The ScrollThe ScrollThe Scrollt h e S t U D e N t N e W S PA P e R O F B e t h A N y L U t h e R A N C O L L e g e • M A N k A t O, M i N N e S O t A

FREE January 25, 2012

By Ethan SchulzScroll Staff Writer

The three and half week Christmas break

is the high point of the academic year for many Bethany students, second only to perhaps summer break. It’s a long stretch of time perfect for getting in dentist appointments, lounging around the house and spending time with hometown friends. But while most put their feet up and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Junior biology major Marcus Bitter traveled to Panama to help young people who

do not have such wonder-ful dental plans.

For two weeks, Bitter and 10 other students from around the United States assisted local dentist Dr. Yesenia Marciaga in clean-ing and maintaining Pana-manian children’s teeth, made possible through the International Service Learning (ISL) program.

The students’ presence in Panama City was a great help to the local practi-tioners. Bitter explained, “The dentist can usually only get through about seven or eight patients [per day], but with our

help they got through over 30, so that’s pretty big difference.”

Getting accustomed to the environment also had its challenges. While they did have about two days off to see historical things like the Panama Canal, Bitter explained that because of the danger, the tour guides themselves wouldn’t even go into the downtown area of the city. He also described the 15-foot-high barbed wire fence that surrounded an orphanage where they did their first

By Shawn LogingScroll Staff Writer

This spring marks the last semester some Bethany

students will walk on this campus as a student.

In May Bethany graduates will go into the work force, and others will continue their education at a gradu-ate school. However, paying for that extra education will be getting harder for some. Starting on July 12, 2012, the United States federal government will no longer provide subsidized loans to graduate students.

Director of financial aid Jeff Younge explains, “The government’s student loan program is called the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, where students can qualify for either a subsidized or unsubsidized loan, or both. Subsidized loans accumulate no interest while a student is in school, but after leaving there is a six month grace period before the interest starts to accumulate. Unsubsidized loans mean that the interest builds up while the student is still in school. At Beth-any some students do not qualify for subsidized, only unsubsidized.”

Currently, 5.8 million

By Alex NelsonScroll Staff Writer

To the general public, the 2012 Joint Mathematical

Meetings were a blip on the radar screen. However, to the record 7,000 people who turned out, the niche event provided an exclusive glance into the diverse applications of mathematics in the world today.

This year’s proceedings were held in Boston, MA from Jan. 4-7, giving a broad array of individuals within the mathematics field an opportunity to showcase their work to an educated audience. Everyone from professionals to undergradu-ate students, were welcome

to share their research, which opened the door for a handful of individuals from Bethany to take part in the annual get-together.

“For us as the math department, it is good to have students be exposed to the discipline as a whole. It is eye-opening to realize the magnitude of what is out there for them,” said Laura Buch, the head of the BLC math department.

Four Bethany students traveled to Massachusetts over the holiday break, and three of them had studies put on display. Senior Anna Cepek and junior Angela Kraft participated in poster sessions, in which they,

along with several others, explained their topic of choice to those passing by. Senior Sara Krueger had the privilege of giving a presen-tation to a seated audience, while senior Craig Rossiter rounded out the group, look-ing at it as a valuable learn-ing experience.

“I presented on Chagas disease in South America. I made a mathematical model to see if we can figure out situations in which to use medicines,” said Krueger.

Rossiter, who attended Krueger’s presentation, said, “She did a really good

By Shawn LogingScroll Staff Writer

Facebook may be one of the easiest ways to

connect and reconnect with people, but Bethany is taking the concept off the computer and practicing it in real life.

On Jan. 7, current Beth-any staff members includ-ing Bethany Lutheran College President Daniel Bruss, Manager of Alumni Relations Jake Krier, Chief Advancement Officer Art Westphal and retired Profes-sor Tom Kuster. These employees and former Beth-any students came together in Naples, Fla. for a boat ride in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yet, this type of alumni gathering is common prac-tice. Bruss explains, “We hold several different events all over the country. Last year we had one in Tucson and another in Milwaukee and then this year we did one in Naples. We invited alumni that live in the south-ern Florida area to go on a two hour cruise and get out in the open water and see the sunset and sky line.”

Krier adds, “The reason we do them is because in our industry, our goal is to reach out to our alumni and

Aspiring dentist offers care to Panama children

Coming back together

Becoming harder to get an education

Photo submitted by Marcus Bitter

Hands-on experience in potential prospective job fields can be hard to find, but junior Marcus Bitter found himself immersed in a future career as a dentist. Bitter spent two weeks in Panama over Christmas break assisting a local dentist.

