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OF DORDT COLLEGE THE
OF DORDT COLLEGE
PRESSING PAUSE How should we pay attention in a fast-paced world? This issue explores how Dordt students have learned to reflect through an astronomy course, neuropsychology tests, and a two-week study tour of Israel.
CADAVER LAB 8
COMPETING NARRATIVES IN ISRAEL 24 HERE GOES NOTHING 35
ISSUE 1 OF 3
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FALL 2017
VOLUME 63
NEWS
Leading Off WITH THE PRESIDENT
ENGAGEMENT HAS ME OVERSHARING, AND I CAN'T HELP IT I’m not a grandparent yet, but I hope to be someday. And, I’ve noticed something about grandparents. They all seem to realize that showing pictures and telling stories borders on annoying, but they just can’t help themselves. I feel the same right now. So, I’m behaving like a proud grandpa and announcing that, for the second year in a row, Dordt College was ranked number one in the entire country in student engagement. I hope that you are as excited about this as I am and that you will help me spread the word. After last year’s Wall Street Journal ranking release, I had a conversation with a reporter about student engagement. He was puzzled that the top 5 schools for this category were faith-based schools, and he wanted to know my opinion on why that might be. It gave me an opportunity to share with him my favorite quote from C.S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory, which I think speaks to the seriousness of how and why faculty, staff, and students engage so deeply at Dordt and at all seriously Christian colleges: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—
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these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.” This understanding of reality is the core reason Dordt College was ranked as the number one college in America for student engagement again this year. Our faculty, staff, and students understand that each person on this campus isn’t just a student or professor. We’re all immortal children of the risen king—striving together as a community of mutual image-bearers and kingdombuilders. Soli Deo Gloria!
DR. ERIK HOEKSTRA, PRESIDENT
Voice THE
OF DORDT COLLEGE
FALL 2017 VOLUME 63 | 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 Sarah Moss ('10), editor sarah.moss@dordt.edu Sally Jongsma, contributing editor Kate Henreckson, contributing writer Lydia Marcus ('17), contributing writer Jamin Ver Velde ('99), art director and designer Anneke Wind ('19), student writer Ben Boersma ('20), student writer Madelaine Colarossi, contributing writer Lauren Kleyer ('14), contributing writer Aleisa Dornbierer-Schat, contributing writer 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 The skywalk, which connects Dordt's Science Building to the Ribbens Academic Complex, is a new addition to campus. It was completed as part of the Science Building upgrades this summer. Photo by Doug Burg.
Inside
Editor’s Notes
THIS ISSUE
ADRI VAN GRONINGEN ('18)
A WINNING DEFENDER DAYS Over 1,100 Dordt alumni and friends visited campus on October 13 and 14 to participate in Defender Days. The weekend's festivities included two music festivals, a 5K run, a dinner honoring two distinguished alumni, and many sporting events including an exciting win for Dordt's football team.
NEWS
FEATURES
Two students intern at the South Dakota State Penitentiary to learn what life is like behind bars.
An astronomy professor teaches students to pay attention to and delight in God's creation.
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Foldscopes: inexpensive, unassuming microscopes that can make a big impact.
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Mike Byker has been named top sports information director by the GPAC.
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Dordt students and faculty wrestle with neuropsychology, mental health counseling, and the mind/body/soul debate.
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During a twoweek course in Israel, Dordt students encounter competing narratives.
ALUMNI
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Mike Vander Wel ('89), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award winner, reflects on how his faith has shaped his career at Boeing.
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Kendra Broekhuis ('11), Dordt's Horizon Award winner, talks about how she seeks to love her neighbors.
PRESSING PAUSE
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uring the fall semester, Dordt students and faculty often mention how quickly time moves by. I think many of us find that to be the case during the fall and into the holiday season; we all seem to have competing priorities, and in that state of busyness it is easy to get distracted. We might end up feeling a bit like the students pictured on the cover of this Voice issue: Either we speed by in a hurry to get to the next thing, or we’re so focused on something that we don’t notice what’s going on around us. I invite you to press pause as you read through this issue of the Voice. Many of the stories feature situations where students have had to stop, look around, pay attention, and reflect. These opportunities provide students with a space to grow in their faith, to push themselves out of their comfort zones, to challenge their thinking, and to learn more about God’s world. As you page through this issue of the Voice, may you too find space for reflection and growth during this hectic season.
SARAH MOSS (ʼ10), EDITOR
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Luke Seerveld ('85) teaches Dordt students what it's like to be a gaffer.
