NEWS FALL 2016
OF DORDT COLLEGE
VOLUME 62 | ISSUE 1 OF 3
THE
NEW PATHS IN AG The agriculture program at Dordt College has always looked for ways to break new ground. Whether it’s pioneering new courses or new two-year programs, Dordt College is among the few Christian colleges with a dynamic ag program, deeply formed by faith and the biblical story.
FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR 10 FINDING THE MATH IN A CARD GAME 22 KIMMS IN MONTANA 38 1
Leading Off WITH THE PRESIDENT
MULTIPLICATION OF THE FIRST 35 This fall, we’ve been hosting “Defender Nation” gatherings across North America. At these events we offered updates on the state of the college and encouraged financial support for the completion of our Science and Technology Center project. At two of these gatherings, I met Juna (Kosters) Hoekman and Donna (Rietema) Van Zanten, two of 35 students from the 1955 inaugural class of Dordt College.
THE
OF DORDT COLLEGE
FALL 2016 VOLUME 62 | ISSUE 1 The Voice, an outreach of Dordt College, is sent to you as alumni and friends of Christian higher education. The Voice is published three times each year to share information about the programs, activities, and people at Dordt College. www.dordt.edu (712) 722-6000 Send address corrections and correspondence to voice@dordt.edu or VOICE, Dordt College, 498 Fourth Ave. NE, Sioux Center, IA 51250-1606 Contributors
I thanked these women for taking a risk on the new college. I also let them know that the 18,000-plus alumni of Dordt College owe them, their classmates, and the original faculty and staff members a debt of gratitude. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.
Aleisa Dornbierer-Schat, editor Aleisa.Dornbierer-Schat@dordt.edu
One of my favorite Dordt traditions is having every first-year student for dinner each fall, in groups of 40, in the Founders Room attached to our home. I’ve told Juna’s and Donna’s stories to each of those groups, asking these new students to close their eyes and imagine an entire student body of only 35 students. It always prompts a few nervous laughs, but it also encourages a sense of history and perspective.
Sally Jongsma, contributing editor
I find joy in hearing those stories, and I’ve gained a deep appreciation for how God’s blessings have multiplied at Dordt College. With 1,523 students taking classes this fall, we’re at our largest enrollment to date, and we praise God for each and every image-bearer who is a part of our campus community. Over the past 60-plus years, majors have been added, buildings have been built, and whiteboards and video screens have replaced chalkboards and overhead projectors. But the Reformed worldview and educational mission remains—to equip students, alumni, and the broader community to work effectively for Christ-centered renewal in every aspect of contemporary life.
Sarah Vander Plaats (’05), staff writer
This semester, Dean of Chapel Aaron Baart is preaching through the book of Acts, reminding us that “we are God’s witnesses” and that the building of the church, which now reaches every corner of the world, began with 12 disciples. An apt reminder, it seems to me, of Dordt College’s small, but important, part in the Holy Spirit’s ability to take our humble efforts and multiply them for God’s glory. Soli Deo Gloria!
DR. ERIK HOEKSTRA
2
Voice
Michael Byker (’92), sports writer Shelbi Gesch (’17) student writer Sonya Jongsma Knauss, contributing writer (’97) Lydia Marcus (’18), student writer Sarah Moss (’10), director of marketing and communications Jamin Ver Velde (’99), art director/ designer John Baas, vice president for college advancement John.Baas@dordt.edu Our Mission As an institution of higher education committed to a Reformed, Christian perspective, Dordt College equips students, alumni, and the broader community to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. On the Cover Students in Dr. Jeremy Hummel’s Agroecology course spent a day visiting alternative farming operations in South Dakota. The group headed into the wet pasture to hear farmer Tim Eisenbeis answer their questions. Photo by Aleisa Dornbierer-Schat.
Inside
Editor’s Notes
THIS ISSUE
JOSIAH WALLACE
NEWS
4
This fall, Dordt officially launched Pro-Tech, a pioneering approach to hands-on, professional-technical education.
8
Four (count them) siblings from Indonesia are studying at Dordt College this year.
10
Dordt College welcomed its first Fulbright Scholar-inResidence, Joyce West, who joined the Education Department for a semester-long visit this fall .
FEATURES
16
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
19
explain the hidden math in the matching game Spot It!
Students and professors at Dordt explore challenging questions at the intersection of faith and science. Dordt's Assistant Director of Admissions Eric Tudor has risen quickly among the ranks of competitive cyclists. For him, though, cycling is about more than winning.
22
What do a children's card game and projective geometry have in common? A retired and current Dordt mathematics professor join forces to
Dordt students Kyle Fossé and Makeila Shortenhaus dance as Leonato and Hero during the masquerade scene of this fall's theatre production, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
26
A growing number of Dordt students spend the summer doing research alongside professors across the disciplines.
ALUMNI
38
This year’s Distinguished Alumni,
Yvonne (Vaags) and Jason Kimm ( ’ 99), were honored for their work blending traditional and conventional approaches to agriculture in Montana.
41
April and Kelly Crull have spent more than two decades exploring what it means to plant and nurture churches in the vibrant urban neighborhoods of Spain.
ENGAGEMENT?
E
ngagement is an abstract word, and like all abstractions, it’s not easy to pin down. The Wall Street Journal recently named Dordt College the nation’s top college or university in the category of engagement, a measure of teaching quality and students’ involvement in the learning process. These lists are greeted with great fanfare in the press, trumpeted across the webpages of the worthy and well-ranked. But rankings, and the news stories that come with them, quickly drop off newsfeeds and out of memory, leaving the real work of teaching and learning to go on as it has and will, often without much acknowledgement. It’s the ordinary work of the classroom, performed diligently by the professors and students who meet each other there. What matters about something like “engagement” is what it looks like on the ground, in the flesh. Engagement, in the lives of students at Dordt, is a wild, growing, joyful thing—not something easily quantified. And like all kinds of learning, it can involve the pain of re-thinking, of letting go, of re-building. The stories we tell on our pages are, ultimately, stories of engagement. Whether it’s students in this fall’s Agroecology course, trudging through wet pastures and learning from farmers, or it’s humanities majors exploring career options in Sioux Falls, or it’s students doing summer research alongside their professors— transformative learning continues, list or no list, ranking or not. ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
3
NEWS
NOT JUST FOR TRADITIONAL, FOUR-YEAR STUDENTS President Erik Hoekstra recounts the conversation he had with a mother of a Dordt student who planted the idea of Christian higher education for students interested in more hands-on, career-focused pathways. JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
Her daughter had gone to Dordt College and majored in social work. Her daughter’s experience, coupled with a desire for a Christian education, was a factor in her son’s decision to come to Dordt a few years later. But ultimately, he couldn’t find a place for himself. “Their son struggled at Dordt–he found no major that was a right fit for him and his unique skills and talents,” says Hoekstra. “In that conversation I asked his mom what she thought about Dordt designing programs where there could be more hands-on learning, maybe in a two-year environment. The idea brought tears to her eyes because she knew what a great blessing it would be to her family and to other families.” The simple idea took root, and Dordt College expects to enroll its first crop of students into the new Pro-Tech (professional-technical) program in the fall of 2017, pending accreditation. This innovative program is an offering that few, if any, Christian colleges are attempting. Students enrolling in the two-year vocational fields of study will still enjoy a full Dordt College experience, living on campus, worshipping in chapel, and participating in co-curricular activities. Initial programs of study will be in farm operations and manufacturing. As the program expands, so will the program offerings. Dr. Joel Sikkema, Pro-Tech director, says, “A significant portion of the students’ experience will be in internships with local businesses. In the middle of their first semester, students will already begin working two full days each week at an internship.” These internships continue throughout the program, including a
4
Students in Dordt's Pro-Tech program will spend a significant part of each semester in internships with area businesses and industries. They will also complete a full-time summer internship in Northwest Iowa or elsewhere in the U.S. or Canada.
full-time summer internship in Northwest Iowa or at a partnering business in the United States or Canada. At the heart of Pro-Tech is Dordt’s mission of equipping students to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all areas of life. “A Christian education shouldn’t be confined to only those students seeking a four-year education,” says Hoekstra. “All students deserve to be equipped to be kingdom citizens who glorify God in industry and all aspects of life.” To date, more than 65 inquiries have been received from as far away as California, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Dordt hopes to enroll 40 students in the inaugural class. SARAH VANDER PLAATS (’05)
FILLING A VOID In September, Dordt held its first Pro-Tech Campus Visit Day, hosting 17 students and their families. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey joined the visitors and spoke about the current situation facing ag and manufacturing businesses. “Businesses will tell you that one of the greatest challenges is staffing their facilities with people who can run sophisticated equipment,” says Northey. “I know of a plant in Northwest Iowa that cannot expand as they cannot find enough good people to expand operations or replace retirees.” Northey explained that employers need people who not only know the technologies of today, but are change-ready and able to adapt to new technologies available in the future. “Learning and gaining those skills is a natural part of the Pro-Tech program,” he says.
NEWS
Maximillian Sunflowers DAVID SCHELHAAS (’64)
Alive with light, the prairie sings, “Yellow, yellow, yellow,” as it lures me with its siren song to drown in yellow sunflowers that sway in gentle wind waves like synchronized swimmers. Each cluster does a circle dance, each flower smiles her wide-toothed joyful smile, so bright one loses sight of the errant aster here and there, the muted golden goldenrod.
Everywhere, everywhere dancing, a million Maximillian Sunflowers, some of them ten feet tall, bend down to kiss me as I walk by. I love them. We all do. Strangers on the path stop to say their praise but cannot find the words. Nearby a strutting ring-necked pheasant, blue, purple, red and mottled rose, his whole palette glistening, croaks his dismay as if to say, “I’m the really pretty one.” But we can only see the yellow flowers of the sun.
MACKENZIE PETERSON ('20)
Arts in the Prairie took place on a warm October afternoon. The event married the beauty—and mystery—of the created world with art and music created by students. There were art activities for children in attendance, facepainting by theatre students, and a scavenger hunt for seeds from different plant species in the prairie.
5
Psychology Professor Dr. Bruce Vermeer and Biology Professor Dr. Tony Jelsma gave a joint presentation titled “Perseverance: Psychospiritual and Genetic Perspectives” at the annual meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation in Azusa, Cali., in July. The presentation was based upon a senior research project conducted by biology major Arielle Johnston during the 2015-16 academic year. Mathematics Professor Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld and Education Professor Dr. Ryan Zonnefeld gave a joint presentation titled “TechnologyInfused Classrooms: Bridging the Gap in Pre-Service Mathematics Teacher Preparation” at a conference in the Netherlands. The Zonnefelds also gave a presentation titled “Faith Connections in the Math Classroom” at the Heartland Educators Conference in October. Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld gave a presentation titled “StandardsBased Assessment in a Developmental Math Course” with Dordt students Michal Huizenga (’17), Aaron Van Beek (’18), and Kate Van Weelden (’17) at the Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference in October. She also presented “Implications of Growth Mindset Training on Undergraduate Statistics Students by Gender.” After this presentation, Zonnefeld was invited to write a chapter for a book published by Springer. Agriculture Professor Dr. Dick Joerger served as an evaluator of FFA Proficiency Awards in February and an evaluator of Instruction for American Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in June. Joerger also served as a peer reviewer of research proposals for a regional research conference in June and a peer reviewer of article proposals for a professional journal in July.
6
HUMANITIES TREK ACROSS SIOUX FALLS W
hat can you do with that major?” It’s a familiar question for those studying in the humanities. English, art, theology, history, theatre, and music majors know they’re gaining skills in critical thinking, writing, and public speaking, but such soft skills don’t always translate into clear-cut employment choices.
BRANDON HUISMAN (ʼ10)
NEWS
Faculty Notes
This fall, the Career Development Center staff took eight humanities majors to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to visit four up-and-coming companies and learn about careers available to students like them. DocuTAP was the first stop on the trip. “You might think a software development company wouldn’t be the place for a history, English, or theatre major, but you’d be pleasantly surprised,” said Ashley Huizinga, a senior English major. Daryl Bruinsma (’15), who studied graphic design and digital media production at Dordt, is a videographer at DocuTAP, where he employs storytelling skills cultivated at Dordt in a technologyrich context. “We want focused but flexible employees,” said Jarrod Heinz, CFO of DocuTAP. “We’re looking for ideal team players: humble, hungry, and smart.” Fresh Produce, an ad agency that provides marketing and creative consulting services, is also eager to hire graduates with humanities degrees. “If you have good ideas and you’re good at articulating them, you belong here,” said one copywriter to the students. Fresh Produce employs copywriters, graphic designers, and marketing strategists, all ideal positions for humanities majors. Hope Kramer, a senior art major, appreciated seeing practical applications for her major. “It was helpful to hear from like-minded individuals in the field of work I’m interested in,” she said.
Dordt humanities students visit The Bakery, a coworking space in Sioux Falls eager to hire students with skills cultivated in disciplines like English, history, and theatre.
Stop three was The Bakery, a creative consulting company and open workspace in a converted former bakery. There, students learned about working as freelancers, something many had not considered. “Entrepreneurship and owning your own business can be risky, but for those looking for independence, it can be the right fit,” said Huizinga. The final stop on the trip was at Washington Pavilion, a performing arts center. The Pavilion employs hundreds of workers, many of them history, English, fine arts, music, and theatre majors. While most Dordt humanities students choose a major because they love what they study, most also know that employability matters. Huizinga, like the others, enjoyed learning that “companies of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds are on the lookout for ambitious, driven, smart, and connected students of all stripes and majors.” SARAH MOSS (’10)
THE PASSING OF A SERVANT LEADER Dr. Douglas Ribbens, a founding faculty member of the college, died in August at age 89.
“With Doug Ribbens’s passing, most of the founders of the college are gone,” said President Erik Hoekstra. “We give thanks to God for the lives and vision of these pioneers.” Ribbens began teaching on the first day of classes in 1955. He set a high bar of excellence for himself and for the college. “He always pressed us to grow, not just in student numbers, but in reputation as a quality Christian college,” said Hoekstra, noting that even in retirement, Ribbens wanted the founders’ vision for a biblically grounded education in all areas of life to remain central at Dordt College.
DORDT COLLEGE ARCHIVES
NEWS
Ribbens served Dordt College for 37 years as professor, registrar, director of admissions and financial aid, academic dean, director of the library, and vice president for academic affairs. He played a major role in shaping and running the young institution as it moved from a junior college with fewer than 100 students to a thriving four-year college of more than 1,200. Today his name, along with that of his wife, Henrietta, appears on Dordt’s main classroom building.
