The Clarion_November 2021 by The Clarion

Hospital mandates polarize nursing department

Bethel launches The 25 program

Chris Gehrz publishes his first solo book

NOV. 2021

Experts and amateurs Intramural sports provide a place for students to play volleyball, soccer and basketball in a friendly setting.

Photo by Toby Ryberg

On the cover: Photo by Toby Ryberg

‘God was my CEO’

Sustainable swaps on a college budget

Entrepreneurs Rachel and Jake Beaudry create a one-of-a-kind protein bar and give back to nonprofits.

Here are some cheap sustainable swaps you can make to limit single-use plastic, reduce your carbon footprint and save those turtles.

by Hannah Hunhoff 20 Story Design by Joy Sporleder

by Makenzi Johnson 24 Story Design by Gretta Nathe

Photos by Molly Longtin

Professor Kenneth Steinbach discusses his work on display in the Johnson gallery | Photo by Bryson Rosell

‘Not thinking, just making’

The game is only half of it

Opinion:

It’s not only the students. Bethel art professors make things, too.

Bethel’s soccer team shares about the unique culture that makes the team a family.

Sarah Bakeman has no idea what she’s doing

by Makenzi Johnson 26 Story Design by Hannah Hobus Photos by contributers

Story by Maya Spinler Design by Davis McElmurry Photos by Mild Du

Pay to play

Experts and amateurs

Bethel University can’t offer scholarships, hundred-million dollar facilities or 50,000 screaming fans at every home game, but continues to draw in high caliber athletes.

Intramural sports provide a place for students to play volleyball, soccer and basketball in a friendly setting.

by Molly Wilson 38 Story Design by Alexa Vos

Story by Caden Christiansen Design by Hannah Hobus Photos by Jane You

Story by Sarah Bakeman Design by Joy Sporleder

Not allowed to be happy

Story by Makenzi Johnson Design by Aimee Kuiper

A taste of COVID

Story by Hannah Bronner Design by Spencer Vang

Photos by Toby Ryberg N O V. 2 0 2 1

From the Editor

Rachel Blood Editor-in-Chief rachel-blood@bethel.edu

The butterfly effect

n eighth grade, I read Ray Bradbury’s “The Sound of Thunder” and came to the conclusion that if I stepped on a butterfly, the trajectory of the entire timeline as we know it would change and we would end up under a ruthless dictatorship two centuries later. That probably wasn’t true, but the idea of the butterfly effect has stuck with me ever since: that the smallest action can create a ripple effect that changes the entirety of the future. What a terrifying prospect. Does each choice we make create an alternate timeline? Does every decision change the person who we’ll turn out to be in 10 years? Does every little choice matter?

It was a choice for these people to share their stories with us. It was our choice to tell them.

We have a tendency to dwell in the “what-ifs” and imagine our lives would be better on the other side of past decisions. We all relate just a little bit to Robert Frost – what would have happened if we took that other road in the yellow wood?

Perhaps that classic Bradbury short story is the reason I’m so indecisive. I’m indecisive about everything from whether I want to stay within the safety of the education system in graduate school to which pair of no-longer-white sneakers I want to wear with today’s T-shirt and jeans. But if we want to avoid stagnancy and finally

progress, we have to choose to make the choice. Sometimes I make the wrong choice, like brainstorming topics for this letter instead of writing my field report on loggerhead turtle endangerment for Environmental Writing. Sometimes I make the right choice, like going to Bethel instead of a school whose mascot is a literal cob of corn (sorry, Mom and Dad). But if I never made those decisions at all, I’d still be living in a constant state of wondering and self-doubt, and I definitely don’t think that’s more fun than being in college and going to Target for a bag of pepperoni at 9 p.m. on a Monday. The subjects of the stories within these pages have all made life-altering choices. Some big and some small, some that change the trajectories of lives and some that change the trajectories of a single week. But all of them made a decision to choose. It was a choice to require the COVID-19 vaccine in certain departments, a choice to fight mandates, a choice to attend Bethel instead of a D1 school for athletics, a choice to donate profits to nonprofits, a choice to be sustainable. It was a choice for these people to share their stories with us. It was our choice to tell them. I hope you choose to open this magazine. I hope you choose to let these stories sit with you and alter the trajectories of your hearts. I hope you choose to make the choice. C

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Clarion Staff Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood

Lifestyle Reporter Hannah Hunhoff

Managing Editor Soraya Keiser

Sports Editor Caden Christiansen

Copy Editor Morgan Day

Section Designer Alexa Vos

Art Director Bryson Rosell

Section Designer Davis McElmurry

Photo Editor Hannah Hobus

Illustrator Joy Sporleder

News Editor Sarah Bakeman

Staff Photographer Molly Longtin

Lifestyle Editor Makenzi Johnson Hannah Bronner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contributing Writer Maya Spinler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contributing Writer Julia Van Geest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contributing Writer Molly Wilson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contributing Writer Gretta Nathe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Designer Spencer Vang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Designer Aimee Kuiper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Illustrator Mild Du. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Photographer Toby Ryberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Photographer Andrew Wittenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Photographer Jane You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contributing Photographer Mia B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Staff Dog Kindre Radloff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Business Manager Makenzie Enderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marketing Director Eli Barlue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sales Director Ariel Dunleavy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Media and Website Manager

Have a response to a story in this issue?

Want to write for the Clarion?

Email Editor-in-Chief Rachel Blood at rachel-blood@bethel.edu with questions, thoughts or concerns or drop by the Clarion newsroom during community time Tuesdays and Thursdays to speak with a Clarion staff member.

Email our Managing Editor Soraya Keiser at sok32884@bethel.edu and she'll get you connected.

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Hospital mandates polarize nursing department Nursing students and faculty grapple with ongoing struggles regarding vaccines, exemptions and getting back into hospital settings.

By Sarah Bakeman

s the Bethel University Nursing Department prepared for the 2021-22 academic year, faculty sent emails to nursing students seeking exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine. The email told students that if they could not receive exemptions from clinical hospitals, they had three options: take a year-long break from the nursing program to allow for further research, change majors or get the vaccine. A senior nursing student who has asked to remain anonymous for fear of backlash from faculty remembers the moment she received that email. She sat on a yoga mat, cell phone in hand and tears streaming down her face. As the gym-goers around her continued their workouts, her

mother’s comforting voice rang through her headphones. Which vaccine do I get? When should I come home to get it? Are there really no other options? As she finished setting up a September vaccine appointment, another notification came in. This time, it was from GroupMe. A new chat had been made by another senior nursing student, who wishes to remain anonymous for the same reason. Scrolling through the chat, she forgot about her workout. She realized she was one of 10 known seniors who had yet to be vaccinated, and they were going to stick together. Anxious tears turned into tears of relief, and she cancelled the appointment. N O V. 2 0 2 1

“I felt like I was the only one left in the whole program who hadn’t [been vaccinated],” she said. “There’s a lot of power in having more people to back you up and knowing you’re not crazy.” With COVID-19 hitting in the spring of her sophomore year, the anonymous source has learned to be a nurse in the midst of a pandemic.

“

I was either ready to be done with nursing or to just get [the vaccine] and be done with it and pray that nothing bad happened to me.

