Everything about Bethel College Kansas totally explained
Bethel College is a private college affiliated with
Mennonite Church USA. The college is located on the edge of the
Flint Hills and vast
wheat fields of south central
Kansas in the town of
North Newton. Enrollment at the college hovers around 600 students earning 27 different degrees in the
fine arts and
sciences.
Founded in 1887 and conferring its first four-year degrees in 1912, Bethel is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Starting in 1874, thousands of
Russian Mennonites began arriving in Kansas. Having a century of experience running their own schools, by 1882 they opened Emmental, a training school for teachers north of
Newton, Kansas. The school was moved to
Halstead, Kansas in 1883. A better site was found in North Newton, Kansas, and the cornerstone of the main building was laid on
1888-10-12. This structure, the current Administration Building, is on the
National Register of Historic Places. The Halstead school was closed for the 1892–1893 school year while it was relocated to the new site and reopened as Bethel College in 1893. Bethel College became the second institution of higher learning associated with the
General Conference Mennonite Church, replacing
Wadsworth Institute which had closed in 1878.
The programs at Bethel College are mostly made up of four core values, that contribute to everyday there as a student as well as a teacher. These values are shown and portrayed in a daily routine at this institution these values include; first, an ethic of
discipleship, one that notices Jesus Christ is the
Messiah and is also the model for the
Christian life and if is followed will depict a high level of commitment and conviction that's free, next is an ethic of
scholarship, one that believes in academics and the achievement that comes with it, as well as a logical out-come of intellectuality, presenting discipline and creativity, third, an ethic of service, one that shows concern for the powerless and is essential to the Christian ways and shows the importance of peacemaking and volunteering of services, finally an ethic of integrity, one that celebrates and rejoices in the connections between
spirit and mind,
faith and learning, individual and community, and fosters personal development through participation in all sorts of different activities.
Bethel College’s curriculum is founded on a very general type of education program within the liberal arts and
sciences and is mostly focused on students with a higher
academic ability. Certain elements include the requirements in the study of
religion and a cross-cultural experience. There are many majors offered within the traditional standards, including liberal arts disciplines and selected career areas and also accredited professional programs in
nursing,
social work, and teaching
education. There are many academic services, which can help in development that are offered for students and can provide needed skills to enhance student’s studies. As always, Bethel College’s students profile’s reflects its church and their
affiliation. At the same time the college values in diversity and different cultural backgrounds within it’s student population, Bethel searches for students to enroll with varieties of different
cultures,
ethnicities, and backgrounds with individuals desiring high-quality education for individuals .
Bethel College at a glance
- Bethel is the only Kansas college named in the top thirty midwestern Comprehensive Colleges by U.S. News & World Report (1998-2007)
- Bethel is a Templeton Character Building College
- Four year Liberal Arts College.
- The symbol of a cross, anchor, and heart symbolize values of faith hope and charity on the Bethel College Seal.
- This institution is located in a Christian community.
- Student-faculty ratio at Bethel College is 9:1. Average class size: 14.
- 81% of Bethel graduates complete their degrees in four years.
- 75% of Bethel's traditional age students live on campus.
- Job placement rate for teacher education graduates in 2004: 88%.
- Teacher education graduates who passed licensing exam in 2004: 100%.
- Nursing graduates who had jobs upon graduation in 2005:100%.
- Social work graduates who passed licensing exam in 2004: 100%; 10-year average: 100%.
- Bethel has qualified for the American Forensics Association's National Individual Events Tournament each year since its beginning in 1978.
- Biology and natural science graduates who successfully pursued PhD and/or M.D. degrees (over past 15 years): approx. 50%
- Bethel football was the 2006 and 2007 KCAC Co-champion.
- Bethel's president, Barry C. Bartel, is a former attorney who represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
History
The Bethel College campus is 90 acres in total and is a very big piece of land with lots of history behind it. During the 1880s there was a lot going on in Kansas the cities and towns competed with one another to create, build, and construct many institutions and buildings including colleges. There was a wide range of colleges that went up first before Bethel College had it’s chance, and on
May 11,
1887 representatives of the Newton community and the Kansas Conference of Mennonites came together and signed a charter for Bethel College to be build on a plot of about 120 acres. Some time over a year later on
October 12,
1888 somewhere around 2,500 people gathered on the property to lay the cornerstone of what is today the Administration Building of Bethel College. The dedication sermon was based on the Corinthians motto and it was placed on the seal, which now stands for Bethel College, and it’s values. This project took around five year to fully complete, the fund-raising to create the institution was slow, although finally on
September 20,
1893 there was a service of dedication held for the building to be opened and classes began.
Early on in the life of Bethel College, Cornelius H. Wedel, who was a young teacher was made Bethel College’s first president. There were 98 students, 77 men and 21 women ages 13 to mid-30s living on the west end of the main floor of the Administration Building which was also the ground floor. Wedel and his family lived on the east end of the Administration Building’s main floor. The classrooms were located on the second floor and there was a
chapel and
library of 600 volumes. In these earlier days the students were up by five in the morning and in bed by ten at night. Each student worked two hours a day at a
campus job. Student conduct was very strict around campus and was monitored very closely. Men and women were not allowed to be in the library during the same evenings; they alternated each evening. Five men, including the president, made up the first faculty and staff. They taught, the Bible, church history,
German,
English,
math,
science, and
music. Bethel College was known as a bilingual college until early 1918, when the U.S. entered the first world war and they were forced to remove German from the curriculum. As of 2008, Bethel is the only Mennonite college to offer German as a major.
The Administration Building was the main campus
structure until 1925 when the Science Hall was completed. The cornerstone for the Memorial hall was laid in 1938, and was completed in 1942. The
Art Center is another building that has been present for many years. In 1952 the Mennonite Library and Archives was built. The newest building today is the Thresher Stadium in the Thresher Sports Complex to accompany sports .
Academics
Bethel College’s academic program exposes students to three educational traditions: liberal arts, the church, and career preparation. General education courses give basic academic skills, providing a broad understanding of the social and natural world from the perspective of the liberal arts and sciences. Required Bible and religion classes give basic knowledge and enhance the values expressed by Bethel College. Required classes cover topics of peace, justice, conflict studies and cross-cultural learning. Bethel has recently been marred by multiple student/teacher sex scandals in the last few years.
Athletics
There are also many
sports that can be participated in at Bethel College. There is
basketball,
cross-country,
golf,
soccer,
football,
tennis,
track, and
volleyball. Bethel College takes their athletics very seriously as well as everything else they participate in and in the 2006-07 season three of their coaches were named
conference Coach of the Year. At Bethel College the athletes are very highly ranked as well; 89 student athletes have been named
American Scholar Athletes. The league at Bethel College, and their
team the Threshers have won more than 55 conference titles. During 1998-99 alone, six of the ten thresher teams won conference
championships (Sports). A strong quote was made by the athletic director at Bethel College, Diane Flickner, she said, “Intercollegiate athletics is an integral part of life at Bethel College. Thresher intercollegiate teams strive toward excellence in all of their goals. Success isn't defined simply by a winning
record but also by community involvement, the joy of playing, cooperation, friendships, skill
improvement and the pride of representing Bethel College. Student-athletes develop life long skills of teamwork, self-discipline and leadership in an environment committed to Christian higher education (Sports)” .
Bethel is a member of the
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference which is part of the
NAIA.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bethel College Kansas'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://bethel_college__kansas.totallyexplained.com">Bethel College (Kansas) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