Douglas and Henrietta Ribbens were honored at an event celebrating the dedication of the new addition to the classroom building in 2007. It is now called the Ribbens Academic Complex.
programs to manage institutional data, and encouraged faculty to work out their Christian vision for the education they offered in their classrooms.
noted, “When we named the Ribbens Academic Complex, many people recognized that the naming honored the academic founder of Dordt College.
Dr. John Van Dyk, emeritus professor of philosophy and education, has used the term “practical realist” to describe Ribbens, noting that Ribbens pushed
“He had a heart for people who could be touched by the college’s mission and would bend to accommodate that,” Zylstra added, recalling the testimony of students who have told him of the “second chance” Ribbens gave them.
“He had a heart for people who could be touched by the college’s mission and would bend to accommodate that.”
Ribbens was — President Emeritus Dr. Carl Zylstra Dordt’s first education the college to put its vision into writing. professor and was instrumental in laying “The Educational Task of Dordt College” out the early curriculum, serving as chair was written under his watch and with his of the curriculum committee until his encouragement. retirement. His varied titles don’t begin to describe the tasks he performed, “Administrators and presidents don’t however. In a 2009 Voice interview, constitute a college; the faculty does,” reflecting on his years at Dordt, Ribbens Ribbens once said, believing it was his described himself as the “utility infielder.” role as administrator to make it possible So began an administrative career that spanned his professional life. He scheduled classes, supervised faculty, wrote North Central accreditation reports, submitted grant applications, managed the library, wrote computer
for the faculty to do their work. He expected much from them, but he also gave much and was a vigorous proponent of their role at the college. Dordt’s third president, Dr. Carl Zylstra,
Today, the Douglas and Henrietta Ribbens Academic Complex honors the couple’s contribution to the college, including their financial contributions. Throughout his life, Ribbens continued to believe that a broad education that helps students develop a strong worldand life-view is the best preparation a student can have upon leaving college. To help make that possible, he and Henrietta funded several Ribbens Elementary Teacher Education Scholarships for Dordt students. Ribbens kept a relatively low profile during his years at Dordt, but his visionary and administrative contributions played a major role in what Dordt College became during his 37 years of service and in what it is today. SALLY JONGSMA
7
AND RETASYA MAKES FOUR NEWS
Dordt’s twelve Indonesian students have dubbed themselves InDORDTnesians. They’re among the more than 100 international students living and studying at Dordt. Four of them are also siblings. Retasya Badudu joined her sister and two brothers on campus this fall. Senior Ranita Badudu, the first of the siblings to attend Dordt, says she always wanted to study abroad, and her parents wanted all four of their children at the same college. “In a developing country like Indonesia, you have to go to college,” Ranita adds. After Ranita enrolled at Dordt, her siblings followed. “I had no choice!” jokes Rainanda “Ray” Badudu, the third eldest. “Like my brother said, I didn’t have much choice,” adds Retasya. “But I wasn’t forced to come. I visited and talked to the professors, and I saw the benefits to a smaller college.” “Studying abroad forced me to be more mature and independent,” says Raddhitya “Brad” Badudu, the second oldest. “If you have the chance to get a head start on adulthood, why not?” The Badudus were first introduced to Dordt College when a friend suggested they meet with former Dordt Director of Admissions Curtis Taylor when he was visiting Indonesia.
HOPE KRAMER (’17)
“What first attracted us to pray about Dordt was that Dordt doesn’t only
educate students to master knowledge, but more importantly, to prepare them to be the light of the world using their knowledge,” says Rina Badudu, the students’ mother. “Sending four children to Dordt is part of our family’s faith journey.” Even with siblings attending the same school, studying in a foreign country can be difficult. “Coming to Dordt was my first time in the States, and I haven’t been back home since then,” says Ranita. Being far away from other family has been “the biggest challenge,” says Brad. “Asian cultures are usually dependent on family,” and being away from family during the holidays or when a loved one dies is hard.
FOOD 4 THOUGHT Food is one way the Badudus have connected with the Dordt community. The siblings meet with fellow Indonesians and international students at the weekly coffee time hosted by the Global Education Office (“Which is open to domestic students!” interjects Ranita) and the “International Table” at the Commons, which also welcomes all students. “The ‘International Table’ in the Commons is a good way for American Dordt students to get to know international students,” says Ray. The “International Table,” two long rectangular tables surrounded by students from across the globe, gives Dordt students a unique opportunity to learn about a variety of cultures while building friendships with people from all parts of the world.
“The exclusivity of being an international student is also a challenge,” says Ranita. “You want to take pride in your own country, but you don’t want to be proud, you know? Everyone shares lots of similarities because we’re all human beings, but it is easy to see differences.”
broadening their perspectives to include new or unfamiliar ways of understanding the world.
“People don’t like doing hard things, and going back to the familiar is just comfortable,” says Ranita. “But, especially in recent years, international students have branched out.” She believes this has significantly benefited both international and domestic students,
Her parents are grateful, too.
As a new Dordt student, Retasya has been grateful for this opportunity. “I’m excited to learn about other people’s cultures. I’ve never been away from Asia,” she says. “And I look forward to learning more about my heart and about God while I’m here.”
“We believe that Dordt is the place to help each of our children become a mature disciple of Christ, and we would not change that for anything,” says Rina Badudu. “We would make the same choice again—to keep our eyes set on God, and hear and follow his direction in making the decision.” LYDIA MARCUS (’18) WITH ASHLEY HUIZINGA (’18)
The four Badudu siblings stand near the clock tower with their parents, who recently traveled to campus from Indonesia to visit their children, all currently students at Dordt. 8
PHOTO SUBMITTED
NEWS
Dordt students observe the veterinary examination of a young rescued manatee during their visit to the Puerto Rico Manatee Conservation Center.
EXPLORING PUERTO RICO: THE PLACE AND ITS PEOPLE A
fter two days of hacking at vines and grasses, the rainforest didn’t look noticeably different. The forest floor was still a lush mat of greenery, and clusters of vines still drooped between the trees. But the sixteen college students had helped to re-clear paths used to collect sustainable timber from a patch of second-growth forest. The students had left their mark on Puerto Rico. In May, students from nine majors explored the environment and culture of Puerto Rico in a three-week offcampus study adventure. The trip, led by Spanish Professor Rikki Heldt and Biology Professor Dr. Jeff Ploegstra, gave students the chance to study Puerto Rico in a hands-on, transdisciplinary manner. Prior to the trip, each student completed a research project about an aspect of Puerto Rican culture or its environment that related to their area of study. Sophomore biology major Katerina Meybaum studied some of the flora and fauna they would encounter in the rainforest during their three-day visit. “The variety of majors helped give us a more holistic perspective on what we were seeing,” says Heldt. “I see beauty in people working together to see how what you do in your area of life impacts other areas of life.” The group covered a lot of ground in 21 days, touring Old San Juan, exploring El
Yunque Rainforest, volunteering at an orphanage and foster home in Hogar Manuel Fernández Juncos, and hiking at the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge. “It was incredible to see how God can make such a diverse ecosystem on a 100-by-35-mile island,” says junior Covey Jackson. “You get to experience the ocean, a rain forest, pure humidity, absolute dry heat, mountains, mangroves—all on this little section of land. You get a feel for how incredible God is, making these different ecosystems come together to work for the people of the island.” Group members agreed that one of the trip’s highlights was the sunset swim in a bioluminescent bay.
bay, then swam under the boat where it was darker and easier to see the glowing microorganisms. “When we splashed the water, we could see what looked almost like glitter or confetti that was bluish green and glowing,” recounts sophomore Kylie Van Wyhe. “When we had to leave the water and climb onto the boat, the water dripping from us was still glowing. It felt as if we were swimming with the stars.” “It is easy to see God’s beauty in a new environment,” says Heldt. “By admiring
“By admiring creation in a new place, we are trained to see the beauty in the place we live.”
Senior Nathan Spaans, who — Dordt Spanish Professor Rikki Heldt researched bioluminescence and taught the group about the phenomena creation in a new place, we are trained prior to their swim, explains that to see the beauty in the place we live. It “bioluminescence is simply the emission helps us see the beauty in a cornfield or of light, created by biochemical reactions in the color of the sky.” within a living organism. Immersive experiences in a novel “Researching bioluminescence could environment “shape people’s dispositions never fully prepare me for what I toward creation,” says Ploegstra. “We experienced,” says Spaans. “Until I was take on the role of observer when we’re in that water, surrounded by a living, in an unfamiliar location, and that helps glowing galaxy, I would not be able to us think more broadly about our values fully understand bioluminescence and its and view of creation.” beauty.” The group rode a ferry to an isolated
LYDIA MARCUS (’18)
9
NEWS
DORDT’S FIRST FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE A
large map posted outside Dordt’s Education Department is dotted with red push pins that show where Dordt graduates are currently teaching. Though the United States is covered by the thickest distribution of pins, there is a significant scattering of pins throughout the world. Wherever Dordt students end up teaching, they are served by the global perspective they cultivated in their courses. Dordt’s first Fulbright Scholar-inResidence, Education Professor Joyce West, is encouraging Dordt education students during her semester-long visit this fall to think broadly and globally about education. The Fulbright Program, a function of the United States Department of State, provides funding for American colleges and Joyce West universities to bring scholars from other countries to their campus as instructors and students. West comes to Dordt from the Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies (AROS), a Reformed, Christian institution for higher education in Pretoria, South Africa.
When education students graduate from Dordt, they travel to all corners of the globe to teach. This semester, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Joyce West has helped cultivate a global perspective among the students in her education courses.
languages in a classroom, so how do you accommodate that? And if you can’t speak any of those languages, how do you deal with that?” Trans-languaging provides tools to deal with these dilemmas. West is passionate about teaching literacy and language in a multilingual classroom in a way that respects the native language of each student. “You need to protect your native language because with culture and with language comes identity,” says West. “Also, science has shown us that a second language needs to develop from the native language.”
Dordt has developed a partnership with She says language learning works best in AROS over the past several years. West’s semester here comes after Dordt Education Professor Tim — Dr. Leah Zuidema, associate provost Van Soelen was invited to Pretoria to visit AROS and work with students and the classroom when native languages are professors there in 2015. understood as a resource, not an obstacle to be overcome. “The best way to frame West’s field of research is in linguistics, it,” she says, “is to ask: ‘How can I use specifically the teaching of English as a native languages? How can I collaborate second “or third or fourth language.” She these two and find a way forward?’” specializes in trans-languaging, which describes how multilingual people deploy Yet, she also believes in the importance complex linguistic resources in their of teaching English. “English serves an social and political contexts. important purpose across the globe—it’s a useful lingua franca, providing a way to “In most of South Africa,” West explains, communicate and find a place of common “you will have about five different native
ground among the many differences.” This semester, West is teaching the Foundations of Literacy course alongside Dordt Education Professor Gwen Marra. She’s also teaching courses in Reading Methods, Assessment, and English as a Second Language. Dordt College associate provost Dr. Leah Zuidema says West’s semesterlong visit has provided opportunities for intercultural exchange. “These kinds of exchanges provide both windows and mirrors,” Zuidema says. “Professor West has a one-semester window into the life of a Dordt College professor, and she also gives students, faculty, and staff at Dordt College a
“These kinds of exchanges provide both windows and mirrors.”
10
window into South African culture and education by sharing from her experiences. “Intercultural exchange also provides a virtual mirror—a chance to see more clearly who we are, what makes us unique, and what we share in common. What a beautiful way to celebrate both our unity in Christ and the diversity of his world!” SHELBI GESCH (’17)
W
hen senior biology major Caeden Tinklenberg first heard that the Wall Street Journal’s 2017 College Rankings had listed Dordt as number one in student engagement, he wasn’t surprised.
• To what extent does the teaching support students in applying their learning to the real world?
“Since I arrived here in 2013, it was immediately made clear to me by my professors that they were not going to let me go through my four years here as a passive student,” Tinklenberg says.
Tinklenberg says some of the most engaging and challenging courses he’s taken at Dordt are those in the Kuyper Scholars Program (KSP). Dr. Mary Dengler, director of the program and a Dordt English professor, challenges KSP students to write papers, lead discussions, reflect upon each other’s arguments—essentially, to engage themselves completely in the learning process.
Dordt was ranked first out of 1,111 colleges and universities, including Swarthmore College, Michigan State University, and Baylor University. Student engagement, according to the Wall Street Journal, is the best way to understand the quality of teaching at a college or university—“how well it manages to inform, inspire, and challenge its students.” To measure engagement, the Wall Street Journal examined four key questions:
• To what extent does the teaching support reflection upon, or making connections among, the things the student has learned?
“They study hard, worship hard, play hard—they do everything hard,” said Dengler. “I’m finding that’s pretty typical for students at Dordt. I’m seeing more students who are going after learning, and I love to see that. Engaged? Yes, many students are putting themselves forward to get answers and take control of their education.” Along with the four key questions, the Wall Street Journal considered how likely students are to recommend their college to friends or family as well as how often students have the opportunity to interact with faculty and other students.
“I am still being mentored by the professors I had,” Bowar says. “When you’re a student at Dordt, you know your professors care deeply about you. It’s not just a question of whether you’re understanding the material in the syllabus. Their deep hope is that you will be an effective kingdom citizen, always seeking to apply and live out a reformational worldview wherever you are.” The rankings were determined based on the Times Higher Education U.S. Student Survey, the Academic Reputation Survey, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data, and the College Scorecard. Bowar sees student engagement as one way to frame Dordt’s commitment to its educational mission. “Dordt connects faith, learning, and God’s story—and emphasizes living that out today, right where you are, with the opportunities he has given you,” he says. SARAH MOSS (’10)
JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
• To what extent does the college support critical thinking?
• To what extent did the classes taken in college challenge the student?
NEWS
WALL STREET JOURNAL RANKS DORDT NUMBER ONE IN STUDENT ENGAGEMENT NATIONWIDE
Dordt alumnus Josh Bowar (’05), head of school at Sioux Center Christian School and Dordt Alumni Council member, said that the most engaging aspect of his education was the time he spent interacting with his professors.
Dordt students participating in April’s IdeaFest discuss their entry in the concrete canoe competition with Dordt College President Dr. Erik Hoekstra.
