Hey guys! Sorry it has been so long; this semester has definitely been a busy one! Although my schedule has been very full this semester, I enjoyed a short weekend off campus at Camp Mennoscah. My church, Tabor Mennonite Church, was having our bi-annual weekend campout at Camp Mennoscah.

Smiling faces covered in taco salad and chocolate cake!

My family set out early Saturday afternoon. When we got to camp, we started moving into our cabin. We stayed in Sunrise this year. Members of our church stayed in the retreat center, in staff houses, or tents. We set off on a nature hike on Saturday afternoon. We found spiders, lizards, and many bugs. This is one of my favorite parts of camp: the opportunity to slow down and realize the beauty of nature that surrounds the camp. For supper, it is often a Camp Mennoscah tradition to eat taco salad without silverware or hands. My table decided to continue this tradition, and we ended up looking very messy! After supper, we left on a hayrack ride as the sun was setting. Our theme for the weekend was “Radical Hospitality.” We talked about ways that we can welcome all people into God’s family. Marlene Bogard was our speaker for the weekend. She spoke at both campfire and at our Sunday morning worship. After campfire, we got into a very competitive game of four-square. We ended the night with several hours of SCUM, a card game. We played late (or early!) into the night!

We woke up very early on Sunday morning to start cooking breakfast. My family and another family worked together to make sure that breakfast was ready to go for the rest of the hungry campers. After a worship service and some more four-square and wood tag, we decided to spend some time by the river. Camp Mennoscah is located along the Ninnescah River. There is a dam with a very pretty waterfall. I find this to be a very peaceful and relaxing location to just sit and take in the beauty. Soon after lunch, it was time to leave camp and head back to our busy lives, which had been so patiently waiting for us to return.

We live in a world filled with technology, and I often find myself surrounded by it. When we left for camp, I realized that I accidentally left my cell phone at home. As the weekend went on, I realized that it was a good thing for me to get away from technology to spend time with others building new relationships and strengthening others. It was so necessary to get away for a weekend and spend some quality time with my church family. This weekend away was a learning experience for me as I took some time to slow down and take note of the beauty that surrounds me.

This week was a crazy time on Bethel campus! For students, professors, maintenance, and anyone else connected with planning any part of fall fest. As a student, I love this time of year! Each day this past week I got more and more excited as there were more tents and chairs set up everyday (a big thank you to the people who helped with this). It got really difficult to focus on school work as the week went on. Who would want to read a text book when fall fest was so close??

For many students at Bethel the fun started Thursday evening with Taste of Newton. Instead of going to the caf for supper, many of us drove over to main street for the annual Newton celebration. A big section of main street was blocked off and was, instead, full of tents and tables with foods and other goods. There is always quite the variety of booths at Taste of Newton; a few that stood out to me were the fire pit for making smores, the homemade root beer stand, and the verenike booth. Verenike is my favorite thing to eat at Taste of Newton, but I also saw lots of other good foods: ice cream, chinese food, mexican food, corn on the cob, grilled chicken, and much more. There are normally great entertainment options also: dancers, martial art displays, and many different musical groups. It was a fun evening!

Next was the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) symposium. This started Friday afternoon and continued again Saturday morning. Three Bethel alumni presented on the topic of chemistry. I found what they had to say very interesting, but I was also reminded about how little I know about chemistry! Also on Saturday morning was the Kidron Bethel Country Breakfast to which my sister, a friend, and myself were invited by a lovely lady from my home church. Though it was early, it was definitely worth it! The dining hall at Kidron was filled with smiling faces and delicious breakfast foods!

Finally Bethel Fall Fest arrived! My first activity of the day was working the Bethel Social work booth. We were selling all sorts of good cookies and some awesome v-neck t shirts. Jacob Miller and I were quite the sales people! Next, I had half an hour to talk to millions of people and eat all the lunch I could. First, I got some zwiebach and then I ran over to the verenike booth. Thankfully my older brother was there to buy me and some others some delicious verenike! As I was quickly eating this, I went over to the culture shock booth to help serve curry. It seemed like the curry was quite a hit! After this, I took a few laps around all of the booths, stopped by the bookstore and Mojo’s, and then went over to the volleyball game.

Later I took a nap and then went over to a tail gate before the football game. Thanks to the Rudeen/Goering family for the food and fellowship! The football game was cold, but fun! The boys fought hard, but ended up losing. Finally I went over to Reba’s with some friends to listen to the Bethel jazz combo 1 perform.

