BIFL (bif-uhl) stands for Basic Issues of Faith and Life. BIFL is a 400 level Bible course that all seniors are required to take sometime during their final year at Bethel. In a sense, I guess you could say that it is the senior exit course. This class meets twice a week for 2 hours each day to discuss books and topics, and then figure out how we can apply them to our lives today. Professors take turns teaching the course each semester.

There are two main things that BIFL is known for…1) the BIFL Oral Exam and 2) The Credo Paper. Yesterday was my oral exam. I was really nervous going into it, primarily because of the fact that I didn’t know what to expect. All of the people who have graduated in past years that I talked to told me that it really wasn’t bad, but hearing that didn’t exactly ease my nerves.

Here’s  a brief rundown of how BIFL Orals work: Each year, professors meet together and pick a book of the Bible to cover and one additional book that all seniors will read. (We read many other books as well, but those selections are up to the individual professors who are teaching the course that semester.) The Orals are designed to be like a conversation between two students and two faculty members. They ask us questions about the book of the Bible, which in this case was Hosea, and the book that we read, “Fidelity” by Wendell Berry.  A lot of the questions that the faculty members ask are related to themes in the books or how we can apply these books to our lives today. The Oral exam is a pass/fail deal, and you must pass in order to graduate from Bethel College.

Yes, I know. This all sounds really intense. That’s exactly what I thought too. However, now that I look back on my experience yesterday, it wasn’t too bad. Sure, there were questions that were tough and that I didn’t exactly know how to answer, but that’s the goal. The faculty want us to be critical thinkers and learn how to communicate our thoughts effectively. That’s part of the Bethel goal.

We are now four weeks into school and it feels like it has been much longer! Classes are keeping me very busy, but I am enjoying them so much. One of my favorites right now is a class called Teaching the Expressive Arts. It involves learning about how to use art, music, drama, and PE in the classroom to enhance student learning. It is a class that meets from 1-4 p.m. once a week and we get to spend from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. working with elementary school students. They are always so excited when our class goes to their school. My most memorable day so far is probably the first day of class when the kindergardeners gave us tours of their school. Every week, I am spending at least four hours in a classroom somewhere in Newton and that continues to be the highlight of my year so far.

Outside of classes, everything has been going exceptionally well. The girls in our mod this year are all wonderful. I have a new roommate who is a transfer student from K-State. I am continually suprised with how well we get along. Getting to know some of my new modmates and continuing relationships with my modmates from last year has been a lot of fun and having that support system has been awesome. The 9 of us are all pretty busy. The majors among us are a wide range. Just to name a few we have math, nursing, psychology, social work, communication arts and education. We don’t get to see each other too much, but when we do, it is a blast.

So…. Better late than never is the saying…right? As far as things go I am not technically late, but just later than the others. Let me start out by introducing myself.I am Erin Bradley, a junior from Newton, majoring in Communication Arts. Currently I participate in track and newspaper. I am editor-in-chief of the newspaper, The Collegian, along with Justin Baldia. I throw for the track team, I enjoy it and have been participating since my freshman year of high school and wanted to continue so I came to Bethel. I am also a resident assistant in Haury Resident Hall. I am a minority mentor for the Multicultural Student Union. My long term goals are to be a journalist in a magazine. I love working with design, and writing peoples stories and sharing them with people. This is also partially the reason I blog, to get experience for the future.I am super excited today because the first issue of The Collegian went out today. We are

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent a couple of weeks at Bethel visiting with my friends who are remaining on campus this semester (which was all but 3 of them). However, I am now back home in the great city of San Antonio, Texas.

My adventure in Greece starts on Sunday (Sept. 16)and I find myself feeling similarly to the days leading up to the start of school in years past. I have a few definite details, like where I will be traveling and staying, but for the most part, the next semester is just a big pile of unknowns. As scary as this experience seems to me when I think about it, it’s really not too horribly different from when I started Bethel. I don’t really know anyone; I don’t really know the location; I don’t really know what’s coming. Remembering that very little of the circumstances surrounding my Greek adventure are different from my Bethel adventure that I set out on two years ago is comforting.