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LEARNING BEHIND BARS NEWS
On her first day of training at the South Dakota State Penitentiary, Krista Bousema witnessed a 13-person fight. “That was my ‘welcome to prison!’ moment,” she says. Bousema and Jared Van Wyk, Dordt senior criminal justice majors, interned at the penitentiary this past summer. They were trained to perform tasks that most correctional officers do at a prison: make rounds on each floor every thirty minutes, conduct cell searches, breathalyze inmates, stop inmates from hurting themselves or each other, and
generally ensure that the inmates were where they needed to be.
at “the pen,” they do not happen to the extent that the public often believes.
Both Bousema and Van Wyk note that an important part of their job was making sure the policies and procedures of the penitentiary were followed at all times. But Van Wyk also points out that, despite the negative stereotypes surrounding prisons, his job was not as difficult as some might expect.
“You never knew what was going to happen every day, which was exciting,” says Bousema. “But the SDSP has enough
“One of my biggest takeaways was learning how to remain calm with an upset inmate and successfully de-escalate a situation without making anything worse.”
JAMIN VER VELDE (ʼ99)
“Every day is interesting,” he says. “However, the public — Jared Van Wyk has a very negative perception of what prisons are like and what occurs rules in place that the inmates are in them. The prison is full of staff relatively orderly.” willing to work with individuals and prepare them for a life The internship experience gave Bousema outside of prison. A lot of and Van Wyk a good look into where inmates just want to do their their Dordt education was taking them. time and leave.” Both felt that the internship confirmed their calling to go into criminal justice Bousema agrees, saying and gave them solid, hands-on practice that, although drugs, in the field. violence, and gang activity do happen Donald Roth, associate professor of criminal justice and business administration at Dordt College, believes an internship is
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But the internship gave Bousema and Van Wyk more than practical experience—they also learned more about themselves.
K. Bousema
“One of my biggest takeaways was learning J. Van Wyk how to remain calm with an upset inmate and how to successfully de-escalate a situation without making anything worse,” says Van Wyk. “That was not an easy thing to learn right away, but I had to let the inmates be heard to keep the peace.”
“As correctional officers, we are working toward helping inmates live a better life and enabling them to contribute to society once they are released,” says Van Wyk. “I have a strong passion for helping people, so I felt this experience really prepared me for a career in law enforcement.” Bousema gave an example of how being a Christian shaped her response to inmates. While conducting a cell search, inmates thanked her for being respectful and not tearing their cell apart. She felt that the experience gave her an opportunity to show God’s love and compassion to those who needed it the most. “While I’m not condoning their crimes, I had to remind myself that the inmates were people as well—they fell short like the rest of us and deserve to be treated as people.” ANNEKE WIND ('19)
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Both students say their faith had an impact on how they treated the inmates.
KARLI LANINGA (ʼ19)
Bousema had a similar experience, but she also had to know when to be assertive. “Saying ‘no’ and making
someone upset was hard for me at first, but it got easier,” she says.
NEWS
especially good for students hoping to go into corrections or law enforcement. “Jared and Krista had a chance to hear stories and encounter individuals who opened their eyes up to what can be out there,” he says. “They have honed their gut sense of when things are dangerous or suspicious in a way that will serve them incredibly well in their future careers.”
Dordt Business Instructor Shirley Folkerts and her husband Rudy cycled more than 3,000 miles as part of Sea to Sea—Bicycling to End Poverty.
DORDT PROFESSOR BIKES TO FIGHT POVERTY
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his summer, business instructor Shirley Folkerts and her husband Rudy participated in Sea to Sea— Bicycling to End Poverty. Starting in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 26, they cycled more than 3,000 miles, ending their journey in Ottawa, Ontario, on August 12. The rest of the tour continued on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the ride finished on August 29. The Folkerts spent six days per week biking an average of 77 miles per day through varied topography, weather, and road conditions.
AIRBAND GOES TO THE GREASERS In September, eight groups lip-synced and danced their way through Dordt's Airband competition. The winning group, the Greasers, performed "You're the One that I Want" from the musical Grease. The Greasers later performed at Northwestern College's Airband—as entertainment, not competition.
The goal of Sea to Sea was to raise money and awareness to fight poverty. The Folkerts raised more than $25,000; the entire group collected $1.6 million. The money is being distributed to World Renew, Partners Worldwide, and local organizations that help fight poverty.
