A Note from the Dean of Students
During Thanksgiving Weekend at Hesston College a parent asked me what the spiritual climate was with students on campus. How do you describe spiritual climate? Last night I attended Campus Worship. This service is planned and led by students under the guidance of Campus Pastor Kevin Wilder. I walked in as the worship team was leading singing. The seating was packed and I had to stand. A student shared about the difficulty his family was experiencing and changes he is struggling with at college. He referred to how the story of Job has made him aware that God is with him through all of this. The students then laid hands and him and prayed for him and his parents. The leader (a student) had students fill out cards with issues they needed to entrust to God. As the worship team led more songs, they placed the cards in a baby bassinet representing a manger.
I left the service touched and changed. That is the best way I can describe the spiritual climate on campus.
Campus Activities and campus
life photos
Student Life donut break and RA
chapel photos
Photos from
Thanksgiving Weekend
Devin Kelly, RA Kauffman Court 1A3
Hi! My name is Devin Ryan Kelly and I’m a White Lark. White Lark is my war name in basketball practice. This name is an unbreakable bond that is only shared with five other individuals. The names of these persons are; Kevin Stoltzfus, Trenton Deon Farris, Isaiah Helton, Camden James Jones, Tyler James Peachey and of course me. We have the most important job everyday and that is to make the black team the best that they can be. Believe it or not we give them more than they can handle. Basketball is a tough obstacle to triumph over. So we have a goal. That goal is to get better as a team everyday. We had to go through 5 weeks of conditioning, 3 days a week that started at 6:10 a.m. and ended at 7:30 a.m.. That was a struggle for all of us. We had players show up late to conditioning and we had players miss it all together. But Coach Swartzendruber is like an elephant because he never forgot and he made you run. You ran if you were a second or an hour late. But that’s Lark basketball!
 Listen
to home basketball games |
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| Fans of the Larks can listen to all Hesston College home games online or by telephone. To listen online, visit the Teamline site. To listen by phone, call 800-846-4700 and enter 5275 when asked for your team code. Check the men's and women's schedules for games and times. |
Aside from basketball there is mod life. I am more of a cool and calm R.A. I just told my mod-mates to make my job easy for me and we both would have a pretty good year. I’ve only had a couple of problems, but there will always be problems in any relationship. That’s just life. We play a lot of video games in our mod. It keeps the brain and body prepared for everyday activity. My Mod in 1A3 was pranked pretty good last year and we were attempted on earlier this year. All I know is that this year is going to be real fun, and I’m proud to have some brilliant freshmen.
Campus Ministries
My biggest observation about this year is that the students really like being together in small clusters. They enjoy playing cards, hanging out, watching movies, playing music, and talking. A lot of good conversations are happening in those clusters. It is highly unstructured, but very healthy. I refer to it as a grape year. The campus feels like a cluster of grapes with each little group being one grape. I don’t see this as a bad thing. It just means we need to be available and plan and create space for that interaction.
We have had a very good fall semester in chapel. We have offered
more forums and activities for chapel credit and our attendance has
been very good. Chapel highlights this fall have included Kevass Harding
(a minister from Wichita), faculty stories, Karmen Krahn (our Church-Leader-in-Residence
doing drama), and the amazing prisoners from Ellsworth prison doing
drama and sharing their stories. It has been a really good semester.
We have laughed, worshipped, and cried together.
We had really good attendance at Campus Worship until the school work
piled up after fall break. We have been doing a lot more of student-led
meditations and giving opportunities for silence, and for students
to write prayers, or to respond in small ways. We have four very talented
worship teams this semester. Students plan these services and do some
creative things with worship.
We always have small groups forming, stopping, and starting at Hesston, but do a big push at the beginning of each semester. We have a lot of students involved in mentoring this school year. We haven’t had as much interest in service projects, but students seem to be more interested in global issues and the election.
--Kevin Wilder
Campus Counseling
For the past nine years, I have had the privilege of serving as the Campus Counselor for Hesston College. I meet with students individually to talk about, well...to talk about whatever they want to talk about!
