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Three alumni to be honored in May

The Bethel College Alumni Association will honor two alumni and the Bethel Deaconess Hospital/Bethel College Nursing Alumni Association will honor an alumnus at the annual Alumni Banquet on May 23.

J. Harold Moyer, North Newton, will receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award. He graduated from Bethel in 1949 with a major in music and a minor in education. Moyer is a music educator, composer and arranger, primarily in the area of church music, and is professor emeritus of music at Bethel.

Howard L. Brenneman, Lenexa, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award. He graduated from Bethel in 1963 with a degree in finance and business administration. Brenneman has been an entrepreneur and a leader in business and financial services in industry, the Mennonite denomination and beyond.

Gregg Schroeder, Goessel, will receive the Outstanding Nursing Alumnus Award. He received a nursing degree from Bethel in 1992. Gregg is a clinical nurse, clinical educator, in-service educator, consultant and researcher, and was on the Bethel nursing faculty from 1992-2008.

The Alumni Banquet is at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 23, in Memorial Hall. Discount price is $17 per person if paying by May 8, $19 May 11-13. To make a reservation, visit or phone Thresher Bookstore in Schultz Student Center at (316) 284-5205. Payment or credit card information is required when the reservation is made. Those attending receive a personalized nametag at the door, which serves as their banquet ticket.

The banquet is part of Alumni Weekend, May 22-23, during which the Classes of 1934, 1939, 1944, 1949, 1954, 1959, 1964 and 1969 celebrate anniversaries with other special activities. Class members who did not receive information at the end of March may contact the alumni office at (316) 284-5251 or alumni@bethelks.edu, or go to www.bethelks.edu/alumni/events/weekend.php.

Students gain real-world experience in internships

Several Bethel business majors are getting some experience outside the classroom before graduation in May, hoping it will help them land jobs after.

“Most employers looking for full-time candidates prefer students who have had some real-world experience,” says Allison McFarland, professor of management and marketing. “They look for candidates who have worked in their industry or one that requires a similar skill set.”

Two years ago, to address this concern, the department began offering seniors a choice: complete either a “research seminar or a senior-level internship as a culminating academic experience,” says McFarland.

Since then, most business majors have chosen the internship option. Seniors Cody Cole, Cunningham, Aaron Howard, Halstead, and Drew Pippin, Sand Springs, Okla., are three of 16 seniors currently completing internships in the Newton/North Newton area.

Conference offers students chance to experience chemistry in Chicago

Cutting class doesn’t usually result in an hour of college credit -- unless it’s for one of the world’s largest chemistry-related trade shows.

March 8-12, six Bethel students, along with Bethel professor of chemistry Richard Zerger, skipped almost a week of classes to attend the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, or Pittcon, held this year in Chicago.

The students were enrolled for an hour of chemistry credit for attending Pittcon, and had to make up all the work they missed on campus.

Pittcon – originally organized by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh but now held at a different location each year – is the largest annual laboratory analytical trade show in the world. It features hundreds of companies exhibiting the latest in laboratory advancements along with presentations of technical papers and opportunities for networking within the chemistry industry. . . .

Alumni Orvin ’64 and Janet ’63 Voth, Newton, have been helping with the costs of students’ transportation to and lodging at the convention since almost the beginning of this course offering. “I enjoy [the conference] enough that I’m willing to give people the opportunity to go,” says Orvin Voth. “It’s up to them what they get out of it.”

He notes that Pittcon can have a significant influence on students. Some have gotten interview experience at the conference, even job offers, and others have decided to change their career courses. . . .

Kauffman Museum – located across Main Street from the campus – has scheduled the following special programs in April and May. The public is invited free of charge.

Rachel Epp Buller ’96, Newton, adjunct assistant professor of art, will present “Looking at Protest Art” as the Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum program April 19 at 3:30 p.m. Epp Buller’s illustrated lecture will cap the closing day of the museum’s current special exhibition, “Hot & Cold: Images of America in Conflict.” The exhibit includes “Fallout,” a print created in 1960 by Bethel professor emeritus of art Bob Regier ’52, North Newton, that reflects the fear of a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War.

Kauffman Museum will celebrate Earth Day, Friday, April 24, with evening activities. Participants of all ages are invited to meet at the museum at 7:45 p.m. for an introduction to nighttime sounds and the creatures that make them by Bethel professor emeritus of biology Dwight Platt ’52, North Newton. After the 30-minute program, the group will walk Sand Creek Trail to listen, especially for sounds made by frogs and owls. The twilight hike ends at Memorial Grove with a campfire and marshmallow roast. At 9:30 p.m., Mabee Observatory in Krehbiel Science Center will open for night sky viewing with Tracy Tuttle, assistant professor of physics. (Those going on the walk should bring a flashlight and water bottle.)

On Friday, May 1, at 7 p.m., Bob Regier will present an illustrated program, “Mainstreets and Backroads: Celebrating the Ordinary,” in connection with the museum’s special exhibition of his photography, “Considering the Commonplace: Prairie Towns Through the Lens of Bob Regier.” The exhibit will be open to the public April 26-May 28, and again after Uncle Carl’s Camps are over, July 19-Oct. 4. Regier will repeat his talk Sunday, July 26, at 3:30 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 3, at 9 a.m. during Fall Festival.

New online form makes referring students easy

A new form on the Bethel Web site makes it easy for alumni and friends of the college to refer potential students to the Admissions Office.

Located at http://www.bethelks.edu/alumni/keep-in-touch/refer-a-student, the form requests information on first-time freshmen and transfer students from the U.S.

In addition to asking for basic information about the prospective student, it also requires that the person submitting the information identify himself or herself. The Admissions office will confirm each referral.

Alumni and friends are also welcome to e-mail information about prospective students – including international students – to admissions@bethelks.edu, or to call 1-800-522-1887 ext. 230 or (316) 284-5230.

Summer camps are for students of all ages

Bethel will again offer camps for students of all ages this summer, including the following:

  • a wide variety of sports camps between May 26 and July 9
  • Uncle Carl’s Camps at Kauffman Museum between June 1 and July 17
  • Summer Science Institute, June 7-12
  • Summer Music Camp, June 7-13
  • Broadway at Bethel, June 14-21
  • Money$kills Camp, June 15-19 for Grades 5-6, June 22-26 for Grades 7-8