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NEWS
DORDT RECEIVES NOYCE GRANT FOR STEM EDUCATION In May, Dordt College received the largest grant in Dordt's history—a $1.2 million Noyce grant from the National Science Foundation. KATE HENRECKSON
The Noyce grant aims to alleviate the shortage of K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers nationwide by making teaching a more financially viable career path. Nationwide, the grants provide more than $800,000 in scholarships for prospective teachers. Mathematics Professor Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld first looked into Noyce grants when she first came to Dordt, but she thought it would be a longshot. All of the schools who previously received the grant were prestigious universities. But in 2014, Dr. Nathan Tintle, director of research and scholarship, suggested that despite the odds, they give it a shot and apply. A team was formed with Zonnefeld as principal investigator and lead author. Education Professor Dr. Ryan Zonnefeld refined and wrote sections related to Dordt’s teacher preparation program. Mathematics Professor Dr. Tom Clark and Biology Professor Dr. Jeff Ploegstra reviewed the draft, bringing insights from their disciplines and teaching experience. Tintle’s extensive experience in grant writing helped strengthen the proposal. The fifteen-page proposal took almost a year to write. After submitting it, the team heard nothing for three months. Then, in late December, an email came asking some clarification questions. “At that point, Nathan knew–we had it,” says Valorie Zonnefeld. As it turned out, the program officer told the team that their proposal was the best the review panel had seen and that it had circulated around the National Science Foundation. So how was Dordt able to compete against major universities? The answer
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This year's Noyce scholars (from left to right): Amy Spoelstra, Abbie White, Paige Beyer, and Karissa Koster.
is in the painstakingly-crafted proposal, which took an approach that the NSF had not seen—it targeted rural schools in contrast to most proposals that target urban populations. “The majority of Dordt students come from small schools and districts, and the majority of them go back into a small school. Sometimes you have one science teacher in the whole school,” says Valorie Zonnefeld. “In the proposal, we said that we are training ‘backbone STEM teachers’—teachers who will step in and fill this role for rural schools.” Dordt’s scholarships will be available for five years, which means that students who are currently high school juniors and seniors could receive $15,000 toward their
educational expenses. After graduation, they would have to teach for two years in a high-needs school. “If you love math and science, teaching is a profession where you get to do that every day,” says Clark. “But you also have the power to affect kids’ lives, to train them for the future. It’s meaningful work. These scholarships help students realize that dream with minimal debt. Go to the website, talk with us. This is an incredible opportunity.” KATE HENRECKSON
To learn more about Dordt’s Noyce scholarships, whether as a student or a school seeking to hire Dordt STEM teacher graduates, visit www.dordt.edu/dc-noyce-scholars.
JAMIN VER VELDE (ʼ99)
Campus Kudos NEWS
Education majors in Dr. Kathleen VanTol's "Introduction to the Education of Students with Disabilities" course discuss Dan Barry's Boys in the Bunkhouse during class.
"ONE BOOK" BRINGS DORDT AND SIOUX COUNTY TOGETHER T
he Hulst Library at Dordt College has joined ten public and academic Sioux County libraries in a reading program called “One Book, One Sioux County.”
of men in Atalissa, Iowa, who were exploited because of their intellectual disabilities, and the efforts of those who worked to help them reclaim their lives.
“The point of the community reading program is for students to dialogue with people they may not have conversed with otherwise,” says Jennifer Breems, director of library services at Dordt's Hulst Library. Breems sees the program as an opportunity J. Breems to bring guests speakers and authors to the area as well as a way for public and academic libraries in Sioux County to work together.
At least one Dordt professor is also taking advantage of the program in her classroom. Dr. Kathleen VanTol, associate professor of education, is excited that this year's book relates so closely to the field of special education. “One of the objectives for my course is for students to understand the historical foundations, major legislation, and current issues in special education. This book really supports those objectives,” says VanTol.
“We had seen other counties do it with great success, and we thought Sioux County could support it as well,” says Becky Bilby, director of the Sioux Center Public Library. The program, now in its second year, is essentially a community book club. The academic libraries at Dordt, Northwestern, and Northwest Iowa Community College take turns hosting a program related to the book. Last year, residents and students read Ordinary Grace by New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger; Krueger came to Northwestern to speak about his work. This year, the program highlights Boys in the Bunkhouse by Dan Barry. The book tells the true story of a group
Student, staff, and community readers had the opportunity to come together on Dordt’s campus on Tuesday, October 17 for a screening of the "Men of Atalissa" documentary and on Thursday, November 9 in the B.J. Haan Auditorium for a panel discussion on the book. “Dordt students spend most of their time on campus—they aren’t necessarily as connected to Sioux Center as a town. To have the same book read at the public library and at Dordt breaks down the barrier between the college and the town,” says Breems. “I think this is a great way for Dordt to promote and be involved in community events and activities,” adds VanTol.
For the second year in a row, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education college rankings named Dordt the number one college in the United States for student engagement. The WSJ/THE rankings stem from four pillars that highlight key areas in teaching excellence: resources, engagement, outputs, and environment. Within the category of engagement, the rankings consider students’ engagement in learning and critical thinking, the likelihood that students will recommend the college to others, the level of interaction that students have with faculty and other students while on campus, and the number of subjects and accredited programs available. For more information, see dordt. edu/wsj-18. Dordt’s engineering department won the $25,000 grand prize for the 2017 NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) Engineering Education Award. The Engineering Department received the top prize for its submission of the Liberia farm bridge project. Dordt College has been named the top-ranked Iowa college in this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings. Dordt, which is again among the top 10 “Best in the Midwest” colleges, is also the only Iowa college to make U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Engineering Program” list. Director of Computer Services Brian Van Donselaar has been appointed to the Commission on Technology as part of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).
