research and training featuring instruments and musical ideas that blur the lines between Arabic and European. It encompasses sacred, secular, folk and classical traditions for an exploration of language, spirituality and cultural exchange of the Abrahamic faiths in the Hispano-Arabic Middle Ages – an important and devastating chapter of Judaic, Christian and Islamic history. The program mingles together laments of the Sephardic Jews, Arab-Andalusian dances, Spanish court songs, Hebrew cantillation, Gregorian chant and Sufi poetry.

“I was able to see The Rose Ensemble perform this program at a sold-out concert in their home city,” said Schloneger. “I was amazed at the beauty and accessibility of the music. We live in a time where the intermingling of different faiths and cultures is such an important aspect of our world. This program gives us a unique insight to a time and place that was not so different from our own.”

The ensemble has produced nine critically acclaimed recordings and was winner of the 2005 Chorus America Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. The group’s concerts and recordings have been called “first class” (Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung), “impassioned and brightly alive” (Choral Journal) and “engaging… satisfying” (Gramophone). Founder Jordan Sramek received the 2010 Louis Batto Award from Chorus America “for entrepreneurial zeal.”

The Rose Ensemble performs concerts regularly as well as providing educational programs for elementary through college students, libraries and communities.

The Rose Ensemble’s April 25 to 27 HBPA residency will include a free public performance at Hesston College chapel at 11 a.m. April 25 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary and a free public choral master class with the Hesston College and Bethel College choirs at noon April 25 in the Bethel College Administration Building Chapel. They will also give educational performances at Goessel Elementary School and Northridge and Sunset elementary schools in Newton on April 26.

“We are grateful for significant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts which will allow the ensemble to interact with students and members of our community for three full days,” said Schloneger. “Students will be exposed to new cultures and music in a way that is meaningful and memorable, and that’s exciting.”

Single ticket prices for The Rose Ensemble’s April 27 concert range from $15 to $18, depending on seating section, with discounts available to 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 at www.hesston.edu/hbpa.

The program is presented in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art, and the cities of Hesston and North Newton, with generous underwriting by area patrons.

The Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts Series, now in its 30th year, started in 1982 as the Hesston Performing Arts Series (HPA) with funding and planning provided by Hesston College and the Hesston community. In 1998, HPA planners launched a partnership with Bethel College (North Newton) and the name changed to Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts. Hesston College and Bethel College host five performances by world-renowned or regionally acclaimed artists each year.

Hesston College sophomore to perform recital

Hesston College music student Robert Howell will perform a sophomore voice recital at 7 p.m. April 26 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary on the Hesston College campus. The public is invited to attend.

Howell, of Newton Kan., has been a member of the Bel Canto Singers under the direction of Bradley Kauffman for two years. He studies voice with Matthew Schloneger.

Howell’s performance will include works by Bach, Schumann and Quilter as well as several musical theatre selections. Ken Rodgers will provide piano and organ accompaniment.

Multi-award winning author to speak at Hesston College

Award-winning author Marty Essen will present his high-energy, multi-media show “Around the World in 90 Minutes” at 7 p.m. April 22 in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary on the Hesston College campus as part of the college’s Earth Day celebrations. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Essen’s show features interesting facts, humorous stories and the best of thousands of photos he took during three and a half years of traveling the world with his wife, Deb, for his book “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents” (Encante Press, 2007). As they searched for rare and interesting wildlife, the couple swam with piranhas, hiked with the Porcupine caribou migration, had close-up encounters with humpback whales, were surrounded by wolves and survived a hippo attack. Audiences have fun laughing at the stories, admiring the photos and when it’s all done, realizing just how much they’ve learned.

“Marty’s presentation of wildlife and his travels to the seven continents was amazing,” said Katie Leao, coordinator of Student Life at Western Nevada College (Carson City). “His energetic and enthusiastic character brought each picture to life and there is always a fascinating story behind each photo.”

“Around the World in 90 Minutes” began as a show Essen presented in bookstores as part of his first book tour. After numerous refinements, the show took on a life of its own in colleges, museums and nature centers across the United States.

Essen has been the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities’ most booked college speaker for 37 out of the past 41 months. “Campus Activities Magazine” also named Essen as one of their “Hot Speaker” picks for 2011. He has won multiple book awards for travel and essay writing, including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Best Books Book Award and the National Indie Excellence Award. He also won first prize at the 2009 Green Book Festival in Los Angeles, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune named “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet” a top-10 “green” book.

Hesston Mennonite Church is located at 309 South Main Street in Hesston.

Hesston College European Chorale to perform kick-off concerts

The Hesston College European Chorale will kick off its European tour with several local concerts. The 37-voice choir will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the Schowalter Villa Chapel in Hesston, at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 22, at Inman Mennonite Church as part of the morning worship service and at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 5, in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary on the Hesston College campus. The concerts are free and open to the public.

The choir, under the direction of Bradley Kauffman and with accompaniment provided by Ken Rodgers, will perform nine concerts in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain May 8 to 29.

