ORIGINALLY WRITTEN STAFF
Bethel College broke ground May 20 for the Krehbiel Science Center.
More than 250 students, donors, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of
the college attended the ceremony on the building site northeast of
the Administration Building.
Construction for the $6 million science facility is scheduled to begin
next month with completion expected by summer of 2001.
Psychology, physics, chemistry and biology will be housed in the
four-story structure.
A major gift from Fred and Kay Krehbiel, Hinsdale, Ill., and the Molex
Corporation, Lisle, Ill., provided the naming of the new building.
The name honors Fred?s great-grandparents, J.J. and Anna Leisy
Krehbiel, who pioneered the Kansas plains and helped found Bethel
College 113 years ago.
J.J. and Anna Leisy Krehbiel?s great-granddaughter, Rosalind Enns
Andreas, Essex Junction, Vt., spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony and
introduced the audience to the character and values of the Krehbiels.
Andreas, a 1963 Bethel graduate, described them as people ?who helped
tie the church, college and community together during the college?s
early years. In a similar way today, J.J. and Anna have tied these
three groups together again through the construction of the new
building.?
Other speakers spoke about the academic excellence of Bethel?s science
programs. A 1950 graduate, Varden Loganbill, Moundridge, also shared
about the tradition of mentoring relationships between faculty and
students that last a lifetime.
Carrie Penner, a graduating senior biology major from Hillsboro, spoke
for current students who anticipate that Bethel will ?at last have a
science building that matches the quality of its programs.?
Richard Zerger, a 1969 graduate and current professor of physics and
chemistry, described the inquiry-based science program already in use
at Bethel in which teachers and students work together as active
learners.
?We already have a teaching model for the future, and now we are
building ?a facility to support it,? Zerger said.
With a long rope and an antique slip similar to those pulled by horses
and used to do earthmoving for early buildings on campus, nearly
everyone in attendance participated in the groundbreaking exercise.
?There was an inspiring symbolism in having more than 200 persons
representing students, board, alumni, retired faculty and staff,
donors, architects and builders, and friends of the college all
pulling with such energy, said President Douglas Penner. ?It
communicated the depth and intensity of support we have experienced at
Bethel for this project in recent years.?
Others participating in the ceremony were the Bethel College Brass
Ensemble and Keith Harder, chairman of the Beth
Bethel breaks ground for science center
