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!

BethelParentA newsletter for parents of Bethel University students n Issue 54/Spring 2012

Parent Volunteers Wanted for Student Banquet 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! This year’s banquet will be held on Saturday, May 19. We ask parent volun-teers to help with set-up, serving, and clean-up, all while enjoying the com-pany of other parents and interacting with the students who are celebrating a successful year. Once the students are served, we invite you to sit down and enjoy dinner as our guests. We need volunteers for the follow-ing shifts: •24parentstoarriveat5:30p.m. •44parentstoarriveat6:15p.m. •80parentstoarriveat6:40p.m. Clean-up should be complete by 8:30-8:45p.m.Ifyouareabletostayabit longer to take down tables and chairs, your help will be greatly appreciated. Interestedinvolunteeringatthe2012SpringBanquet?Pleaseregister at bethel.edu/parents. n

Help Your Student Prepare for Future Career 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 JobOutlookSurvey2012,thetoptwoskillsthatemployersdesirein applicants are team work and communication skills. Challenge your student to seek a summer position that will help prepare for his or her career.

Steps to Getting Started1) 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 volun-teering or shadowing in the healthcare field.

2)Buildrelationships.Informational interviews are an excellent opportu-nity for your student to learn and receive advice from professionals.

3)VisitCareerServices. We assist with career counseling, resumé and cover letters, mock interviews, and more! Students can call 651.638.6460tosched-ule an appointment. 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,interdependentlifetheylivedwhileatBethel.Blessingsonthis transition! (Excerpted from http://www1.umn.edu/parent/advice-involvement/holiday-suggestions/index.html) n

Interim Abroad Students Gain Lifechanging Experiences 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. ThispastJanuary,263studentsparticipatedinoneof14off-

campus programs. “Bethel interim courses are a great way for students to gain international experience and allow them to focus on a topic of inter-est that can be more meaningful to study on location,” says

International Studies program coordinator Chris tina 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 Chris-tian 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

“Last year, my parents helped at the Spring Ban-

quet. This showed me how, even though I don’t live at home, they still want to be in my life and be involved in my experience here at Bethel. I greatly appreci-ated them taking a night

to serve me and my peers. It was a great night that

could not have happened without the help of the

students’ parents.”

—Micaella Petrich ’14

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BethelParent Bethel University3900 Bethel DriveSt. Paul, MN 55112-6999

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Mark Your Calendar! Faculty Recital: Stephen Self, Organ . . . . . . . April 17

AssessmentDay.......................April25

SymposiumonFaithandValues..........April26-27

A Midsummer Night’s Dream..............April26-28

Faculty Recital: Juan Li, Piano, andHongWang,Cello...............April28

CommunityHymnSing.................April29

Chamber Ensembles Spring Concert . . . . . . . May 1

A Midsummer Night’s Dream..............May2-5

JazzintheGreatHall...................May4

Classics in the Great Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 11

HandbellEnsembleSpringConcert........May13

LastDayofClasses.....................May18

Spring Banquet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 19

FinalExams..........................May21-May25 (Please don’t schedule family vacations on these days.)

StudyDay............................May23

Senior/ParentCommencementBanquet.....May25

Commencement.......................May26

1stSessionofSummerClassesBegins.......May30

BethelGolfClassic.....................June18

Parent Volunteers Needed for

All-School Spring Banquet–Details Inside

Alumni Survey Reveals Positive Impact of Private College When it comes to how colleges educate and prepare students to succeed, graduates of Minnesota’s private colleges, includ-ing 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 link-ing their college education to developing a sense of purpose in life than do their public school counterparts. Read more at www.mnprivatecolleges.org. n

Helping Make College More Affordable Many families have felt the impact of these tough economic times. For many, choosing Bethel University means making sacri-fices 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 admis-sions,financialaid,andretention,“In2005,2006,and2007,two-thirdsofBethelstudentsdemonstratedneed.Butsince2008,thatnumber 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 amountofgiftaiditdistributes—from$18millionto$27mil-lion—anincreaseof50%. Says Nelson, “We don’t have a huge endowment. We have done great belt tightening, including freezing salaries and en-acting 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

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.Clickon“BethelParentSurvey2012.”n