Bethany students present at National Math Conference

Photo by Kathryn Wolf

After initial presentations at Bethany, Sara Krueger took her presenta-tion on Chagas Disease to the National Math Conference. This presti-gious honor took place Jan. 4-7 in Boston, Mass.

See page 2, LOANSee page 6, CRUISE

See page 2, BITTER

See page 2, MATH

2 THE SCROLLJanuary 25, 2012

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borrowers use the federal student loan program, according to The New York Times. This allows depen-dent students to borrow $5,500 for their first year of college, up to $3,500 of which is subsidized, and by the third year students can borrow up to $7,500, up to $5,500 is subsidized.

As part of the budget deal in August to reduce the defi-cit by $2.1 trillion in the next 10 years, according to CNN Money, Congress decided that they would cut access to the subsidized loan for grad-uate students. Also gone is a credit for all students that make 12 consecutive months of on time loan payments and the six month grace period.

According to the Congres-sional Budget Office, the change would take about $125 billion that is currently

being used for subsidized loans will be transferred for use as unsubsidized and is projected to cost students $18.1 billion over the next 10 years.

Also, Inside Higher Ed states that the cut to subsidized loans was made to save the $5500 Pell Grant and other student aid programs, at least for the time being. The reason Pres-ident Obama and Congress agreed on this option was it was the best of the worst. It is estimated that it will save about $22 billion, most of which will fund the Pell Grant.

Pauline Abernathy, vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success says, “Full funding for Pell Grant [used by about eight million low income students] is absolutely essential to fulfilling the president’s goal of the U.S. once again having the highest propor-

tion of college graduates in the world by 2020.”

Younge adds, “[The changes] are minimal for students here, students at graduate schools are most effected because the subsidized loans are going away, leaving only the unsubsidized.

“For students here, the subsidized loan, when students finish the interest on the loan will go to 6.8 percent, right now it is at 3.8 percent. The six month grace period also ends, so students will see the inter-est [at 6.8 percent] accumu-late the moment they leave college.”

Libby A. Nelson of Inside Higher Ed writes, “For graduate schools, the cut presents a challenge: how to help students and encour-age enrollment as state and federal resources decline.”

The National Center for Education Statistics reports

that in the years 2007 through 2008 one-third of all graduate students took out a subsidized loan averaging $7100, the maximum that can be subsidized is $8500 with a total federal loan of $20,500 a year. Of that one-third, over 70 percent of the borrowers were medical and law students.

Without the subsidized loan, graduate school students will need to pay an extra $207 a month just for the interest, where as with the subsidized loan, the government took care of paying for the interest.

Another major change that is coming is the end of a credit that all students receive when paying off their federal loans. One percent of the federal loan—also called Stafford—is an origination fee or a starter fee for having the loan. With the credit student, get half of that one percent back when the first

12 payments are in on time. The loss of this credit will cost students$3.6 billion over 10 next ten years.

“With the elimination of the graduate interest subsidy, it is also clear that graduate and professional school students will be hard-hit in terms of their total indebtedness… Our members are disappointed to see the pullback in loan repayment incentives,” said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Yet the biggest change that is happening will affect graduate students next fall, putting added pressure on the students and the school.

Reminder students, gets your taxes filled as soon as possible, you have until June 30, 2012 to file applications for FAFSA.

LOAN: Difficulties arise for students looking to obtain subsidized loans

BITTER: Student spends Christmas vacation as dental assistant in Panama

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

week of clinical work. The second week, the

students set up a clinic out in the country. They canvassed a village and gathered patient histories, using sheets of paper with prepared phrases in Span-ish. The leader of the dental team spoke both English and Spanish, and translators were present at each clinic.

“It’s all a part of the program. ISL has a big network so it’s probably the safest that you could be

when you’re down there.”Bitter was pleasantly

surprised with ISL’s program, saying, “Often times, programs try to get students to do all the work, even work they’re not prepared for. ISL was great because they taught us everything we needed to know before we actu-ally did it. I was also really impressed with this program, because it wasn’t like we just extracted every tooth; we tried to do restoration work, fillings and things like that.”

Because of an unbalanced doctor-to-patient ratio, students were given more weighty duties, as opposed to interning in any First World country.

“We worked as both hygienists and dental assis-tants,” said Bitter. “This was the first time many of the kids had seen a dentist. It was kind of funny because the kids would say, ‘We brush our teeth three times a day’ when it was pretty obvious that they didn’t.”

