beyond the green

As of today, the rest of my first semester of college will consist of a test and a final in Multivariable Math, an essay and a final in History of Civ, an essay and a final in College Issues Colloquy, and a final in Environmental Science. All of that is in the next two weeks. I’m not sure when I will have time to eat and sleep.

On a brighter note, when this semester is over interterm begins in January. Everyone says interterm is a lot of fun because you only take one class for the month and everyone has extra time. I’m taking Linear Methods and also doing observations in a classroom for Education credit so hopefully it will be a nice break from the craziness of the regular semester! Most of the study abroad trips are also during interterm, so groups will be in Mexico, Haiti, Jerusalem and other places. It will be interesting to see campus with less people here!

Bethel has just adopted a new tagline: Seek. Serve. Grow. We try to incorporate and encourage these three aspects into campus life daily. Service is of great importance at Bethel because I think it makes everyone feel good, and it also helps to promote community.

During the holiday season, it is often easy to find ways to help serve others. Currently, Bethel is holding a food drive on campus called the Harvest of Love offering. This act of service began the week before thanksgiving break and is still continuing now. This is a very local opportunity for students here on campus to make a big difference in a very easy and simplistic way. Students simply bring non-perishable food items to the Student Life office where they collect them to distribute to the local Newton community. Those of us students who attended Chapel, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving got to help kick off this offering by bringing our food items to the Chapel. Students from all over campus, in every aspect of campus life brought multiple items to give to our local community. So, if you plan to visit in the next couple of weeks, feel free to bring food for our offering of love, or in any case, be ready to be immersed in acts of service on campus.

This past Monday, I attended one of the most phenomenal Convocations of the school year. Convocation is a class at Bethel, which all students are required to take for all 8 semesters they attend BC. It is a class that has no homework, and only requires students to attend and stay awake. The class lasts for an hour, and is held twice a week.

During the class, Bethel brings in speakers or entertainers on a variety of topics and they get about forty minutes to speak, with at least an additional ten minutes for all students to ask questions. The topics range anywhere from the death penalty in Kansas (for those of you out of state, this is a pretty hot topic, as the Kansas Legislator is currently working on laws to permit the death penalty), to art, to having music groups come in and sing to us, to Biology. In any case, students undoubtedly find at least one Convo that they enjoy throughout the year, and our Convo this past Monday will definitely be mine!

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November has come and gone as I sit here composing this note on the Monday after Thanksgiving break. It was a transition month, as fall sports wound down and winter sports started up. The first basketball games have taken place and now the real season is getting into gear. Those in fall sports had their first taste of free time. The men’s and women’s ensembles at Bethel had their fall concerts (and what fantastic concerts they were!) and now all Bethel students are embarking upon that shared ritual of dread: the last two weeks of the semester when you scramble to finish projects and study for finals.

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After a joyful 2 days off for thanksgiving break, one would think that the Bethel College Junior Varsity girls might come out a little flat against Hesston college. Actually they did the opposite and they came out full of energy and ready to roll over the Larks of Hesston College.

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