11
DORDT COLLEGE ARCHIVES
NEWS
Faculty Notes Education Professor Dr. Gwen Marra gave a presentation titled “Informational Texts and Vocabulary for Young Children” at the Iowa Reading Association Conference in Ames, Iowa, in June. Assistant Provost Dr. Leah Zuidema gave a presentation titled “Expanding Concepts of Vocation in Christian Higher Education” to the IAPCHE-Europe conference in the Netherlands in April. In August, an article Zuidema co-authored, titled “Resources Preservice Teachers Use to Think about Student Writing,” was published in Teaching of English.
JACOB LEWIS’S RETURN TO DORDT
Mathematics Professor Dr. Mike Janssen gave a presentation titled “Improving Proof-Writing with Reading Guides” at MathFest in Columbus, Ohio, in August. Janssen also co-organized a MathFest session called “Formative Assessment Techniques in Undergraduate Math Courses.” In June, Janssen published an article titled “The Waldschmidt Constant for Squarefree Monomial Ideals” in the Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics.
On March 24, Lewis was driving back to campus after a job interview. In the snow and ice, he hit a patch of slush and collided with a semi-truck. The semi flipped and Lewis’s car was totaled. First responders from Mercy Air Care in Sioux City, Iowa, airlifted him to the hospital. In critical condition, Lewis was sent to Omaha, Nebraska, where he spent more than 24 hours in surgery.
History Professor Dr. Scott Culpepper contributed a chapter called “No More Mr. Nice Angel: Angelic Ethics from the Ancient World through ‘Paradise Lost’ to ‘Supernatural’” to the book The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to Twenty-First Century Chic, edited by Barbara Brodman and James E. Doan and published by Fairleigh Dickson University Press. Director of Graduate Education Dr. Steve Holtrop gave a presentation titled “How Serving Graduate Students is Different from Serving Adult Undergrads” at the Christian Adult Higher Education Association annual conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.
12
Before a harrowing car accident left him with life-threatening injuries, Jacob Lewis, now a Dordt sophomore, played in the post for Dordt’s J.V. basketball team.
I
remember getting gas and saying goodbye to my mom before I left,” Jacob Lewis said. “I remember getting on the highway and that’s all I remember until I woke up two weeks later.”
“He had a lot of fractures,” said men’s basketball Head Coach Ross Douma. “Most notably the vertebrae and the pelvis. What was really remarkable—and a miracle from God, for sure—was that he did not sustain any head injuries. From his neck down to his knees, he had something that was broken or injured virtually every four inches.” Lewis spent long weeks at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, relearning how to stand and walk and perform daily tasks. The men’s basketball team visited him there to help lift his spirits and get his mind off rehab. “There was a lot of joking and normal talk,” Lewis said. “It was good.” Lewis returned to Dordt and his basketball family this fall. Looking back, he says the toughest part of his rehab was the mental one. “I had to ask my parents and nurses
RELATABLE Lewis, who plans to become a physical therapist someday, believes this experience will help him better relate to those he cares for. “I’m looking forward to being on the other end,” Lewis said. “My therapists think it would be a good way for me to relate with patients, knowing what they’re going through. Being in the hospital and then the rehab center and then an outpatient has helped me make my decision in that area.”
for everything,” Lewis said. “That was probably the worst—having to rely on everybody for everything, from feeding me to getting a glass of water.” Back at school, Lewis is working with Dordt’s athletic trainers two to three times a week to get his strength and coordination back. Although he won’t be on the basketball court this winter, he will be helping the team as a student manager, encourager, and friend. “He’s been a positive example of somebody who just keeps on fighting,” Douma said. “He had two concussions during the season last year, and he was undeterred. It would’ve been easy to just throw in the towel and look for another school close to home. But he wanted to come back and finish what he started. I think that speaks volumes about him and his character and how he was raised.” CLARISSA KRAAYENBRINK (’17)
I
n July, 16 Dordt College teams earned a place on the prestigious list of NAIA Scholar-Teams. The NAIA awards this distinction to athletic teams that maintain at least a 3.0 GPA.
2015-16 TEAMS
“Our coaches take very seriously the task of challenging our team members to excel and grow academically and spiritually. Being recognized as NAIA Scholar-Teams is evidence of this,” says Dordt College Athletic Director Glenn Bouma.
Women’s Indoor Track & Field: 3.47
The Defenders had the top GPA in Division II men’s basketball at 3.47. The foundation for this team’s academic success begins in the recruiting process. “We look for students who desire to be a part of a campus community that values Christian education, a positive attitude toward learning, a 40-year vision, not a 4-year requirement, and an ability to play basketball,” says Dordt College Coach Ross Douma. The work truly begins when a student arrives on campus and becomes a part of the program.
DORDT COLLEGE ARCHIVES
“We tell athletes and parents that we will use the Academic Enrichment Center if players are not attaining a B in each of their courses,” says Douma. He and his fellow coaches want to make sure that athletes retain their academic scholarships by maintaining a 3.0 GPA. “Receiving that scholarship each year is crucial, so we want to do all we can to assist them with that piece,” Douma says. Dordt’s
Women’s Cross Country: 3.57 Women’s Volleyball: 3.53
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: 3.47 Men’s Basketball: 3.47 Softball: 3.45 Women’s Basketball: 3.43
coaches are also committed to helping their players have promising career options once they graduate. “The student-athlete is simply more marketable with a 3.0-plus GPA,” says Douma. Douma is quick to point out that being named to the Scholar-Team list is a team effort. “This accomplishment speaks to the networking that takes place across campus at Dordt College,” says Douma. “We have a faculty that wants students to be successful and will communicate repeatedly with coaches in an effort to help our student-athletes learn.” Nate Wolf coaches the women’s and men’s cross country teams, both of which have been regulars on the list. This year’s women’s team had a combined GPA of 3.57, the highest of all Dordt teams. Wolf sees a correlation between academically driven students and successful athletic teams. “Our best athletes don’t always have the best GPA, but they are often our hardest working students. They are typically getting the most out of their God-given abilities, both academically and athletically,” says Wolf. MIKE BYKER (’92)
Faculty Notes Education Professor Dr. Pat Kornelis gave a presentation titled “Yearlong Student Teaching: Boom or Bust” at the National Association for Professional Development Schools in Orlando, Fla., in April.
NEWS
EXCELLING ON AND OFF THE COURT
Political Science Professor Dr. Jeff Taylor was on a panel focusing on a new biography of the late Senator George McGovern (D-SD) at the annual Dakota Conference of the Center for Western Studies at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D. Education Professor Dr. Timothy Van Soelen published a book with Routledge titled Crafting the Feedback Teachers Need and Deserve: A Guide for Leaders. He also published several articles: “Teamwork Boosts Student Learning and Professional Community for Phi Delta Kappa Common Core Writing Project,” “Navigation Aids: 9 Shifts in Practice Smooth the Transition from School to Central Office” in the Journal of Staff Development, and “Evaluation and Support: It Doesn’t Have to Be One or the Other” in Principal Leadership. Theology Professor Dr. Benjamin Lappenga was appointed co-chair of the “Speech and Talk in the Ancient Mediterranean World” sectional of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Serving alongside Dr. Michal Beth Dinkler of Yale University, Lappenga will coordinate multiple sessions at the annual meetings of the SBL held each November. He also presented a paper at the Midwest Regional of the SBL entitled “Violence and the Retelling of the Story of Jephthah’s Daughter in Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum.” This summer he spent two weeks in Israel with a group from Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to facilitating and consulting on biblical scholarship, he spent the time planning for an upcoming Dordt off-campus course to be offered this coming May.
13
NEWS
Campus Kudos Dordt College is again ranked among the top 10 “Best in the Midwest” colleges, according to new 2017 rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The college has been ranked on the U.S. News best colleges list for 25 years and is consistently rated as a top-10 college in its category. Dordt also appears on the “Best Value in the Midwest,” “A-plus Schools for B Students,” “Best Engineering Program” (the only one in Iowa), and “Schools with the Most International Students” lists. The Princeton Review has again named Dordt College to its 2017 “Best in the Midwest” colleges list. The annual rankings are based entirely on what students attending the schools say about the college. The Western Journal of Nursing Research has awarded Faculty Paper of the Year to Statistics Professor Dr. Nathan Tintle and his co-writer, Dr. Susan Dunn, a nursing professor at Michigan State. Jake Clark (’15), now a graduate student in biostatistics at the University of Iowa, and senior actuarial science major Lucas Vander Berg both contributed to the design and implementation of data analysis strategies for the paper. Lucas Vander Berg recently received the prestigious Curtis T. Huntington Memorial scholarship from the Actuarial Foundation. Engineering Professor Dr. Justin Vander Werff received the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s Martin P. Korn award for his paper on a cost-effective bridge system that handles seismic activity. The article appeared in the September–October 2015 issue of the PCI Journal.
TINTLE AWARDED $300K FOR SECOND STATS TEXTBOOK
T
he National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a team of statisticians, led by Dordt College Statistics Professor Dr. Nathan Tintle, a $300,000 grant to develop a second statistics textbook to follow the introductory statistics textbook he co-authored and published this year. This is the third major NSF grant received by the team Tintle leads. The statisticians are developing curriculum that helps students understand the logic behind statistics and then Nathan Tintle draw informed conclusions about the data. Their introductory textbook, the result of significant ongoing research, was published in May of 2016. “Most students who take an intro to statistics course never take another one,” says Tintle. “One thing that discourages them is that typically a second statistics course requires students to take other math courses, like calculus, first.” According to Tintle, solving complex problems depends on the ability to explore and understand the relationships between many variables simultaneously. So, a lack of people who have experience with multivariable statistics is a problem, he explains. In the second textbook, Tintle and his collaborators aim to teach multivariable statistics to students without background knowledge in subjects such as calculus or linear algebra. “The foundation we laid in our introductory statistics textbook is a strong one to build on for the second course,” says Tintle. JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
DORDT CELEBRATES RECORD ENROLLMENT Enrollment for the 2016-17 school year is at the all-time high of 1,523 students. This year’s incoming class includes 392 students, the largest since 2008. Dordt’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate was 88.1 percent this year, compared to a national average in the mid-60s. This is also the highest retention rate on record at Dordt College.
14
A Worldview-ing Approach to Faith and Science IN ALL THINGS IS COMMIT TED TO A CHRIS T WHO S TRE TCHES AT LE A S T A S WIDE A S THE COSMOS
n my teens I struggled with questions about faith and science. I was instructed to “take the Bible at its word.” What my spiritual mentors meant by this was what I came to recognize as a “proof-texting” way of treating important topics. My high school biology teacher simply had it wrong when he told us human beings had evolved from lower forms of animal life. The Bible says that God created various animal “kinds” on the sixth day of creation, and later on the same day, God created a man and a woman as fully formed human beings. In high school, I came across a wonderful book, Christian View of Science and Scripture, by evangelical theologian Bernard Ramm. Preachers and Bible teachers had condemned it as “evolutionistic,” but I was secretly intrigued. I read it with great interest, and it helped me think in new ways about the relationship between faith and science. Ramm distinguished between two big-picture perspectives: Evolution, in the capital E sense, is a perspective on reality that insists everything happens by a chance process of adaptation and change. Creation, with a capital C, is the view that all of reality unfolds according a plan established and guided by a sovereign God. These two big-picture perspectives are different from evolution and creation—no capital letters—which we can observe as specific mechanisms of change in the world.
of the earth” reveals an important truth about God’s working in history. God isn’t teaching us the earth has corners. I can say “I have a ton of work to do” without meaning I’ve actually used a scale to weigh my assignments. I’ve spent a good part of my academic career asking what overall view of reality the Bible is affirming. In recent years, I have come to emphasize the need to engage in worldview-ing rather than having a worldview. I have come to rely on the Psalmist’s confession that the Word of God “is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” We are on a journey and often have no idea what we’ll come upon. But we can shine the light of God’s Word on new discoveries made by geologists, or new challenges in medical technology, and pray for the discernment that comes from what God has revealed in the Scriptures.
that provide non-negotiable reference points for our intellectual explorations. Belief in Creation is a fundamental control belief for the Christian. In other matters to which I give my intellectual assent— beliefs based on carbon dating of bones, the study of geological strata, evidence produced by archeological digs—my theories and assessments are guided by my firm confidence in the reality of a creation called into being and sustained by the sovereign will of God. Those guided by an evolutionary set of control beliefs often come to quite different conclusions than the believer. As Christians, we need to attend prayerfully to our interpretations of scientific evidence, making distinctions with care.
FEATURES
I
I want my students to come to see there is no need to fret about reconciling our non-negotiable convictions, grounded in the truth of God’s Word, with our
"I want my students to come to see there is no need to fret about reconciling our non-negotiable convictions, grounded in the truth of God’s Word, with our scientific pursuits."
I came to see that Ramm was illustrating a “worldview” approach to the natural sciences—an alternative to the prooftexting perspective I’d been taught. Ezekiel’s reference to “the four corners ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON:
Many of the students I teach have also been shaped by a proof-texting approach to biblical application. Often one of them will ask me: “You say that you believe the Bible to be the supreme authority, but you also say that you believe in evolution. How do you reconcile the two?” I want to make clear that.my belief in the truth of God’s Word is not of the same order as my belief in things I have come to accept in evolutionary thought. As Reformed philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff has argued, we must bring to our intellectual pursuits certain “control beliefs” that guide our efforts to engage in scholarly investigations. These control beliefs are biblically based convictions
scientific pursuits. Thoughtful Christians have long pictured the created order as an arena in which the Lord gives powerful evidence of his honor and glory. Thinking biblically about the pressing issues of contemporary life is a dynamic process. We have much to learn as we shine the lamp of God’s Word on scientific exploration.
DR. RICHARD MOUW IS PRESIDENT EMERITUS AT FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, WHERE HE SERVES AS PROFESSOR OF FAITH AND PUBLIC LIFE.
in All things is an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world. It is a place for conversation and exploration, to share ideas and learn from each other how to live in healthy relationships with God and creation.