Bitter continued, “Some of the orphans had sealants

and things like that through government programs, but the average person out in the country probably had never seen a dentist. Some didn’t even have toothbrushes, or didn’t know what dental floss was.”

The program itself aims to give students applied experience in Third World countries, focusing on varied disciplines of biol-ogy, including pre-dental, pre-physical therapy, pre-medical, and pre-veterinary studies. Apart from biology, ISL also has opportunities

for elementary education majors.

“It’s a good experience for anyone who’s inter-ested in healthcare. I would really recommend anyone from Bethany to try this program,” said Bitter.

Students can browse and apply to any ISL program online at www.islonline.org.

and thorough job. It is a prestigious achievement to present there and definitely enhances your resume.”

The abstract that Krueger submitted was based upon the work that she had done as part of the Research Experience for Undergradu-ates program last summer at Texas A&M Univer-sity. The REU program

is supported and funded by the National Science Foundation and exists as an avenue for college students to hone their craft working on relevant proj-ects. Cepek and Kraft also used the data from their time in the REU program as the basis of their poster session presentations.

“The three girls partici-pated in REU’s last summer, so they were able to present

their findings and recon-nect with their friends and advisers [from the program]. This is a gateway to the next step after Bethany,” said Buch.

Even though the Joint Mathematical Meetings are only held once a year, there are several smaller occasions spread throughout the remainder of the year that would be valuable for those looking at a career in

the mathematical field. In fact, the math department at Bethany has purposely set aside funds in order to spon-sor students for events such as these.

“Our math department took students to a confer-ence in November and we are looking to go to another one. It is an important part of the major to have students participate in these confer-ences,” said Buch.

MATH: Students display research at national conference in BostonContinued from page 1

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THE SCROLL 3January 25, 2012

Campus Q&A

What is your New Years Resolution?

By Anna Wright

Alex SchmittSenior“Work hard and enjoy my last semester.”

Amanda JohnsonJunior“Not procrastinate.”

Kelsey MarzolfJunior“Overall be healthy.”

Kristie BrownSophomore“To learn how to do a handstand by the end of the year.”

Robert AhrensFreshman“Figure out what my major is going to be.”

Transfer Tales

By Bridget McDowellScroll Staff Writer

Daniel Ruiz has many aspirations: he wants to

be a pastor, a Jedi and the Green Lantern. Above all though he would like to be a pastor.

Ruiz, a native of Naples, Fla., is majoring in sociol-ogy and minoring in theol-ogy and religion. His pastor suggested that he come to Bethany.

“All I’ve ever wanted to be is a pastor,” Ruiz said. “My pastor said, ‘If you want to go somewhere good, go to Bethany.’”

“I had always been at public schools,” he added. “I wanted to be somewhere I could learn about my faith and not be attacked. I wanted to be in a different world.”

Ruiz really appreciates the atmosphere he found at Bethany, espcially the professors. His favorite class was Dr. Reagles’ Eastern Religions.

“Minnesota is full of adventurous terrain: plains, hills, fields. But mostly it’s cold tundra.”

Ruiz is an avid swimmer, but has many other hobbies, including reading, writing and video games. He loves fantasy.

“I fell into the world of ‘Skyrim’ when it came out,” he said. “And sometimes I pretend I’m Aragorn from ‘Lord of the Rings’ when I’m walking down the street to Honsey Hall.”

After graduation, Ruiz is looking forward to marry-ing his fiancee, fellow senior Katie Anderson, completing seminary and, later, having children and doing mission-ary work.

Aside from meeting Anderson, another memory Ruiz will never forget is when two of his friends played a trick on him.

“Sophomore year I went out to walk Katie to her dorm. Ben Lundsten came looking for me while I was gone and my roommate Phil Kaminsky knew I’d be back soon so he invited him in. When I came back the door was locked. I was confused because I left it open since I would only be gone for ten minutes and Phil knew I was coming. When I unlocked the door the lights were off and Phil was in bed. I whis-pered his name a couple times, but he didn’t answer so I got ready for bed and climbed up to my bunk. As I moved toward my pillow, I felt something on the side of my bed by the wall. Suddenly, Phil jumped out of bed and turned on the light and Ben popped up from by bed and yelled, ‘Hey, buddy. How are you?’ It scared me, but it was funny and I’ll never forget that.”

As his time at Bethany comes to a close, Ruiz has three pieces of advice for younger students: “Do your homework, have fun and keep it real.”