LAUREN KLEYER (’14)
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NEWS
Chemistry Post- Doctoral Fellow Dr. Joshua Zhu coauthored the research paper “Cation Exchange Assisted BindingElution Strategy for Enzymatic Synthesis of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs),” which was recently published in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters. In June, two engineering faculty members presented at the 2017 Christian Engineering Conference in Cedarville, Ohio. Engineering Professor Dr. Ethan Brue authored and presented a paper titled “The Craft of Storytelling in Engineering Education,” and Engineering Professor Dr. Kevin Timmer presented a paper titled “Shalom Seeking: Foundations of Flourishing.” Education Professor Dr. Kathleen VanTol and Instructor of Language Arts Rikki Heldt received research funds to attend a Council for Christian Colleges and Universities conference in Costa Rica during the summer of 2017 to learn about how to support first generation Latino students on college campuses. Theology Professor Dr. David Henreckson was elected vice president of the Fellowship for Protestant Ethics for the 2017-18 term. He has also been invited to serve as a contributing editor to Comment. His essay “Not Trained by Angels” was also published in the fall 2017 issue of Comment.
JONATHAN FICTORIE (ʼ20)
Theology Professor Dr. Justin Bailey’s article “The Body in Cyberspace: Jaron Lanier, Merleau-Ponty, and the Norms of Embodiment” was recently selected for the Charles J. Miller award for Volume 45 of Christian Scholar’s Review (CSR). The Charles J. Miller award highlights one article per year that “best achieves the goals of Christian scholarship set by the mission statement of CSR.”
EMI STEWART (ʼ20)
Faculty Notes
Dr. Tony Jelsma says that Dordt's cadaver lab will allow students to better understand and retain the information they learn about human anatomy.
CADAVER LAB PROVIDES NEW OPPORTUNITIES A week before the fall semester began, Biology Professor Dr. Tony Jelsma and eight Dordt seniors donned scrubs and white lab coats and entered Dordt’s new cadaver lab. For five days under Jelsma’s direction, the students spent eight hours per day dissecting a male and a female body as part of a weeklong intensive cadaver course.
have dissected cats; they have had photographic atlases in their textbooks that show pictures of human bodies,” says Jelsma. “But that’s not the same as looking at a human body.”
“At the end of the first day on Monday, we were exhausted,” says Jelsma. “The work is quite detailed, and you realize that this is a human being, which emotionally can be hard.”
Julia Bos, a senior biology major who participated in the cadaver course, agrees. “It’s a better way to learn than by looking at a diagram in a textbook,” says Bos. “These are real muscles that you are revealing, for example. It was such a different experience to see it in a real body in 3D. I feel like I can remember it so much better now—the different muscles and their positions.”
All eight students who participated in the cadaver lab had taken Jelsma’s anatomy class, so they were well-versed in human anatomy. However, Jelsma believes having access to a cadaver course and lab will help anatomy students better understand and retain the information they’ve learned. “In the past, anatomy students
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Students who plan to attend medical or physical therapy school will especially benefit from taking a course in the cadaver lab.
“Usually, we learn the different organ systems in isolation from each other. Now I’m planning to teach regionally rather than system by system.” “Bigger universities typically have cadaver labs, but I don’t know how much access an undergraduate student would have to a cadaver lab at a large university,” says Jelsma. “So when students go on to medical school or physical therapy school, they will have knowledge that will make them that much better prepared.” The cadaver lab is smaller than a classroom, with room for two dissecting tables and a storage closet. “We would usually not have more than four students on one body,” says Bos. “Any more than that would get crowded.” A monitor on the wall, attached to a camera on a moveable arm, allows Jelsma and the students to project muscles, veins, and arteries. The bright surgery lights let students see minute details of the dissection. “The fascia and the tendons are actually iridescent under the lighting,” says Bos. “It was amazing to see the variety of tissues, how everything looks so differently—and it’s all designed for specific functions.” The cadaver lab was designed to preserve and respect the bodies. “There’s a separate ventilation system in
UPGRADES The cadaver lab is one of many upgrades in the recently completed Science Building renovation. The Science Building now houses a computational chemistry lab, the hallways have been widened, and a skywalk connects the Science Building to the Campus Center.