15
FEATURES
LEADING THEM BACK TO THE QUESTIONS Dordt team leads curricular development for science-faith integration JORDAN DE GROOT (’13)
Early in Dordt’s first-year Zoology course students spend a class period discussing Genesis 1. The passage, employing poetic repetition and parallel structure, draws a picture of the earth and cosmos: flat earth, domed sky, and tiny holes that let in twinkling light. “This picture doesn’t fit with the way students understand the world,” says Dr. Robbin Eppinga. That dissonance leads the class to consider how Christians ought to read and make sense of Scripture, especially passages that appear to contradict modern scientific understanding. These kinds of questions can lead to a crisis of faith. But Eppinga says Christians don’t need to be afraid of them. When handled carefully, they can deepen and enrich students’ understanding of both biblical interpretation and scientific exploration. “We need to be humble enough to say that as finite creatures, we don’t have all the answers,” he says. “But we are privileged to live in a time when we can ask these questions—and we can seek honest answers." Supporting this kind of engagement is the aim of a new, grant-funded project, led by Eppinga, which will bring questions of science and faith to a broader audience of Christian adults. The $25,000 grant was awarded to Dordt College by the STEAM Project, a partnership between Fuller Theological Seminary and the John Templeton Foundation. Eppinga will lead a team of Dordt faculty, area pastors, and a Dordt biology student to develop online resources for college and postcollege ministries in equipping Christian “emerging adults” (18 to 30 years old) to navigate complex questions at the intersection of faith and science.
16
Eppinga says. “The narrative moves toward Genesis 1:28 and 2:15, where God entrusts us, as human creatures, with the responsibility of caring for and cultivating the earth and everything in it.” In this way, Eppinga prompts students to take a step back and look at the way they look at the Bible.
Dr. Robbin Eppinga doesn’t shy away from difficult questions at the intersection of faith and science in his courses at Dordt.
“We have a lot of room for improving the way we engage these questions in our churches, in Christian schools, within families,” says Eppinga. “These resources are intended to create a space to ask questions, examine evidence, and explore implications.”
“Leviticus says insects have four legs. The story of Jacob suggests that coat patterns in goats can be influenced by what a female goat sees, and observing strips of white bark can lead to striped offspring,” Eppinga says. Neither of these statements reflects what we know about species classification or genetic inheritance. “But does that mean the Bible is a lie or untrue?” Eppinga asks. “No. It simply suggests that the Bible wasn’t meant to be a science manual. Instead, there’s a deeper theological truth revealed in the text—a deeper truth about God and God’s relationship with the created world.” The
“We need to be humble enough to say that as finite creatures, we don’t have all the answers. But we are privileged to live in a time when we can ask these questions, and we can seek honest answers.” — Dordt Biology Professor Dr. Robin Eppinga
This is the approach Eppinga models for his students in discussing Genesis 1. After sketching out the picture of a flat earth and domed sky, he has them read the passage again, “this time looking for repetition.” “In Genesis 1, God looks at one segment of creation and calls it good, then looks at another, and calls that good, too,”
story about Jacob breeding goats isn’t a set of instructions for animal husbandry, he says. It’s a story about God’s faithfulness in taking care of Jacob. Junior biology major Lydia Marcus, a member of the grant team, has spent her three years at Dordt engaging questions of science and faith under the guidance of professors like Eppinga. Marcus first
FEATURES
JORDAN DE GROOT (’13)
While at Dordt, junior biology major Lydia Marcus (right) has explored the relationship between the biological sciences and her faith. Aside from leading her peers through these same questions as the leader of Dordt’s Faith and Science Club, she will collaborate with the grant team to develop web resources that support the work of science-faith integration.
seriously considered the scientific theory of evolution in Eppinga’s Zoology class. “Evolution is the scientific concept that really got me thinking about the difficulties of integrating faith and science,” Marcus says. Interested in exploring these tensions further, she picked up a book about evolutionary psychology, which set out to explain human nature and behavior in purely evolutionary terms. “It really troubled me,” Marcus says. “The author put forward a very thorough argument about how God and religion are out of date, and as a race, we need to grow up. He argued that we should look to science to guide our morality, not myths and religion.” She brought some of her questions to Eppinga. “I felt rattled by the book,” she says, “and I wasn’t arriving at very complete answers on my own.” Together, they worked through questions about how to read Scripture and reconcile it with what scientists have observed in the natural world. “At Dordt,” Eppinga says, “we proceed
from the conviction that all truth is God’s truth, revealed to us through both nature and Scripture. There should be no fundamental conflict between science and the Christian faith.” Over time, Marcus began to develop a more nuanced approach to interpreting the Bible. She also learned to make distinctions between evolution—a biological process of adaptation and change—and evolutionism, an ideology that advances claims about human nature and origins that can’t be confirmed or denied using the methods of science. Marcus has been putting this perspective to work among her peers, leading science-faith integration efforts in and out of the classroom. She leads Dordt’s Faith and Science Club, and she organized a book club for Eppinga’s Zoology students last spring. Together, they read The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert and considered how Christians should respond to theories about ongoing mass extinctions or the effects of climate change. Marcus also led a group of core science students through a book about creation care this fall.
“It’s been really neat to see my peers think through these issues,” she says. “Being part of the book clubs helps us see it’s valid to struggle through these kinds of questions—that others are doing it too—and even if you come to the end of the process without all the answers, at least you’re not alone. That’s a really big deal.” In partnership with Eppinga, Marcus has developed a survey that measures faith maturity and its relationship to student perspectives on science. It will be administered to students in Eppinga’s first-year biology course, then again when they take his zoology course the next semester. Marcus’s survey will also measure the effectiveness of the science-faith integration resources developed by the grant team, which will eventually be available for free download online. “I’m excited for these studies to be made available to a wider audience,” she says. “I’ve been very blessed by Dordt’s science program and my science professors. They really care about helping students wrestle with how to integrate faith and
17
FEATURES
Faculty Notes Engineering Professor Dr. Kayt Frisch presented a poster titled “Strain Energy Absorption Corresponds to Decreased Incidence of Ventricular Fibrillation in a Commotio Cordis Model” at the American Society of Biomechanics Annual meeting. The project is part of an ongoing collaboration between Frisch and Dordt alumnus Dr. Mark Link. Engineering Professor Dr. Kevin Timmer published a book review on How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith in September. Timmer also republished his in All things essay “My iPhone made me do it!” in the Christian Courier in February. Music Professor Dr. Karen DeMol published the second edition of Sound Stewardship: How Shall Christians Think About Music? with the Dordt Press in August.
Chemistry Professor Dr. Channon Visscher co-authored a research paper titled “The Hunt for Planet Nine: Atmosphere, Spectra, Evolution, and Detectability” in Astrophysical Journal Letters in June. In April, Visscher also co-authored a research article exploring the role of chemistry and atmosphere circulation in the atmosphere of super-hot Jupiter exoplanets.
18
In developing resources for science-faith integration, the Dordt team awarded a STEAM Project grant will partner with in All things, an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world. Dr. David Henreckson, the new Andreas Center director and editorin-chief of in All things, says, “We’re excited to be part of this. At in All things, we’re committed to the idea that faith can inform—and be informed by—scientific discovery.”
Henreckson
In addition to featuring grant-sponsored posts on the relationship between science and faith, the in All things website will host the resources developed by the grant team. Those single- and multi-session studies will help Christian young adults think through questions related to cloning, medical ethics, evolution through natural selection, G.M.O.s, and many others. They will also cover topics in the “soft” sciences, such as psychology and sociology, and explore the scientific aspects of disciplines in the arts and humanities. It’s not a matter of teaching young Christians what to think, Dordt Biology Professor Dr. Robbin Eppinga says. It’s about teaching them how to think. “Ultimately,” he says, “that means teaching young Christians to engage in meaningful ways with science, and bringing that understanding into conversation with their faith.”
science. But many people don’t have access to that perspective—they don’t know it’s okay to ask questions. It’s okay to struggle with these things.” Ultimately, Marcus says scientific study has enriched her faith—but she has also come to accept there are limits to its explanatory power.
“Faith is faith. You can’t judge faith empirically, and that’s okay,” she says. “Science is really cool—it’s necessary and important. But it can’t explain everything. As Dr. Eppinga often reminds us, our value ultimately is in Christ.” ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
CARL FICTORIE (ʼ90)
Economics Professor Dr. Jan van Vliet gave a presentation comparing the metaphysical architecture of Christian theism with that of Islam as Abraham Kuyper experienced Islam in the early 1900s at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Leuven, Belgium. He was invited to present his paper upon the completion of his translation of Kuyper’s Om De Oude Weredzee, which will appear as a volume in the 2018 release of the 12-volume series of Abraham Kuyper’s Public Theology published by Lexham Press.
IN ALL THINGS … INCLUDING SCIENCE
SKYWALK-IN-PROGRESS Chemistry Professor Dr. Carl Fictorie (’90) enjoys photography and is taking near-daily photos of the Science and Technology Center construction. He hopes to create a video or slideshow chronicling its progress. The photos also allow supporters and friends to peek into the construction zone and see what is going on in spaces they normally wouldn’t see. And maybe, Fictorie thinks, the photos will serve maintenance staff in the future should they need to locate something behind a wall or floor— there may be a photo to show what they can no longer see. Fictorie likes the fact that the skywalk linking the Campus Center to the Science and Technology Center eventually will put the Chemistry Department on display in a highly trafficked corridor. “Everyone who uses the skywalk will get to see our department in action,” he says.
FEATURES
STRIKING OUT AHEAD COMPETITION AND COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD OF CYCLING The world moves by quickly on a bicycle. Well, it does when you’re Eric Tudor. Most afternoons, Dordt’s assistant director of admissions dons his helmet, clicks his shoes into his pedals, and sets out, flying past houses and mail boxes, beneath shade trees, toward the highway and fields beyond town. Blink once and he’s gone. “For that hour, or two hours, everything slows down,” Tudor says. “I can’t really do anything else. I can’t have my phone in my hand, I can’t do grad school work. I think about one thing at a time.”
Tudor spent 10 years competing as a distance runner. At one point during his four years on the Dordt cross country team, a foot injury interrupted his training. “I spent a lot of time on an exercise bike,” he recalls. One day, staring straight ahead, going nowhere, he thought, “Well, this is kind of boring. What if I bought an actual bike?”
He bought one, and it sat in his garage for four years. That changed in 2012, when he graduated from Dordt and started to work as an admissions counselor. He learned from Jon De Groot, an avid cyclist and Dordt’s director of campus ministries, that there was a thriving cycling community on campus. Tudor started logging miles on his bike, sometimes alone, sometimes with a group of Dordt colleagues and alumni. Eventually, for fun, he signed up for a nearby race. “After that, I was hooked," he says.
JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
From left: Derek Buteyn, director of residence life; Eric Tudor, assistant director of admissions; and Jon De Groot, director of campus ministries.
Slowing down, in this case, involves moving very fast. On an ordinary ride, Tudor reaches speeds of more than 40 m.p.h. It’s an elegant marriage of human and machine.
19
FEATURES
Now he competes as a cyclist touring the Midwest. Recently, he upgraded to the highest division of racing, where he’s matched against some of the most competitive amateur and professional cyclists in the country. He also belongs to a Sioux Falls-based cycling team, Queen City Cycling, and he travels to Sioux Falls to train with them on weekends. This summer, he competed for the third time in the Midwest Flyover Championship Series, which includes six weekend-long races in cities across the Midwest. The series, considered to be some of the best amateur racing in the country, attracts teams from 13 U.S. states and Canada. Two summers ago, Tudor won the series in a lower division. This year, he won events at each of the three weekends he was able to attend, placing fourth overall despite competing in only half of the Flyover events. Tudor is somewhat unusual in the world of competitive cycling. He’s mild-mannered and slight of frame. He
“Cycling is a very political sport,” Tudor says. “Since I’m a smaller guy, I do well on hills. So I might agree to draft someone up a big hill in exchange for their help on a straightaway.”
almost never speaks loudly. Cycling, by contrast, can be coarse and cutthroat. It’s also dangerous, with competitors maneuvering in tight packs at high speeds. It draws thrill-seekers and the affluent, partly because racing bikes and equipment cost well into the thousands.
Races often take hours, and the atmosphere is intense. “It gets heated and, frankly, pretty vulgar,” Tudor says. While many employ verbal intimidation tactics, Tudor prefers to remain stoic and focused. He often strikes out on his own ahead of the pack, sacrificing the wind protection fellow cyclists provide.
“A lot of people call it the affluent man’s adrenaline high,” says Tudor. “When I was a distance runner, I really enjoyed the spirit of camaraderie. Runners tend to be very supportive of one another—even competitors. The culture of cycling is different.”
“It’s an all or nothing strategy,” he says. “Either you’re fast enough that you win the race, or you can’t sustain it, and you come in dead last.”
The demands of competition are different, too. Racing on two wheels is more strategic than racing on foot. You don’t simply lock into a pace and pound out the miles. Teammates often draft for one another, sharing the burden of the wind or positioning their strongest teammate for a top finish. Competitors also broker deals, shifting alliances based on elevation, wind, and their uneven impact on speed.
— Eric Tudor, Dordt’s assistant director of admissions
The world of competitive cycling often rewards aggression and intimidation, but the group of cyclists Tudor joins for long rides on Saturday mornings have built a culture on a different set of values. JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
“For me, the camaraderie that we sing about in the Alma Mater is most alive when I’m sharing life with those guys on our bike rides. We can be vulnerable, encouraging, and experience God’s creation all at once.”
CULTIVATING A COMMUNITY AT 20 M.P.H.
The group’s make-up changes week to week, but it includes Dordt employees, alumni, and other members of the Sioux Center community. Among them are Sioux Center bike shop owner and Dordt alumnus Nate Nykamp ('08); Jeremy Engbers, an admissions officer; and Derek Buteyn, director of residence life. On occasion, they’ve been joined by Howard Wilson, Dordt vice president and chief administrative officer, and Dordt College Provost Eric Forseth. These rides aren’t about winning, and even cyclists of different speeds and ability levels can ride together. “If one person is a stronger cyclist, they can be up at front, pushing the wind for everyone else,” Tudor says. In the winter, relative speed matters even less. Tudor has transformed his basement into a stationary cycling gym, where cyclists gather during the coldest months. They set up their trainers, and everyone rides at their own pace, talking or watching television together on the 12-foot screen Tudor mounted to his basement wall. De Groot, who first turned Tudor on to cycling, has been with the Saturday morning group from the beginning. A
20
PHOTO SUBMITTED
former competitive cyclist and now a triathlete, De Groot has participated in several Iron Man competitions, which involve running a full marathon, swimming 2.4 miles, and covering 114 miles on a bicycle. De Groot says the Saturday morning rides are good training, but they’re also a catalyst for good conversation. Out on the road, as the sun rises and fog settles in the low places, the group has slowly cultivated a community of mutual trust and support. It’s also a great opportunity to spend time outdoors, De Groot says. “It’s just beautiful out there, covering miles on a bike,” he says. “You see the countryside through a whole new lens.”
