SUMMER 2019 Around the Green CONTENTS

BETHEL COLLEGE ALUMNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2019 Around THE Green CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 TAKE NOTE Highlights 6 FEATURE STORY Step by step 10 INQUIRY A partnership for prairie biodiversity 12 INTERIOR What the trail can teach 16 CAMPUS NEWS 29 CLASS NOTES ON THE COVER: In 2018, Katrina Horner ‘15 took on the Pacic Crest Trail, winding 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. 10 PHOTO BY BRYCE HOSTETLER Around the Green Photography SUMMER 2019 Taylor Brown, Vada Snider, Melanie Zuercher Join us on Facebook, Instagram, bethelks.edu Around the Green Twitter and YouTube. Editorial Board Bethel College Taylor Brown, Brad Kohlman, Erin Myrtle, 300 East 27th Street Brad Schmidt and Melanie Zuercher North Newton, KS 67117-1716 Class Notes Ben Lichti and Greta Hiebert Comments: [email protected] Class Notes: [email protected] FOR MORE NEWS AND EVENTS CHECK, Layout and Design bethelks.edu Erin Myrtle Published two times a year © 2019 Bethel College Bethel College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, gender, sexual orientation, parental or marital status, gender identity, gender expression, medical or genetic information, ethnic or national origins, citizenship status, veteran or military status, or disability. E-mail questions regarding Title IX to [email protected]. 19009 2 AROUND THE GREEN | BETHELKS.EDU EDITORIAL LIKE CLAY ON THE POTTER’S WHEEL Dear Alumni and Friends of Bethel College, With joy, I present Around the Green, the new Bethel to our education. Rejecting the strictly utilitarian and College alumni magazine. I want to thank Brad Schmidt ’88 materialistic outcomes of higher education, we instead strive (director of alumni engagement), Tricia Clark (director of for holistic wellness of our graduates. One of our new values institutional communication and marketing), Erin Myrtle is vocational discernment. We will guide students as they (communications coordinator of institutional communication consider the perennial question of what they should do and and marketing), and the editorial board for bringing their who they should be.1 creative ideas to reality. Around the Green represents one We also adopted a new emphasis in our mission way to be in fellowship with you; expect to receive it twice a statement: practical experiences in career pathways. During year in your mailbox. THRESHEReview, the online alumni the year-long discernment process, we studied colleges newsletter, will continue on a monthly delivery schedule. You that integrated student employment experiences into their can also anticipate an increased social media presence and a curricula. The students at these colleges reported higher new format for our annual report. Let us know how you are levels of personal satisfaction, increased retention to the doing by submitting an update at www.bethelks.edu/alumni- college, and excellent leadership skills. (Importantly for our update long-term goals, the students at these colleges graduated with This Summer 2019 issue of Around the Green conveys less student loan debt, on average, than students from other transformation and change. Often associated with loss, colleges in the United States.) change has a bad reputation. The death of a loved one or The triad of liberal arts, faith formation, and practical an accident, as examples, are often out of our control and experiences in career pathways are the essential conditions prompt abrupt, unwanted change. However, if we think – the sine qua non – of Christian higher education. This about the changes that we can control – how shall we style of education is known to increase human ourishing approach those scenarios? For the courage to change the (shalom) in our society. Students who walk that educational things we can, Henry Emerson Fosdick, a Presbyterian pastor path with us will alter society in ways consistent with our who opposed racism and injustice, wrote, “Christians are Anabaptist heritage. supposed to not merely to endure change, nor even to prot On the topic of paths, I hope you enjoy the stories of by it, but to cause it.” I offer the following simile to help personal transformation and change in the “Feature” section. us feel more comfortable about change, including recent Cassidy ’12, Ashley ’13, and Brad ’07 are living examples of updates to Bethel’s mission, vision, and values. how a Christian liberal arts education provides a backpack The process of institutional change is like clay on the of skills to navigate career changes. On their thru-hike of potter’s wheel. Even as you reshape the clay, you retain its the Pacic Crest Trail, Katrina Horner ’15 and Bryce elemental structure, and in the molecular sense, nothing Hostetler ’16 learned about condence and impermanence, changes. Bethel College is still rooted in Christian theology, and also concluded that humanity is good. sustained by Anabaptist distinctiveness, and guided by Humanity is good! Indeed, we help each other with Mennonite