the cadaver lab, and each table has its own ventilation,” says Jelsma. “We also have three levels of security: The tables themselves are locked with a padlock, the door to the lab is locked, and the door to the anatomy lab is locked. This level of security is to show respect for the human body.” It will take much longer than forty hours to dissect the two cadavers; the students in the cadaver lab mainly worked on revealing the muscles and opening up the chest cavity. Later this fall, Jelsma’s anatomy course will slowly finish the dissection; students taking non-major human biology courses in the fall and spring will observe the dissected cadavers. Now that he has access to the new lab, Jelsma is rethinking the way he teaches his courses. “We usually learn the different organ systems in isolation from each other,” says Jelsma. “However, as you’re dissecting, you have to watch out for this blood vessel or identify this nerve or muscle. You see how tightly held together the person is; everything is integrated. Now I’m planning to teach regionally rather than system by system.” Dissecting and studying cadavers has reminded Bos of God’s love for his creation. “It shows how much detail God put into designing the human body,” reflects Bos. “It is a picture of his love for us. It is a labor of love to make the body that detailed and well-designed when God could have made our bodies simpler.” “I’m really grateful to the donors who gave us the funds to complete the Science Building renovations,” says Jelsma. “We were doing good things before, but we can do so many more good things now.”
Dordt’s mathematics faculty took part in the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Tom Clark co-presented “Math Teacher Circles: How and Why to Start Yours,” highlighting some of the work he has done with the Northwest Iowa Math Teachers’ Circle at Dordt College. Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld and Education Professor Dr. Ryan Zonnefeld co-presented “A Framework for Integrating Faith and Learning in the K-12 Mathematics Classroom.” Dr. Mike Janssen also presented at the biennial meeting of the conference.
NEWS
— Dr. Tony Jelsma, biology professor
Faculty Notes
History Professor Dr. Mark McCarthy took three Dordt students to Ukraine from May 22 until June 3. The purpose of the trip was to give the students a better sense of the culture that produced the mental health data they were examining. Chemistry Professor Dr. Channon Visscher co-authored the article “Retrieval of Atmospheric Properties of Cloudy L Dwarfs,” which was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He also presented an invited talk titled “Chemistry of Impact-Generated Disks: Implications for the Moon” at the Goldschmidt 2017 conference held in Paris, France. In August, Education Professor Dr. David Mulder presented a professional development workshop for the teachers at Western Christian High School titled “Using Data for Classroom Decision-Making.” The session examined different types of data teachers might use. It also explored different ways of collecting information about what students know, understand, and are able to do. They also examined strategies for providing feedback to students to help them grow.
SARAH MOSS (’10)
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NEWS
FOLDSCOPES: AN UNASSUMING TECHNOLOGY WITH A BIG IMPACT The two-by-six-inch folded origami-like paper lying on Professor Jeff Ploegstra’s desk does not look like it belongs in a lab. And it doesn’t.
The Foldscope was designed at Stanford University to help students around the globe who might not otherwise have access to scientific equipment see the microscopic world. When Ploegstra read about these devices, he wrote to the lab at Stanford. Because the Foldscopes were still in beta testing, the lab sent him a shipment of scope kits for free. “Understanding the microscopic complexity of the created world can create opportunities to appreciate and praise God in unique ways,” says Ploegstra in his grant proposal. “Providing K-12 students with the tools to easily access this microscopic world has the potential to revolutionize their personal worlds.” This past summer, Ploegstra was awarded a Dordt College teaching innovation grant to buy and use Foldscope kits in his secondary science methods class.
JONATHAN FICTORIE (ʼ20)
It is a Foldscope, and it belongs out in the world. A Foldscope is a microscope that can magnify objects by up to 140% and slip easily into a student’s pocket. Even better, it only costs a few dollars and can be put together in 20 minutes.
A Foldscope is a microscope that costs only a few dollars and can be constructed in 20 minutes.
In the methods class, education majors will develop curricula to help their students understand and appreciate the world they see through a microscope. The curricula will include directions for using the Foldscopes and strategies that encourage children to explore and delight in the natural world. All learning objectives will be aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. The curricula will be flexible enough that it can be used in international settings, where students may have different levels
JONATHAN FICTORIE (ʼ20)
HOW TO USE A FOLDSCOPE Each Foldscope kit contains a sheet of paper punch-outs, low magnification lenses, high magnification lenses, a condenser lens, transparent stickers for making slides, and magnetic strips to attach a Foldscope to a phone for imaging. After following the directions for assembling the scope, find a small, thin sample you’d like to observe and sandwich it between the transparent stickers. Feed the stickers into the Foldscope, hold the scope to your eye, and orient it toward a light source such as a window or light fixture. Focus the image by moving the tabs on either side of the ocular with your thumbs. Voila! The microscopic world is yours to explore.