”

- Anonymous

When students were sent home in March 2020, the nursing program and its faculty had to adapt. Clinicals, which provide hands-on experience in hospitals, start during junior year of the nursing program and are required for graduation. Online simulations temporarily filled the role of clinical experiences, and students were occasionally asked to test aspects of family members’ health, such as deep tendon reflexes. “I think our major was the most impacted because you can’t … get hands on nursing over the computer,” the anonymous source said. Getting students back into clinical settings for the 2020-21 academic year meant following the guidelines the hospitals and Bethel had set in place. Masks. Getting

Luke Haider | Photo by Andrew Wittenberg

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tested. No contact with COVID-19 patients. Then vaccines were developed, and things got a little easier for vaccinated students and more complicated for those opposed to vaccinations. Nursing Department Chair Diane Dahl spent her summer awaiting a consistent vaccine policy throughout various clinical agencies. Mayo Clinic released its own policy in August. Then, one after another, agencies began releasing individual policies, often inconsistent with the hospitals before them. “It wasn’t what they said they were going to do,” Dahl said. “I thought that it would be great if we could have one way... but they really need to care about their own healthcare workers, and they have to make sure the policy fits them first.” The inconsistent policies were met with even more inconsistent responses. Professor of Nursing Dave Muhovich has observed two sides of an emerging debate at Bethel. “I know that there are people who don’t believe in the immunization of COVID among both students and faculty,” Muhovich said.

Joy Olson | Photo by Andrew Wittenburg

As Bethel Student Nursing Association Student Leader Luke Haider attended meetings and events for nursing students, the division did not present itself in verbal arguments. Instead, students carefully decided who they would associate themselves with. “You have one side that chose not to get vaccinated, and they don’t want to be vocal about that, because that’s part of their physical health choices,” Haider said. “The other side doesn’t want to cause more controversy and are in support of the mandate. That has been the set standard, so I guess they don’t need to be as vocal.” The 10 united seniors have a variety of reasons for not getting vaccinated. They share concerns about fertility and the extent of research on the vaccine. They see this decision as a private, personal health choice. Although approved for emergency usage in December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Aug. 23. “In class, we learn so much about why, as a nurse, you need to respect your patients’ medical autonomy,” the anonymous source said. “Where did our medical autonomy go?”

Muhovich understands the want for medical autonomy, as he has taught it and lived it in his nursing experience. “Yes, this vaccine was developed more quickly than most … that doesn’t mean there’s no risk. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some side effects,” Muhovich said. “But the scientific evidence that the vaccine is much less risky than giving COVID to all populations is unequivocal. Individuals are still allowed to object to that, to not believe the science.” Although neither Bethel University nor its nursing program has required the COVID-19 vaccine for students, many of the agencies that Bethel uses for clinicals have taken that step. These hospital man-

“

In class, we learn so much about why, as a nurse, you need to respect your patients’ medical autonomy. Where did our medical autonomy go?

”

– Anonymous

dates don’t necessarily mean unvaccinated nursing students need to switch their majors. All of the agencies are allowing medical exemptions, with the exception of Children’s Minnesota Hospital. In order to obtain exemption, students require a history of not receiving other vaccinations. In other words, they must prove they’ve always been opposed to vaccines, long before COVID-19. “The students cannot be a nursing student if they aren’t current in all of their other N O V. 2 0 2 1

immunizations,” Muhovich said. “So any resistance is just to this COVID [immunization].” Unvaccinated students are left with one option: a personal, or “religious,” exemption. Some agencies review these exemptions themselves. Others leave Bethel to make the decision. Either way, students are left waiting for a verdict on their academic future. “We were pleased that they would consider student exemptions,” Dahl said. “We had no idea how they would view them … We have a few that are outstanding, but most of our students that have requested religious exemptions have received them.” For the time being, clinical agencies and Bethel faculty are doing what they can to get students into hospital settings. However, Dahl cannot guarantee this will always be the case. “We don’t know about next semester, and we don’t know about tomorrow,” she said. “It depends on what happens with COVID, and the agencies dictate what we have to do. When they say jump, we jump.” As an uncertain senior year approached, the anonymous student considered transferring to local schools, such as Northwestern University, where the policy is similar to Bethel, or across the country to Florida, where restrictions are looser. If she stayed at Bethel, she knew she had two options: either get vaccinated or hold off and hope she could finish the year and graduate. Despite considering other schools, the nursing student decided to complete her senior year at Bethel.

Joy Olson | Photo by Andrew Wittenburg

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“I’ve worked too hard for the grades that I’ve gotten, for the involvement I’ve had at Bethel, for the friends that I have here to switch schools,” she said. “[Transferring] wasn’t the right decision for me, but I still encourage the rest of the [nursing students] to pursue it if they want.” Because online clinical simulations are no longer an option for Bethel students, agencies barring exemptions entirely would force unvaccinated students to make a difficult choice: either get vaccinated or start fresh with a new major. The creator of the unvaccinated seniors’ group chat has submitted two exemptions to two separate agencies. After struggling to find an exemption form for the second agency, she continues to wait for a response. Students were informed via email that they must be vaccinated or have their exemptions approved by Oct. 1.

Luke Haider | Photo by Andrew Wittenberg

“I was supposed to get vaccinated … so they technically can kick me out of nursing right now,” she said. “They could call me and say ‘You’re done’ because I haven’t heard back.” Mandating vaccines and barring exemptions is not a simple choice for hospitals. Haider spent his summer at a Veterans Affairs hospital, where shifts were often short two nurses with assistant nurses being called to multiple floors simultaneously. Bonuses were handed out frequently to incentivize working long hours while understaffed. Junior nursing student Joy Olson spent her summer working at a nursing home and shared a similar experience to Haider. Nursing homes have a reputation for being understaffed, even before the pandemic. As Olson starts clinicals this year, she has seen the nurse shortage first hand in a hospital setting.

For the time being, unvaccinated students can follow their calling to be a nurse at Bethel. Despite the exemptions that have been allowed and the relief she felt as cried on the yoga mat, the anonymous student decided to get vaccinated a month ago. She continues to support her unvaccinated friends, but she felt the obstacles for unvaccinated nursing students were too much. “I was done dealing with it,” she the anonymous student said. “I was either ready to be done with nursing or to just get [the vaccine] and be done with it and pray that nothing bad happened to me.” C Design by Davis McElmurry

“I’m pro-vaccine because the statistics right now are saying most people who are being treated in the ICU for COVID are unvaccinated,” she said. “I see a lot of nurses right now who are still so burnt out and are struggling so heavily with this because of people’s decisions to not get vaccinated.” Dahl believes this necessity for workers plays a role in the hospital’s flexibility for exemptions. “I do think that that does drive some decisions,” Dahl said. “I think that’s why they’re taking student exemptions. They want these students to graduate and be nurses.” N O V. 2 0 2 1

‘You can’t be what

you can’t see’

Chief of Staff and Bethel alum Jeanne Osgood is a founding member of The 25. | Photo by Hannah Hobus.

Bethel University launches The 25, a program seeking to empower female students by providing them with resources, experiences and connections to successful, Christ-centered women.

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By Julia Van Geest

his fall marked the launch of The 25, a four-year program that aims to cultivate the empowerment of women in leadership and accepts 25 female freshmen each year who will remain at Bethel until their graduation. “What we want to be able to do is model for young women what it looks like to be a strong leader, to follow God’s calling, to understand how you’re wired,” said Chief of Staff Jeanne Osgood, one of the initial founders of the program. The 25 freshmen who were accepted into the program this fall moved in together during Welcome Week and have already begun getting to know one another.

The cohort is taking Introduction to Wellbeing together this semester, and they have based many of their weekly meetings around the course content such as Clifton Strengthsfinder and the Myers Briggs personality test. Guest speaker Heidi Zwart, one of The 25 founding members and a certified strengths coach, spoke to the students about how to analyze and utilize their strengths throughout life and a career.

