Hesston College is a private college in

Hesston, Kansas Hesston is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,505. Large manufacturing facilities for AGCO (farm equipment) and Excel Industries (lawn mowers) are located in Hesston. It ...

, United States. It is associated with the

Mennonite Church USA The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Ra ...

and has an enrollment of about 400 students who typically come from about 30 states and 15 other countries.

History

In 1909, the Mennonite Church founded the Hesston College, because many of the early settlers were

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

farmers. In 1981, the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains was founded at the college.

Educational facilities

The main Hesston campus consists of 12 buildings, including two residential

dormitories A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

, an

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

building,

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, a number of academic buildings, and two

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

nasiums. It also has a baseball diamond, a softball field,

soccer field A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural t ...

, two racquetball courts, a weight room, and four

tennis courts A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

. The Dyck Arboretum of the Plains is a Arboretum located blocks from the main campus. The

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

program has facilities at the Newton City-County Airport east of Newton, Kansas. The

Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

program, in addition to facilities on the main campus, has affiliations with local hospitals, including Newton Medical Center and Prairie View Mental Health Center in Newton, Schowalter Villa in Hesston, and Via Christi-St. Francis Campus, Via Christi-St. Joseph Campus, and Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

Athletics

The official mascot for the Hesston College athletic teams is the Larks. The Larks have 13 teams: baseball, softball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, track and field, and golf which was added for the academic year 2016–2017. Hesston participates in the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

, and was given full membership in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference in 2018.KJCCC Members

Notable alumni

Theodore Epp Theodore H. Epp (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1985) was an American Protestant Christian clergyman, writer, and radio evangelist. Epp was the founding director of the '' Back to the Bible'' radio broadcast and speaker on the program from 193 ...

Christian clergy In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidanc ...

man, writer, and radio evangelist. * John A. Hostetler, author, educator, and leading scholar of

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

and

Hutterite Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century ...

societies. * Jesse B. Martin, Canadian bishop and

peace activist A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pea ...

* Katie Sowers, first openly LGBTQ coach in the NFL.

References

External links