For Tudor, it’s a welcome break from the culture of competitive cycling, where individual egos trump the value of the collective and conversation is governed by intimidation more often than vulnerability. “For me, the camaraderie that we sing about in the Alma Mater is most alive when I’m sharing life with those guys on our bike rides,” Tudor says. “We can be vulnerable, encouraging, and experience God’s creation all at once.” ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
“Sometimes, it takes 14 miles before anyone says anything,” says De Groot. “Then suddenly, someone will open up about something. They might share about a fight they had with their wife, or a fear they have about their career.” Tudor, too, says there’s something about riding for miles with others that causes a shift in conversation. “On the road, I feel more able to have open and honest conversations,” he says. “Most of the men I ride with are older
Provost Dr. Eric Forseth published a book of reflections titled Holding Together: Courage for Life’s Pain and Struggles in October.
than I am, and they have a lot more wisdom than I do. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
Over the years, De Groot has logged thousands of miles with some of the men in the group. They start in the spring with 25-mile rides and work their way to 60 by fall. The time and distance give them room to ease into talking.
Art Professor David Versluis was one of 50 artists selected for the Reinventing Ourselves from Another POV art exhibition and publication. The Self Portrait was displayed at the Art NXT Level Projects/33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago in August and September. Versluis was also invited to loan 12 of his printed montages to the Dickinson Law Firm in downtown Des Moines in June and July. The display included the Iowa Insect Series and the Spirit Lake Iowa Fish Series.
FEATURES
Tudor recently took part in a mountain bike ride at Newton Hills, South Dakota, with a group that included (in order third from left) Dean of Students Robert Taylor (ʼ99); Derek Buteyn (ʼ11), director of residence life; Jon De Groot, director of campus ministries; and Dordt alumnus Nate Nykamp (ʼ08), who runs Brothers Bicycle Shop in Sioux Center.
Faculty Notes
Music Professor Dr. John MacInnis accompanied Donald Swann’s song cycle “The Road Goes Ever On,” a setting of nine texts by J.R.R. Tolkien, in a recital concluding the Arts + The Inklings conference at Trinity Western University in October. MacInnis presented on C.S. Lewis, his love for music, and the role that aesthetics played in the development of his thought at the conference. MacInnis presented “Teaching Music in the Reformed/Calvinist Tradition: Sphere Sovereignty and the Arts” at the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities Regional Conference in Alabama in October. Statistics Professor Dr. Nathan Tintle co-authored several articles: “Combating Anti-Statistical Thinking Using Simulation-Based Methods throughout the Undergraduate Curriculum” appeared in The American Statistician; “The Impact of Home- and Hospital-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise on Hopelessness in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease” appeared in The Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention; and “A Bayesian Framework for the Inference of Microbial Gen Activity States” appeared in Frontiers in Microbiology.
Both Tudor and De Groot see cycling as a way to cultivate a supportive community and a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the natural world.
21
FEATURES
CAN YOU SPOT IT?
MATH AND MYSTERY IN A GAME OF CARDS A fter Christmas dinner last year, Dr. Calvin Jongsma and his granddaughters sat around the dining room table, playing a simple card game called Spot It! Others in the house were napping. Dishes were stacked in the kitchen. Jongsma, a retired Dordt mathematics professor, watched as his granddaughters each flipped a card, then rushed to match one of its colorful symbols to the card at the center of the table. Each player would have a unique match; the first to spot the match kept the center card.
Amid the flipping and laughing and shouting—Anchor! Lightbulb! Ladybug!— Jongsma started to wonder. How does this game work?
How is it that any pair of cards in the deck of 55 would have one—and only one—matching symbol?
Would it work with five symbols on each card instead of eight? Nine? Are the number of symbols per card related to the number of cards in the deck? To the number of symbols used in the game? This is what it is to see the world through the eyes of a mathematician.
It’s this sort of imaginative problemsolving that builds bridges and designs financial systems. It can also unlock the mystery of a children’s card game. “I started looking for patterns,” Jongsma says. “I wanted to know what made this game tick.” He began working systematically through the questions, exploring the relationships between variables in the game. This wasn’t textbook math—there was no answer at the end of the book. This was math from the ground up. In Spot It!, the symbols on each card are bright and cartoonish. The concept is simple—a small child could grasp it. But as Jongsma continued to ask questions,
Dordt Mathematics Professor Dr. Tom Clark demonstrates the mathematical relationships between cards and symbols in the children’s matching game Spot It!
22
COURTNEY DE WOLDE (’17)
“Problem-solving requires imagination,” Jongsma says. “It’s a common misperception that if you’re really imaginative, you go into the arts. But imagination is just as important in mathematics and the sciences. It’s the
only way to problem-solve.”
DORDT COLLEGE ARCHIVES
“In Euclidean space,” Clark says, “parallel lines never intersect.” But in projective geometry, there are no parallel lines; every pair of lines must always intersect at one and only one point.
FEATURES
As it turned out, there was online literature about it. A key to explaining the hidden structure in Spot It! was projective geometry, a branch of mathematics with unlikely roots in Renaissance perspectival drawing. Unlike Euclidean geometry, the more familiar form taught in high schools, projective geometry sets out different rules, or axioms, about how points and lines relate to one another in space.
“That right there—that’s all you need to know to see projective geometry at work in the game,” Clark says. By translating the game of Spot It! into the language of projective geometry, Clark was able to state in mathematical terms how the game worked. Clark and Jongsma went back and forth over email, refining an argument about the game’s possible parameters and considering its potential as a teaching tool. They both saw Spot It! as a way to bring a more interactive, inquirybased mathematics into the classroom. Dr. Calvin Jongsma retired from the Dordt Math Department in 2013. Even after retirement, he continues to interact with current members of the Math Department. This year he co-authored a paper with Dordt Math Professor Dr. Tom Clark on the mathematics behind the card game Spot It!
he began to discern the outlines of a sophisticated mathematical structure hidden within the game. He made that structure visible by creating a chart, with rows for each of the game’s cards and numbers assigned to the symbols. Working methodically, he plotted cards in groups sharing a particular symbol. To be sure they had no more than one symbol in common, he entered symbols in a diagonal pattern. The resulting algorithm helped him design a game with four symbols per card—or six or eight. But it only worked for certain values.
For mathematicians like Jongsma and Clark, math begins with curiosity and questions. “When I look at the game of Spot It!,” says Clark, “it’s not immediately obvious to me how it works. I say, ‘Hmmm, I wonder how that works?’” It’s this movement—to wonder—that drives mathematicians to seek answers. Clark often describes it this way: “Robert Frost famously said that poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom. For me, mathematics begins in wonder and ends in understanding.” Math isn’t just a process of working through a set of predetermined operations to get the right answer. When taught well, mathematics involves wonder, surprise, even delight. Jongsma and Clark introduced Spot It! to a group of area K–12 math teachers, who convene on Dordt’s campus once a month
FINDING THE KEY Wanting to share the fun and expand his resources, Jongsma sent an email to the Dordt Mathematics Department, issuing a friendly challenge: “How can you make a matching game in which any two cards have the same number of different symbols but exactly one symbol in common?”
STARTING WITH WONDER
“It’s a common misperception that if you’re really imaginative, you go into the arts. But imagination is just as important in mathematics and the sciences. It’s the only way to problem-solve.” — Professor Emeritus Dr. Calvin Jongsma
He told them he had a solution—but it had limits. Whenever the value of s, representing the number of symbols per card, was one more than a prime, the algorithm worked. For other values, though, it didn’t. Included on the email was Dr. Tom Clark, the professor who stepped into Jongsma’s position after he retired in 2013. Clark was intrigued. He’d never heard of the game, but he started typing search words into Google, curious if anyone had worked on the problem.
for a Math Teachers’ Circle. Clark has led this circle for two years, having led another circle while a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. “Our goal was to give these teachers an experience with math based in inquiry—to show them how to start with a question and not the answer,” says Clark.
23
FEATURES NEWS
LANCE WUNDERINK (ʼ15)
Dr. Tom Clark hopes to encourage a spirit of curiosity, wonder, and surprise in his mathematics courses. One way to do that is to approach math as a process based in inquiry rather than a set of predetermined solutions that can be found at the back of a textbook.
Unlike the systematic approach of most textbooks, inquiry-based math is messy. It takes time. Students might reach a dead end and have to scrap their work and start over. It requires perseverance, and the ability to recognize when concepts from algebra or calculus—even number theory—might come in handy.
on the Math Teachers’ Circle website. Clark went on to present the paper at MathFest, the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), held this year in Columbus, Ohio. These circles help introduce teachers
“The interesting thing about Spot It! is that we can use mathematics to determine if a game will work with 10 symbols per card, 11 symbols per card, even 12 symbols per card,” he says. “But we have no idea if a game like Spot It! is possible with 13 symbols per card.”
“Math begins in wonder, but it’s curiosity that pulls you through the process. That quality—that curiosity—is one of the most important traits of a mathematician.”
Teachers in Clark’s circle sat around a table covered with Spot It! cards, and he and Jongsma led them through some of the same — Dordt Mathematics Professor Dr. Tom Clark questions Jongsma had asked himself that Christmas afternoon, sitting at the table with his and students to “rich” mathematical granddaughters. problems. “Rich” problems captivate students with interesting or puzzling Are there the same number of symbols questions, encompass a broad range on each card? Why? of mathematical concepts, and lead to further variations, generalizations, How many cards are in the deck? Could and extensions. They’re meant to hold there be more? students’ attention by sparking their Next, they tried to solve the problem by curiosity. simplifying it, building matching games “Math begins in wonder,” says Clark, “but for cards with only two symbols, then it’s curiosity that pulls you through the three. After working their way through process. Someone like Cal sees a game the algorithmic solution devised by like Spot It!, and he wants to figure Jongsma, and coming up against its it out. That quality—that curiosity—is limits, they moved to reformulating the one of the most important traits of a game using projective geometry. mathematician.” The teachers at the circle responded While the goal is understanding, says enthusiastically. It went so well, Clark Clark, sometimes a problem like Spot and Jongsma decided to collaborate on a It! leads you right back to where you paper, which was published as a resource started, with wonder.
24
There isn’t a supercomputer in the world that could run through all the possible permutations of cards and symbols in enough time for us to ever know the answer. It’s a matter of humans coming up against their limits as finite creatures. “Sometimes in math there is no answer,” says Clark. “God knows, I suppose, whether a Spot It! game can be made with 13 cards. But we don’t. And we maybe never will—though I hope someone figures it out.” ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
Clark’s and Jongsma’s co-authored Spot It! paper can be found on the resources page of the Math Teachers Circle website: www.mathteacherscircle.org.
A PROFESSOR’S LEGACY LIVES ON: DISCRETE MATH FOR EVERYONE FEATURES
COURTNEY DE WOLDE (ʼ17)
Dr. Calvin Jongsma’s relationship with the Mathematics Department at Dordt has persisted into his retirement, and in addition to his Spot It! collaboration with Clark, Jongsma’s work has benefitted another new member of the department, Dr. Mike Janssen. When Janssen started teaching at Dordt in the fall of 2015, he inherited Jongsma’s Discrete Math course. When Jongsma later asked him what he thought about the textbook he’d used, Janssen said he was underwhelmed. It was expensive, and the students weren’t particularly engaged with it. Jongsma encouraged him to check out the discrete math text he’d authored himself, and used for decades in his own course, after he’d grown dissatisfied with the available options. When it came to teaching proofs and logical thinking, the other texts were a pedagogical mismatch. “I kept contradicting the textbook we were using. Students hated that,” he says, laughing. So, he began writing his own and posted the pdfs online for free. Students responded enthusiastically, so he kept using it, tweaking and improving it over the years. Janssen auditioned Jongsma’s text in his Discrete Math course this past spring. It appealed to him because it was free and open source, which would help keep costs down for his students. “Plus, how often do you get to use a book that was tailor written for your course?” says Janssen. So far, it’s gone over well with Janssen’s students. They’re not the only ones reading it, though, as Jongsma recently discovered. In fact, internet users across the world have been stumbling upon the book and downloading it from Dordt’s Digital Collections for their own use. “People are reading it from all over the world—India, the U.S., Africa,” Jongsma says. “It’s a little perplexing to me. I have no idea who’s using it, exactly, or how they’re using it, or how they’re even
In his Discrete Math course last spring, Dr. Mike Janssen began using the open-source textbook authored by his predecessor in the Dordt Math Department, Dr. Calvin Jongsma. Aside from being free, it’s been well received by students.
finding it, except through Google and other search engines. It’s not advertised anywhere.” Jongsma added the text to Dordt’s Digital Collections in January of this year; it joins the 40-some other articles and texts he’s published over the years. Since then, he’s used readership reports to track downloads of papers he authored on the site. In the last few months, he’s seen hundreds of downloads per month, most of them chapters of his Discrete Math text. Since January, chapters from the book have been downloaded more than 4,500 times at more than 350 institutions in more than 75 different countries.
For links to the Most Popular Papers published in Dordt’s Digital Collections, visit digitalcollections.dordt.edu/ topdownloads.html.
At the moment, Chapter 7 of the digital textbook is ranked number one in the list of Most Popular Papers downloaded from the site, which hosts thousands of publications. Jongsma is pleasantly surprised. “I guess that’s not too shabby given its highly technical nature and the fact that it’s aimed at a fairly specialized audience,” he says. ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
25
FEATURES
SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM Thirty students from across disciplines spent 10 weeks on campus this summer gaining valuable research experience under the mentorship of one of their professors. Student Jonathan Janssen worked with English Professor Dr. Josh Matthews exploring the connections between Dante and contemporary works of science fiction. “What I found was a professor that truly came alongside of me,” Janssen says. “He obviously knew much more than I did about the text, and he shared his knowledge with me whenever he could. But he also considered my opinion or ideas to be as valid as anyone else’s, challenging them when he didn’t quite agree and writing them down when he had not thought of them before.” “Research allows you to dig into the intricacies and wonders of God’s amazing creation in a deeper way than we are able to do in a traditional undergraduate setting,” says Dr. Justin Vander Werff, professor of engineering. “Creation is one of the books through which God reveals himself, and often research opens windows that allow us to appreciate God’s glory, power, and sustenance in new and unique ways.”