Senior Spotlight: Daniel Ruiz

Photo by Cassie Wierschke

Name: Brendan CzerHometown: New Ulm, Minn.Major: Business Ad-ministrationTransferred From: Martin Luther College

BLC activities: Golf, Basketball

If you could meet anyone, who would it be and why? George Washington, to see how smart he was to create a revolution.

If you could have a super power what would it be and why? I would want to know what people are think-ing, because I’ve always wondered how other people’s minds work.

Why did you choose BLC? I knew there were more opportunities with classes and internships and I wanted to stay in the area.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Elmer Fudd

If you could have three wishes granted what would they be? Be a genius, be the fastest man in the world, be the richest man alive.

Name: Emily DworakHometown: Colfax, Wisc.Major: TheatreTransferred From: Chippewa Valley Tech.

What is your favorite movie? “Shakespeare in Love “

If you could be any animal, what would it be and why? A chihuahua because I have one named Pepper and he’s amazing. I even dyed his tail red.

What is the funniest prank played on you or played by you? Putting a rubber band around the hose in the kitchen. I do that to my mom - I always get her with that.

If you could have a super power what would it be and why? Intense intelligence because then I could get through papers easily and memorize everything. I would be an unstoppable force.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Tinkerbell

How do you distract yourself from homework? Talk on the phone a lot, probably more than I need to.

Describe yourself in three words. Funky, unique and fun.

4 THE SCROLLJanuary 25, 2012

Each year, faculty and staff members’ anniversaries are honored for their years employed by Bethany. Honors begin at 10 years and every five years after that. The group was honored on Jan. 9. Their totaled years of sevice to the college is 215.Front row from left: Herbert Huhnerkoch (Chairman of the Board of Regents), Gaylin Schmeling (Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, President–15 years), Silas Born (Director of Christian Educa-tion–15 years), Timothy Tollefson (Music–10 years), Jackie Lemmermann (Housekeeping–10 years), Judy Hed (Housekeeping–30 years), Erling Teigen (Religious Studies/Philosophy–35 years)

Back row from left: President Dan Bruss, Michael Smith (Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, Greek and New Testament Studies–10 years), Ryan Kragh (Assistant Director of Athletics, Head Baseball Coach–10 years), Connie Meyer (Advancement/Bookstore–15 years), Denice Woller (Art/Communica-tion–10 years), Eric Woller (Dean of Academic Affairs–15 years), John Sehloff (Director of Information Technology–25 years)

Not pictured: Ralph Miller (Director of Accounting–15 years)

Is Facebook more than just a social network?

Artist paints past experiences

Photo by Anna Wright

The art lecture with Bruce McClain was on his exhibition called, ‘Inside/Outside.’ The lecture informed the audience on McClain’s previous and present work and stories behind the artwork.

By Brittany TitusScroll Staff Writer

Artist Bruce McClain is not only a painter, but

an educator. He taught at Gustavus Adolphus College for 46 years and is “exposing students to different direc-tions [in their artwork]” which continues to also inspire him as an artist.

“I enjoy teaching. I knew I would miss it. I like work-ing with students because it’s refreshing to be around people who are just starting out,” said McClain.

On Jan. 12 McClain came to Bethany to share his paintings with students and professors. His inte-rior paintings started in 1990, but his reproduction of aircraft interiors started before then.

“In my childhood I had a fascination with aircrafts. I figured it was a lot safer to paint them then to fly them,” said McClain. “My dad used to take me to air shows and I love airplanes.”

Numerous students who attended the lecture had felt connected with his art, whether it was the painting’s inspiration or character.

“I like that he used his passion of airplanes in his art and pursued it [enough] even to have a paint-ing in Washington D.C.,” said sophomore Sophia Faugstad.

“My favorite interior painting was the one that looked like an aerial photo-graph. I also liked that

he was in education for a long time; his pieces were unique and it gave him a new perspective that he learned while teaching his students,” said freshman Landon Brands. The paint-ings had enough character for you to look at it twice.”

McClain would also use black and white for his pieces because they gave a “newspaper feel.”

He additionally used his own experiences for his work, such as pieces that are of the outside world; what he “saw outside his window” when he “grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.” He liked the idea of a “small community.”

He gives advice to new artists from what he has learned as an artist himself.

“It’s important for artists to see their work in context,” said McClain. “You can also sometimes see what other people are doing and it can make you work harder so you can improve your work.”

New and young artists had the chance learn how a professional works and a new direction for a point of view. It has given them a new path to follow as artists themselves.

“The thing that I thought was the most memorable was when he was advis-ing young students to go out and do things to create experiences that then can be used as ideas to create pieces of art,” said Faugstad.