values. We warmly accept people and prize them Christian love as we undergo transformation and change in for their unique personalities, talents, and life experiences. our personal lives and institutional missions. Thank you for We believe in our unlimited capacity to love one another. everything you do for Bethel College. We hope to see you Our commitment to faith formation and the liberal arts is soon here on campus, around the Green, or wherever we unwavering. We retain our Anabaptist values of peace and may meet. justice, living in community, and high standards for behavior and performance. A Bethel education remains synonymous With warm blessings, with academic rigor and high expectations. What is new if the molecular structure of the clay remains the same? We’ve applied a gentle touch to the spinning clay to change its shape, which represents how the college serves students, families, church, and the broader society. Our new mission is to prepare students for meaningful lives of work JON C. GERING, PH.D. and service. The word meaningful conveys depth of purpose President 1Inspired by Schwen, M.R., and D.C. Bass, ed. Leading Lives That Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006. 563 pp. AROUND THE GREEN | SUMMER 2019 3 TAKE NOTE TAKE NOTE >> Six Thresher student-athletes have been named to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Aca- demic All-District® Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and given on the basis of combined academic and athletic achievement. On the At-Large First Team (“at-large” covers multiple spring sports) are graduating seniors Gabe Johnson, Abilene, and Connor Mickens, Meriden, in golf, and seniors Ryan LaCombe in men’s tennis and Kaci Wilson in women’s tennis. Earlier, graduating senior Riley Schmieder, Wellman, Iowa, and sophomore Abby Schmidt were named to the Women’s Basketball 2nd Team. >> For the second straight year, Sarah Balzer, senior, was the rst-place winner of Bethel’s C. Henry Smith Peace Oration contest, sponsored at Bethel by KIPCOR and overall by Mennonite Central Committee. Her speech, “A Voting Guide for Peacemakers Under Capitalism,” urges Christians to examine where and how they spend their money and if they are contributing to human rights violations and environmental degradation when they do so. From left, Austin Prouty, Elizabeth Ratzlaff, Alec Loganbill, Cassandra Voth and Neil Smucker >> Bethel and Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., signed a memo of under- standing that makes Bethel students eligible The Thresher Award is Bethel’s highest honor for academic achievement, to participate in the Washington Community given to graduating seniors for “outstanding and sustained contribution” to Scholars’ Center (WCSC), EMU’s cross-cultural an academic department or discipline. urban studies, internship and community Allison McFarland, Ph.D., professor of business administration, and David living experience in the U.S. capital. Kimberly Long, professor of art, were joint presenters of a Thresher Award to Austin Schmidt ’84 directs WCSC. Sophomore Jen Prouty, Newton, who completed a double major in business administration Andres is the rst Bethel student to take and graphic design. advantage of the opportunity, spending 10 weeks in D.C. from May-August 2019. Kip Wedel, Ph.D., associate professor of history and peace studies, gave a Thresher Award to Alec Loganbill, a history major from Hesston. >> There were 24 Thresher student-athletes who achieved NAIA Academic-All American William Eash, Ph.D., professor of music, gave a Thresher Award to Neil status, in men’s and women’s basketball, Smucker, North Newton, who is a double major in music and math. football, golf, men’s soccer, softball, men’s and Siobhán Scarry, Ph.D., associate professor of English, gave a Thresher Award women’s tennis, men’s track, and volleyball. to Elizabeth Ratzlaff, Moundridge, an English major. >>> Ben Jones ’96, Bethel events coordinator, was Dwight Krehbiel, Ph.D., professor of psychology, gave a Thresher Award to this year’s winner of the John O. ’29 and Cassandra Voth, a psychology major from Littleton, Colo. Esther Schrag ’38 Helping Hand Award, nominated by graduating senior Shavane Mor- rison, Trenton, N.J. 4 AROUND THE GREEN | BETHELKS.EDU TAKE NOTE >> Jaylon Scott was named the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in men’s basketball. He led the KCAC in total rebounds and steals during the regular season, which also earned him All-KCAC 3rd Team and All- Freshman Team honors. Kiesean Weiher joined Scott on the All- Freshman Team, making this the rst time Bethel has had two athletes so honored in one season. >> The 2019 Seth Dunn Memorial Award, >> Six students were awarded URICA >> The Bethel women’s basketball team set named for the Bethel senior who died in an Summer Fellowship grants for 2019 a record in 2018-19 for most wins in a accident in 2011, and given on the basis of (URICA stands for Undergraduate Research, season at 20.

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