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Yeah, it's one of our premier places and I really really like and I like to take people there All right, so I was just You know My husband and I we we had our own issues about being here and family stuff happening People in our family passing away going through the grieving process so we weren't as open like To having people not that we didn't have people over because we do but I think having that place for Students to come I guess in my mind. I did think I would we could be those people We we have always been those people wherever we've been like living in Minnesota was no picnic in terms of representation and so We Come from the South we didn't know any better to but we would do brunches and dinners and Soul food and all that to have our friends come and we always had the people who weren't from there Come to our house because they didn't have any family anywhere else and and and where to go And and so we just got into this habit of being hospitable like that and I think coming here You know life just kind of happened, but we said Recently we need to get back to doing that. Yeah, we need to get back to you know say hey We're gonna have such and such and and we just want y'all to come over and just you know There's no agenda. You don't have to be anything just come and let's be a community You know and I do say that specifically to the black folk. I Know when I came here in as much as people were warm and friendly and kind And how people who drive me over to dinner? and I was kind of like You know, this looks and seems like Mayberry on some levels, but Not as much as I need it. I was here for the first year by myself My family stayed in North Carolina, so I was by myself and that was a hard year So, yeah, yes, but I mean kind of thinking about You know what What would be your advice for future threshers Specifically for the BIPOC threshers as they find their place at Bethel College Like what advice will be give To those that you know, like those are the best those students who are ambassadors But what when you have the opportunity to speak to BIPOC students, what would you say to them? It's funny being a pastor of a Mennonite church because we always talk about the Mennonite colleges, right you know the Bethel Bluffton EMU Goshen and I always I always try to tell point students to Bethel I'm always like hey y'all should go to Bethel And it's funny. I always keep trying to think of myself like man what I'm not trying to tell like what am I? Um Yeah, what am I like advocating for for students to be at Bethel like what what is the reason I say go to Bethel and I think for future students I would For future students especially specifically BIPOC students, I would say mostly like Like strive right like at some levels, right like like Take heart that there are people who have Walked that same path right that there are people who have made it Through Bethel and it sounds sad to say that because it feels like It should be easier than that. And then I hear other stories from And then I hear other stories from folks who went to other colleges and it's not Easier than that right like at some level right like like Like stick with it. Yeah, I remember fall of my freshman year Please don't get scared I Went home. It was my first time going back home for Thanksgiving break And I go home. I it was amazing, you know family had a big dinner I found my mama my brother uncles and aunts everything felt so familiar. I went to the mall Friends like things were great. Oh, man and a week later. I'm going back to Bethel And I come back and that first week back was so hard for me and I remember crying Falling my eyes. I'm a roommate's like I'm gonna give you a minute And she didn't want me to leave in the first place she was like, you know stay close to home which You know, this ain't far from Dallas, but either way But she was like you need to stay there you got to be there finish the year out we'll talk about it and it took Me like building those relationships. I had to be there that first year build those relationships build that community and then Process, you know my experience and you know by the end of that, you know Maybe a student does say like hey, this isn't for me, right and sometimes you gotta do what's best for you Yeah, but also if you stick with it, I feel like I don't regret Sticking it out with Bethel, right? I built beautiful community Like I'm ingrained with within it in a lot of ways. I know a lot of people have a lot of connections now Yeah, it was just a beautiful Experience for me a really hard experience Also experience, I don't know I get if I went to one of those bigger Colleges or universities And so yeah, so I I think my advice is for future students is like strive like There are people have come come before that blazed a trail for you Like walk that path Create your own path off of it And yeah, you can do it like you can't wait that moment when you don't think you can any longer You can like press through yeah, you can you can you can do it That's what you said. I'm just like Any I think any school and especially if you are away or it seems like okay, this is your first time being gone and And but it is going to be developing in that community and Just finding When I say find your place with finding you and they say well, okay, you know, I can do this and we would ball too. I Remember we used to have because we have black history week During black history week we would in invite folk, you know Here that were okay that we know we were trying to you know, just showing them You know, maybe want to come or something like that And so I invited my cousin and you know, some other folk that came and so my cousin came and Then next thing I know when it was time for her to graduate from high school She says I think I'm come to Bethel. I'm like what? I said, okay. Well she came and it was, you know, we had the time of I mean Hopefully, you know my cousin's hopefully and she became the minority, you know, they end up living here in Newton for 22 years And oh Our sons grew up and you know all of that and and it was again you know the fact that Our sons