By Matt KrupnickContra Costa Times (MCT)

College students need not feel guilty about

spending hours each day on Facebook or other social networks. Turns out it might help them get a job.

IBM recently started working with San Jose State students to come up with ways the technology giant could use its internal systems to better interact with employees and the public. About 100 graduate students and undergradu-ates in the fall analyzed IBM’s social-business tools, learned how to use them and thought of ways they could be improved.

Among their ideas: Use “social business” software to tie together customer-service sites with inter-nal bulletin boards where employees talk to one another.

The company hopes to involve students at more than 20 other universities this year.

The corporate world

has come to realize young people are leading a “trans-formation moment” driven by social networking, said Douglas Heintzman, IBM’s director of social-business strategy.

“There’s something big going on,” he said. Twitter and Facebook have played major parts in the Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring movements. “This phenomenon is taking down governments.”

Global Business Services is considering how to imple-ment some of the San Jose students’ ideas.

“How great is that?” said Larry Gee, a San Jose State instructor who worked with IBM on the university program. “It’s not throw-away education, like an essay that will go into the circular file.”

Social networking, and its social-business offspring, has become a fashionable field of study at universities. Student projects often focus on using social networks to solve everyday and business-

related problems.Three students at UC

Berkeley’s School of Infor-mation, for example, collaborated last year on a social-business project for their master’s thesis.

The “Manufactured Seren-dipity” project focused on how companies accidentally can find innovation using social networks.

Companies such as Google reward employees for spark-ing innovation, and IBM, with 430,000 employees, wants to do the same thing, Heintzman said.

“The employee base provides a pool of informa-tion,” he said.

The San Jose program paid off for 24-year-old Jackie Flowers, a master’s student in biotechnology. She has taken on social-busi-ness duties at her biotech industry sales job recently, she said.

“Facebook is my genera-tion,” Flowers said. “I had never thought of it from a business perspective.”

Photo by David Norris

Faculty and staff recognized for years of service

THE SCROLL 5January 25, 2012

“how do I love thee...”Stop by the

green chairs area

on Wednesday

January 25, and

Thursday, January 26 during lunch and

dinner hours, and write a free valentine to

your sweetheart! Submissions can be no

more than 12

words, and will be

published in The

Scroll on Feb. 7th.

T H E S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F B E T H A N Y L U T H E R A N C O L L E G E

Juliet - Will thou go out with me?

Love, Romeo

Tarzan think Jane very pretty. Jane be Tarzan

valentine?

By Jaime SchultzScroll Staff Writer

Minnesota carries a stigma of being

conservative and holding to tradition. One such tradition is religion, and in particular marriage. In Christianity, marriage is a respected insti-tution that many believe was created by God.

For some, however, the views of marriage have begun to change as post-modernism takes over. Instead of saying “husband and wife,” there are people who want to change it to “husband and husband,” or “wife and wife.” These people are trying to make same-sex marriage legal in the state of Minnesota. Come November, Minneso-tans will be called to vote on this issue, defining the true definition of marriage in Minnesota.

A group called Minneso-taforMarriage is pushing for Minnesota to stay the same. Tim Gould, a local representative of Minneso-taforMarriage, commented on this rising issue of same-sex marriage, stating, “I am against it. Marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Bethany student coun-selor, Patti Reagles, who

is also against same-sex marriage, responded to this issue, saying, “People think that if two people love each other, they should be able to do whatever they want. This issue is far more complex.”

The Program Advisor at Minnesota State Univer-sity, Mankato, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgen-der Center, Julia Keleher responded to this question, saying, “I think marriage is a social institution that should be between two consenting adults regardless of their gender.”

According to Genesis 2:24, “A man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Same-sex marriage doesn’t only impact adults, it also impacts children. Children have certain needs that must be met by both genders of parents. There is a reason why God created a man and a woman to be the ones to raise children.

Mothers and fathers are different, yet they bring the best pieces of themselves to raise their children the best they can. When asked if she

thought that children need both a mother and father’s love in order to have the best environment possible, Bethany secretary Audrey Winkler replied, “Yes. Chil-dren need both a mother and a father’s love for stability.”

Keleher said, “Children should be raised by two people who love them.” She also spoke of a study that mentioned how “children with same sex parents are just as happy as children who have male and female parents.” She went on further to say that “gender

doesn’t matter as long as the children are loved and shown kindness by their parents.”

When asked the same question, Bethany sopho-more Caitlin Schlawin stated, “I think that children need to respect both sexes and since parents are the most influential figures in a child’s upbringing, they should be taught directly by a parent of each gender.”