Sunday morning I got up early to warm up for the Bethel college concert choir performance at Bethel College Mennonite Church. The church was very full and it was a great service! It was a great fall fest!

 My family does not live very far from Bethel… about twenty minutes to be exact.  So, when I heard Bethel was having a Family Weekend, I was not too excited. I can go home very easily and didn’t really see the point in inviting my family here for a special weekend. Because of this, I did not even bother telling my parents about family weekend. That is until about two days before, when I got an email about family weekend and decided I should at least forward it to my family. 

Little did I know! My parents were SUPER excited to come to family weekend! They called me up and wanted to know all about it. Honestly, I could not tell them much, but they said they would come for lunch the next day and then see what the rest of the day would bring. The next day around noon I met my parents and two younger sisters (Katrina is also attending Bethel) for lunch. My friend Katelyn Melgren also joined the Regehr family for that day. We were treated to an awesome lunch outside the Caf where many tables were set up. It was a great day for eating outside! Here is a picture that was taken by Vada Snider.

 After lunch we skipped over to Kauffman Museum (it was free admission for family weekend). Most of my family had been there before, but there was an awesome new display on the WPA, which stands for Work Progress Administration. The WPA was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Besides this new display, all of the year round displays were very interesting. We learned about Anabaptist history, the Mennonites journey from Europe to the Central Plains in the 1870’s, and many other cool things about countries from all over the world! Also, we saw many awesome pieces of Mennonite immigrant furniture. 

 Next, we ran over to Thresher Gym to watch the volleyball games. Bethel went up against Manhattan Christian in a close game, but ended up losing 2 matches to 3 matches. Then it was time for the family to head home.

 Next day, they were back! Bethel College Mennonite Church welcomed all students and their families to come and worship with them for the morning. After that, my family went over to the Caf for the brunch that was being offered. My dad, especially, greatly enjoyed the food! All in all it was a great weekend, and I think it can grow into quite the tradition for years to come!

Last night was the annual Christmas Gala. It felt a little weird having it in November, but that’s how the schedule fell this year. Gala is a night where most of the student body gets dressed up and eats a fancy dinner in Memorial Hall, which is turned into a winter wonderland for the evening. There were icicle lights hanging from the ceiling (which is an impressive feat considering the height of the ceiling), trees everywhere, and a nice little picturesque setting on the stage ready for photographs of everyone in their fancy clothes. I went with a group of friends and we all ate dinner together before going to the jazz concert. Jazz I and II give a fancy concert on Gala every year, and they are phenomenal. It’s also great because a lot of people come to the Gala concert who don’t usually come to jazz concerts, so it gets a different part of the student body excited about music. After the jazz concert there was a reception at the president’s house. There were cookies and hot chocolate and Santa Claus was ready for pictures. I didn’t take advantage of the Santa pictures, but the hot chocolate really hits the spot at that point. There were also horse-drawn carriage rides outside of the president’s house, but I’ve never gone on one because the line is always really long. Gala is a really fun way to celebrate the end of classes. Now we just have to get through finals week! Merry early Christmas!

Seasons Greetings everyone!

Christmas is just around the corner and if you’re a broke college  student like me, you might appreciate some gift advice. We all want to get that perfect gift for our loved ones, but sometimes we just don’t have the necessary funds.  With so many people to find gifts for, you may need other options rather than purchasing one for each.

There is a solution though, instead of buying expensive gifts for each person on your list, consider making a homemade one yourself. Most people are not going to want you to break the bank for them, but they will appreciate the time you took to make a personalized gift.

If you feel you’re just not that crafty, don’t worry there are many websites that have easy step-by-step instructions for making gifts. Pinterest is a great place to start, there are thousands of DIY ideas that you could use. Don’t rule out baked goods either, a nice food basket with cookies, candies, and other knick knacks is an inexpensive way to show someone you care.

Be sure to think about the personalities of each person, this has a large impact on the things you can include. Pay close attention to their hobbies and interests to get an idea of what items they might like.

Truly meaningful gifts don’t have to be expensive, they just need to show that you’ve taken the time to think about the person. Happy Holidays and good luck with your gift giving!

~Samantha

This last weekend marked another glorious Fall Festival. Despite the weather, many alumni, local newtonians, and visitors from in and around this great state of Kansas joined in the awesomeness. Lot’s of new years cookies, verinike, and kettle corn to fill those hungry tummies of ours. I personally helped feed a countless number of people with verinike by working the both at Fall Fest as well as the Taste of Newton.