Hesston College choirs have taken a European tour every two years since 1980. Aside from concert appearances, students will also explore the history and culture of the countries they visit, visit historical Anabaptist and early Mennonite sites and stay with host families.

Hesston College to “go green” with 2012 Earth Day celebration

Hesston College academic departments, campus facilities and local businesses will partner to host an Earth Day celebration at Hesston College from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 19 on the Hesston College campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The day’s activities will center around the theme “Living the Green Life,” and will complement the college’s emphasis on sustainability during the academic year.

“The purpose of Earth Day is to remind ourselves that we live in the world and we need to do our part to take care of it,” said Nelson Kilmer, science faculty member and one of the event’s organizers.

Classes and individuals from the science and business departments will present conservation methods for energy, water, soil and waste. Participants can come and go as they explore ways to be sustainable.

Highlights include presentations and rides on the electric bicycle and bicycle charging station from Kilmer’s Physics II class, food cooked with solar energy, presentations from Lorna Harder’s Environmental Biology class and Dyck Arboretum of the Plains staff on gardening and native landscapes and information about recycling and waste disposal.

Menno Barrel, a student-operated rain barrel business from business instructor David LeVan’s Entrepreneurship class will sell their 55-gallon, recycled rain barrels. The rain barrels, which can be purchased for $70, a savings of up to $55 over competitors, capture rain from roofs and store it for later use. The students created the business for a class assignment and constructed the barrels themselves from recycled food-grade drums purchased from Pepsi Co. in Wichita. All of the profit earned from the sale of the rain barrels will be donated to Mennonite Central Committee to help continue water conservation efforts in countries around the world.

Local businesses will also be present to demonstrate their “green” products, including a representative from Westar Energy’s Smart Energy Program with a Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf electric cars, Excel Industries with the Zeon electric mower and King Solar explaining solar panel installation.

At 7 p.m. on April 22, the college will host award-winning author Marty Essen with his high-energy, multi-media show “Around the World in 90 Minutes” in the Hesston Mennonite Church sanctuary on the Hesston College campus. The show is a compilation of stories and photos Essen took during three and a half years of traveling the world with his wife, Deb, for his book “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents” (Encante Press, 2007). The program is free and open to the public.

Hesston College students help send books to Ethiopia

above Hesston college students (from left) Evette Yoder (Phoenix, Ariz.), Anna Yoder (Garden City, Mo.), Carly Unruh (Wayland, Iowa) and Asbel Assefa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) package books for Ethiopia Reads during the campus packaging event sponsored by the African Student Union. Photo by Kendra Litwiller.

Asbel Assefa’s school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, wasn’t so different from the schools her American classmates attended. The education Asbel received at Bethel Mekane Eyesus School prepared her to further her education at Hesston College. Yet one detail sticks out as a glaring difference when comparing Asbel’s school to schools in the U.S. – books.

For many schools in the eastern African country, books that are beneficial to student learning are in short supply. According to LeAnn Clark, a Hesston resident involved with the non-profit organization Ethiopia Reads, many classrooms in Ethiopia have no books and 99 percent of the schools do not have libraries.

Asbel’s Christian school had books and a library, but there was still room for improvement.

“At most schools in Ethiopia, the library isn’t given much priority,” said Asbel, a Hesston College freshman. “My school’s library was unorganized and not stocked with good books for students.”

Hesston College students rallied together and partnered with Ethiopia Reads during the last week of March to package and ship books to create libraries at schools.

According to Ethiopia Reads, Ethiopia is a poor country with an average annual income of $125. Only four percent of the more than 80 million people have electricity and there is overwhelming poverty and disease. About 12 million people will go without eating a meal every day, and 57 percent of the population lives with extreme hunger. The country’s 4.8 million orphaned children give it the second highest number of orphans in the world.

“It is difficult for children in Ethiopia to get a good quality education,” said Clark. “The average child only spends one year in school. They are eager to learn, but in many cases they are only able to attend for a half day because of extreme overcrowding.”

Denver-based Ethiopia Reads was founded in 2001. It collects, sorts and ships books to Ethiopia to open libraries in schools. The organization has opened more than 60 libraries and established five regional mobile libraries. The programs are managed and run by Ethiopians in Addis Ababa and Awassa who also grew up without books at home or school. The organization provides training for the Ethiopian employees in library science, publishing and design, project management and non-governmental organization administration so they can help improve literacy and opportunities for the country’s young people.

“We have already lost a generation of Ethiopian children to AIDS and poverty, and we are going to lose another generation unless someone does something,” said Clark. “There is nothing literacy doesn’t impact – it can change so many things in children’s lives.”

Hesston College’s African Student Union arranged for the campus community to package more than 20,000 books that had been collected by a Houston, Texas, Starbucks. Members of the African Student Union also helped serve at a baked potato bar fundraiser March 16 at the Hesston Area Senior Center where they raised about $1,000 to help ship the packaged books to Ethiopia.

“People in the United States don’t realize just how privileged they are to have books at their disposal,” said Hesston College freshman Zenawit Nerae (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), African Student Union president. “I hope that by being a part of Ethiopia Reads we have helped people on campus understand the impact books have on education.”