The current biblical insti-tution of marriage gives guidelines to be the best husbands, wives, mothers and fathers one can be. It gives a husband and wife a set of rules that make up a partnership. The question is how are you going to vote in November, regarding this sacred institution given by God?

If this bill is passed, it will show Minnesotans the value of clinging to their roots. According to the Minneso-taforMarriage Website, “31 of 31 states have voted to define marriage in this way.”

If this bill is not passed this coming November, it will leave Minnesotans a second opportunity to stay rooted in their tradition for next year’s campaign.

Photo by Allison Homan

The push for Minnesota legislation to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman is backed up with a verse of Scripture found in Genesis 2:24, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.‘

Minnesota votes on definition of marriage

Photo by Cassie Wierschke

Bethel Balge performed a Faculty Recital in Trinity Chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Balge has performed in Germany, Portugal and Russia. Balge teaches piano, piano pedagogy and piano literature courses at Bethany Lutheran College and piano at Martin Luther College. She also performs regularly in BLC’s Chamber Music Series.

Bethel Balge entertains with piano skills

6 THE SCROLLJanuary 25, 2012

By Kalie StaplesScroll Staff Writer

Spotify: All the music, all the time

The time of 8-track play-ers, albums, cassettes and CD’s have since passed and been replaced by a new medium -- online music. Spotify was launched in October 2008 in Sweden and in November 2011 in the United States. It has since become a competitor with Pandora and Rhapsody.

“I love Spotify. I like being able to search for music and make my own playlists. Plus it’s free,” said junior Tracey Mehlhouse.

Spotify is a way to listen to the music you like for free by simply creating an account. Once users can create an account they can search music by song, album, artist, or genre. Users can create playlists that are acces-sible from any computer or mobile device, share music with friends, post to Face-book and even read biogra-phies of artists.

Pizza: A vegetable in schools

In November 2011 Con-gress met to discuss finan-cial matters of school lunch programs across the coun-try. The current school lunch rules state that two tablespoons of tomato sauce on a slice of pizza qualifies as a serving of vegetables.

This bill would allow schools to cut back on fund-ing because it is cheaper than other vegetables with a higher nutrition value. In addition, this change makes it easier for pizza manufac-tures to create products with a serving of ‘vegetables.’

“I feel that it’s counterpro-ductive to the fight against obesity. Yes there is tomato in the sauce, but it doesn’t justify the grease,” said freshman Melissa Owen.

This battle of tomato sauce can even be traced back to former president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Reagan tried to cut down on school lunch funding by classifying ketchup as one of the required servings of vegetables.

News & Notes

By Brittany TitusScroll Staff Writer

The woman’s basketball team has won their first

conference game of the year. This nail biting game was against the St. Scho-lastica Saints who weren’t going to lose without a fight. Although the Vikings were faced with a challenging team, they beat the Saints with a score of 68-59.

Senior Jessica Englund led the game with 18 points. Englund also had 14 rebounds throughout the game.

According to blcvikings.com, Englund was named “the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) women’s basketball player of the week” after recording

her ninth and tenth double-double of the season.”

Fans were ecstatic with the big win. The intensity and hard work by the play-ers were noticed and fans couldn’t be more pleased.

“The win felt great. I am so proud of the girls for getting the big win. I know how hard they work and it is just nice to see them succeed,” said freshman Allie Van Hee.

“I think the win will give our team a big confidence boost for the rest of the sea-son. My favorite part of the game is when we get on a roll and the intensity of the game just goes way up,” said freshman Andrew Lentz.

Players from the team were overjoyed with the win. Because of their hard work,

fans thought that the game was enjoyable to watch

“I think the game was fun to watch. It was so exciting because the game was so close and we ended up win-ning on top,” said senior Alyssa Wiechmann..

“Having the opportunity to play with such an amaz-ing and close team is already such a blessing, but to win and see how much each per-son believes in and counts on each other. It’s one of those feelings I wouldn’t pass up for anything,” said freshman Tarah Schoof. “Celebrat-ing in the locker room after the game is insane. I know I had goose bumps and some of my fellow teammates did also.”

Although the game was

a victory, it has taught the players more about how they played and what they need to work on as a team.“I feel like if we really stay strong and set our minds to it this season then we are going to do great. Our biggest chal-lenge is moving the ball around on offense quickly, but we already are looking so much stronger in that area,” said Schoof.

The team had also beaten Northland 68-56 in the con-ference. Northland was ranked second in the presea-son conference. This proves that the girls are stepping up their game and are ready to take on the next challenge.