They’ve also covered topics such as how to be successful in college, choosing the right “We’re getting to break field of study and societal and Christian down some of the Christian norms for women.

stereotypes for women to see that you can be a Christian and a woman and a leader and have it all if you want that. We’re giving them permission to have audacious goals and to dream big about what they can do with their life.”

“We’re getting to break down some of the Christian stereotypes for women to see that you can be a Christian and a woman and a leader and have it all if you want that,” said Richards. “We’re giving them permission to have audacious goals and to dream big about what they can do with their life.”

“I didn’t really know anyone coming to Bethel,” 25 member and freshman missional ministries major Olivia March said. “It’s been cool to meet different HEATHER RICHARDS, women and start the THE 25 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR year out with them . . . We’re all coming Although the profrom such different gram is just starting, places and backgrounds and totally different freshman Katrina Olson, a biology major majors.” and member of The 25, said she has already benefited from the community and content in Executive Director of The 25 Heather the program. Richards has centered the program’s content around personal growth and development for “I’ve struggled with self-confidence and learnthe first year. ing how to be a leader is really important, especially in society,” Olson said. “You see a “The students are looking at who they are lot of male leaders and I think it’s an amazing and how they’re wired and how they can opportunity to experience being on a journey apply that to choosing a major and a career,” with other women who want to be leaders and Richards said. change society for the better.”

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Members of The 25 meet with Executive Director Heather Richards during a program committee meeting. | Photo by Mild Du.

The concept of The 25 came to Jeanne Osgood in October 2017 while she was in the process of getting her MBA at Bethel. She had been working closely with the alumni office and meeting women who were interested in being more involved at Bethel. “I wanted to bring [like-minded] thinkers together that are passionate about Bethel, high-capacity leaders and successful in their field,” Osgood said. A core group of five Bethel alumna consisting of Osgood, Sarah Darr, Rebecca Hoeft, Kristi Piehl and Andrea Schilling structured the program together before expanding to a group of 25 founding members from a variety of industries. Now, there are more than 50 women involved in The 25 program in some capacity, whether it be mentoring, speaking or donating.

“They are all passionate about Bethel and passionate about the next generation of female leaders that are going to come out of Bethel,” Osgood said. The women met as a team in October of 2020 and spent two nights in an Airbnb brainstorming possibilities for the program. With a goal of providing the women in the program with mentors and examples to help guide their futures and careers, they came up with a phrase that defines what The 25 is about: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” “People always say you can be anything, but to actually demonstrate that for somebody and show them how to get there is a totally different thing,” Richards said. Because of the 50 women who have offered their support to The 25 program, each of the students will have an individual mentor for

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“There is this stereotype of the good Christian mother and what that means and what that looks like, but you can also be the breadwinner in your family and set yourself up to be financially successful and that can be God-honoring,” Richards said. “There is nothing wrong or un-Godly about being successful and making money. You can be using that to further kingdom work.” In addition to attending weekly meetings, The 25 students have been divided into five committees within the program. One of them, the finance committee, is dedicated to managing the cohort’s funds for things such as field trips and transportation. Another committee, marketing and public relations, is working with the Bethel marketing admissions team to promote the program internally and externally. Although this is only the program’s inaugural year, the women who are involved already have a vision for its future.

the four years they are involved. This year’s cohort began getting to know their mentors at the end of October. “If people hadn’t walked alongside me, I would not be the person I am today,” Osgood said. “That’s really what the founding members want, and what every woman that’s engaged in The 25 wants. They want to be able to come alongside students and say ‘My life is better because somebody did this for me, and we’re going to pay it forward.’” The program is 100% externally funded through financial commitments from the founding 25 and other contributors, a strategic growth award grant from the Bethel foundation and a $200 fee from each student.

“Every year they’re going to add 25 new freshman women, so by the time we’re seniors it will be really cool to see women that want to be leaders in the world and that love Christ,” March said. “By the time we’re seniors, we can impact those new freshmen.” The founding members also have a “big dreams” list that captures their hopes for the program’s future. “It is really important for us that female students come to Bethel because of The 25,” Osgood said. “That’s one of our goals–we want to be a program that they see and say ‘that’s going to be something that really impacts my life and my experience and I want to come to Bethel because I’m a part of The 25.’” C Design by Alexa Vos

The cohort will also spend time learning about finances, from personal budgets to investing and employment benefits.

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The imposter and the infamous Professor of History Chris Gehrz publishes his debut solo book detailing the flight and plight of American aviator Charles Lindbergh.

By Rachel Blood and Joy Sporleder

hris Gehrz walked into the Lindbergh House, his 6-year-old twins at his side, none of them knowing the museum was dedicated to a white supremacist. Or that Gehrz would spend over three years of his life in Lindbergh’s world. The Little Falls, Minnesota home-turned-museum commemorates American aviator Charles Lindbergh, with model planes hanging from the ceilings and a visitor center flight simulator that Gehrz’s daughter climbed in. The cockpit, built to resemble the interior of Lindbergh’s plane, “Spirit of St. Louis,” features computer screens simulating Lindbergh’s take-off from New York or nighttime approach to Paris, the monumental first nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

Professor Gehrz stands before a small class of upperclassmen students, giving an in-depth lecture on Modern Europe. | Photo by Hannah Hobus

Soon after his Lindbergh House visit, Gehrz brainstormed with Eerdmans Publishing, a Christian-based Michigan publishing house, for his newest project: a spiritual biography. After writing his first book, “The Pietist Option: Hope for the Renewal of Christianity” with Mark Pattie III five years prior, Gehrz wanted to write something on his own.

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Photo by Hannah Hobus

The Lives of Chris Gherz

Podcaster Gehrz hosts and co-hosts a number of podcasts both within and outside of the Bethel network, including The Pietest Schoolman Podcast, The 252 and Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz.

Professor Gehrz serves as Chair of Bethel’s History Department and is a full-time Professor of History. Since 2003, he has taught a variety of courses including Christianity and Western Culture, Modern Europe and History and Politics of Sports.

Even after completing graduate school at Connecticut’s Yale University and being promoted to Professor of History at Bethel University, Gehrz didn’t feel he’d done what he’d been trained to do: write a book in the traditional “historian” sense. “I wrote this book in order to prove to myself that I’m not a fraud,” Gehrz wrote in a blog post. “It’s not limited to my profession, but academics are prone to something we call ‘the imposter syndrome:’ the unshakeable suspicion that we’re not nearly as good at teaching, research, writing, etc. as other people think, that we don’t belong in the company of more brilliant colleagues and will eventually be revealed for the imposters that we are.” Returning to Connecticut to get coffee with some graduate school friends in the summer of 2018, Gehrz still felt inadequate. His peers had all written and published books in the fields of European and diplomatic history. Gehrz purposely avoided seeing his old adviser, feeling as though he had nothing to show for himself. So he decided to do something about it. “You’re tall and Minnesotan,” Eerdmans’ editor said, thinking of Lindbergh’s Swedish ancestry and 6’3” height. “You should do Charles Lindbergh.”

Father Gehrz is father to 11-year-old twins Isaiah and Lena.

