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2008-06-17 issue:

150 more graduates add to 1,145 total

AMBS, Bethel College are final MC USA schools to hold commencements.

by Mary E. Klassen and Melanie Zuercher

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Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
May 24
26 graduates

With stories from his own ministry, Kyle Childress, pastor in Nacagdoches, Texas, challenged graduates of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., to discern what to support and what to resist in his commencement address on May 24.

Childress, pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church, said “When you say ‘yes’ to God, you had better be prepared to say ‘no’ to the powers.”

Of the 26 graduates, 10 have pastoral ministry assignments and five are seeking pastoral ministry assignments. Seven are involved in mission and service agencies as overseas workers, administrators or staff members. Others are pursuing chaplaincy and further graduate studies.

The service honored not only the 2008 graduates, but also graduates from 50 years ago and earlier.—Mary E. Klassen

Bethel College
May 25
124 graduates

Bethel College’s 115th commencement on May 25 was the most colorful in recent memory. A major factor was the setting, outdoors under a bright blue Kansas May sky—the first time commencement has ever been outside. The school is located in North Newton, Kan.

Another reason was an unusually high number of students from Africa. The 2008 graduates represented seven countries other than the United States, all of them African, with six students from Nigeria, three from Kenya, two from Tanzania and one each from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Niger and Togo. All but two of the students graduated with degrees in nursing.

Nursing students wore the traditional orange stoles to signify their degrees and the Nigerian students had green and white stoles in the colors of the Nigerian flag as well. In addition, as has been the case for the past number of years, Bethel’s African-American Alumni Association presented every African-American graduate with a multi-colored Kente cloth stole.

 In her commencement address entitled “Serious Fun,” Janine Wedel, a social anthropologist and a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., said life lessons can be learned from pranks.

“What I remember most is Bethel College’s common lore,” Wedel said. “The shared stories, many of which center around pranks on campus over the years. Cows have been known to visit the library. Cars appeared on top of buildings. Dining hall chairs have gone missing until finally discovered on a roof after weeks of us eating while sitting on the floor.”

She said pranks reflect the community’s sense of trust, require flexibility, creativity, teamwork, demonstrate a sense of adventure and curiosity, and indicate willingness to question rules and upend the “natural order.”—Melanie Zuercher

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