December 2015

Three Bethel students have qualified early to compete at the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET), to be held April 2-4, 2016, at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“This year, we already have three students and five events qualified,” said Mallory Marsh, head forensics coach, “continuing Bethel’s tradition of qualifying for the national tournament, for the 39th year in a row.

“For the sake of comparison, two years ago we had one student qualified in one event for AFA by the end of the first semester. Last year, we had one student qualified in two events.”

It took just two regional swing tournaments for junior Jacob Miller to qualify. In late September, Miller took first in After Dinner Speaking at a two-day swing tournament hosted by Hutchinson Community College and Sterling College. In early October, he was ADS champion at a swing tournament hosted by West Texas A&M and Kansas State University. Miller has also qualified in Impromptu Speaking and Informative Speaking for the national tournament. Read more

In early November, freshman Emily Kondziola, North Newton -- in her first semester competing for the Threshers -- qualified by taking first place in Extemporaneous Speaking at a swing tournament hosted by Tulsa Community College and Northeast Oklahoma University. Read more

In mid-November, Shekhinah Jones, sophomore from Salina who transferred this year from the University of Kansas, was a champion in Persuasion at the swing tournament hosted by Hastings College and the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Read more

Bethel College freshman Blake Overman is already making waves in local and regional vocal competition.

Overman, Peck, in his first semester studying with Soyoun Chun, Bethel assistant professor of music and instructor of voice, took first place in his division, Oct. 24 at the Tabor College Vocal Festival and Competition in Hillsboro.

Overman was the top singer among college freshmen and sophomore men.

A week later, Overman was one of two Bethel student vocalists to make the annual trip to the National Association of Teachers of Singing West Central Region conference and student auditions.

The event was held this year at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Oct. 30–31.

Overman placed 2nd in the Lower College/First Year Men Classical division, competing against singers from both small private colleges and large state universities in a region covering Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

On Oct. 31, six Bethel students on two teams competed in the North Central North American regional of the annual Intercollegiate Computer Programming Contest put on by the Association for Computing Machinery and sponsored by IBM.

The Bethel team calling themselves the Threshers included Tim Regier, senior from Newton, Yun Suk Kee, senior from South Korea, and Zach Preheim, junior from Peabody.

Mareike Bergen, junior from Moundridge; Matt Rodenberg, junior from Halstead, and Jordan Schroeder, sophomore from Newton, were The GrayMaroons.

“The Threshers got off to a fast start, solving a problem on their first attempt at the 0:29 minute mark, which temporarily put them in sixth place overall,” reported Bethel coach Karl Friesen ’86, adjunct assistant professor of computer science.

“However, that was the only problem they solved. As other teams solved multiple problems, they were able to overtake the Threshers.”

The Threshers finished in 51st place out of a field of 223 teams. The GrayMaroons also solved one problem at the 2:39 mark, which was good for 86th place overall.

The contest was hosted simultaneously by 15 satellite sites in the contest region, which includes Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Manitoba, the western half of Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Bethel competed at a site hosted by Garmin in Olathe.

“I was glad that both of our teams experienced some success in this contest,” Friesen added. “This year’s problem set was one of the more difficult ones, and both teams did a good job in selecting problems to work on.”

The unofficial contest results may be viewed online.

Bethel was among three schools in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) to lead the way in the number of Academic Team awards for 2014–15.

The KCAC announced its All-Academic Teams for the past school year Oct. 20. Teams with the highest grade point average in each sport are designated as conference champions.

For Bethel, that was softball, women’s soccer and men’s indoor track.

The KCAC All-Academic Team Award debuted in 2013–14, introduced by conference Faculty Athletics Representatives to highlight the most successful teams in the classroom.

Along with Bethel, Bethany College, Lindsborg, and Ottawa University were at the top with three teams apiece on the list.

The highest team GPA belongs to Bethel College men’s indoor track and field, at 3.850.

To be eligible, the cumulative GPA for student-athletes whose names appear on a team’s participation list must be above 2.75 on a 4.0 scale. All teams honored hold better than a 3.0 GPA.

Five Bethel volleyball players received post-season honors from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).

Athletic accolades for the Threshers in the 2015 season go to Ashley Dishon, senior from Horton, Emma Hilgenfeld, sophomore from Whitewater, Katie Neira, sophomore from San Antonio, Texas, and Amanda Ramsden, sophomore from Coquitlam, British Columbia, all named All-KCAC Honorable Mention.

Dishon, Hilgenfeld and Neira were All-KCAC in 2014 while Ramsden appears on the list for the first time.

In addition, Tia Goertzen, junior from Goessel, was named to the KCAC Champions of Character Team.

“Tia consistently provided leadership for the Threshers,” said head coach John Marble, “serving on the campus Champions of Character team and organizing the team Service Day project at Asbury Park [in Newton.]

“She was also the lead student for the fall blood drive and serves as a student ambassador [in Admissions].”

The NAIA Champions of Character program was designed to remind athletes, coaches and fans to act in relation to core values in all aspects of life. Champions of Character core values are integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.