Gehrz later discovered that his family trip to the Lindbergh House was not his first encounter with the pilot. Two months before, his mother dug up a seventh-grade history project. Gehrz had written about Lindbergh. THE CLARION

“I don’t know that it [was] a divine sign,” Gehrz said, “but I took it as a sign that I should read up, and it did seem like it would be a good project.” Assistant Professor of History Sam Mulberry has been a friend and colleague of Gehrz since the summer of 2005. They were brought together while filming a comedy skit for Christianity and Western Culture, which they teach together as part of a bigger team. Since then, they have traveled to Europe together five times, leading Bethel study abroad trips that study World War I and its impact on various European regions. The historically-oriented expeditions covered ground in London and caught midnight showings of Alfred Hitchcock films in Paris. Gehrz worked on “Charles Lindbergh: A Religious Biography of America’s Most Infamous Pilot’’ from June 2017 to June 2020. Initially looking to create a biography highlighting the growing population of Americans who identify as spiritual but not religious, Gehrz planned to focus on Lindbergh’s upbringing in a family that didn’t attend church but was very spiritually and intellectually curious. While writing his book at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the national movement following the murder of George Floyd, Gehrz realized the importance of his research was shifting. He confided in Mulberry as he worked through the process of addressing that infamous side of a pilot who braved the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

“I love that he is always thinking of ways to improve things, trying to make things better,” Mulberry said. “He is a great collaborator. He works ahead and is always thinking of new ideas and innovating.” Lindbergh was antisemitic and had ties to people who believed in eugenics, the process of controlling genetics through heredity in reproduction. “At its very worst, eugenics inspired the Nazi euthanasia program that murdered hundreds of thousands of children and adults with developmental delays and mental illness,” Gehrz said. Lindbergh was deeply committed to the concept of white supremacy, and Gehrz knew he couldn’t write the book without addressing the issue of Lindbergh’s belief in the competition of races. “Someone that famous can also be infamous for believing so strongly in racial competition, and specifically that the white race ought to prevail in that competition,” Gehrz said. “While there are parts of the story to celebrate, there’s a lot that is deeply disturbing,” Gehrz said. An afterword was added to the book to explain that concept. Gehrz wants his audience to recognize their own implicit and perhaps unconscious participation in

the culture of race competition as writing the book helped him realize his own. “I think one value of doing history, and maybe even more so biography, is [that] it does hold up a mirror,” Gehrz said. “You get aspects of your own life and belief, or at least maybe the kind of larger context of how our society or our culture or our religion shapes us.” Three years after taking his twins to the Lindbergh House, Gehrz returned on his own in November 2019. In late fall and winter, the house is closed to tourists to allow for study of Lindbergh’s parents’ book collection. “It was just good to get some experience of the house not as a tourist destination or historical site but as an actual home, where people lived and read and talked to each other about all the big questions that run through my book,” Gehrz said. Alone in the home’s drawing room on a fall day, Gehrz wrote and wrote as he looked through family Bibles creased from dog-eared pages and underlined passages about evolution. “I’m actually pretty proud of this book,” Gehrz said. “It’s probably one of the best things I’ve done.” C

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Author Gehrz worked on several published books before writing his first solo book on Lindbergh, including co-editing “Faith and History: A Devotional” and co-authoring “The Pietist Option: Hope for the Renewal of Christianity.”

Blogger Gehrz launched his blog, The Pietest Schoolman, 10 years ago. He uses it as a form of prewriting and reflection as well as a platform for podcasts.

Sports Enthusiast Gehrz loves sports and recently launched a sports history course at Bethel.

‘God was my CEO’ Entrepreneurs Rachel and Jake Beaudry create a one-of-a-kind protein bar and give back to nonprofits. By Hannah Hunhoff

ulling silver mixing bowls off her kitchen counter, Rachel Beaudry measures out portions of pea protein, ground flaxseed and Himalayan pink sea salt at her office space in Rogers, Minnesota. After adding a host of other natural and organic ingredients, Rachel pours the mix onto a commercial cookie sheet to be refrigerated for three hours before being shipped to fitness centers all over the Twin Cities. In 2014, Bethel University alumni and co-founders of Rawr Organics Rachel and Jake Beaudry spent their days at their financial jobs and pursuing their passions for fitness and wellness. As a bodybuilder, Rachel received a sponsorship from a protein bar brand but began to experience serious effects from its consumption, such as bloating, weight gain and headaches. These side effects, along with Jake’s development of insulin resistance and hypoglycemia, led them on an endless pursuit for a “high protein, low sugar and clean” protein bar. Rachel and Jake took matters into their own hands at the end of 2014 and made the first batch of Rawr Bars in their kitchen. Replacing the highly processed fiber and other concerning ingredients found in protein bars that occupied the shelves of their grocery store, they mixed three simple ingredients together to create a prototype version of the bar. Finally, they found a recipe that satisfied their health needs and tasted good, but couldn’t decide if the bar was just a fun idea or a “God idea.”

Despite the lightbulb moment of their food idea, the couple was busy pursuing successful careers in corporate America – Rachel worked at a mutual fund company and Jake as a financial adviser. Rachel graduated from Bethel in May 2009 and Jake shortly after in December 2009. The pair reconnected nearly six years after their graduation from Bethel, started a youth ministry in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul and eventually got married. They shared a dream of becoming missionaries in Africa one day. Even as a child, Jacob had a picture of German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, who was known to preach the Gospel all across Africa, in his childhood bedroom. “We thought we had God’s plan for life figured out … we’re going to be financial advisors, have our own practice, have a bunch of kids and 10 years from now we’ll start going to Africa,” Rachel said. The couple never imagined how their missionary dreams and creation of the Rawr Bars would collide. In 2015, still waiting for God to confirm her entrepreneurship calling, Rachel attended “Women on the Frontlines,” a Christian conference. The speaker, Patricia King, heard a word from the Lord about creative food and asked if anyone who possessed that idea could stand up. Rachel’s in-laws sat behind her and pointed in THE CLARION

Revealing where they make their masterpiece, Rachel and Jake Beaudry stand in front of their kitchen space in their office facility in Rogers, MN. | Photo by Molly Longtin

her direction. Her heart began to race.

missions.

“The speaker [Patricia King] said ‘I think these words are for you’ and I stood up and felt complete peace, ‘’ Rachel said. “I literally felt the warmth of God’s presence. I was like, ‘This is God speaking through her.’”

Jake felt God placed Mozambique on his heart, receiving clear confirmation after months of waiting and praying.

After the conference, Rachel and Jake became unsatisfied in their corporate positions and began to press into their desire to move thousands of miles away to Africa. “I wasn’t getting the same fulfillment out of what I was doing, and started to get burnt out from it too,” Jake said. “I knew God was shifting something in my heart.” One night in January 2017, Rachel and Jake had just gotten home from another trip and were struggling to fall asleep. For months, they had been spending time in prayer and seeking God’s counsel about his prompting to launch their small business and go into

“I felt God’s heart, turned the lights on and I started to pray,” Rachel said. “We’re like, ‘God, what are you speaking about Africa?’ I felt like he was saying ‘sooner than you know.’” Six months later, the couple laid down their financial careers, moved out of their loft and left their family back in the states. The next season would be “foundational” for starting their business. “We laid it all down and went, there was so much joy in it, and excitement,” Rachel said. “It never felt like a burden or felt like we were letting go of something that we wanted to cling to.” From October to December 2017, the couple N O V. 2 0 2 1

Offering ten different Rawr Bars flavors and keeping seasonal ones yearround, Rachel and Jake are happy to have formulated a bar with clean ingredients. | Photo by Molly Longtin

“Their humbling purpose has only become stronger to reach more people all over the world to make sure no one goes hungry.”

traveled to Mozambique to serve with Iris Global’s “Stop for the One,” a program that invests in children’s lives in Africa.

couple established trademark, branding and marketing, finally launching Rawr Organics in June 2018.