Woman’s basketball wins first home conference game of the year

create events where they can come together and meet other Bethany alumni. It is an opportunity for President Bruss or other Bethany staff to stand up and talk about what is going on with the college and to bring people together to remember the time that they spent at Bethany.”

The cruise welcomed 23 former students, who attended Bethany over the years. It allowed alumni to reconnect and meet other BLC alumni and to discuss what Bethany was like when they attended.

“We went aboard the Naples Princess Yacht, we boarded the ship at 4:30 p.m. for what is called a sunset boat cruise and headed out on one of the channels in Naples and into the Gulf of Mexico. We were out in the Gulf just as the sun was beginning to set at 6:30 p.m. There were hors d’oeuvres, an area that had informa-tion about Bethany, a slide-show of some recent events and we have our own private section of the ship where we could gather and just enjoy the scenery,” said Krier.

“On our way back, we went to our private room and had

an opportunity for President Bruss a chance to stand up and address the alumni. He talk about thing that were going on at Bethany, successes that we had, and just how important alumni were and their support is to the college. Also telling them that they are always welcomed to come back to Bethany, just to see what has happened. President Bruss also answered some of the questions that people had,” Krier continued.

Also, Krier stated that, “when we had gotten back to port, one of the waitresses on the ship came up to me and she commented that this was one of the most polite and kind groups that she had ever dealt with on the Naples yacht. She started to ask questions about Bethany, I told about our college, what we stood for as a four-year liberal arts school with a Christian minded education. I said that Bethany attracts good Christian people, that are just good people that treat others like they would like to be treated. It was cool that we stood out in her mind compared to all of the other groups that use that ship. That she was just so impressed with the people involved with our college.”

This is not the first time that Bethany alumni enjoyed this event. “Those that were there loved it, we actually did the same event four years ago, so we thought enough time had passed to do it again and we had some of the same people,” said Bruss.

Each year, BLC tries to put on three events that bring together former students that are spread throughout the country.

“Our mission as Alumni Relations is to create a bridge between alumni and friends of Bethany and the people on campus. A chance to come together and be around people of the Beth-any family and an opportu-nity for us to just reach out with them and talk to them and let them know what is happening,” explained Krier.

Furthermore, Krier stated, “We had a social event in Tucson last year that provided alumni a chance to get together and explain what was going on with the school. We had some prize drawings and things like that. We had about 15 alums at that one. We had an alumni event in Milwaukee last October, and we had an old fashion fish fry with over 80 some alum that came

for that. What was unique about that was we had it in the Pfister Hotel in down-town Milwaukee, which is a very nice hotel, and what is really interesting is that the General Manager is a Beth-any alum, Joe Kurth. He was helpful to allow use to have that event in that hotel and had a great response of people for that.”

Additional events include a summer game with the Mankato Moondogs, cheese tasting in northern Wiscon-sin, a dinner and a show at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, and a tour of the Harley-Davison factory in Milwaukee.

Bruss explained that the purpose of this event is “To reconnect people with the college, update about the campus, and alumni of different years to connect with one another, to talk about their time at Bethany.”

Krier also said, “when you come to Bethany, you’re part of a special family, a group of individuals that have receive the Christ centered educa-tion and it is important to remember that. It is some-thing that will always be part of our lives, here and in heaven.”

Continued from page 1

CRUISE: Alumni reconnect while touring Gulf of Mexico

THE SCROLL 7January 25, 2012

Men’s basketball team soldiers onwardBy Alex NelsonScroll Staff Writer

In the realm of sports, a team can learn just as

much about themselves in a demoralizing loss as they can in a resounding victory. As crazy as this notion sounds, it holds a great deal of truth. Many times, essen-tial development can sprout from the most trying of times.

Taking a glance at the underwhelming 2-9 non-conference record of Betha-ny’s men’s basketball squad, the first reaction might be that of disappointment or disgust. However, if one were to delve deeper, they would realize that the statis-tic is somewhat deceiving. This is because the team undertook a brutal slate of contests against prime competition with the hope that it would help them to refine their game before conference play. At the end of the day, the record has been forgotten and the emphasis remains on growth.

“We are losing but we are learning a whole new system and the level of competition was really good. We need to recognize the negatives, but focus on the positives,” said junior forward Alex Weldon.

Looking at the results of the past week, it looks as if first-year coach David Balza has kept his team composed despite the tough early schedule, as the Vikings reeled off three convincing victories to start the confer-ence season. The team has shone in a variety of ways during this encouraging winning streak, but what really stands out is how strongly they have grasped Balza’s plans for them both on and off the court.

