beyond the green

One of the activities I have enjoyed the most this year is being a writer for The Collegian, the student run newspaper on campus. We meet once a week to either critique a just-released issue or plan for the next issue, or both. The people involved with the newspaper are all really excited about what they do.

For a communications major or minor you can take Journalism Practicum as a class, or you can get paid to be on staff. As a math and science person, I fall into the latter category which is also nice because I get paid to write articles and I usually choose ones I know will be fun to write. It’s like getting paid to have a hobby!

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Who doesn’t love saving lives? Especially when there’s pizza involved. Well, at Bethel one of the ways that we show our appreciation for our fellow man is by showing up to donate blood. It must be hardwired into our Mennonite DNA (don’t worry, if you’re non-Mennonite you too can develop a deep appreciation for volunteering) to do what we can to make the world a better place, and one of those ways is by having a blood drive.

Who doesn’t love having Vietnamese food? Not the International club. They took a trip down to Wichita to eat at a delicious Viet restaurant and experience multiculturalism through their stomachs. It was rightly glorious.

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Tonight I’ll be vicariously involved in a special tradition that Bethel takes part of every year: the yearly KMEA concerts. This is the showcase for all musical groups, both high school and collegiate, that sing or play in the state of Kansas. And this year, of all the groups that could have been chosen, our very own concert choir achieved the very prestigious distinction of singing in the final slot on Friday night. This means that in the eyes of the KMEA, the Bethel College concert choir is the best choir in all of Kansas, better than any of the KCAC, better than Newman or any of the other Division II schools, and even better than the three Division I schools that are located in Kansas.

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As part of the Service Learning Scholarship from Bethel, I volunteer as a nurse’s aide in the surgical department of the Newton Medical Center. I put in 60 hours a semester, which works out to about five hours per week. This year, I’m volunteering from 6-10:30 am every Thursday. It means that I have to wake up at about 5:00 am, which is less than ideal, but it’s really the only time that I can fit in such a large chunk of time. It helps that I absolutely love every minute of volunteering at the hospital. It’s a great way to gain experience in the medical field. Occasionally the head nurse is able to get me into the surgical suites to view procedures. I’ve seen a knee replacement, parathyroidectomy (removal of a parathyroid gland), hernia repair and several heart catheterizations. The doctors have always been very good at pointing out different anatomical landmarks and making sure that I can see exactly what they’re doing, to the point of pulling up a stool for me (I’m pretty short) and letting me peer over their shoulder. It’s an unparalleled rush, seeing the inner workings of the body displayed less than two feet away.

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Although the women’s basketball game on Thursday, February 18 did not end on a high note, it is a night that the six seniors will remember and cherish forever. It was the night of our last home game in the regular season, and it was a night of honor.

The six seniors were recognized for their hard work on and off the court through their time at Bethel. The night may have not gone according to plan, but the togetherness that the six seniors have built through the years showed as they huddled together one last time at the center of the court.