26
Dr. Kathleen VanTol and Gala Campos Oaxaca are continuing the work they began this summer, using the materials they created to conduct a pilot project with a group of professionals in Nicaragua. The materials are all in Spanish, and Oaxaca helps VanTol create culturally appropriate materials as well as translate and proof-read. She also occasionally rescues VanTol when she’s stumped by what a student has written in Spanish. “I really cannot say enough about how important Gala has been to the success of this project. I could not have done this work without her collaboration,” says VanTol.
MARY VAN W YK (ʼ19)
“Summer research is a way to engage more deeply in topics that we teach,” agrees Professor Donald Roth, who
“I learned that research is much more complex than I thought. It requires troubleshooting and problem-solving skills that stretch you intellectually and build your character as you try to find positives in every situation,” says student Leah Breon. “I learned patience when it took several days or even weeks to do one experiment and perseverance when the experiment was botched.” Collaborative student-faculty research often leads to deeper relationships between students and faculty mentors, too, and it can help them gain new insights and increased awareness about areas of need. For some students, undergraduate research is a way to build their portfolio of experience for graduate school. For others, the opportunity leads to a career in research.
FEATURES
This summer the 30 young researchers focused on topics ranging from neurodegenerative diseases to the implications of private colleges losing tax-exempt status to Dante and science fiction to designing a biomechanics lab.
engaged in a research internship,” says Biology Professor Dr. Tony Jelsma. “They see science as less a collection of facts than a process of asking questions, designing experiments, and interpreting data. They see the incremental and sometimes tedious work of collecting good data so that the interpretations can be trusted. These insights are important even if the student doesn’t go on to a career in research.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
teaches business law and criminal justice courses. “It’s a chance for students to develop a more nuanced or practical understanding of the topics they study.”
While individual researchers and their mentors find their own ways to best work together, Dordt faculty mentors give students a great deal of independence and responsibility, yet are close at hand to answer questions, give feedback, and work through problems. “Good researchers have inquisitive minds; they want to dig and explore and overturn new stones,” says Vander Werff, adding, “Good researchers are self-motivated; they do good work when they have the freedom, to a certain extent, to set their own agenda and take a project in the direction that feels the most meaningful to them. They tend to ‘ask’ their research what direction it is taking them rather than asking their faculty advisor about every little fork in the road.”
Student Maddie Vande Kamp spent the summer working with Biology Professor Dr. Robbin Eppinga.
Jordan Severson researched, designed, and installed equipment in the new biomechanics lab at Dordt.
“Good student researchers tend to ‘ask’ their research what direction it is taking them rather than asking their faculty advisor about every little fork in the road.”
“As a result of the experience, I’m interested in exploring research as a career path. I was set on becoming a physician assistant, but this summer I — Dr. Justin Vander Werff, Dordt engineering professor discovered that I’m passionate about the questioning and Student Matthew Ojo worked with Roth troubleshooting that goes into biological and says he "learned to work with legal research,” she says. case analyses and to draw inferences “I enjoyed being able to really dig into from tons of documents. I learned time one topic,” says student Laura Beridon, management and research skills and who worked with Vander Werff. “Often, much more. It’s fun." when doing a project for a class, I don’t Education Professor Dr. Kathleen VanTol's have time to stop to figure out why student Gala Campos Oaxaca says, “I something isn’t working correctly. This learned that education in third world summer, if my results weren’t looking countries needs a lot of improvement, the way I thought they should, I had time and that inclusive education is more than to dig into the reason why and learned just letting children with disabilities go much more as a result.” into a classroom—it’s about changing the “I have found that students see a way we educate so everyone is able to different side of science when they are learn. It’s about breaking barriers.”
Faculty benefit, too. Roth finds that mentoring student researchers in the summer lets him engage important topics even though he is also busy teaching online courses and planning for the upcoming year. “They help push my ideas into new areas that I would not have considered,” he says. “I find being involved in research important to maintain a good perspective on science. In our courses the biology professors try to equip the students to become scientists, and it helps if we are engaged in this activity ourselves,” says Jelsma.
27
FEATURES
JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
Students John Davelaar, Maddie Vande Kamp, and Leah Breon collaborated on research in two different areas: nerve-cell interactions and brain health and the spread of invasive Asian Carp in area bodies of water.
And Matthews believes that the undergraduate research project helps him be a better teacher of undergraduate students, and he’s using what he learned during the project in ENG 223, his science fiction course, this fall. “By having Jon talk through the books with me, I figured out how I might teach, for example, the Divine Comedy in CORE 180. I have a much better idea of what parts of that poem students will be interested in, as well as what major questions they will have—and what they will be confused by.”
This summer’s student researchers appreciate how much they grew and learned by being able to delve into a project in a more intense and intentional way. Janssen recalls that when he learned about the opportunity to spend his summer in the research program, it sounded too good to be true.
“I liked the thought of doing something no one had ever done before and possibly being able to draw totally new conclusions.”
FUNDING Funds for Dordt’s summer research program, which grew to include 30 students this summer, come from multiple sources: designated donor gifts, endowed resources, external grants, and collaborative industry partnerships. Each year, faculty members apply for funds for specific projects through a peer-review process led by Dordt’s Office for Research and Scholarship in conjunction with the Research and Scholarship Council. Once funded, the faculty mentor selects a student from the applications received and sometimes solicited. The students selected spend their summer working in an academically intense research environment.
— Engineering student Laura Beridon
“I could not do the research I am doing without the assistance of my student researcher,” says VanTol, who is working on special education curriculum for students in Nicaragua. “She brings the cultural perspective and language piece that I do not have. Even though I can read Spanish, I need her help as a native speaker to pick up on the nuances of meaning in the information we gather. She helps me interpret what we learn through the lens of her culture.”
28
“Get paid to read books and talk about them? Sign me up!” he said. At the end of the summer his enthusiasm hadn’t dimmed. Even though he admits that he had to fight, some days, to keep reading, “It was wonderful to dive deep into an old text tempered with a pair of fresh eyes. Finding associations between different texts was always a delightful ‘a-ha!’ moment.”
Whether they worked in a lab or library, other responses were similar. “I liked the thought of doing something no one had ever done before and possibly being able to draw totally new conclusions,” says Beridon. Ojo adds, “Undergraduate research is something everyone should experience.” SALLY JONGSMA
2016 UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER RESEARCH PROJECTS A Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education (SARE) grant provided funds to assist beginning beekeepers in the tristate region and hold two area field days, providing hands-on education for beekeepers. Chibundo Onyia also helped analyze the level of spores of the Nosema parasite in the bees of the region.
Characterizing how Myosin5 Supports Nerve-Cell Interactions and Brain Health— Leah Breon, John Davelaar, and Maddie Vande Kamp, mentored by Dr. Robbin Eppinga Students characterized the interaction between two proteins found in neurons— Myosin5 and PACSIN—continuing previous research that identified these proteins as potential partners whose function may involve the communication between nerve cells underlying proper brain function. Using Environmental DNA (eDNA) Technology to Survey the Little Sioux Watershed for Invasive Silver Carp for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources— Maddie Vande Kamp, John Davelaar, and Leah Breon, mentored by Dr. Robbin Eppinga The students investigated the spread of invasive Asian Carp (specifically Silver Carp) in local river systems by developing techniques to identify species-specific DNA in the water. Developing Facilities for Shoulder Biomechanics Research—Jordan Severson, mentored by Dr. Kayt Frisch Severson designed, built, and installed the equipment needed for a new Carverfunded biomechanics lab. The lab will be used in biomechanics engineering classes and to study shoulder mechanics in
Dante in Science Fiction, Dante as Science Fiction—Jonathan Janssen, mentored by Dr. Josh Matthews The project looked at why certain science fiction authors and movements were influenced by Dante and whether and how Dante fits into a broader history of science fiction.
Converting Existing Research Software to Exploit GPU Computing—Jeremy Klyn, mentored by Dr. Nick Breems Klyn helped write custom GPU kernels to accelerate research computing on Dordt’s powerful new GPU-based high performance computer cluster.
24 professionals in Nicaragua who agreed to give feedback in return for access to these materials.
FEATURES
JAMIN VER VELDE (’99)
Beginning Beekeeper Support—Alayna Gerhardt and Immanuel Feodor, mentored by Dr. Duane Bajema
Preparing for a Loss of Tax Exemption— Matthew Ojo, mentored by Donald Roth
Laura Beridon conducted research on bridge strength during earthquakes, but she did it all with computer modeling in the engineering lab.
GPAC women’s volleyball players during the 2016 season. The lab will integrate a wearable force sensor designed by engineering senior design teams during the past few years with other motion capture lab equipment. Histological Studies of a Mouse Model for Batten Disease—Chibundo Onyia, mentored by Dr. Tony Jelsma
Ojo researched trusts, corporate law, tax law, college administration, college finance, and institutions who have lost tax exemption. Particular interest was paid to Bob Jones University and its survival as an institution. Operative Metaphor and Exegesis—Justin Vos, mentored by Donald Roth Certain metaphors guide our understanding of Christian discipleship. Vos researched the work of theologians to determine their operative metaphors and how they affect the way those authors read Scripture and speak about discipleship.
Batten disease is an incurable and progressive genetic disease in which protein and lipid deposits accumulate in neurons in the brain. The gene mutations that cause the disease have been identified, but their functions are not understood. Onyia used histological stains and antibodies to compare organs of genetically modified mice having the disease with those of normal mice. The goal is to help develop treatment strategies.
Investigation into Seismic Acceleration Effects on Bridges—Laura Beridon, mentored by Dr. Justin Vander Werff
A Culturally Sensitive Model for Inclusive Education—Gala Campos Oaxaca, mentored by Dr. Kathleen VanTol
Sharing Expertise in the Structural Performance of Truck Frames—Jonathan Attema, mentored by Justin Vander Werff
Gala and VanTol worked on creating materials in Spanish to help support inclusive educational practices in Latin American countries. This summer they focused on how to promote parent and family involvement in education of children with special needs. They are piloting these modules with a group of
Attema worked with Vander Haag’s, Inc., to conduct a structural analysis of their truck frame modifications. His work provided Vander Haag’s with confidence in their design and helps them communicate to others why the design is trustworthy.
Beridon continued research begun by Vander Werff and former student Juan Benitez to improve computer simulation of a bridge under seismic acceleration. She used data from actual earthquakes and compared it to experimental results. The model incorporated vertical and horizontal accelerations simultaneously.
29
FEATURES
Seeing agriculture through the eyes of farmers
I
t’s a Thursday morning in September, still dark, and it’s pouring rain. Twenty-three Dordt College agriculture students are huddled in a small, three-sided shed near Freeman, South Dakota, their backs to the wind. Behind them, stretching south, is pasture and fence line and a wide dark sky. In the shadows, students are perched unevenly on bales of alfalfa, their eyes on the farmer standing in the center of the group. He shouts over the sound of rain on the metal roof, and the students strain forward to hear. They scribble in damp notebooks. The air is heavy with
the scent of hay and growing things and distant animals. For students in Dr. Jeremy Hummel’s agriculture courses, learning this way—on the ground, in the field—is something they’ve come to expect. Encounters like this one—even huddled in a dark shed, straining to hear over the rain and wind— are built into Hummel’s courses. They are intended to put students on a farm, in front of a farmer. Students ask questions, and in the farmers’ answers, they look for the how and why of their operations. Over the course of the day, students in Hummel’s Agroecology course visit a farm
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
LEARNING ON THE GROUND
30
The why questions are harder. “I always tell students to listen carefully to what the farmer says near the end of a tour, when I mention we’re about to wrap up,” Hummel says. As if on cue, the farmers will often begin speaking directly to their deepest values and commitments—the why of what they do and how they do it. “There’s no one-size-fits-all model for farming,” Hummel says. “When my students leave Dordt, they’re all going to different enterprises and to different corners of the continent and the world. So, for me to suggest that one model of agriculture is the right one—that’s ultimately going to fail them when they
get out into the real world.” Instead, Hummel tries to model “an honest, open questioning of things” for his students. Hummel’s Agroecology students typically come in with a solid foundation of coursework in the plant sciences, animal sciences, or agribusiness. They’ve studied markets and supply chains, waste disposal strategies, water-quality issues, and agricultural technologies. Many are well versed in the various dimensions of state and federal ag policy. Many aren’t
as familiar with operations that don’t fit the regional mold. But these kinds of farms are around. One of the farms making a different model work in the Freeman area is run by Tim Eisenbeis. Eisenbeis runs a small dairy that was certified organic over 10 years ago, before it became a growing trend in the Midwest. His small herd is grass-fed, and the milk is never heated for pasteurization, which was recently made legal in South Dakota. Eisenbeis spent 11 years in Brazil, doing agricultural development work with the
FEATURES
with pastured bison, a small raw-milk dairy, a four-acre hops operation, and a vineyard. Hummel says it’s easy to ask how questions. How many acres? How many head? How do supply chains work? How do you keep pace with shifting markets?
ECOLOGICALLY THINKING The four producers Dordt students visited on the tour fit into a trend of young farmers who want to farm differently. Hummel’s Agroecology course helps students understand how that trend fits into the bigger picture of North American agriculture—a picture as varied and diverse as the climates and plant and animal species the sprawling continent hosts. But thinking ecologically about agriculture isn’t just for small producers or alternative approaches, says Hummel. It can benefit any kind of operation, of any size, helping farmers to steward the resources God has entrusted to our cultivation and care.
31
His daughter-in-law, Lillie (Koerner) Eisenbeis, graduated from the Dordt agriculture program in 2015, and she and her husband, Andre, often pitch in with the farm work. They hope to stay in South Dakota and eventually start their own small farm, in keeping with a trend of young families returning to the area to farm after attending college or living in cities. Many of them are farming in ways that look different than the region’s agriculture has looked in the past. “For young people, alternative forms of farming can be an easier start-up. If you’re doing something different, you can ease your way into it, get a new corner on the market,” she says. “It’s a way of bringing young people back to the community.” That’s the guiding philosophy of the Rural Revival Movement, an ecumenical partnership of farmers and churches that the Eisenbeises have been involved with for several years. Lillie says having enough families on the land is crucial if small, rural communities are going to flourish, she says. Hummel’s Agroecology students had a chance to ask the Eisenbeises how and why questions as they led them on a tour of the small farm.
