PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

IN PRAISE OF BETHEL’S HEROES AND HEROINES

Dear Alumni and Friends of Bethel College,

What is a hero and who is worthy of such a title? Joseph Campbell’s definitive work from comparative mythology 1 identified a hero as an individual who accepts a call to adventure, overcomes trials and tribulations, is reborn, and returns to share consolidated wisdom with the world. The hero’s journey is a monomyth that occurs across diverse cultures. It is a common template for novels and movies, and it always begins when the known world is threatened by a person or event.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a disruption to our known world and thus a clear call to adventure. Our faculty answered the call. They delivered courses in hybrid and online formats when it was necessary to do so. They faced the supreme ordeal of teaching in an unfamiliar world. Our nursing staff and student life staff answered the call. They provided care for students who were isolated and quarantined. The heroine was Geraldine Tyrell ’07, director of the Department of Nursing, who donned protective gear every day to check on our students even as she taught and led the department. As we conclude the Fall 2020 semester, I’m proud to tell you that Bethel College is full of heroes and heroines.

One may argue, of course, that Bethel’s location in south-central Kansas – removed from the metropolises – results in unusually high concentrations of heroic people. After all, nobody arrives at Bethel College with casual indifference.

People choose to be here. The journeys of alumni in this issue of Around the Green started in places such as Chicago, Queens, and Lincoln. All of them had good reasons to become Threshers. We’re celebrating them because they share their consolidated wisdom with the world.

I don’t mean to imply that they are at the end of their heroic journeys, for one can undertake many such journeys. However, George “Jolly” Rogers III ’69 does conclude his formal service to Bethel College in December. I join Wynn Goering ‘77 and many others in celebrating George’s remarkable, sustained contributions to Bethel.

While being saturated with news of unrest and turmoil, we are in great need of emotional stories on both a grand and small scale in which to share our universal values. I hope you find strength and wisdom in the stories presented on the following pages. The COVID-19 pandemic and the multilayered challenges of our current age provide all of us abundant opportunities to be a hero or heroine. I am confident that you, fellow Threshers, will continue to answer the call to adventure.

Yours on the journey,

JON C. GERING, PH.D. President