While Rachel and Jake were staying near a village, they were often sent to a place that was referred to as the “bush bush:” a rural town with no electricity or running water in the Cabo Delgado region near Namuno. The couple watched mothers get up at 2 a.m. twice a week and make the five to six-hour trek for clean water because of a dried-up well.

“When I came home to start the bar, I would literally just wake up in the morning and be like ‘God, I don’t know what I’m doing, this is all up to you,’” Rachel said. “God was my CEO and still to this day, I have to press into [my faith] daily.”

Kari Schumacher, former employee of Rawr Organics

The Beaudrys’ experiences in Africa led them to dream about being able to donate their products, which require no water use, to African villages. This would also benefit Mozambique’s K-12 schools, where Iris Global already provides a meal to around 400 students a day. In the future, the Beaudrys would like to contribute Rawr Bars to the program and support the children on their educational journey. In January 2018, Rachel and Jake returned to Minnesota determined to start their small business. From January to April, the

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Five months later in June, Rachel and Jake launched Rawr Organics at Linden Hills Farmers Market. They also connected with local gyms in the area that were looking to sell their Rawr Bars to their clients. “The moment I heard about Rawr and their mission, I knew they had something no other company out there had,” former Rawr Organics employee Kari Schumacher said. “Their humbling purpose has only become stronger to reach more people all over the world to make sure no one goes hungry.” After their launch at the farmers market, Jake and Rachel transitioned Rawr Bars online.

Rachel and Jake celebrated the grand opening of their office in April 2019 and used its kitchen space to formulate all the Rawr Bars moving forward. Rachel and Jake delivered the Rawr Bars straight to the gyms or shipped them out of the metro region. “We were making bars all day,” Rachel said. “We didn’t even have time to sell, people just kept reaching out and we were like wow … God is just doing it.” When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Rawr Organics experienced setbacks as local gyms closed up in addition to a shortage of nut butters and fruits. Their challenging season was heightened when Jake got a serious case of COVID-19 and was hospitalized, preventing him from coming into the office for nearly seven weeks. “Jake and Rachel are very driven and disciplined people, whether that is with their Christian faith, their fitness and health or their business,” Rachel and Jake’s niece and former Rawr Organics intern Makayla

Morrell said. “It has been inspiring watching them follow God’s plan that he has for them and create this business that means so much to their values.” Today Jake and Rachel continue to invest in their “God idea” of hand-making, shipping and wholesaling their kosher, kid-approved, paleo and keto-friendly Rawr Bars. They continue to be rooted and grounded in their love for God and their love for missions, donating 5% of net proceeds to Feed My Starving Children and 5% to Stop for The One, both non-profits focused on ending worldwide hunger. “I love their mission and true purpose in this world,” Schumacher said. “They were blessed with a God-filled idea and they dropped everything to follow this faithful path.” C Design by Joy Sporleder

Sitting in the lobby of the Rawr Organic office, Rachel and Jake reflect on how the story of their business unfolded. | Photo by Molly Longtin

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Sustainable swaps on a college budget By Makenzi Johnson

wapping to a more sustainable lifestyle has the reputation of being expensive and time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Living on a college budget, here are some cheap sustainable swaps you can make to limit single-use plastic, reduce your carbon footprint and save those turtles.

Switch to a reusable water bottle Instead of buying a plastic bottle of Dasani or Smart Water every morning, use a reusable water bottle to reduce single-use plastic and save money. You can even customize your eco-friendly swap with stickers!

Recycle Place paper products like Post-it Notes and envelopes and beverage containers like plastic Royal Grounds cups and aluminum cans (rinse all prior to recycling) in various recycling bins across campus and in your dorm.

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Bring your own bag to the store Ditch the flimsy plastic bags at the grocery store for a cloth tote bag, mesh produce bag or even a LuluLemon bag to carry and hold all of your purchases.

Reusable Keurig cups Rather than using plastic, single-use K-cup pods, invest in reusable ones to pour your own coffee grounds or tea leaves in. Reusable pods can be purchased via Amazon, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and more.

Ditch the Ziploc bags and cling wrap Use beeswax wraps to tightly seal things instead of cling wrap or aluminum foil. These cloth pieces are covered in a thick layer of beeswax, making anything you seal waterproof and fresh for extended periods of time. Use a reusable pouch instead of plastic Ziplocs to hold your mid-day snacks.

Stop shopping fast fashion Brands like Shein and Forever 21 are appealing because they’re cheap, but they’re categorized as fast fashion, meaning they produce tons of energy and water waste and their products are poorly made, usually through child labor. Shop at thrift stores or borrow from friends for cheaper, more ethical options.

Carpool If you and your friends are all going to the same place, drive together! Carpooling will save gas money and reduce your carbon footprint. Carpool karaoke is always more fun with friends anyway.

Design by Gretta Nathe N O V. 2 0 2 1

‘Not thinking, just making’ It’s not only the students. Bethel art professors make things too. Photo by Bryson Rosell

Amanda Hamilton, Art Department Chair and Professor of Art and Design

“I'm inking the surface of this painting with oil-based painting, like a printmaking process, and then printing it onto [a second piece of] paper. It's the inverse of one to the other. I use a lot of natural materials like flake mica and sand in the paint. When [the natural material] gets printed, because it's shiny, it wipes really clean. It's kind of a negative, positive thing.”

“It’s so important to us that our students see that we are constantly making things,” Department Chair and Professor of Art Amanda Hamilton said. “I think one thing that’s a strength of our department is [that] the faculty really believe [that] if you’re going to be teaching, you need to be making and have your own rich process that you’re committed to.”

“For many years in my work, [I’ve thought] about states of being, like presence and absence, materiality and immateriality … because the painting is the first thing that you make, [the screen print is] fully present, its own iteration, but it's also dependent on the painting. I was interested in what printmakers call the second print — ghost prints – without really realizing that I had been thinking of [the screenprints] as ghost prints because they feel like they're not as physically present as the painting.”

By Makenzi Johnson

rt ranging from patchwork quilts and digital screen prints to ceramic sculptures and acrylic paintings fill the Johnson Gallery. The Bethel Art Department staff and faculty have art on display in the Gallery until Dec. 10, showing that it’s not just the art students who make stuff.

Lex Thompson, Professor of Art

Photo by Bryson Rosell

“There was this guy, Waterhouse Hawkins, who made the Crystal Palace dinosaurs for a dinosaur museum in Central Park. [While] working on it, he made some comments about the New York City government. Boss Tweed, [a New York senator at the time], sent his men over in the night, and they demolished and disposed of the dinosaurs. There are three competing stories about where [the sculptures] may have ended up. What’s in the show [are] photographs from each of those locations: the umpire’s mound near the baseball fields, a location that is now the compost pile and Harlem Meer. The

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other thing [on display] is a tooth from the dinosaurs in Central Park.”

Photo by Hannah Hobus

“No one has ever dug up the fragments. Various people [have wanted] to, and it’s never happened, so that’s why I’m interested. Plus, they’re just weird and fun, and everybody likes a good ‘government smashes a dinosaur and buries it in the park’ story.” Photo by Hannah Hobus

Krista Anderson-Larson, Adjunct Professor of Art

Photo by Bryson Rosell

“Often the only truly private space that we get in our homes when we’re growing up is the bathroom because of rules that your bedroom door can’t be closed or that you have to share a room with a sibling. A lot of key developmental moments psychologically and sexually happened in the bathroom. My work plays on those moments by taking the bathroom furniture, since it’s so unique to that room, and pulling it into an art space where it’s not traditionally seen and anthropomorphizing the objects by putting them in uncomfortable proximity to each other.” “I think it’s really important [to have my art on display]. That’s really the reason why I do this. It wouldn’t make sense to do it if no one was ever going to see it, so it’s an invaluable experience.” N O V. 2 0 2 1

Photo by Hannah Hobus

Jessica Henderson, Professor of Graphic Design “Most of my work is some combination of design and screen printing or permitting techniques. I pull a lot from personal archives, whether they’re trash on your computer or photo archives. A lot of my work is about the tension that exists between digital spaces and analog spaces and thinking about the life that I live in the real world that I’ll have to live online or through my phone, and how that shapes relationships and my true understanding of myself. Some of this typography is actually Google Translate from trying to translate my kids’ Spanish homework. I work a lot with my kids, so a lot of the lines that are on here are from them or made in collaboration with them.”

