Music and Memories: A Concert Celebrating Ken Rodgers’ Four Decades at Hesston College

Join Hesston College and the wider community on Friday, May 15 at 7 p.m. in Hesston Mennonite Church for a special evening honoring longtime music faculty member Ken Rodgers. The concert, "Music and Memories," will feature performances by Bel Canto Singers, organ selections by Rodgers and piano duets, along with opportunities for congregational singing. Rodgers will also share reflections and highlights from his nearly four decades at Hesston College.

Following the concert, attendees are invited to a reception in the church’s community center, including an open mic time to share stories and memories in celebration of Rodgers’ lasting impact.

This event is designed to bring together campus, church, alumni and community members to recognize and celebrate all that Rodgers has contributed through his teaching, musicianship and connections built across generations of students and audiences. Since beginning his career at Hesston in 1988, he has influenced thousands of students and represented the college through choir tours across the U.S. and internationally.

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For Ken Rodgers, the story of Hesston College is deeply personal.

A Hesston student from 1983 to 1985, Rodgers returned to campus in 1988 as a 23-year-old instructor, stepping into a role that would become a four-decades-long calling. What stood out immediately to him wasn’t just the work, but the people.

“Almost the entire faculty had been my teachers just three years earlier, and just immediately, I was just accepted as one of their colleagues,” he shares. “And that really impressed me.”

That sense of belonging — a culture where every voice matters — would shape not only Rodgers’ experience, but the way he approached his own work with students.

Over the next 37 years, Rodgers became a central figure in the life of the college’s music program, working with thousands of students in classrooms, rehearsals and performances. His work also carried him far beyond campus. Through decades of choir tours across the country and around the world, he connected with alumni and congregations in hundreds of settings, becoming a familiar and trusted presence for many who know Hesston College through its music.

“I have probably been on the road, like on choir tours, three to four years of my life,” he says. “And I have loved that so much. You’re connecting with students in a time when they’re not busy with schoolwork. … I cherish those moments.”

Despite that wide-reaching impact, Rodgers reflects on his role with humility.

“What a privilege,” he says. “College is such a formative time … I think it’s a place where students can ask questions and be pushed and yet be in a place where they are loved and supported.”

While the concerts and destinations were meaningful, Rodgers says the heart of those experiences was always something simpler.

“It’s not the places or the concerts,” Rodgers admits, “it’s getting to show students these things that I’ve also enjoyed.”

That focus on people — helping students grow, connect and discover their own abilities — has defined his approach to teaching.

“What I love the most is helping them unlock their own skills and improve them,” he shares.

Along the way, Rodgers built relationships that lasted long after graduation. Notes from former and current students, many kept in what he calls his “happy file,” serve as reminders of the quiet but lasting impact of his work.

“When students send a thank you note, I’m always kind of blown away that they are aware enough to do that,” he says, noting most students, including himself at that age, don’t think about doing something like that until years later.

For Rodgers, staying at Hesston for nearly four decades was never about routine, it was about purpose.

“It’s always felt like a privilege to be able to work here and a calling,” he explains. “I love the people I work with, and I love the students. They keep you young!”

Now as he prepares to step away from his role, Rodgers does so with gratitude and a sense of peace about what comes next. He plans to pursue further study at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, with a desire to explore pastoral ministry.

“It just has felt like the right thing,” admits Rodgers. “Someone else will bring in new energy and new ideas for a new era.”

Even as he looks ahead, Rodgers is clear about what Hesston College has meant to him and what he hopes he leaves behind.

“My main hope is that I have brought joy to people,” he says, “that I have brought a great deal of joy to this place.”

That spirit of joy will be at the center of the May 15 celebration. While the evening honors Rodgers’ career, he hopes it reflects something even broader.

“I hope it is a time of enjoying good music, of enjoying community, of being together and of celebrating not me, but music at Hesston College.”

As the Hesston community gathers for “Music and Memories,” the concert will mark both an ending and a continuation — a chance to celebrate a legacy while looking ahead to what comes next.

And for Rodgers, Hesston will never be far away.

“It’s a special part of who I am, and I will be a strong cheerleader from somewhere else.”