Asbel’s school recently received a shipment of books from Ethiopia Reads as well, and though she wasn’t there to enjoy the new books, she was grateful that someone recognized the need and that her younger sisters could reap the benefits.

“Without good reading material, educating students is hard to accomplish,” said Asbel. “I think education is the best thing for development. I was humbled by the reaction of the Hesston College students and their willingness to help. The work Ethiopia Reads does is special because it has a lasting effect – a really good one.”

Photo release - A parade of nations

Hesston College’s annual International Festival is an opportunity for international students to share their cultures with the rest of the Hesston College campus. Guests enjoy food from the students’ countries and a program of traditional songs and dances.

The theme for the 2012 festival on March 22 was “A Parade of Nations,” which focused on the flags of the students’ countries and an Olympic athlete from each country in preparation for the summer 2012 Olympics in London.

Hesston College is home to 36 international students from 13 countries during the 2011-12 academic year.

The business of conservation

by Kyle Albrecht and Rachel Schlegel

Hesston College business instructor David LeVan has given the same assignment to his Entrepreneurship class each spring semester for the last three years – create and operate a business for a few weeks during the semester as a way to gain practical business experience. In the past, the student-run businesses sold relatively inexpensive and easy to produce products to students on campus.

This year’s class dreamed bigger. The seven students wanted to do something that would benefit more than just the class or the college. Inspired by the college’s emphasis on sustainable living and a suggestion from Bible and Religion faculty member Marion Bontrager, the class decided to make and sell rain barrels.

The students named their business “Menno Barrel,” based on the college’s affiliation with Mennonite Church USA and the business’ local target market. Over the course of about three weeks, the students will manufacture and sell 55-gallon rain barrels. All of the profit earned from the sale of the rain barrels will be donated to Mennonite Central Committee to help with relief efforts in countries around the world.

“We wanted to reach out to the community and do something that would have an impact on more than just students on campus,” said sophomore Mallory Schroeder (Newton, Kan.), Menno Barrel CEO.

The idea and strategy behind Menno Barrel is to help with water conservation and provide a cost-saving water source option for outdoor water needs. The barrels capture rain from roofs and store it for later use. The recycled barrels also complement the students’ efforts to remain as environmentally friendly as possible.

The students are constructing the barrels themselves from recycled food-grade drums purchased from Pepsi Co. in Wichita and selling them for $70, a savings of up to $55 over competitors.

“We analyzed all the costs of constructing our own barrels versus buying them from a distributor and selling them for profit,” said sophomore Hayden Goerzen (Newton, Kan.), chief financial officer for Menno Barrel. “We came up with a design that was simple and effective so the barrels are easy for customers to use, and we are able to offer them at a cost that is much lower than the competition.”

Two of the students on the team participated in a rain barrel construction class at the Sedgwick County Extension Office as part of the research for the company. With just a few adaptations to the design they learned from the class, the students realized that constructing the barrels themselves was both simple and cost-effective.

“The barrels are designed to be fairly simple for any person to install or repair regardless of past experience,” said freshman Brandon Sharkey (Goshen, Ind.), Menno Barrel’s head of manufacturing.

The students of Menno Barrel decided their idea was a good business venture because the nearest competition is about 45 minutes away in both Wichita and Hutchinson. They are excited to be a local option for the residents of smaller towns in south-central Kansas while also offering the recycled option that major home improvement stores do not.

The students drafted a business plan and presented it to college administrators on March 23 to ask for assistance with start-up costs. The college agreed to make an initial investment of almost $1,300, giving the students official approval to move ahead with their business venture.

“This is the best business idea we have seen from this class since it began,” said Hesston College President Howard Keim following the student presentation.

During the first night of manufacturing in the campus facilities space on April 3 the students were efficient and effective in developing a system to clean and begin construction on the barrels. Each student’s business leadership was evident as they worked together to solve problems from a leaky hose to the correct sizing of a drill bit.

“I’m excited that the students decided to take on a project of this magnitude,” said LeVan. “The complexity of the venture required thought and commitment. It’s what I hoped this assignment could be every year. They are working together, taking leadership roles and working with an outside audience, which can be challenging and scary, but they are willing to do it.”

Menno Barrels will be sold during the annual Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale at the Kansas State Fair Grounds in Hutchinson from 3 to 9 p.m. April 13 and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 14. They will also be sold on the Hesston College campus during the college’s Earth Day celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 19.

(left) Menno Barrel CEO Mallory Schroeder; (center) Freshman Matt Weaver (Goshen, Ind.) drills a spigot hole in a drum to be turned into a rain barrel; (right) The Hesston College Entrepreneurship class takes a break from turning 55-gallon food-grade drums into rain barrels. Pictured from left are sophomores Brenda Nieto-Montoya (Three Rivers, Mich.), Mallory Schroeder (Newton, Kan.), business instructor David LeVan, Kyle Albrecht (Clarence, N.Y.) and Hayden Goerzen and freshmen Matt Weaver (Goshen, Ind.) and Brandon Sharkey (Goshen, Ind.). Class member not pictured is sophomore Miranda Hilliard (Sedgwick, Kan.).