Photo by Hannah Hobus

“After an exhausting year, it was really lovely for my soul to just make something without thinking about things for a while. That was what I needed to do.”

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Photo by Hannah Hobus

Kenneth Steinbach, Professor of Art and Design “There’s a pretty famous print from 1498 by Albrecht Dürer, [who was a] major medieval and Renaissance German artist. It’s sort of curious because it is about the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse. What Dürer is depicting here is a set of about 15 prints depicting the book of Revelation. I wanted to deal with this print in some way, so I went down to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and got permission [to view it]. They literally brought [the print] out with white gloves, and I took photographs pretty thoroughly.” “Essentially, what I did was make a perfect copy of it. I did all this stuff to really capture it as closely as I could. I essentially made a version of it flipped around. And so instead of the Four Horsemen being set loose upon the world, I’m sending them back to hell. It’s a very personal kind of theological statement.” C Photo by Bryson Rosell

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The game is only half of it

Bethel’s soccer team shares about the unique culture that makes the team a family.

By Maya Spinler

cross the road from the main campus at Ona Orth, the soccer field is divided in half for the men’s and women’s soccer teams to practice. Balls are flying fifty feet high, players are laughing and talking nonstop and the smell of stinky shin guards fills the air. Both teams buzz with a contagious energy in spite of the rain. “They like getting all muddy and stuff,” Coach Ben Lindberg said. “The rain has high energy. Don’t know why. That’s just soccer players for you.” From the outside looking in, the special bond the team shares together is immediately recognizable – not just the men’s and women’s teams individually, but collectively. They go to each other’s games and are always the loudest fans. Freshman initiations, bowling and movie nights, sharing meals together daily in the DC, Photo by Mild Du

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Photo by Mild Du

Bible studies and intramural volleyball are all ways the team continually fosters these friendships. “So much of your college experience is based on your community,” sophomore captain Will Swanda said.“We’re all involved in each other’s lives off the field. It’s really special.” The players call themselves family.

classmen. “When I was a freshman here last year, the seniors totally took me under their wing and gave me wisdom and showed me the ins and outs of this,” sophomore Cassie Leland said. “We’re super close.” However, what truly encapsulates this team and sets Bethel apart from their past soccer experiences is the Christian community.

“It says something when alumni come back and want to hang out with us, too. There’s a bunch of alumni that always ask to go to dinner and stuff,” junior Zach Caouette said. “Even guys that dropped out or realized school wasn’t the right path for them are still hitting us up and asking to hangout.”

“I love how Christ is integrated into every aspect of what we do. It’s the first time I can say I have a Jesus-loving soccer community,” freshman Youssef Abdallah said.

Unlike high school, the players observe no tension between upper and under-

“We’re competitive and we want to win, but it’s bigger than that,” Lindberg said.

Players, coaches and managers alike thrive in the community provided by the soccer program.

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“We’re really the only school in the conference that professes our faith and we take that very seriously. The microscope is on us a little bit because if we’re winning, are we winning and being Christ-like, and showing humility and grace when we’re losing?” The team always makes it a priority to pray before each game and embody what it means to be part of the Bethel community. Men’s or women’s, away or at home, winning or losing, the soccer community emphasizes support, fun and a love of both Christ and the game. C Design by Davis McElmurry

Jaran Roste, the leader of the Royals offense, graduated from Bethel in the spring with degrees in social studies education and political science. | Photo by Hannah Hobus

By Caden Christiansen Jaran Roste woke up to the sound of his 5:30 a.m. alarm and quickly threw on maroon and gold shorts and a t-shirt for his 6:00 a.m. lift with the University of Minnesota football team. After two hours of pushing and pulling sweatglazed weights, he hustled to the film room at 8:30 a.m. where he stayed until practice started at 10 a.m. Two hours of slinging footballs to receivers and it was time for lunch, classes, study groups and more team meetings. As Roste walked the streets of Minneapolis from one activity to the next, he felt isolated from anybody not wearing maroon and gold athletic gear, because meeting new people wasn’t on his daily schedule. Before quarterbacking the nationally ranked Bethel University football team, Roste was recruited out of Alexandria High School by several Division I and II schools for both basketball and football. After leading Alexandria football to a state tournament in 2016 during his senior year of high school, Roste began gaining interest from the likes of the University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University, Mankato State University and University of Minnesota Duluth for his football prowess. Roste had been in contact with the University of Minnesota

since his sophomore year of high school and was invited to multiple games at Huntington Bank Stadium where he watched from the sidelines as 50,000 fans waved pom poms and screamed the school fight song. “I definitely got caught up in that energy and that definitely played a role in

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me going,” said Roste. He was offered a spot on the team as a preferred walk-on, which he accepted after his senior football season. He arrived on campus in the summer of 2017 and the season began with summer practices. It only took one Big Ten practice before he realized how difficult it was to

compete at the Division I level. In his first pass attempt, Roste broke the huddle of maroon and gold players before walking to the line of scrimmage. He began his cadence, slowly scanning the defense. As he took the snap, Roste dropped back, looking towards the sideline for

Pay to play Bethel University can’t offer scholarships, hundred-million dollar facilities or 50,000 screaming fans at every home game, but continues to draw in high caliber athletes. his receiver running a 10 yard out route. Releasing the ball, he saw a #11 flash in front of his receiver and pick it out of the air before running it all the way back to the other end zone for six points. That #11 was Antoine Winfield Jr., who would go on to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021 and become a rising young

star in the NFL. “Definitely the level of athletes was a step up and just the time commitment of playing football,” said Roste. “It was something I wasn’t prepared for.” It only took one fall season before Roste realized a change was needed. As lifts, meetings, games and

practices consumed his life, he began to see how few relationships he was making outside of football. “There wasn’t a lot of time to build connections elsewhere,” said Roste. “That was one of the reasons I decided to transfer, but it was definitely a cool experience looking back. I wouldn’t have changed