In addition to installing an entertaining up-tempo office and a diverse defen-sive scheme, Balza has had a profound impact on the team’s status on campus. For example, he instituted Red and White Day, during which the entire team trav-els to other Viking sport-ing events. Also, it has already become a custom for the players to approach Bethany fans after every game, thanking them for their support. These types of practices may seem insig-nificant, but in the long run, they make all the difference in the world.

“Coach Balza brings a lot of experience, as he coached at the Division 1 level. I think it has been the perfect fit as a team and I’ve really

enjoyed it so far,” said junior forward Pat Garvin.

The fans seem to echo this sentiment, as senior Dan Stark said, “Balza is the whole package. He is not just here for basketball. He is here for so many aspects of Bethany.”

Even though the team is currently riding a wave of momentum, they still have much to improve upon as the push for a UMAC title continues. To this point, the Vikings have taken full advantage of their balance and depth to exploit other teams. However, in order for the goals to become a real-ity, they must take their play to the next level.

“We are good in transition and at mixing up defenses, but it all starts with defense and rebounding. If we can defend and rebound, then we should be fine,” said Garvin.

One of the primary objec-tives of the Vikings for this season is to continually strive to get better every day in practice, not letting them-selves settle for anything less than a date with the Division III national tour-nament. The Vikings will continue this pursuit at home against Crown College on Jan. 27.

Photo by Melissa Richie

Wins over St. Scholastica and Northland College kept the Vikings undefeated in conference play. Derek Peterson finished the weekend with 36 total points, 13 against St. Scholastica and 23 against Northland College. The Vikings look forward to more home conference games as they play Crown and Northwestern this weekend. On Jan. 31, Bethany will also look to defend their home court in a matchup against the MLC Knights.

Cross Country and Track get a new coachBy Bridget McDowellScroll Staff Writer

The Bethany Lutheran College Cross Country

team will open a new chap-ter with the start of its 2012 season by welcoming new head coach David Ring.

Ring who is currently a teacher at Manitowoc Lutheran High School in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, will bring his expertise and passion for the sport as well as years of leadership expe-rience to the program.

“I’m finishing my four-teenth year at Manitowoc. I teach mainly math and science, but I help out in other areas and coach cross country and track,” Ring said. I’ve taught at the high school level for 20 years. Before Manitowoc I was in Wausau where I did a little of everything. I also taught at the elementary school level in Minnesota.”

Ring brings a lot of running experience to the table. His accomplishments include the 2007 Boston Marathon.

“I am excited to meet

him,” said freshman Lukas Roust. “We heard that when he heard about the job he went on an 18-mile run to think about it so we know he’s good.”

A friend to many BLC faculty and staff, Ring has been watching the program’s growth. He applied for a coaching open-ing three years ago, but the school did not have the resources at that time to hire from outside the institution. Ring applied again when he heard of the latest opening and he said that everything has fallen into place.

“The Lord has shown me that this is the right deci-sion. Houses don’t sell in Manitowoc, but we put our house up for sale and got an offer in less than a week.” Ring added, “Prior to Mani-towoc, my wife and I had never stayed in one place for more than six years. My

parents live a half hour from Mankato so it will be fun to be here and work on the program.”

Ring has high hopes for the cross country program and also for the growing track and field club which will become an NCAA varsity team for the 2012-2013 school year.

“My first goal is to get the numbers up,” said Ring. “Bethany has a great cross country team, but with the top men graduating we will need more runners. The women’s team is a solid group, but I’d like to get a total of 15 or more runners on each team.”

Though both the men and women brought in good results in previous seasons, runners are excited at the prospect of further improve-ment for the relatively new sport.

Breanna Londgren who

will start her senior cross country season under Ring said, “I’m excited to see his new strategies and ideas come into our workouts. I want to see how those will make us better runners. I’m also excited to get to know someone who is an expert in running and shares my passion for it.”

Sophomore Marta Krause is also excited. She said, “I think he will help us serve God through running and further build our team.” Krause added, “I think having track and field will bring more runners to the school. That will be nice to see.”

As for track and field, Ring’s first mission is to increase interest and help expand the program, although he said, “It’s not all up to me; The Lord has to continue to bless the college.”

Photo submitted by David Ring

David Ring takes over as head Cross Country and Track coach. Ring is currently a teacher and coach at Manitowoc Lutheran High School, but he will leave his position there to lead the runners at Bethany.

8 THE SCROLLJanuary 25, 2012

Welcome to Falling Rock by Josh Shalek

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