Read More

Campus let out a collective sigh of relief on Monday. This past weekend was the annual Bethel College Fall Festival, which serves as a homecoming/fundraiser/fun time for everyone. Alumni run rampant on campus while their children are prepped to be the next generation of Threshers. It’s one of the biggest weekends for prospective to visit, with 40+ on campus on Friday and more throughout this week.

Fall Fest is scheduled around the first home football game in October, or sometimes the last one in September if the schedule is strange. It starts on the Thursday of that week with the Taste of Newton, an event in downtown Newton that brings blocks of food booths together. That’s always one of my favorite parts because it brings together the Bethel community and the Newton community. There’s all sorts of concerts and performances of local groups from jazz bands to the Azteca dancers.

Friday is kind of an awkward in-between day with the STEM symposium in the afternoon and classes cancelled in the afternoon. The theatre department’s Fall Fest production also starts on Friday evening.

Saturday is the big day of festivities on campus with a whole list of events and booths on campus. Student groups and a few outside organizations use Fall Fest as a major fundraiser. It’s a lot of food like the Taste of Newton. The festivities conclude on Sunday with a campus worship service at Bethel College Mennonite Church and the final production of the play or musical.

It’s quite a stressful weekend for students involved in those activities, but the rewards are great. Besides the fundraising from having so many people on campus it’s also a time to reconnect with recent alumni and family. And don’t forget the great food!

Last week campus was busy with volunteers from the community rushing around to prepare for the 42nd annual Fall Festival. Spots were staked, tents were assembled, and the anticipation for the weekend was all around. Bethel College was anxious to celebrate it’s 125th anniversary.

The event kicked off with the Taste of Newton on Thursday night, which I was able to attend for the first time this year. The past two years I had either basketball practice or to help work the volleyball games. It was a new experience for me, main street was full of people and the smells of delicious food filled the air.

Friday was busy as well, campus visit day brought with it a large amount of perspective students and athletic recruits. Afternoon classes were cancelled to allow students to attend the STEM Symposium, but also served as a time to catch up on homework before the busy weekend. I used this time to take a nap  (after homework of course).

On Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to find that it was raining, so I slipped on my polka dot rain boots and grabbed my umbrella before heading to the booths I was scheduled to work. As a radio show host for KBCU-FM 88.1, I volunteered to work the radio booth from 9-10, due to the rain however, we did not have one. I trudged back to my room knowing my family would soon be here to help work the Russian pancake booth for Women’s Basketball.

Luckily the rain disappeared and there was only a light sprinkle here and there. I worked the Russian pancake booth with my family and members of the team, then headed to the Collegian booth to sell newspaper subscriptions. When I was done I finally got to enjoy lunch and walk around.

Overall, I think the weekend was very successful. I got to see my family, talk with community members, and the weather did not put a damper on this year’s  Fall Fest.  I can officially say I’ve attended three Fall Festivals at Bethel and look forward to next year’s!

~Samantha

Walking outside yesterday I saw the beautiful colors of fall beginning to decorate our campus. There is this gorgeous tree outside the mods that is shedding gorgeous bright yellow leaves as we speak.Yes, it is finally fall and I could not be more excited. Along with the wonderful weather and colors that fall brings it also brings many exciting and fun festivities to the Bethel campus as well. The first one is fall break. Fall break was much needed for me, although I did not do anything particularly exciting or eventful, just being able to relax at home was just what I needed to get me rejuvenated to finish out the rest of the semester. The other exciting festivity was Taste of Newton and Fall Fest weekend. Taste of Newton was tasty (haha) as always, that included delicious verenika and apple dumplings.  Fall Fest was especially busy for me this year because I am not a part of SAA and Student Senate (I wasn’t last year) and so along with those new titles came more responsibilities with helping with booths on Saturday. Although the day started off not looking promising with the early morning rain and the clouds looming over, it turned out to be a wonderful day for the event. After helping with the booths I was still able to walk around and enjoy food, samples, the photo booth and other entertainment.

In the evening on Saturday then was the football game. Although it was sad to see them lose, it was fun to be in the stands with the students watching together. It was also a great honor at half time for the women’s tennis team to be recognized on the field for making it to Nationals for the fourth year in a row this past season. Other teams and individuals were also recognized: the men’s golf team for their award of the team’s overall GPA, as well as individuals from tennis, golf and track for their individual achievements.

This year has seem to have flown by so fast (which is partially why I am behind on my blogging, yikes), and I know it will continue to keep picking up speed, but I am so thankful to experience the fun and beauty of the fall along the way.