of understanding about how the world works. As seniors, methods students will take a set of Foldscopes to their student-teaching classrooms and use the curricula they developed. Ploegstra also plans to bring some Foldscopes and his students’ curricula on the biennial Puerto Rico off-campus study program next summer. While there, his Dordt students will visit three or four orphanages and schools to teach children how to make and use Foldscopes as well as how to make slides of things they want to inspect. Ploegstra hopes that as children are set loose to examine the complexity of creation with these simple scopes, it will transform the way they see the world. “I sometimes fear that we are too objective-driven when we teach, leaving curiosity behind,” says Ploegstra. “Encouraging people to be curious is a necessary part of science education, and helping students see the world in a different way can encourage curiosity. Curiosity brings great opportunities for joy, and ultimately, for praising our creator God.” LYDIA MARCUS (’17)
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Dordt College began offering online summer courses in 2014. KATE HENRECKSON
The college noticed that, whether due to a family or medical situation or a switch in major, some students needed more flexibility than semester courses offered. Often they were looking elsewhere to meet their requirements. “We wanted them to take these courses from Dordt College,” says Associate Provost Leah Zuidema. “So, we looked at which classes would be most helpful for Dordt’s students.”
“The physical college will never go away, but students need flexibility. In the end, it comes down to serving our students well,” says Zuidema.
KATE HENRECKSON
To prepare Dordt faculty
relationships and make real connections with others.” Mulder says. “In the end it’s about responsible teaching— responding to the needs of your students, the demands of the content, and the traditions of your discipline.” Teresa Ter Haar, professor of theatre arts at Dordt, enjoyed the BOLT 101 experience. “BOLT 101 captured my imagination for the way an online class could create relationships with students,” says Ter Haar. “I was skeptical at first about that piece. But David got us excited about how tech could foster those relationships.”
As a result, Dordt has added a number of online courses, including Core 160—“Introduction to the Arts.” Other classes added over the last few years have been “English Composition,” “Sociology & Social Justice,” and “Principles of Marketing.” Taking a summer course is not easy. Courses generally last six weeks and require about 20 hours of work per week: the equivalent of a part-time job. But for some students, it is also a way to free up their schedule during the school year to take extra electives, be involved in more co-curricular activities, or even study abroad.
NEWS
A LOOK AT DORDT’S SUMMER ONLINE COURSES
In BOLT 101, Education Professor Dr. David Mulder also teaches faculty how to use different technologies in their online courses.
for online teaching, Education Professor David Mulder ('98) teaches BOLT 101: “Blended and Online Learning and Teaching.” In each of the six weekly workshops, Mulder uses a different pedagogical technique. For example, one week he plays the “absent professor”— giving no comments or feedback. Another week he is the “overly-involved professor”—commenting on everything. “We want online courses to be high quality experiences, both for the instructor and the student,” Mulder says. One way he encourages that is by focusing on “social presence”—making sure that students (and professors) convey a sense of who they are, even in an online environment. “I want faculty to see that they can use online tools to build
Theatre Arts Professor Dr. Teresa Ter Haar holds a model of the set for Dordt's fall production, Wrinkle in Time.
Ter Haar co-teaches an arts appreciation course online. The requirements for the course include performance attendance, readings, writings, and a video storytelling project. Ter Haar did find the lack of body language in online teaching challenging, particularly in teaching theater. But there were also definite benefits. “Sometimes in face-to-face classes, students are reluctant to speak out,” says Ter Haar. “But because this is all in writing, my students actually got a sense of their classmates and their own abilities to be insightful. Communicating online is intuitive for them, so they open up in a way they sometimes don’t face-to-face.” Ter Haar plans to take some of the lessons she learned in online teaching and bring them to her traditional classes—particularly using written online peer responses. “Teaching online was really fun—I loved it!” she says. “I had a great experience in my class this summer, and BOLT 101 set me up well to do that.” KATE HENRECKSON
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NEWS
PLAYING THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS
The Dordt College music department hosted the Pipe Organ Encounter this summer, an annual weeklong event sponsored by the American Guild of Organists (AGO) to promote organ playing and music. Students ages 13-18 came to campus to play Dordt’s pipe organ and learn from professional AGO organists, including Dordt faculty. They visited and heard local pipe organs, visited museums, and heard from organ builders. Dordt’s Pipe Organ Encounter was a long time in the making. It began when a generous donor suggested that Dordt apply to AGO to host the event. Dordt faculty knew they had the resources to do so. “We have a history of a strong organ program, with three organists on the music faculty and a significant number of graduates who have become professional organists,” says Dr. Karen De Mol, a member of the planning committee. The department also hoped the event would draw young musicians to Dordt College at a time when many churches are looking for organists.
