Pursue Your Purpose Day

On Tuesday, March 6, 2023, Bethany College held its first annual Pursue Your Purpose Day which consisted of three different parts: The Bethany College Career and Leadership Conference, the Ken Sjogren Day of Service, and the Path to Your Purpose Office’s reflection reception. The goal of this event was to provide students the opportunity to connect with professionals from different industries and to reflect on the path that they are taking to find their purpose.

The Leadership Conference put students directly in front of women that are leaders in a wide variety of different industries and fields. These women were able to share their stories and give students advice as they move forward in their young adult lives. Many of these women came from high-level positions that have worked hard to climb the ladder and gain success. The Ken Sjogren Day of Service offered students a chance to do service work and give back to our local community. With servant leadership being one of Bethany’s core values, this service opportunity was a great way to display the characteristics and values that Bethany upholds. Finally, the reflection reception gave all participants the chance to reflect and discuss the day's events together. Students, faculty, staff, and guests could share their thoughts and takeaways from what they each participated in. The day itself served as a great experience for students to be able to draw and reflect upon as they navigate their college journey.

Finding your purpose is not an easy task and it is not usually something that happens overnight. One of the most notable takeaways from the conference was that there is no right, clear, or direct path to finding your purpose. So often, people are under the impression that there is only one right answer to a solution. However, after listening to multiple panels from the Pursuing Your Purpose Leadership Conference, that is not the case. One of the business panels at the conference consisted of three women that came from different executive management positions and they each shared the story of their journey. One speaker graduated college with a music degree and planned to combine music and therapy and work as a therapist. She currently leads the National Strategic Partnerships team at Commerce Bank. Another speaker graduated with a Business degree and upon her graduation journeyed straight to Kansas City with no specific plan, just high hopes of making a name for herself in the business world. Today, she is the Senior Director of Creative Resourcing, Asset Management, and Production at Hallmark where she leads an organization of more than 70 team members. The third speaker graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1986. She joined Great Plains Manufacturing in Salina, Kansas in 1994 and since then has been able to work her way up the ladder in November 2013, and assumed the presidency of the company. All three of these women are highly successful, but the most interesting thing is that none of them had the same journey to their success. Everyone is capable of a successful life, but everyone’s journey to that life is often very different.

Bethany College’s first annual Pursue Your Purpose Day was a great opportunity for students to reflect on themselves and the current path they’re on to finding their purpose. If students should take anything away from this day, it’s that each of us have a purpose in this life. We each have a unique calling in life and the experiences we have, both good and bad, will lead us to discovering our purpose.