“The Thresher Shop is very excited to announce the opening of their new e-commerce storefront at www.threshershop.com,” reports shop manager Casey Schunn ’14.

“Bethel College family, alumni and community members are notoriously busy and often unable to make it to campus during the weekdays, so Thresher Shop is bringing the store to you.

“Whether by computer or mobile device, the website provides easy access to the best Bethel College gear there is to offer. Get all your Christmas shopping done with just a few clicks.”

Payment can be made by credit card or via PayPal. Thresher Shop can also ship almost anywhere in the world.

If questions, email or call 316-283-2500 between 8 a.m.–5 p.m. CST Monday–Friday.

The Bethel College Women’s Association (BCWA) will again participate in the Newton-area “Five Places of Christmas,” this year 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. The women’s singing group Woven will give a brief on-site concert at 11:30 a.m.

The hallways of the Luyken Fine Arts Center will feature 200 nativities loaned to BCWA by 18 contributors. The nativities will be large and small, old and new, handmade and purchased, unique and ordinary. One table will be set aside for children to experience the nativities hands-on.

The event will feature a bake and homemade candy sale. Traditional Christmas delicacies will be available, including items for diabetics and those who are gluten free. A free cup of coffee will complement the purchase of a homemade cinnamon roll.

A gift shop will feature the embroidered Bethel College shopping tote, the popular threshing stone necklace, CDs, the Bethel limerick book, napkins, cookbooks, hand-crafted hot pad bowls and microwave potato bags, jewelry and other useful items.

“This year we will have a select group of RADA kitchen cutlery available,” said BCWA representative Judy Schrag ’67, Newton. “These items make perfect stocking stuffers.

“Join us for this free event and welcome the Christmas season!”

Kauffman Museum — along with the Bethel College Women’s Association, Warkentin House, the Harvey County Historical Museum and Carriage Factory Art Gallery — will once again celebrate the Five Places of Christmas. The museum will be open for the event 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Saturday, December 5.

At 11 a.m., museum director Annette LeZotte will give a Christmas-themed lecture titled “Day or Night? Two Paintings of Christ’s Nativity.”

“Throughout the day we’ll offer free refreshments and special bargains in the museum store,” LeZotte said.

“Looking for a gift for those who have everything and don’t need anything more? We’ll provide gift cards telling the recipients that you gave a library in a developing country a copy of our new children’s book ‘Museum Mysteries,’ or that you gave the gift of a field trip to Kauffman Museum through a donation to our Bring Back the Buses campaign!”

The Christmas event at the museum is free and open to the public. For more information, email or call 316-283-1612.

The name Jan Luyken, for whom the Fine Arts Center was renamed in 2014, might ring a bell with some Mennonites, at least those familiar with the “Martyrs Mirror.”

Luyken was a 17th-century Dutch engraver and illustrator. His copper etchings — 104 of them — can be found in the 1685 edition of Thieleman J. van Braght’s volume detailing the lives and violent deaths of Anabaptists who died for their faith in the movement’s early years.

Though himself a convert to Anabaptism, Luyken was not known in his time and among his peers for the “Martyrs Mirror” — and that’s the subject of the current exhibit in Bethel’s Regier Art Gallery, “Beyond the Martyrs’ Mirror: The Prints of Jan Luyken.”

Rachel Epp Buller, associate professor of visual art and design, and senior Bible and religion major Allie Shoup curated the exhibit, which opened Oct. 30. . . .

Although he is known in today’s Anabaptist communities for his iconic etchings in the “Martyrs Mirror,” Luyken produced more than 3,000 other works that included paintings (of which only a few survive), drawings, prints and poems. . . .

“Beyond the Martyrs’ Mirror: The Prints of Jan Luyken” will be open in the Regier Gallery through the end of the semester (Dec. 18). . . .

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

In addition to sending a year-end donation directly to Bethel in December, those shopping on Amazon this Christmas season can support the college when buying most of the same items through AmazonSmile.

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for people to support their favorite charitable organization every time they shop — at no cost to them. When customers shop AmazonSmile, they find the same prices, selection and shopping experience as Amazon.com with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a selected charitable organization.

To give to Bethel as you purchase gifts for others:

• visit AmazonSmile
• sign in
• click "Yes, change my charity" when prompted to change your charity to Bethel College
• and begin shopping!

Once you’ve selected Bethel College as your charity, everything else functions the same.

Shop for your favorite products or the perfect gift. Most products are eligible on AmazonSmile. If not, you’ll be notified. You can check out normally, as well. No extra cost is passed to you — Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of your purchase to Bethel College.

Give directly to Bethel through the Bethel College website, then bookmark smile.amazon.com as your starting page for Amazon purchases so Bethel benefits that way, too!

The annual mathematics alumni breakfast will be at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 26, at Mojo’s Coffee Bar in Schultz Student Center.

Those planning to attend should RSVP via e-mail by Friday, Dec. 18.