One teacher and performer was Dr. John Schwandt, professor and chair of organ at the American Organ Institute at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. He has been involved with the Pipe Organ Encounter for more than 20 years.
Allison Wordes studies piano at Dordt and also takes pipe organ lessons. Wordes had never played a pipe organ before the Pipe Organ Encounter, but she attended because she wanted to serve others. “I think it’s cool that Dordt has its own organ, and I think a lot of students take that for granted,” says Wordes. “It’s a
“It’s a credit to Dordt’s music faculty that they keep such a unique instrument alive.” — Allison Wordes, Pipe Organ Encounter participant
“The pipe organ has within it the potential to move people in very profound ways,” Schwandt says. “Music can be an agent for healing and renewal, whether it is offered within the context of worship or performance. When a fine pipe organ is played very well, the resulting music can be a great gift and blessing to the hearer.”
Schawandt was pleased by the student performances. “I felt satisfied knowing that the future of the pipe organ will be in good hands with young ones such as those,” he says.
credit to Dordt’s music faculty that they keep such a unique instrument alive. If students want to learn music, this is the place to be.” To those who argue about whether to use an organ or a praise team, Wordes says, “The Pipe Organ Encounter showed me how the two can be merged together. All instruments have the same potential in worship.” MADELAINE COLAROSSI
JAMIN VER VELDE (ʼ99)
Dordt faculty organists MaryLou Wielenga, Dr. John MacInnis, and Matthew Geerlings, along with De Mol, planned and chose teaching faculty and guest performers for the event—some of whom were Dordt College graduates.
“Interacting with students, welcoming prominent artists to our campus, and serving everyone behind the scenes was a fantastic experience,” says MacInnis.
ABOUT AGO The AGO is a national association that began in 1896 to educate and serve the public. Its goal was to “maintain high musical standards and to promote understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music.” AGO has several chapters throughout the United States.
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Tune in to a Dordt football or a basketball game on the radio or online, and you’ll hear his enthusiasm for his work and for Dordt sports teams. His efforts were recognized in August, when Byker was named the 2016-17 Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference Sports Information Director (SID) of the Year. The award is based on votes from the league’s sports information directors.
video broadcasts. We were still faxing and mailing out information. Now it’s instantaneous,” says Byker.
“When I look at the SID’s we have across this league, I am truly humbled to receive this award,” says Byker. “As a group, we push each other to be better, and because of that our schools and league thrive.”
“Almost anything you read or see on the Internet related to Dordt athletics, Mike
LIZ BUNKER (ʼ21)
For over sixteen years, Mike Byker ('92) has been the voice of Defender sports.
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BYKER NAMED TOP SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR The Dordt athletics website now hosts scores from past games, event information, and team schedules, as well as contact information for coaches and staff for each sport. Byker also oversees the Defender social media platforms.
“Almost anything you read or see on the Internet related to Dordt athletics, Mike does all of that.”
Byker uses both old — Derek De Vries, student announcer and new technology as Dordt’s sportcaster. He broadcasts games over the radio, and he does all of that,” says student announcer updates the athletic section of Dordt’s Derek De Vries. “On top of that, he’s a website. husband and a dad to three kids who are in high school or older right now.” “I’ve had the privilege of working with athletes, coaches, and athletic Byker is a 1992 graduate of Dordt administrators who trust me to tell their College with a major in radio and TV stories while also experimenting with communication. new avenues for telling those stories,” “I grew up listening to the Twins and says Byker. “The series this spring using Dordt basketball on the radio,” says video interviews of senior athletes was Byker. “That was the window into my well received, and it left me wishing I interest in broadcasting.” had committed to it long ago. This is an exciting time in our industry as it As a student, Byker worked for a year changes and evolves.” at KDCR radio. Following graduation, When Byker joined the Dordt radio staff in 2001, the office relied primarily on the radio and press releases. Over the next several years, the athletics portion of Dordt’s website was developed and improved; today, the website provides both daily updates and information about athletes, games, and Dordt programs. “When I started here, we weren’t offering live stats online. We weren’t doing the
he began working at a radio station in Sheldon, Iowa. Within months, Byker replaced the station’s sports director and learned how to do play-by-plays. Eight years later, Byker joined KDCR radio as sports information director. “To watch how things have grown in the sports information field from 2001 to now is exciting,” says Byker, “You have to embrace change, and you have to roll with it.”
Mike Byker has served as Dordt's sports information director since 2001.
