Keeping up with the Joshes
by Josh Booth – Horizon News and Features Editor
There are six men on campus who share a bond many others cannot. These six have a lot in common: They’ve all gone through the struggles of doing homework for hours every night and remembering to do laundry on a regular basis. They’re all ready to have fun on a moment’s notice. They also have a secret desire to fly like Superman.
No, they’re not superheroes (though unofficially they’d be known as “the Justice Joshes.”) These six students at Hesston College are simply guys whose parents decided to name them either Josh or Joshua. As the fourth most popular name back in 1992 and 1993, it makes sense it would be popular here on campus. Here are the stories of the Justice Joshes.
Josh Lightsey’s story starts in Hutchinson, Kansas, a town about 35 miles away.
“That’s close enough for me to make it in to town for family functions, but far enough to say I can’t make it,” says Lightsey.
Lightsey’s spiritual path to Hesston may have been a little more complicated than his physical one, however.
“I chose Hesston initially because it’s important to me that I go to a Christian school to study Youth Ministry. I would say I got overwhelmed with activities and campus jobs last year, and I made a decision not to return to Hesston. It wasn’t until a month or so before classes started that I realized it wasn’t Hesston’s fault that I experienced burnout. It was me, looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. God made it clear to me that I needed to be back at Hesston.”
Lightsey is very musical, and when he isn’t delivering pizzas you could find him strumming on his guitar, or possibly playing a game of Ultimate Frisbee.
The next Josh, Josh Criscoe, hails from the deep South. He is from Huntsville, Alabama, to be more precise. When asked about why he chose Hesston, he said he “liked the sense of community, and wanted to play baseball.” While Criscoe is one of the two Joshes who is a student athlete, he is also pre-med. He’ll be saving lives by day, and crushing baseballs by night.
Josh Landis is from the heart of the Midwest, Sterling, Illinois. Landis had previous history with Hesston which ultimately helped him in deciding to come here.
“I chose Hesston because of all the great things that I have heard about it from everyone that has gone here, and both my parents are alumni.”
Landis is a member of the cross country team, which also makes him, he suggests, the fastest of the Joshes. I believe talk is cheap, and we should have a race of the Joshes. Landis also owns a few dairy cows and would like to have a career related to agricultural science.
My name is Josh Booth, and I grew up in Goessel, Kansas. I chose Hesston because of the music department, the small and homey feel of the campus, and because it is close to home. I am a member of Bel Canto and the newspaper. I believe one thing that makes me different from the other Joshes would be the fact that I hit another vehicle while I was driving the Driver’s Education car. It required a little bit of body work, but on the bright side, I still passed.
Josh Burkholder had to travel the farthest of us to get here. Warden Washington is 1,667 miles away from the campus, an estimated 26 hours of driving. Burkholder is a sports fanatic, particularly when it comes to basketball. He came to Hesston because he also had family connections here, and because of the great atmosphere on campus. Josh’s major is computer information technology.
The last Josh, Josh Thomas, calls Johnstown, Pennsylvania home, a town which has the world’s steepest incline plain. Thomas came to Hesston to be close to family, for the tight knit community, and what he believes to be one of the best youth ministry programs around. Thomas enjoys chilling with friends and watching movies when he has the time. He also is the proud owner of a second degree martial arts black belt, and is also a karate instructor. This is one guy you wouldn’t want to mug in a dark alley.
If we were to form a superhero group at Hesston, the Justice Joshes say they would choose flight over all other super strengths. It is, after all, fast, a gas-saver, and it’s also just awesome. (Burkholder would prefer the ability to time travel, however, to go back and fix mistakes in history.)
But until we develop the abilities to defy all laws of time and physics, these six Joshes may just have to be content with mastering their other shared miracles: completing homework by 2 a.m. and having enough clean underwear to get them through the week.