grew up and you know all of that and And it was again, you know the fact that you know it was community and those most time but at the first time, you know, we were leaving for the summer and And then we're like, okay, we'll see everybody Then next thing, you know, I'll be glad when I get back to school because you know now you have developed You know your community and you know, you're getting your friends there And so you wanted to you know, you want to come back, you know and Just just be with them just be with everybody and you know say a funny thing happens you end up Graduating and just thought you just keep on going and we you know, so in those kind of things like that, but it is Well, I read reread that article that I wrote, you know for survival about you know, why are you here? And then I thought it when I said a question is it's not why you know why you know why you know, I'm here But why stay? Yeah, and then I said I stay because you need me and you you let folk know that You know, I'm here because What you Know Here do you know what she's referring to You need to get her Survival she needs we need to get some some faith that Alan signed copies I I think about what you said and I think about that in but in terms of my role here People ask me. Why are you here? And why did you come like Kansas was never on my radar and Why are you here? And I don't stay because it's easy. I stay because it's hard. Yeah It is hard, but but you know what if I stay here There'll be other people who come behind me that will have an easier road And you know, it's funny when my plane landed last night I was like I'm home. I don't say that. I don't say that lightly when I move to a new place It takes me a long time to say I'm home But there's something about this place that has started to grow on me And it will yeah, yeah and the sweetness of a small college Yeah So Tara, what would you say to a BIPOC student if they met you on campus and they were Wanted to know I Freshman year. Yeah But when you go home for Thanksgiving just come back Yeah When you when you realize people care about you like And you it takes time to create that That place but when you realize people care about you like and want to see you succeed and that's to me. That's That was the point right like when I realized I like oh This person really wants to be here. This person really wants me to see my football coach really wants me to you know Do well, you know my the VP for student life Like it the campus Pastor really wants me to be a student chaplain like that. That's yeah, you need me, right? Like yeah, you you want me to be here you see that I offer something to this community That was and like I mean, we all want to be useful, right? We all want to be You know at some level we all want to give something to the world. Yeah, and Yeah, Bethel was an opportunity to give something Oh All right, this is an editorial that I wrote for Minority in 1977 1970 1977 volume 1 number 4 Minority Journalist Club survival Presented by a minority student at Bethel College something. I never thought it would be in the Mennonite library and archives The editorial was entitled why do I stay here indeed? This is doing my three years at Bethel. I have several times been confronted with the question. Why did you come here? I feel that that is a question I can answer rather easily the question I find hardest to answer is why do you stay and the reason why I stay at Bethel and I don't mean to sound Conceited is to make it better Because without us coming to Bethel there will be no other way to show how much Blacks have to offer in the makings of the world and yes in the makings of Bethel College There are many Injustices on this campus concerning blacks and when one complains about them The question asked is if you don't like it, then why don't you leave and no? I'm not going to leave because that makes it too easy for you In other words you're saying if there's a problem get rid of it rather than deal with Sometimes I get the feeling that some people on this campus think we don't belong here My answer to that is we have just as much right to be here as anyone else Why do I stay here indeed? I have to this place needs me Minority cultural director Bar One thing that I will say when people come here is that a lot of people focus on the negative My teammates are thinking about transferring. I have a lot of friends are thinking about transferring Specifically people of color and they tend to think of you know the negative. I hate it here. I'm not happy here, but One thing I say is to think of the positive and not try to think Like of the immediate future. Yeah Like for me like I don't know where I'm gonna end up in the next year or so But I know that Bethel has provided me education to get a degree Which I want to use to go to med school and you know further that so if you look at the positive, it's like Why not finish a semester here, you know and just see where that goes But yeah, I think people need to look at the positives not just that Bethel but just in life period And I think yeah, I'll be very beneficial I Am so grateful to have spent this time with all of you, this has been wonderful and I Mean what I say about being supportive I want to Not just use the words, but in my actions I want to be an ear or a meal or Or just just hold space whatever whatever is needed because I know what that feels like I know What it's done for me to have people You have a Board of Directors of Bethel College that cares so much about you and Everything your well-being and so it's so excited that you're here and You have a president That cares about you John Gary. He cares about the people He cares about the people that he cares about That cares about you John Gary he cares about the people he cares about The work that is going on here as a matter of fact when he When they was asking me about being on the board, he wanted to talk with me and interview me and I was interviewing him What I heard from him got me back here I'm grateful Also, please subscribe to Survival for great great articles great podcast. It's good stuff, it's good stuff. Alright, well, that's a wrap. Cut the tape