Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 5 text:

I was a Bethel student a while back. When isn’t important. Let's just say that I've been around a long time. It’s exciting to make friends v ith students; the experience of each individual is unique within the context of the college. So much goes on in a person’s life in the years spent at college. Thousands of students can go through the same institution and derive radically different experiences. The key to understanding these experiences lies in reserving judgment and being compassionate. Prejudices and misunderstandings arise out of unwillingness to truly see the situations of others. I have four friends at Bethel who are willing to reveal part of their thoughts and feelings to you, so you’ll have a window into their minds. Perhaps you’ll learn something about yourself and your friends.

Page 4 text:

Passages is not a yearbook nor is it a literary magazine. It is unique, escaping traditional definitions. Students v rote. photographed and edited Passages to describe some of the experiences of a large portion (but by no means all) of Bethel students. The creation of Passages has been difficult. Each step in the planning and composition was a new and experi- mental attempt to depict the struggles college students face. The four characters are fictional representations. Like Bethel students they are growing and changing. Their attitudes and perspectives are affected by the people and situations they encounter. Such change is never easy. Photography was selected to complement the characters' feelings and experiences. The result is more than a picture book with four separate essays. It is a glimpse of what happens inside Bethel students as they deal with feelings and experiences. The text is intended to represent its audience. Bethel students; the hope is that readers will be able to identify with and learn something from Passages.

Page 6 text:

I'm alone now with my memories — memories no one can see. “College will be good for you — you'll really grow up,” someone told me. Right. How can emotional pain and tears help me become a better person? I thought I could easily fit into new social groups; it had come so easily before. I had been out to enjoy college life to its fullest. Until now. Far too much of me remains in the past. I had so much at home — great family, friends, talents . . . where are those things now? Must I be forced to prove myself over and over? The glances here are cold, categorizing. Yet I am no different. My eyes are cold. I build my own brick walls around the secret area labeled “Me. Me, me, me. My priorities are hurting. I have to look out for myself — no one else will. When classes began, I suddenly needed every moment to keep up with the syllabuses. I've been Your freshman year of college is an unforgettable experience I tiled with paradoxes excitement and disappointment, new friends and homesickness, responsibility and overwhelming demands. The experience forces this person to redefine herself as an individual, developing a new perspective on who she is and what she'd like to be. Loneliness... a word I never thought I'd have to learn, is becoming all too real to me. My past doesn’t matter here.