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president's column

Immersion education

by Barry C. Bartel '84

We were always told that the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in a setting where you have to speak it, and that certainly has been our experience.

Bethel College offers education by immersion. Immersion education means something different than exchanging e-mail through online courses; or getting swallowed up on a large campus where, paradoxically, more activities and more students mean less opportunity to participate; or reading the text and attending class as a numbered student in a sea of faces.

Rather, immersion education deepens each person’s experience through academic excellence, opportunities for participation, relationships that develop an intentional caring community and values inspired by personal faith and spiritual growth. Immersion education helps students develop as complete individuals by emphasizing the four ethics of our mission statement: discipleship, scholarship, service and integrity. As our mission statement affirms, “Bethel seeks to be a diverse community of learners, committed to the search for authentic faith and empirical understanding, and to provide (1) rigorous instruction in the liberal arts and selected career and professional areas; and (2) intellectual, cultural and spiritual leaders for the church and society.”

It is gratifying that the number of legacy students enrolled at Bethel College increased this year. Students whose sibling(s), parent(s) or grandparent(s) attended Bethel recognize the value of a Bethel education – of being immersed in education. Hand in hand with the increase in legacy students, the number of students in our target recruitment group, first-time freshmen, increased over 10 percent, from 108 to 119.

Yet we face challenges because overall enrollment dropped, largely because the number of transfer students did. We have studied the situation and see opportunities for better transfer recruitment strategies. The national economic crisis also affects our endowment earnings and may intensify the recruitment challenge as some students might assume they cannot afford an education like Bethel College offers.

Please help us spread the word that this is the time to invest in an immersion education like Bethel College offers.

We truly believe there is a high probability that a student will attend Bethel if 1) s/he visits campus to better understand what our campus offers and 2) a parent attends our presentation on financial aid. A campus visit allows us to show our strengths, helps a student sense whether Bethel is a good fit and allows us to demonstrate that a Bethel education is affordable.

When a coffee maker broke recently, someone commented that it seems like many things are built with planned obsolescence. An immersion education like Bethel offers is just the opposite. An immersion education provides a degree in a context that develops the skills to learn and adapt; it is an education that develops the whole person. For that reason, I believe choosing a college is really more important than choosing a major. Many people change majors, and many graduates change careers. Choosing Bethel College provides the deep immersion education that helps prepare students to adapt to whatever changes come.

The emphasis on service reflected in this issue of Context is one expression of the broader context of immersion that occurs at Bethel and that helps young adults prepare themselves for life’s journey. It is an honor to work alongside faculty and staff who see their positions at Bethel not as a job but as a calling. It is a privilege to count such dedicated people who receive Context among our friends and alumni. Thank you for your commitment to and support of Bethel and for the many ways in which you reflect service in your lives.