Life Enrichment will take place on Thursday mornings for the 2022-23 school year instead of Wednesdays as it has in the past. The first sessions will be on Thursday, August 25. We are excited to bring Life Enrichment back to the Bethel campus!
The Life Enrichment series is planned especially for adults age 60 and over.
Since 1974, Bethel College has sponsored Life Enrichment, supported by volunteers, registration fees and the generosity of speakers who share their talent and expertise without compensation.
| Cost: | $30 per semester or $3 per week; first-time attendees get a free day |
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| Time: | Thursdays, 9:30 a.m.-11:50 a.m. for two-session dates; Thursdays, 9:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. for three-session dates |
| Location: | All sessions will be in Krehbiel Auditorium in Luyken Fine Arts Center on the Bethel campus |
| Lunch cost: | $6.50 full meal; $4.50 soup/salad/dessert. Please purchase tickets for lunch by 10:30 a.m. with cash, or check payable to “Aladdin Foods.” |
Donations help cover our costs for coffee and cookies. Lunch is served in the Shultz Student Center cafeteria "The Caf".
Schedule
August 25
| 9:30 a.m. | “The Thresher Way,” Jon C. Gering, president, and Megan Kershner, dean of vocational experiences, Bethel College |
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| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:50 a.m. | “Learning from the Kansas People,” Larry Hatteberg, TV anchor and photojournalist, Wichita |
September 1
| 9:30 a.m. | “The Contested Plains: The German Family Story,” Ken Spurgeon, Andover |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “A weather career predicting the unpredictable, and occasionally dangerous,” Steve Schurr, Newton |
| 11:30 a.m. | “The Highs and Lows of Grandparents Raising Grandkids,” Cindy Miles, MBA, founder of Parenting Again and Miles and Miles of Entrepreneurial Ventures, Wichita |
September 8
| 9:30 a.m. | “Little Arkansas Reservoir: The Lake that Never Was,” Brian D. Stucky, Goessel |
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| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:50 a.m. | “Life of Rodolphe Petter, a Swiss Missionary to America,” Weldon Schloneger, photographer and retired pastor, North Newton |
September 15
| 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 “Moses the Two-World Peacemaker,” Josué Coy Dick, Bethel College student in peace and conflict studies, North Newton |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “The Fate of Food – What Will We Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World?,” compiled by Jim Goering and presented by Mary Goering, North Newton |
| 11:30 a.m. | Mary Goering continues (double session) |
September 22
| 9:30 a.m. | “Astronomical Imaging in the Bethel College Mabee Observatory,” Roger Reimer, manager of the observatory and Bethel maintenance staff, Walton |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “The Hidden Gem: Carriage Factory Art Gallery,” Mary Lee-McDonald, gallery director, and Diana Torline, gallery board president |
| 11:30 a.m. | “Songs of the Flint Hills – From Wildflowers to Wild Horses,” Annie Wilson, Kansas Flint Hills Balladeer, Elmdale |
September 29
| 9:30 a.m. | “Ukraine: A Personal Perspective on People and Politics,” John McCabe-Juhnke, Bethel College professor emeritus of communication arts, and Karen McCabe-Juhnke, retired public school teacher, North Newton |
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| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:50 a.m. | “Where have all the pastors gone, and what can we do about it?,” Michele Hershberger, Bible and youth ministry professor and department chair, Hesston College |
October 6 No Life Enrichment – BC Fall Fest week
October 13
| 9:30 a.m. | “Creating a Haven for Birds in Your Backyard,” Gregg Friesen, Newton |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “Hopi Missions Today,” Kay Neff, Sedgwick |
| 11:30 a.m. | “Thriving at Any Age,” Dr. Jeanne Erickson, Rose Hill |
October 20
| 9:30 a.m. | “Soils for Life,” Isaac Broeckelman, USDA soil conservationist, Hutchinson |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “Mental Health is Health,” Eric Litwiller, director of development and communications, Mental Health Association of South-Central Kansas, Newton |
| 11:30 a.m. | “Playing Piano Duets – A Favorite Way to Create Music at Home in the 1800s,” Karen Bauman Schlabaugh, Bethel College professor emeritus of music, Newton, and Ben Woodward-Breckbill, pastor at Shalom Mennonite Church, Newton |
October 27
| 9:30 a.m. | “Eco-Arts-Spheres: Art as a pollinator creating transformative changes towards restoring the human relationship with the land and natural environment,” Ann Zerger, McPherson College professor emeritus, co-owner of Prairie Works Design Studios, artist, sculptor and educator, Moundridge |
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| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | 10:50 “Fresh Produce Orchardists, Market Growers and Truck Farmers,” Cindy Higgins, Eudora |
November 3
| 9:30 a.m. | “Brief Overview of Disease in Harvey County,” Skip Cowan, disease investigator, Newton |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | “Pioneer Bluffs: Center for Flint Hills Ranching Heritage,” Lynn Smith, Pioneer Bluffs executive director, Matfield Green |
| 11:30 a.m. | “Scenic Harvey County,” Bruce Regier, North Newton |
November 10
| 9:30 a.m. | “He saw… She saw… – Travel photography from two different perspectives, Mars vs. Venus,” Paul and Gail Bowen |
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| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:35 a.m. | 10:35 “Wildlife and Wild Weather in Kansas,” Eldon Clark, photographer and owner of Eldon’s Photography, Minneapolis |
| 11:30 a.m. | “How Has Music Enriched Our Lives?,” the Brain Flowers (Kenna Graber, flute, Rebecca Schloneger, violin, and Seth Girton, cello) |
November 17
| 9:30 a.m. | “Athena, Atlas and the Plight of Sisyphus,” Lisa Otter and Micki Fryhover, Newton |
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| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:50 a.m. | “Stop Watching TV News!,” Sierra Scott, TV host, KPTS-TV Channel 8, Wichita |
Life Enrichment Committee:
Gary Rediger, chair
Helen Nachtigal, vice-chair
Gloria Rediger
Byron Ediger
Judy Friesen