In the fall of 2021, Bethany students were introduced to our new advancement associate, Eric Dyck Hilty, who assists Sarah Lind in the advancement office and creates opportunities for Bethany alumni and constituents to donate gifts for Bethany to continue improving its facilities.
Eric grew up here in Goshen and eventually moved to Phoenix, Arizona. While living in Goshen, his father worked at Bethany, and his older brother and sister went to school here a few years later. Eric attended Phoenix Christian High School, Goshen College, and Endicott College, getting a master’s in biology education and a Master of Education degree in International Education Administration. Before coming to Bethany, Eric was a high school teacher and later an administrator for an international school.
What drew Eric to Bethany was his past connection with it, and that he was interested in working in a small Christian school. He’s enjoyed working in K-12 schools before, which Bethany is working toward becoming, and he appreciates the small school atmosphere. Eric finds getting to know alumni (a big part of his job) to be very interesting, and has enjoyed getting to know the faculty and students at Bethany. So far, his favorite experience at Bethany has been organizing the most recent alumni reunion, which was a strange one compared to others. Normally, alumni reunions go by a five-year-numbering system (i.e. a reunion for classes’ graduating years ending in one and six), but the last one was for classes ending in one, zero, five, and six to make up for missing the reunion during
When asked what the most interesting thing he’s done is, Eric said that he’s traveled to over 50 different countries, and lived in Burkina Faso (11 years), India (3 years), and Russia (2 years). He’s also taken summer trips to Guatemala, Switzerland, Papua New Guinea, and attended SST in the Dominican Republic.
One thing’s for sure, Bethany is lucky to have gained Eric on its staff. If you see him in the halls, make sure to say hi!