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Hello good folks of the blogosphere.

I am Ben Kreider, a hometown boy from North Newton, Kansas, a sophomore and an excited blogger. I am majoring in Social Work and Bible & Religion – both areas that stimulate me intellectually and vocationally. I find myself captivated by many things here at Bethel College. I am a soccer player – from the center defender position I survey the field, careen into opposing players, and find great joy. I am a singer; In the Concert Choir, I focus my bass voice onto particular notes and rhythms and in conjunction with fifty or so other folks find transcendent harmonies. I am a member or at least onlooker in many groups, in clubs with fellow social work students or people wanting to make social change, in the chapel worshiping with the wider college community, at the lunch table feasting on food and conversation.

I am intrigued by the possibility of telling the stories of my experiences at Bethel, of letting you all into the little beautiful crannies of life, of sharing the ordinary and extraordinary with you.

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Hi, my name is Madelyn Weaver, and this will be my first year blogging. I am a sophomore here at Bethel majoring in Social Work and minoring in Management, as well as playing tennis for the women’s tennis team. I am from Hesston, Kan. seven miles down the road which I love because it’s close enough that I can go home often to see family and do my laundry but far enough away that I feel like I am living in a completely different area.

So classes have been going for about one and a half weeks and this school year is a year full of changes for us. Of course new freshman and transfers, and many new faculty, but many new building changes as well. The newly completely renovated Schulz Student Center is now up and running and it’s amazing. It has lots of classrooms and offices but also includes computer labs and places where you can sit and socialize or study as well as a kitchen.

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Hi, my name is Rebecca Trumble. I’m a junior from Newton, Kan. and am an Elementary Education major with a special education liscensure. I’m also involved in a lot of music things here at Bethel. I play trombone in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble I, and soon will be playing in the Jazz Combo II. The Student Alumni Association and the Student Ambassador program are a couple other things I’m also invovled in.

Since I’m an El. Ed. major I really enjoy working with kids and had the opportunity to spend a second summer working on staff at Swan Lake Christian Camp in South Dakota. Being at camp was so exhausting at times but it was worth every moment. One our longest but most memorable days of the summer was the morning we had to wake up at 4am to help with staffing at the Swan Lake Marathon. We had marathoners come to camp from all over the United States. It was pretty cool to get the chance to eat meals with them, worship with them, and hear their stories.

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Hello all! I am Cris Nelson, and I will be a junior this year at Bethel College. I grew up in the neighborhood, spending three years living in North Newton from the 4th grade on up to the end of my 6th grade year. I attended high school at Wichita Heights for four years, all the while making frequent trips back to North Newton to see friends and attend Bethel College Mennonite Church. My mother and my grandmother both used to be members of the church until they moved to Marietta, GA not to long before I would set off for my freshman college. My father and my sister both joined them in the trek to their new digs and took my two dogs, Bear and Shadow with them. Though I have not been to Georgia for any extended amount of time, it is where my family resides and thus my home, though it did not take long for me to find a second home here at Bethel.

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Hi! My name is Kristin Unruh. I am a senior here at Bethel, majoring in Elementary Education and receiving a Special Education endorsement. I have always had a heart for working with children and I come from a family of teachers, so it wasn’t a surprise to my family and friends when I decided to major in Elementary Education. Throughout college, I have been involved in Women’s Chorus, Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir, College Buddies participant and now coordinator, Student Activities Committee, Student Alumni Association, and the Student Ambassador program.

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Well, I’m done. Graduation Sunday was last weekend. It was a really nice day – warm but not unbearable, and just breezy enough to keep us cool, but not blow our mortarboards off! Everyone moved out on Monday, which was not a particularly enjoyable experience, mostly because I knew I wouldn’t be coming back to Bethel.

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