The issues students bring to a counseling session are as diverse as our students. Developmentally, an 18, 19, or 20-year-old is working on identity formation and relating to others. This means questions like "Who am I?" "What are my strengths or gifts?" "Why do I seem to make the same mistakes over and over?" "Will I really meet my future spouse here?" are normal, and developmentally appropriate. Just as common are problems that arise from being on their own, perhaps for the first time. Learning how to budget their time between attending classes, homework, socializing, campus worship, mod activities...did I mention socializing? Well, again this is necessary for healthy development, even though they don't receive credit for the 'late-night' hours spent at Newell's (a local cafe)! Also important is what they're learning about "HOW" to take care of themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Don't be surprised if your son or daughter comes home for Christmas break and you find them sleeping a lot. Unfortunately they really can't catch up on their sleep this way, but hopefully they are learning (from experience) that they truly function better with a good night's sleep.
I am also a parent of three children, two of whom are in college. I can relate to many of the feelings you have as you sent your son or daughter to Hesston--feelings of pride and excitement for their next adventure, but also some fear and perhaps anxiety about not having as much contact with them. There are times I may have the opportunity to encourage your son or daughter, to listen to them in a way that, as a parent, I can't hear my own children because of my relationship with them. I also know that many times what I might say is something you would say yourself if you were here! The irony is that sometimes it takes a stranger, someone neutral or objective to get their attention.
This is sacred work for me, having the opportunity to join young people in wrestling with issues of tremendous worth, sharing who they are and working towards fulfilling their dreams! If you ever have questions or concerns and would like to contact me you can reach me Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the Student Life Office. My phone number is 620-327-8238 and my email address is mollys@hesston.edu.
God's blessings to you and your families this holiday season!
--Molly Simmering
Take Your Best Shot!!! (Mod-Dodgeball)
Are you tough enough? Many of the male students at HC thought they were during the month of September, but only one mod stood the test!!!
In an attempt to encourage mod unity (and maybe even build a little rivalry amongst mods), a mod dodgeball tournament was organized by the Kauffman Court and Erb Hall men's RDs). The single elimination tournament took place in the CAC (Campus Activities Center), September 13, 20, and 27. The winning mods from Erb Hall bracket and Kauffman Court bracket squared off in a bitter, KC versus Erb Hall match, with the victorious mod winning mod dodgeball champion t-shirts and earning the privilege of taking on a team consisting of faculty and staff members in a best-of-five series.
Coming events |
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| Dec. | 18 | Residence Halls close at 10 a.m. |
| Jan. | 9 | Residence Halls open at 8 a.m. |
| 11 | Spring classes begin | |
| 21 | Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts presents Kansas Brass Quintet, Yost Center, 7:30 p.m. | |
| Feb. | 11-13 | Bel Canto Singers Winter Tour |
| 25-27 | RA Winter Retreat | |
So what happened? Aaron Wheeler, RA from 2B3, managed to escape some close calls and squeaked through the KC bracket. In the Erb Hall bracket, RA Brett Hartman and his modmates from E2WS dominated the action and won their bracket. Though E2WS definitely had the advantage as far as numbers go in the championship match between themselves and 2B3, the match turned out to be quite even. At first both teams battled back and forth, losing a player and then getting him back in by catching their opponent's ball. It was not long into the match before E2WS had 2B3 on the ropes. With only one dodgeballer remaining, the situation looked rather grim for 2B3, until amidst a flurry of dodgeballs, Elliott Miller, the lone 2B3 dodgeballer, managed to catch one of the balls heading his direction and in doing so got one of his teammates back in the match. Slowly but surely 2B3 continued to gain momentum by catching their opponents' balls, until they reached the point where they were even with E2WS. From there 2B3 went on attack, putting E2WS on the defensive for the first time in the match. In the end, E2WS wasn’t tough enough to hold off the revitalized 2B3 mod and ended up dropping the match.
The following Monday, 2B3 took on a faculty and staff team in a five match series. Despite being heavily outnumbered again against the faculty and staff team, 2B3 easily won the series.
Overall, the tournament was a huge success. Each of the matches had a good turnout and great rivalries were started. Already much anticipation is building for another tournament, either at the end of the current semester or the beginning of next semester.
--Chris Strong
Shop the Bookstore online
The Hesston College Bookstore is very pleased to announce that we are now on the web! We are located off the Hesston College main website (www.hesston.edu) on the quick link box - Bookstore or you can access directly by going to https://notes.hesston.edu/web/HCStore.nsf. Log on for those last minute Christmas gifts for your student or order
Student Life Contacts |
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| Lamar Roth | 620-327-8236 lamarr@hesston.edu |
| Wendy Goerzen | 620-327-8234 wendyg@hesston.edu |
In January we will also add balloons to our gift merchandise. Order a balloon bundle for your student.
Melissa Unruh, Hesston College Bookstore Manager, 620-327-8105