TURNING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD It’s late morning, same Thursday, and the sky is threatening rain again. Wearing trash bags and rain jackets, the group of ag students gathers around Eisenbeis in the wet pasture, the grasses knee-deep in some places. They’re surrounded by Jersey cows, munching on the variety of plant species that make up the bulk of their diet. Many in the herd are standing next to their calves, who nurse at will. “As a farmer, I try to stick as close as I can to natural cycles as I observe them,” Eisenbeis says. Stopping to reflect a moment, he adds, “I mean, I tangle with them. I’m a farmer. But God created the world, and God said it was good. I think we can learn from creation, and from how things work together.”
32
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
FEATURES
Mennonite Central Committee, then came back to South Dakota years ago to farm alongside his father.
Dordt Agriculture Professor Dr. Jeremy Hummel and South Dakota bison farmer Nate Preheim work together to identify one of the plant species in the farmer's pasture.
Eisenbeis keeps cattle at pasture or, come winter, feeds them fresh green fodder, which he produces by sprouting barley in hydroponic trays in one of his outbuildings. He spends two hours working in the outbuilding every day. It’s time-intensive and grueling, but there’s joy in it. Eisenbeis sells his milk directly to consumers, raw, in bottles they wash and re-use. He knows most of his customers by name.
Later in the tour, Eisenbeis holds a milk bottle up to the light in the small outbuilding where the milk from his herd of around 40 is handled and stored. Eisenbeis has around 270 customers, most living nearby, who either bring their bottles to the dairy to be re-filled or have milk delivered to their homes. While some people worry about the safety of raw milk, Eisenbeis has never had a report of a customer becoming ill. He tests the milk regularly for harmful
“Tim has such a humility about him, and the Lord has clearly blessed what he’s trying to do,” says senior Kelsey Lewis, an ag business major. She grew up on a hobby farm in northern Michigan, — Lillie (Koerner, ʼ15) Eisenbeis where her family raises a small herd of pastured cows bacteria, and the scale of the operation and grows alfalfa for feed. “He’s out in helps him tightly control the way the the middle of nowhere, and he’s able to milk is handled. sustain a livelihood by selling raw milk Eisenbeis turns the bottle in his hand and to hundreds of local people. It takes a lot of people to believe in what you’re talks to the group of students gathered near a large, stainless steel bulk tank. doing to make a living that way. It’s quite impressive.” Others are crowded into dusty corners.
“For young people, alternative forms of farming can be an easier start-up. If you’re doing something different, you can ease your way into it, get a new corner on the market.”
you think about grass-fed versus not grass-fed, or pasteurized versus unpasteurized, you can’t argue with his joy.” The group moves to a small milking parlor, and students continue to ask Eisenbeis questions. It’s raining again, and they must shout. They want to know about his customer base and his rationale for selling raw milk. They’re curious to hear more about the safety of
“We just wash them again,” Eiesenbeis says, smiling. The dairyer often receives handwritten notes of thanks from his customers, some of whom are senior citizens who remember — Alex Werkhoven, junior ag business major drinking raw milk in childhood. Others are young families, drawn an unpasteurized product and about the by claims of the health benefits of logistics of making a living with a small unpasteurized milk from pastured cows, herd and 270 customers. The Eisenbeis including its potential for being better dairy is, by conventional standards, tolerated in children with some dairy almost unbelievably small. Some of the allergies. students listening come from dairies of 1,000 head or more. Reflecting on the tour, senior ag business major Andrew Koetsier says, “Tim’s story Alex Werkhoven, a junior ag business about the elderly man whose milk bottles major, is one of those students. He grew he washed shows how much enjoyment up on a dairy in Monroe, Washington, just he gets out of what he’s doing. It’s a very an hour’s drive from Seattle. His parents loving way to do agriculture. Whatever and siblings—two of whom are Dordt
graduates—produce pasteurized milk on a large scale. They have more than 1,200 Holsteins and 1,000 acres devoted to growing corn and grass silage, which becomes part of the cattle’s ration and supplements their time at pasture.
FEATURES
It’s a small operation—there are odds and ends collected on shelves and countertops. The air smells sweet and milky and slightly pungent. He tells the story of one of his customers—an old man with failing eyesight who does his best to scrub his milk bottles so they can be re-filled.
“What blew me away about Tim’s operation,” says Werkhoven, “is that he’s been doing it this way for seven years, and he’s making it work.”
“I think that’s a mindset a lot of people have right now, and yes, smaller could be better. But smaller doesn’t always mean better.” For Eisenbeis, farming in the way he wants to farm requires keeping his herd small and devoting much of his day to physical labor. He has no plans to expand. Werkhoven is impressed by Eisenbeis’s creativity and drive, but suggests getting smaller isn’t the only way to farm better and smarter. “I think that’s a mindset a lot of people have right now, and yes, smaller could be better. But smaller doesn’t always mean better,” he says.
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
Senior ag business major Andrew Koetsier says, “Agriculture is never simple. It involves a ton of different, interdependent things working with each other. On a single farm, you’re trying to assess thousands of interrelationships. And then in Sioux County, for example, you have thousands of different farms interacting with each other. That’s why these questions—about how to farm well—are complicated. When it comes to natural versus synthetic, there’s a balance we have to find. And that’s what agroecology helps us do. It helps us understand how everything fits together.”
33
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
FEATURES
His family’s western Washington dairy received national attention several years ago when it received a U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award, recognizing the operation as a model of environmental sustainability in the region. The Werkhovens, working alongside the local Tulalip Tribes and a salmon habitat recovery organization, purchased an anaerobic digester for use on the farm, which is located at the confluence of two rivers, the tribe’s historic fishing area. “The digester is essentially a giant stomach,” Werkhoven explains. It turns manure and other waste products into methane, which in turn powers a generator that puts electricity onto the grid, where it can be sold. “We put everything in the digester—cow manure, everything that comes off the farm, every waste product. We also take in waste products from the local slaughter plant and grease traps from area restaurants,” Werkhoven says. The dairy also accepts products and waste from grocery stores and area production plants, including leftover whey from cottage cheese production, flour with insects in it, expired eggs, and leftover brewers grain. Rather than throw them away, the digester recycles them for use as fertilizer. Werkhoven says he’s excited to return to his family’s dairy at some point, perhaps after going to graduate school or spending time in the field as an agronomist. He thinks experiences like visiting the Eisenbeis farm can help generate ideas for new things to try on his family dairy back home.
William Kimberley explains the process of turning grapes into wine in the winery production room at Calico Skies Vineyard and Winery near Inwood, Iowa. Kimberley owns and operates the winery alongside his spouse, Ashlee Bahnson-Kimberley, also a native Iowan.
“One of the ways we can do that is by taking inspiration from how the world is working—how nature is put together,” Hummel says. Agricultural systems don’t exist in a vacuum, but within a larger web of ecological relationships. It’s important to understand how wildlife and plant communities in a certain ecosystem influence—and are influenced by—a given agricultural operation. Looking to nature for instruction looks
pests by increasing plant diversity, and doing so across the landscape to limit chemical insecticide applications. Hummel says it’s not a matter of going back to a landscape that predates agriculture, or simply throwing out the research and technologies at our disposal. It’s about looking for dynamic solutions that make good use of the resources and relationships that already exist in nature.
Hummel says it’s not a matter of going back to a landscape that predates agriculture, or simply throwing out the research and technologies at our disposal. It’s about looking for dynamic solutions that make good use of the resources and relationships that already exist in nature.
“That’s the purpose of tours like these,” says Hummel. “To help students approach the study of agriculture with a new lens.
“In their other courses, they don’t necessarily get a clear picture of how biology and ecology works outside of the agricultural sphere,” he adds, noting that deepening students’ ecological understanding can help them think in creative and restorative ways about the practice of agriculture.
34
different in different places and different climates, Hummel says. It might mean adding a perennial crop, like alfalfa, into an annual crop rotation of corn or wheat, throwing weeds off balance in early summer, when they typically threaten crop health and require the use of herbicides. It might mean promoting insects that are the natural enemies of
Koetsier sees this kind of synergy at work on farms in Northwest Iowa and in his home region of southwestern Ontario, where many farmers have come to recognize the benefits of practices like cover cropping. Adding crops like oil seed radish or oats to a rotation, he says, can help prevent erosion and regenerate biological activity in the soil.
“We’d hop in the truck early each morning, fly around to all these different farms, and help the farmers address issues that are going on in their fields,” he says. These farms ran the gamut from hobby farms run by college professors to cash-cropping operations of 5,000 acres or more.
Lewis says the college plays an important role in promoting such farming practices in the region. Aside from ongoing research partnerships with area farmers, she sees Dordt reaching out to farmers near and far through events like the Global Agriculture Summit and by hosting a summer Agroecology course, co-taught by Dordt Environmental Studies Professor Dr. Robert De Haan. For Lewis, Hummel’s Agroecology course has given her a helpful framework for thinking about the relationship between agriculture and the world God created.
“In my experience, all of those farmers are very aware of the environmental impacts of their farms,” he says. “They aren’t just mining the soil for a profit— they can’t. The future of their operations depends on healthy soil. But they’re also trying to juggle a lot of different balls at once.”
“The environment and agriculture are interdependent—they need each other,” Lewis says. “God created wildlife and plant species for a reason. It’s important to use what’s already there to make our farms better.”
Soil health is one of them, but there are other to juggle. Koetsier points to one of the tour stops, a four-acre hops operation, as an example of the many, sometimes-competing demands that shape farmers’ choices.
Koetsier agrees, emphasizing that this approach is for farms of any size or kind. But it’s always a balancing act. He’s learned from Hummel that thinking ecologically about agriculture requires making careful choices about when to try a nonsynthetic intervention and when to rely upon agricultural technologies we’ve developed, like chemical fertilizers or herbicides.
Mark Bonnema is in his 30s, and his hops farm is a side-gig—he works as a nurse full time in Sioux Falls. He runs the operation with the help of a few friends and sells his hops to area breweries eager for local sourcing.
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
For red varietals, the skins, pulps, and seeds of the grapes are fermented together. The skins provide body, color, and flavor to the wine.
FEATURES
Koetsier has seen this balancing act first hand. He spent the last two summers interning with an agronomist in Ontario.
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
HOPS-GROWING: A LESSON IN INFRASTRUCTURE
“The amount of cover crops being grown where I come from, as well as here in Sioux County, has been increasing steadily for a long time now. And that’s just one example of a practice farmers are trying to incorporate on their farms,” Koetsier says.
Bonnema’s farm is an unexpected aberration in a landscape of corn and soy. An observer from the road might be surprised to come upon a field with rows of what look like telephone poles, connected at the tops by string. Next to the field sits a weathered barn from the 1920s. On each 15-foot pole, delicate green hops vine their way toward the sky—the vines grow up to seven inches in a day. “That farmer is farming in an area where the infrastructure has been designed for monocropping systems,” says Koetsier. “So, not only is he facing a steep learning curve—it takes time to learn to grow something different—but there’s also no physical infrastructure to support it. There aren’t any hops dryers in the area. There’s no packaging facility. He’s got to build all that up himself. Also, that’s a huge market he’s working to open up,
Kimberley demonstrates pressing the grapes with a punch tool, a process he repeats every six hours. After this stage of production, the wine is aged in oak barrels.
and that’s going to take a lot of work over the next few years.” Like all farmers, Bonnema’s choices are shaped, and sometime constrained, by the physical and economic infrastructure that exists in the region and by patterns of consumer demand, decades of ag policy, and the need, ultimately, to turn a profit. “I think the thing that impressed me most about all the farmers we visited is the fact that they’re surrounded
35
FEATURES
ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
Dordt students gather on the gentle, south-facing slope where the winery's grapes are grown. They learned about pruning the vines, the importance of even sunlight for ripening grapes, and the differences between viticulture in a dry climate like California and a relatively wet climate like Northwest Iowa.
by conventional farms, they’re trying something different, and they’re making it work,” says Werkhoven.
RETURNING TO THE OPENING SCENE Students stand gathered around a farmer in the dark of a shed, mid-downpour, straining to hear. At the center of the group, Nate Preheim tells of leaving a successful career in sales in Colorado for a life on the plains of South Dakota, raising buffalo on rolling pastures filled with clover, bluestem, and vetch. It’s hard work. He and his wife, Jessica, have spent the past year building a fence. The returns are modest, but the couple doesn’t regret leaving Denver. “I got into farming for the lifestyle,” Nate says. “I was tired of the corporate world and its expectations. I was tired of doing the same thing every day. So, we figured we’d come out here and see if we could make a go of it.” As he speaks, steam rises from his steel coffee mug. His boots are mud-caked and wet. As a kid, Preheim used to come help his uncle on this farm. He and his wife now rent their 40 acres from his aunts and uncles, who jointly inherited the land. Nate has been building a customer base mostly through cold calls, a technique he learned during his years in sales.
36
The students in the shed raise their voices above the downpour, posing questions about markets and niche products, start-up capital and soil health. Some put their knowledge of plant science to work, offering suggestions about how Preheim might improve soil health in one of his paddocks. They listen with interest as he details the ins-andouts of field harvest. As the shivering students pose questions, the story of the Preheims’ farm takes shape. The couple has been raising bison for two years. The animals live most of their lives at pasture, with minimal intervention from the farmers. Once they reach a certain age and weight, they’re felled by one clean shot from Nate’s 3006 Springfield. He harvests them one at a time, in a way that’s meant to minimize stress and pain. He learned the technique from members of the Lakota Sioux tribe, who keep a herd near the Rosebud reservation. The Preheims’ operation is among the few in the U.S. practicing field harvest. Students, speaking in turn, voices raised over the rain, ask Preheim questions: “Why buffalo?” “Why did you leave a successful career in sales?”
