BethelParent A newsletter for parents of Bethel University students
n
Coming Home for Summer The end of the semester is near and soon students will be in the last push for finals week. Their days consist of finishing big projects and papers, studying for final exams, and spending the days before summer with friends. If your student is planning to be “home” for the summer, here are some tips that may help their re-entry into the family system. Before your child comes home, discuss plans for the first few days. Give them space to help them transition from college life to home life again. Students are often exhausted after the end of the semester. It is normal for them to need to catch up on sleep. Rather than set curfews or try to regulate their student’s sleep, some parents have found it useful to allow the student to set his or her own hours with the stipulation that the house is quiet and the car is in the garage between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Students will miss their college friends and may find it difficult to explain the 24-7, interdependent life they lived while at Bethel. Blessings on this transition! (Excerpted from http://www1.umn.edu/parent/adviceinvolvement/holiday-suggestions/index.html) n
Issue 54/Spring 2012
Parent Volunteers Wanted for Student Banquet
Help Your Student Prepare for Future Career
Interim Abroad Students Gain Lifechanging Experiences
Carrie Kishaba ’12
One of our fine Bethel traditions is the Spring Banquet, which takes place right before final exams. The entire student body dresses up and gathers in the SRC for a meal and program together. Parents have played a significant role in the past several years, and we need your help! “Last year, my parents This year’s banquet will be held on helped at the Spring BanSaturday, May 19. We ask parent volunquet. This showed me how, teers to help with set-up, serving, and even though I don’t live at clean-up, all while enjoying the comhome, they still want to be pany of other parents and interacting in my life and be involved with the students who are celebrating a in my experience here at successful year. Once the students are Bethel. I greatly appreciserved, we invite you to sit down and ated them taking a night enjoy dinner as our guests. to serve me and my peers. We need volunteers for the followIt was a great night that ing shifts: could not have happened • 24 parents to arrive at 5:30 p.m. without the help of the • 44 parents to arrive at 6:15 p.m. students’ parents.” • 80 parents to arrive at 6:40 p.m. —Micaella Petrich ’14 Clean-up should be complete by 8:30-8:45 p.m. If you are able to stay a bit longer to take down tables and chairs, your help will be greatly appreciated. Interested in volunteering at the 2012 Spring Banquet? Please register at bethel.edu/parents. n
Want to help your child prepare well for a future career? A summer job or internship is more than a paycheck. If these options are approached strategically, your student can maximize summer opportunities to build skills and explore career fields. While a college degree is important, employers also value an applicant’s experiences and skills. In a competitive economy, summer jobs and internships provide necessary experiences. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook Survey 2012, the top two skills that employers desire in applicants are team work and communication skills. Challenge your student to seek a summer position that will help prepare for his or her career.
Each January, Bethel offers many off-campus interim courses, most of which are open to students from any academic major. The courses are as diverse as exploring issues of social justice in Cambodia to learning about the history of science in Europe. This past January, 263 students participated in one of 14 offcampus programs. “Bethel interim courses are a great way for students to gain international experience and allow them to focus on a topic of interest that can be more meaningful to study on location,” says International Studies program coordinator Christina Chyerez. “Studying abroad over J-term or for a semester is the highlight of most students’ college experience and, most importantly, it pre pares them for the future.” One such student who was deeply affected by her interim course abroad is Taylor Rafferty. Rafferty, who will graduate next December, studied in Cambodia. She says, “I learned about Christian social justice in light of sex trafficking. God was so faithful in teaching me that yes, these issues are deeply broken and tragic and unjust, but He has a beautifully bizarre plan to redeem every last detail of it. And indeed, He will.” n
1) Begin early. Encourage your student to carefully consider what he or she would like to do after graduation and develop a realistic plan to achieve those goals. Heading to medical school? Consider volunteering or shadowing in the healthcare field. 2) Build relationships. Informational interviews are an excellent opportunity for your student to learn and receive advice from professionals. 3) Visit Career Services. We assist with career counseling, resumé and cover letters, mock interviews, and more! Students can call 651.638.6460 to schedule an appointment. n
Sarah Fowler ’12
Steps to Getting Started
Get Connected
Parents: Encourage your student to start networking now.
Encourage your student to “like” the Bethel University Alumni page, designed to help friends stay connected with Bethel University and with the greater Bethel community. Followers receive updates about what’s going on at Bethel and beyond! Is your student looking for a job or to network professionally with Bethel alumni? Suggest that he or she join the Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) Alumni group on Linkedin!
Mark Your Calendar! Faculty Recital: Stephen Self, Organ . . . . . . . April 17 Assessment Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 25 Symposium on Faith and Values . . . . . . . . . . April 26-27 A Midsummer Night’s Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 26-28 Faculty Recital: Juan Li, Piano, and Hong Wang, Cello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 28 Community Hymn Sing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 29 Chamber Ensembles Spring Concert . . . . . . . May 1 A Midsummer Night’s Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 2-5 Jazz in the Great Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 4 Classics in the Great Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 11 Handbell Ensemble Spring Concert . . . . . . . . May 13 Last Day of Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 18 Spring Banquet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 19 Final Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 21-May 25 (Please don’t schedule family vacations on these days.) Study Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 23 Senior/Parent Commencement Banquet . . . . . May 25 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26 1st Session of Summer Classes Begins . . . . . . . May 30 Bethel Golf Classic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 18
Alumni Survey Reveals Positive Impact of Private College
Helping Make College More Affordable Many families have felt the impact of these tough economic times. For many, choosing Bethel University means making sacrifices and taking on additional debt. Like your family, Bethel University has felt the strain of the recession, and has seen the increase in requests for financial aid as more College of Arts & Sciences students have demonstrated need in the past few years. According to Dan Nelson, Bethel’s vice president for admissions, financial aid, and retention, “In 2005, 2006, and 2007, twothirds of Bethel students demonstrated need. But since 2008, that number has grown to three-fourths of our students.” In response to this increased need, Bethel has enhanced its efforts to work with families and students—whether that means being a resource for opportunities for gifts and loans or to offer work study jobs. In the last four years, Bethel has increased significantly the amount of gift aid it distributes—from $18 million to $27 million—an increase of 50%. Says Nelson, “We don’t have a huge endowment. We have done great belt tightening, including freezing salaries and enacting spending reductions and reductions in work force.” The result? “We maintained enrollment and have weathered the storm by focusing on this strategy,” he says. Spring is the time when families and students are receiving financial aid packages. “We try to make our financial aid offers the best we can initially,” says Nelson. For more information about managing tuition costs, please visit cas.bethel.edu/financial-aid. n
When it comes to how colleges educate and prepare students to succeed, graduates of Minnesota’s private colleges, including Bethel University, give their alma maters more credit than do graduates of the region’s flagship public institutions. In new research conducted by Twin Cities-based Hardwick-Day, graduates of Minnesota’s private colleges report working more closely with faculty, graduating more often in four years, and more often linking their college education to developing a sense of purpose in life than do their public school counterparts. Read more at www. mnprivatecolleges.org. n
Survey: Tell us What you Think! Three times a year, the Bethel Parent is distributed to all current parents of Bethel students. We welcome your feedback or suggestions as we seek to improve our communication with you. Please take a few minutes to fill out the online survey at bethel.edu/parents. Click on “Bethel Parent Survey 2012.” n
All-
r d fo nside eede ils I rs N Deta ntee et – Volu Banqu g ent Par l Sprin oo Sch
Address Service Requested
Bethel University 3900 Bethel Drive St. Paul, MN 55112-6999
BethelParent
Nonprofit Organization US Postage PAID Twin Cities MN Permit No 899