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anything.” Roste had been exposed to Bethel since he was in eighth grade, when his older sister toured the campus and decided to attend. During a bye week in 2017, when the Gopher football team had a weekend off, he decided to come to Royal stadium for Bethel’s homecoming game against St. Olaf University. He watched from the metal bleachers as the Royals captured a 64-7 victory and began to see himself landing in Arden Hills. After finishing the fall season at the U of M in 2017, Roste ditched maroon for navy and gold and has spent the last four years quarterbacking the Royals football team and finishing degrees in social studies education and political science. Bethel competes in Division III within the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, offering 18 varsity sports for its student athletes. Despite having overall success within one of the most competitive Division III conferences, Bethel and all Division III schools around the country are unable to give athletic scholarships to their athletes under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. Although tuition for undergraduate students is just under $40,000, highly recruited athletes turn down scholarships from bigger schools every year to attend Bethel and compete at the Division III level. “Bethel provides the student athletes — the brothers — I get to play alongside who are going to push me to grow and push me develop as a player and as a person,” said Roste. “That’s what drew me to Beth-

el: how much it wasn’t about football because at the end of the day you’re going to have to hang [your equipment] up.” Junior track and field sprinter and hurdler Josh Sampson faced a similar decision during his senior year of high school. Sampson won the 110-meter hurdles and 4x400-meter relay at state for Mounds View High School during his junior season and letters from the U of M, University of Iowa, University of Sioux Falls and University of Missouri began to arrive in the mail. But after a visit to the U of M, Sampson quickly realized that despite being offered an athletic scholarship, a university with over 50,000 students, miles of campus and non-stop training was not for him. It was the element of faith and community that attracted him to Bethel and has kept him there for the last three years. “I wanted a place that was going to be rooted in [faith],” Sampson said. “This is where I’m supposed to be and where I want to be.” Despite turning down scholarship money from the U of M, Sampson has been pleased with the competition he has been able to face in the MIAC. The Bethel Track and Field team competes against Division I programs at some meets and other high caliber athletes like Sampson that attend MIAC schools. “Even at a D3 school, there are a good amount of people who could have gone D1, so I’m competing against D1 athletes as well,” said Sampson. “I gotta work my butt off.” Bethel may not have billion-dollar stadiums and

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facilities filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans every home game, but it is the Christ-centered nature that draws many athletes of faith in. The private college experience allows for students to learn in more intimate classroom settings with more hands-on experience, while also learning from a Christian worldview. “When our coaches recruit, we’re blatant about the foundation of Bethel being a Christ-centered university,” Bethel Athletic Director Greg Peterson said. “I think it actually makes recruiting better.” Roste and Sampson have reflected this sentiment within their respective sports, having great success on the field and track, but they have also been able to grow off the field. Roste currently works as a housing mentor for Bethel’s BUILD program and hopes to use his social studies education degree to teach and coach in the long term. Sampson is majoring in psychology and minoring in business and hopes to attend graduate school to pursue a career in counseling. “In Division I or II, in some ways your time is owned by the athletic program. We really want our student athletes to be integrated into the broader Bethel community and not be isolated,” Peterson said. “We want them to be friends with all different kinds of students. It’s more of a holistic college experience rather than just an athletic experience.” C Design by Hannah Hobus

Junior track and field sprinter and hurdler, Josh Sampson, is majoring in psychology and minoring in business and hopes to one day work in counseling. | Photo by Jane You

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Intramural sports provide a place for students to play volleyball, soccer and basketball in a friendly setting. By Molly Wilson

oach Chris McKelvie never played intramural sports at Bemidji State because he was too busy playing Division I hockey, but when he came to Bethel University to be the men’s hockey coach, running the recreation leagues was a part of the job description.

Numbers have been down in the last few years because of COVID-19, but they are slowly rising and McKelvie is optimistic about them returning to normal soon. Students athletes and novices alike fill the rosters.

“For me to do rec sports, the biggest thing is that I get to work with other students on campus,” McKelvie said. “I’m not just working with hockey players. A lot of times soccer players will be our rec sports student supervisors or referees.”

“Community that comes through intramural sports is a really good thing. Whether you’re sharing a meal together or you’re doing something where you sweat together, it just enhances community,” McKelvie said.

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Volleyball Nelson Hall residents sat by the sidelines holding signs made of Welch’s fruit snack boxes encouraging freshmen Ryan Schulz and Amelia Wright as they played for the Loki Legends. Wright’s name was stuck to the sign on blue Postit Notes. She was asked to play last minute as a walk-on. “They didn’t have enough people, and Ryan asked if anyone played volleyball,” Wright said. “And I had played it before, just with friends.”

Loki Legends is named after the Marvel character originally introduced in the Thor movies. The team also chose this name because while they might not be the best, they are still “lowkey legends.” Each player sports a T-shirt with a custom team logo designed by Spencer Vang, one of the team members. Games are played every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Sports and Recreation Center. Students can come sit on the sidelines and cheer for their favorite teams.

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Indoor Soccer At intramural soccer, laughs and wheezes add to the constant sound of the blue and green soccer balls hitting the ground.

The league currently consists of only four teams, but McKelvie hopes to triple its size for the spring season.

Half of the SRC is surrounded by a blue partition to prevent balls from rolling away. Every once in a while, though, a player is forced to run through the one-foot gaps in the corners.

Once cell phone timers go off, marking the end of the games, teams pile into their cars to spend some time bonding off the field, awaiting next Sunday when the process starts all over again.

“I haven’t played [soccer] since fifth grade,” freshman chemistry major Aliya Johnson said. Teams are distinguished between the different colors of their shirts. Injury Reserve, in white, plays on one of the courts. Tonight, Johnson is acting as their captain instead of Deborah Iranezereza.

Basketball, Pickleball and Broomball Basketball started Oct. 25 and runs on Wednesday nights from 9 p.m.to 11 p.m. There is currently only enough interest for a men’s competitive league with the potential for a co-ed rec league. “We have three or four teams in the rec league. They’re trying to decide what to do so we can actually have a good season,” McKelvie said. Pickleball is new to Bethel and will be offered in the spring. It is a combination of tennis and ping pong played on a smaller court with a plastic ball and wooden paddles. “It’s kind of a great equalizer because anybody can really play and be competitive in it,” McKelvie said. “I think that makes it really appealing.”

McKelvie wouldn’t be surprised if this coming January is the biggest broomball season in a long time. Broomball is a Bethel tradition and since the COVID-19 has been around for a while, students are becoming more comfortable with intramural sports. There will be another volleyball and indoor soccer season in the spring. “It’s about getting people out of their dorms, out of their houses, doing something together and doing something,” McKelvie said. C Design by Alexa Vos Photos by Toby Ryberg

Sarah Bakeman has no idea what she’s doing By Sarah Bakeman I have a confession: I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m pretty sure that bulky dude who works at the BP by my house can tell, too. He explained the intricacies of repairs he performed on my rusted 2007 Ford Escape while I held out a tie-dye debit card, wore a shirt featuring cats playing volleyball and clutched keys to a car that had a stuffed animal in the backseat. He should’ve just said he refilled the blinker fluid. Frankly, the experience was degrading for both of us. I brought it in because the battery light had come on the other day as I drove home from the dentist. I’m only familiar with double-A or triple-A batteries and I’m 70% sure my car can’t run on those. My dad told me to get a Discover Card this summer, but I never quite got around to it. To be honest, I would probably use it to buy a singular pack of orange Tic Tacs, then completely forget about the funny little piece of plastic. Next thing you know, I’d try to buy a house and quickly realize I’ve been accumulating crippling debt for 15 years, and somehow my credit score has gone subzero.

I don’t understand sandals. I caved and wore them to school once, but my brain proceeded to flip between two thoughts the rest of the day: “I look like a Mesopotamian textile weaver” and “everybody in this room could outrun me right now.” Now I think feet should be a shameful, private matter. I always top my pasta with parmesan. I just need to figure out how people enjoy it without it vanishing in two seconds. I didn’t know narwhals were real until two years ago. I assumed they were the unicorns of whales. I’m still not 100% convinced because I’ve never seen one. That’s why I don’t fully discredit flat earthers. I’ve never been to space. I also performed poorly in seventh-grade science, but I couldn’t help it. My teacher wore sandals. I’ll probably make a LinkedIn profile once I have some notable achievements. I don’t think any future employer wants to know that I got second place in a 2016 Harry Potter costume contest at Barnes & Noble. Or that I almost beat my coworkers in a water-drinking competition in the Culver’s backroom this summer. Or that I’m finally the first result when you Google my name.