“Why rotational grazing? Why field harvest?” For the Preheims, the why comes down to a desire to live and work independently—to have control over their own time, and to minimize their reliance on feedstuffs and agrichemicals produced by large corporations. Dordt ag majors will need to make their own choices once they leave the classroom. “If you know Dr. Hummel, you know that spending a day like this is nothing new,” says Koetsier. “This is how he teaches every class. He encourages us to approach agriculture from all angles, in an all-inclusive way. He does that whether we’re inside a classroom or out in the field.” “Students need to be able to ask questions,” Hummel says, “and then gather the information they need to come up with an answer or solution that honors the people in their communities, the world God created, and the God they’re ultimately responsible to for all the decisions they make. I can’t do that for them, but I can help prepare them to do it.” ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
A
s a child, one of my very first introductions to giving, in addition to the offering plate, was the image of my parents sitting down at the kitchen table once the dishes had been cleared and my sister and I were off to bed. For one evening at the end of each month, my parents would sit with a calculator, a stack of envelopes, and their checkbook. They would look over their budget for the month, pay their bills, then proceed to open each and every letter they had received from missionaries, various organizations, churches, and schools asking for support. I can still picture the two of them sitting there, reading many of the letters out loud, reviewing if and what they had given in the past and conferring about the timing and need of the current request. Giving was a given. It was as routine as paying the bills and as consistent as the calendar. It was never preceded with a qualifier or accompanied by a complaint. And despite the frequency and sheer volume of requests they received, it was never tedious. My husband and I now sit at our kitchen table with our own four children
watching and listening. Occasionally, they ask questions. Where does our money go the most? Why do we cover silage piles for Christian Education? And most recently upon my return from Wal-Mart, How much money did you waste?
ALUMNI
AT THE TABLE: AN EDUCATION IN GIVING
As Dordt’s director of annual giving, I am now the one asking. For many Dordt College students, a gift to the annual fund serves to make a Christ-centered education not only a possibility, but a reality. I’m responsible for telling their stories. I’m responsible for ensuring that there’s a letter on your table and an email in your inbox. It is my job to cultivate giving. In hindsight, my parents did not intentionally set out to model stewardship, tithing, or even philanthropy through their practice of “month ends.” And in all honesty, I know there were times when there was very little left at the end of each month to give. My parents’ example was simply the grace-filled byproduct of trust and faithfulness lived out once a month around the kitchen table.
KAREN (HAMILTON, ’99) VAN SCHOUWEN, DIRECTOR OF ANNUAL GIVING
CALLING FOR
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI NOMINATIONS The Alumni Association is requesting nominations for the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in an extraordinary fashion, who give evidence of living out of a reformational worldview, and who demonstrate exemplary service to the community and the world. Please make your nomination at
bit.ly/dordtnominate.
37
ALUMNI NEWS
JORDAN EDENS (’13)
MISSION: KIMMPOSSIBLE
2016 Distinguished Alumni Jason and Yvonne Kimm pioneer new approaches to farming
At the end of a long day on the potato farm, with five kids in bed, Jason and Yvonne (Vaags) Kimm have plenty of good humor to share, peppered with words of wisdom and stories from their two decades together.
38
Jason, who accidentally dropped Yvonne on her head during a country swing dance. “There are some memories you don’t like to relive,” he says.
The Kimms, who both graduated in 1998, are the 2016 recipients of the Dordt College Distinguished Alumni Award, and (surprise!) they met at Dordt.
But Yvonne insists that God used the challenges they encountered as she lay in the hospital for a few weeks—“he fell in love with me sitting by my side at the hospital”—to bring them together and strengthen their relationship.
“I fell hard for him; he swept me right off my feet,” Yvonne says with a smirk. The years have brought perspective and healing, but it’s not an easy topic for
It’s one instance where the words of a favorite passage from Ephesians ring true. “What a comfort to know that God had and has all things planned out for us,
long before we even begin the journey,” Yvonne says. After the accident, it was a struggle to get back on track, but they both graduated—Jason with a major in agribusiness and Yvonne with a major in English (secondary education) and minors in communication and theatre. They found work in Montana, where Jason and his family farm potatoes, a legacy passed on from his grandfathers and his father. Yvonne taught high school English at Manhattan Christian School. In 2000 they were married.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
“I taught for five years, and we had five miscarriages,” Yvonne said. “It’s part of our story. God uses all things, even those that are really hard.” She stopped teaching, when their oldest son, Willem, was born. Down to one income, they looked for creative ways to bring in extra money. On a small plot of land next to their new house, Jason grew a few potatoes with compost. “We wanted to bring manure back to the farm, so we made a deal with a local dairy farmer to compost his manure,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that the herbicides would not persist in the compost, so we used that area as a test plot.”
Yvonne and the kids work together every week on potatoes. The children work hard and make a meaningful difference. “I was joking with someone the other day that when my kids grow up and look back on their childhood, their only memories will be in the potato washing shed,” she says. But as anyone with children knows, time spent working with your kids can be the most precious and lead to the best conversations.
ALUMNI NEWS
Jason and Yvonne Kimm have been leaders in their school, church, and local community. Over the years, they, especially Jason, have written articles and given speeches. “Every single article and speech that Jason has done, ends with the words Soli Deo Gloria, the words imprinted on Dordt’s seal,” says Yvonne. “This also is our philosophy for life.”
LLC continues to make compost tea for their farm and provides biological products and consulting to others.
The organic potato farm and Jason’s compost tea and biological consulting grew naturally out of their circumstances and experience, but Jason says it surprised some of his former professors. “When I was at Dordt I was pretty conventionally minded,” he said. “A number of the professors would have never expected me to be doing the things I’ve been doing now.”
“When we do agriculture as broken humans, how do we respect the best of conventional and traditional agriculture? Both science and heritage wisdom play a role.”
They were pleased with the first year’s results. So, on Yvonne’s — Jason Kimm birthday, Jason took her to one of the nicest restaurants in Bozeman and let the server know his wife wanted to talk to the chef about her potatoes and whether he might be interested in buying some.
“He said he’d love to try a sample,” Yvonne said. They soon had two grocery stores and one restaurant as buyers, with requests for the next year as well. In 2006, the organic part of the farm received organic certification, and in 2012-13 they received Montana seed potato certification. Jason’s compost tea and the farm’s change to farming sustainably also led to the National Potato Council’s Environmental Stewardship Award in 2012. Kimm TEA
Both Yvonne and Jason also had some health issues that were relieved by a diet based on whole foods, and it influenced their thinking about their work. “As I started seeing relief, I realized it was just food, good food,” Jason said. “If food is doing this, what are we doing that can help people? We’re a high generation seed farm. The nutritional value we offer is important both for food and for seed.” At the same time, the area they farm had a close encounter with potato blight that Jason says helped him see that chemistry might not always be the right solution. When an Idaho consultant suggested
39
ALUMNI
JORDAN EDENS (’13)
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
Over the years, Jason and Yvonne Kimm have adopted the same words that are imprinted on Dordt's seal as the guide for their lives: Soli Deo Gloria.
spraying natural plant microorganisms on the leaves, “I thought that was crazy. It was never going to work.” After a lot of reading and research, and after meeting many “good, smart people who’d spent their lives thinking about and doing agriculture in a very different way,” Jason says they experienced a paradigm shift. “By God’s design, things came together so all of these factors were in play. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been enough reasons to change. We went from ‘way right’ to ‘way left’ thinking, and now we’re maybe back to the center a little more,” Jason says. “We spent a lot of time thinking about how to interact with a creation that suffers the effects of sin and the curse of fall,” he says. “When we do agriculture as broken humans, how do we respect the best of conventional and traditional
40
agriculture? Both science and heritage wisdom play a role.” The Kimm organic operation takes just nine acres, half of which is greencropped every year for fertility and soil microbiology management. It provides seed for potatoes grown in the Pacific Northwest and for Montana gardeners who want local organic seed potatoes. The family’s conventional farm has more than 400 acres for growing high quality seed potatoes. As the Kimms look back, they’re thankful for many things. Jason appreciates that Dr. Chris Goedhart encouraged him to work on what interested him, which happened to be potatoes. Yvonne says Dordt friends and professors are still like family to her. Her dad died when she was 15, and Dr. Charles
Veenstra “sort of took on a role as second father.” When she was teaching, each year during the first week of school, Veenstra would call or email to tell her he was praying for and thinking about her. Other stories about Christian community, growth, and a profound gratefulness for their blessings spill over. “Most of us think far too much of ourselves and far too little about God,” Yvonne says. “He has accomplished these things for his purposes.” Jason concurs. “God uses ordinary people in very ordinary sorts of ways. I hope that’s what people can gather from our award this year.” SONYA JONGSMA KNAUSS (’97)
ALUMNI
BUILDING
COMMUNITY
When it came to finding and following God’s call on their lives, Kelly and April (Te Grootenhuis) Crull wasted no time. Just three months after their graduation from Dordt in 2002, the Crulls began their ministry with Communitas International (formerly known as Christian Associates), a group that seeks to establish churches that follow Jesus in transforming their world. In January of 2003, the Crulls moved to Spain, where they've been ever since. At Dordt, Kelly majored in English and Secondary Education with a minor in
Bible, and April earned her degree in Psychology. April credits the couple's semester in SPICE (Studies Program in Contemporary Europe) with giving them an awareness of the need for “relevant, modern people who believe in Christ” in post-Christian Europe. “We wanted to go before we started what we called our ‘real lives,'” says April, but the Crulls are now in their 14th year of service in Spain. “Every time a decision
point came up, we felt God was calling us to continue in this work.” Kelly and April now have three children serving with them in their family mission in Spain. Alleke, Teo, and Ruben were all born in Spain. During their time in Spain, they've worked with three church plants, each with a distinctive mission and character. Mountainview International Church serves the international community of KELLY CRULL (ʼ02)
The Crulls have helped plant three churches in Spain. One of them is Decoupage, a community of believers in Madrid that bring their artistic talents together to glorify God and serve their neighbors.
41
ALUMNI
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Madrid as well as native Spanish people, offering a blended Spanish-English worship service. Oasis was focused on nurturing a community of believers concerned with social justice and serving their neighbors. Their most recent church plant in Madrid, Decoupage, was established as a community of believers bringing their creative and artistic talents together to glorify God and serve their neighbors.
nature of church planting is transition, and part of the job of being church planters is discerning when it's time to step back and let the church begin to lead itself from within. Eventually, as Decoupage approached this point in its growth, the Crulls began to feel led to find a new place to serve.
“We’re kind of unconventional decision-makers. We put together everything on spreadsheets, and then in the end, we just decide based on our intuition.”
Rather than coming into a community with an agenda, Communitas’s style is more — April Crull organic. When the Crulls first came to Madrid, their primary task, April says, was to listen and pay attention to the needs of the community, to find ways to serve that were meaningful, and to introduce people to God as they gathered others to join in the work God was already doing in Madrid. The Crulls handed over leadership of Decoupage in the summer of 2015. The
April and Kelly Crull ('02) have been planting churches in Spain for more than two decades. They say the hardest part of the work is knowing when to step away and let a church begin to lead itself.
organized in Spain become a legal entity. This would enable the Spanish members to take authority as church planters themselves in their home country. Over the years that the Crulls have lived and worked in Spain, they say, more Spanish nationals have stepped up and voiced the need for more churches in their own country. April’s work helps Communitas provide a “platform of encouragement and support for Spanish people to launch themselves.”
Currently, the Crulls are serving in a support role. Kelly has taken on a greater balance of the home responsibilities and, in addition to writing support and training materials for Communitas, recently wrote and published a book of his experiences of fatherhood in Spain, Becoming Dad (Concha Books, 2011). April has taken on an administrative role with Communitas to help the churches being KELLY CRULL (ʼ02)
A street scene during the Dos de Mayo Fiesta, celebrated by the community of Madrid in remembrance of its defeat following Napoleon's invasion in the 19th century.
42
Many of the details concerning this latest move, however, were shrouded in uncertainty. The family had gathered a small contingent of mentors and prayer partners to help them discern their way through the decision on what would come next. “We’re kind of unconventional decisionmakers,” said April. “We put together everything on spreadsheets, and then in the end, we just decide based on our intuition.” Even when the place became clear—northern Spain—two factors remained to be resolved: what their new role would be in the community, and, more urgently, where they would find housing. In Madrid, rentals were easier to find than in northern Spain, where most residents are homeowners. Because of the complications of being an American citizen living in a foreign country, homeownership was not an option, and rentals that met the family’s needs were extremely difficult to find. Time passed with few housing prospects, and with the beginning of a new school year only weeks away, the Crulls still hadn’t
KELLY CRULL (ʼ02)
found a place to live. The place where they would make their new home would determine where their children would start school.
Meanwhile, housing prospects dwindled, the start of school was nearly a week away, and they began considering possibilities that they’d previously crossed off their list. One house’s location was less than ideal, but April suggested to Kelly that they reconsider and make a call to the realtor. The house appealed to Kelly right away. It appeared to meet their family’s needs, and it didn’t hurt that it was a charming old stone country house. “With us, the aesthetic always wins over the practicality,” he says. During a tour of the backyard, Kelly turned toward the house and spotted the circular windows that his son had been so insistent would be in their new home. “I wanted to research my way into knowing this was a good
ALUMNI
Kelly recalls sitting down with the kids one afternoon, giving them the idea to draw what they envisioned in their new home. “Draw me a picture of the house you’re hoping for,” he asked the kids. Teo, the youngest Crull sibling, drew a picture of a house with circular windows, insistent that their new home would have this feature. Kelly laughs at the memory now, thinking at the time, “I don’t think this is really a priority.” The Crulls approach church-planting as an organic process that happens through careful listening and that focuses on the transformative power of Christ working through a community of believers.
choice,” says Kelly, and yet, he explains, the details of the way God provided this house—in an unlikely place, with windows matching his son’s drawing— had all the signs of God’s provision. In the midst of so many unknowns, with so little time to spare, God had not only provided their family with a home that met their needs, but he did so in a way that grew their faith. “One of the hardest things about raising missionary kids, and I think about raising kids in general,” April says, are the ever-present questions: “Are we messing
up our kids? Can we really trust God with our children?” Yet, in the midst of uncertainty, it was one of their children that pointed out that God had been guiding them all along. “That story with the window was one of those things where you just know—God was working. I hope that’s an encouragement to Teo someday—that he heard God in that. It was this sweet little way of God saying, ‘These are my kids. They’re in my hands. Trust me.ʼ” SHELBI GESCH (’17)
DORDT DISCOVERY DAYS ***JUNE 19-23, 2017***
Dordt Discovery Days is a five-day camp for students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. Students choose one morning and one afternoon class. Classes meet once each day, Monday through Friday.
.COM 43
NON PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID OMAHA NE PERMIT NO 776
498 4th Avenue NE Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
D o r dt G i v es f e b r u a ry 1 6 - 1 7 , 2 0 1 7 30 hours | 1 goal grow student scholarships