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Maybe one day I’ll be able to add “Discover Card owner” to the list. For now, I’m just happy that the middle-aged Sarah Bakeman with 128 Pinterest followers is now on the second page of Google’s search results. How do I do long division? How fast should I set my windshield wipers? Why are everybody’s wipers always slower than mine? Why do people like Harry Styles? Why do people like soccer? Last Sunday I dropped my communion wafer on a shoe-stained floor. I picked it up and ate it anyway because I didn’t want God to be mad at me. Uh oh, I just remembered something. Jesus wore sandals. You think he’s mad at me for saying bad things about them? I’ve gotta do some damage control. I wonder if my mom has any extra DSW coupons I could use. Alright, I may be a little confused. But I’ve got something going for me. I’m a God-fearing, parmesan-loving science denier. If these traits can’t get me through college, I’ll request an apprenticeship from the bulky mechanic at BP: a job that required closed-toed shoes. C Design by Joy Sporleder

Opinion

“What can I say? I like to be different. “What can I say? I like to be No one is the same. different. No one is the same. Why not act like it? Why not act like it? Unless Unless we are all the we are all the same, in which same, in which case case I would seem rather I would seem rather silly. But I don’t shy away silly. But I don’t shy from that.” away from that.” SCOTT WINTER, PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

SCOTT WINTER, PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

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A taste of COVID Three days into a new school year, COVID ruins everything. Again. By Hannah Bronner

’m crying as the nurse delivers the verdict. COVID? How could it possibly be COVID? I’m vaccinated. I wear a mask. I wash my hands frequently. Still, it’s not enough. The nurse hugs me after delivering the news, and I can see the hurt in her eyes. After blowing my nose as loud as a foghorn, I hop down from the paper-covered examination table and make my way to the waiting room.

“May Jesus bless and heal you quickly.”

“This too shall pass,” one of the nurses tells me.

Between packing up clothes and nibbling on my now-cold ham and cheese panini, I receive a call from Alicia, COVID-19 Police. She wants the names of all the people I was in close proximity to for more than 15 minutes during the last 48 hours. Roommates. Choir friends. Classmates. With each name, my heart grows heavy. Each utterance feels like a prison sentence. When the call ends, I grab my little black suitcase, backpack and Bethel duffle and ride the elevator down to my rusted red Hyundai. It’s only a five minute walk to isolation, but I drive to avoid the stares.

“You’ve been through much worse,” says the other. “Thanks,” is all I can say before leaving, trying not to cry off all of my mascara from that morning. I head up the stairs to the academic buildings. A friend says “hi,” but I quickly walk to grab my backpack and to-go lunch instead to avoid the conversation. I dodge people, knowing I am contagious. Oh my word, is this really happening? Back in my dorm, I break down for the third time today. I sit on the worn out couch and dial my mom, but no answer. I try Dad next. Fat chance, since he teaches math during the day, but nevertheless, he picks up. My voice breaks. “I just tested positive for COVID,” I squeak. My dad, Mark, is in shock too. “Any chance it’s a false positive?” he asks, but to me, it’s a ridiculous question. Runny nose, check. Coughing, check. Loss of taste and smell, checkity check. It doesn’t take a detective to crack this case. Dad says some encouraging words.

I look around my dorm. Some friends came over the night before to help rearrange. I was just starting to feel at home after a crazy week of welcoming the freshmen to campus. Now I look at the items I need to swiftly pack up for a 10-day, all-inclusive stay at the Arden Village COVID-19 Isolation Rooms. A place I never thought I’d find myself.

I meet the tall, blonde woman at the brick sidewalk and walk dejectedly over to my new home-away-from-home. I open the door labeled I-6. I walk in, hesitant, and wipe the last tear from my face. The room in Arden Village is empty– one lounge chair occupies the living room, but there is a full kitchen. Too bad I don’t have anything to bake. I venture into one of the two bedrooms, but the bare mattress and blank walls are a sad sight. It’s a stark contrast to the homey room I’d just finished decorating. With a sigh, I sit on the bed. Welcome home. C

Design by Spencer Vang

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Opinion

What I Did in Isolation Learned to appreciate my sense of taste and smell. Losing it stinks, pun intended. Good thing Arden Village didn’t burn down in the short time I was there, because I wouldn’t have been able to smell the smoke. Learned that I really like people. Like, a lot. Being away from civilization for a whole seven days made me appreciate friendship even more, and I’m ever grateful to those that visited me through the window.

Embraced the outdoors– going for walks outside is underrated. One of the highlights of my day was walking in the sunshine, exploring new trails and improving my tan.

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Illustration by Aimee Kuiper

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Opinion

Not allowed to be happy By Makenzi Johnson “How are you?” “I’m okay. Not the best. My depression is kind of bad today, but I’m alive and breathing.” I answered honestly. I started noticing that oh-so-familiar nagging, tug at my heart, the heaviness on my chest and gray cloud hanging over my head, and even so, I answered honestly. Later on that same day, I was with friends laughing and smiling while waiting for Men’s Dance to start in the gym. In the moment, I could forget about my depression creeping in. The same person who saw me that morning and asked how I was came up to me again and said, “Oh, I see you’re doing better.” I didn’t know how to respond. Yes, at that moment I was enjoying myself and having fun. Did that mean that my depression was gone, now that I was smiling and laughing? Despite the smile on my face, I could still feel that dark cloud lurking around like an annoying headache. It’s always there. Sometimes I can ignore it. Sometimes I can’t. I answered, not so honestly this time — “Yeah, I’m fine,” as I pulled a tight-lipped smile. I didn’t have the energy to tell this person, again, that I wasn’t feeling OK. Would they believe me? They just saw me having fun and seemingly feeling A-OK. Did they think I was lying this morning because of the smile on my face now? I don’t believe the person had bad intentions by asking or assuming that I was feeling better, yet it made me feel as though I was doing something wrong by enjoying myself, smiling or laughing.

my bad days to show. I was known as that blonde girl who was always smiling and giggling. I couldn’t ruin my reputation by letting people know that I was feeling sad one day. Once I started being more honest about my mental health, people were hesitant to take me seriously when I opened up to them. The concept of me being sad was seemingly foreign to them. There wasn’t a space for me to coexist with depression while also being able to enjoy life. There was no way I could be happy and still struggle with depression. I like to think about it like this: My depression is like a flower. In a garden, a flower is not in bloom 24/7. Some die during the winter, some lie dormant when the frost hits then perk up once the frost turns to dew, some flowers only spread their petals when the moon shines, but tightly close up when the sun begins to rise. We cannot expect a flower to be in bloom all of the time. Nobody can expect a person to be one way all of the time, either. Can I have depression, but still feel joy when I laugh with friends at Pete Davidson and Timothée Chalamet’s Rap Roundtable SNL skit, my 17-year-old brother’s text lingo or corny dad jokes? When I get a letter from my grandma in my P.O. box? When I listen to ABBA and dance around my room? Am I allowed to be like a flower and only bloom for a few moments? Flowers aren’t in bloom every day. It's not always sunny in Philadelphia and contrary to what Fleetwood Mac says, thunder doesn’t always happen when it’s raining.

It felt like I wasn’t allowed to be happy.

Am I allowed to be happy?

This paradox isn’t a new one. Since I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety six years ago, I felt like I couldn’t allow

I think I am. A flower never blooms year round and I don’t expect myself to either. C

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Golden Hour C H I L L T U N E S F O R T H E B E S T PA R T O F T H E DAY by Soraya Keiser

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