Byker is an active member of Co-SIDA and served as media coordinator for the NAIA Volleyball and Women’s Division II Basketball Championship Tournaments in Sioux City, Iowa, including doing play-byplay broadcasts on the NAIA Network. “Mike goes above and beyond, working many hours to promote our studentathletes,” says Glenn Bouma, associate athletic director at Dordt. “Defender Nation is grateful to Mike for his work both on and off the air.” BENJAMIN BOERSMA ('20)
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The Myth of Subtle Racism 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
I was seventeen years old when I came face to face with my own racist tendencies. As a new college freshman and an eager overachiever, I found myself with my hand in the air one morning, ready to answer the question posed by our professor: “Do you think people of different races should marry each other?” I wish I remembered the context of this question. But the memory is relegated to a thirtysecond snippet during which I was called on and pridefully answered that no, I did not believe that biracial marriage was a good idea. My argument was based on the theory that life would be hard for people in mixed families. (As if the greatest indicator of a good life is ease.) With the calm self-assurance that I had answered thoughtfully, I watched as a girl a few rows ahead of me raised her hand. “My mom is white and my dad is black,” she said. “And I couldn’t disagree more.” She turned and gave me a smile, one that I didn’t deserve and that contained the sort of grace that leveled me. The professor encouraged her to share more, and I listened with a growing sense of my own foolishness.
Ideas like the one that I espoused in my general ed course are the direct result of growing up in a slowly simmering pot of “subtle racism.” Sure, there are overt racists, the ones who carry torches and shout ugly slurs and tattoo swastikas on their necks. But this overtness makes their voices conveniently easy to dismiss. We are free to give ourselves a pass from believing we could be like that. Our brand of softer, subtle racism is not just more palatable, it’s considered normal. This sort of racism is comprised of jokes that lean heavily on racial or ethnic stereotypes. It’s made up of national pride that borders on hegemony, paternalistic overtones in missions, and the secret wish that our children would marry someone who looks like them. But there is no such thing as “subtle racism.” Even seemingly insignificant attitudes and beliefs slowly
It may sound melodramatic, but that one small exchange hit my soul with the magnitude of an earthquake.
It may sound melodramatic, but that one small exchange hit my soul with the magnitude of an earthquake. The fissures that extended from this experience carved deep into my family history, my personal beliefs, and even my sense of identity.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON:
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erode our capacity to understand and respect one another, and destroy our ability to say with integrity that we believe all men are created equal. This is especially true in Christian circles where we give lip service to passages like Galatians 3:28 (“…for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”) and Revelation 7:9 (“…there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language…”). Either we believe what we say we believe—that we are better together, that we are one body, that we are all a part of the Body of
Christ—or we don’t. I fear white Christians are blind to their own ignorance. We don’t know what other races experience, we can’t begin to put ourselves in the shoes of the marginalized, and frankly, we’d rather not try. We tend to shy away from hard things, preferring an easy existence that ignores the fact that Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) We often believe our “crosses” are minor inconveniences and we don’t much want to hear about issues that require us to wrestle, possibly feel shame, and repent. I fear our pride prevents us from living out the greatest commandment as we learn to fall in line with the mantra: “Me first.” And the philosophy of me and mine first is nothing less than idolatry. I am ashamed of the girl I was and know that the woman I am has far to go. But I pray that I can humble myself to be soft and teachable. To seek peace even if—especially if—it requires my repentance. And saying those words is just the first step. From word to action to cultural transformation, may we be the incarnation of the incarnation, the universal Body of Christ in each and every corner of the world. Maybe the in-breaking of the kingdom of God begins with a simple, heartfelt “I’m sorry.” Oh, friends. I am so, so sorry.
NICOLE BAART ('99)
In All Things is a journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation. We want to expand our imagination for what the Christian life— and life of the mind—can accomplish. In pursuit of this end, we will engage in conversation with diverse voices across a wide range of traditions, places, and times.
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THE SCIENCE OF PAYING ATTENTION: LOOKING UP IN DR. CHANNON VISSCHER’S ASTRONOMY CLASS
TO SEE THIS SUMMER’S SOLAR ECLIPSE, DORDT SENIOR ASHLEY HUIZINGA DROVE THROUGH THE NIGHT FROM HER HOME IN GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, TO DORDT’S CAMPUS ON MONDAY, AUGUST 21.
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he picked up some Dordt friends and continued on toward York, Nebraska, a town in the path of totality. On the interstate heading into Nebraska, flashing signs read, “Turn your headlights on during the eclipse.” Her friends used apps to keep track of the eclipse’s movement. By the time they reached the Utica, Nebraska, exit they had about fifteen minutes before the eclipse was supposed to peak.
“We took off through the cornfields down dirt roads,” remembers Huizinga. “My car was not thankful, but it was worth it because we got out to the middle of the cornfields just at the point of totality.” As they took off their eclipse glasses and looked around, “everything faded to dusk,” says Huizinga. “The bugs started chirping, and the birds stopped singing. When the eclipse was over, I thought, ‘Did that really just happen?’”
Huizinga’s efforts to get into the path of totality were a direct result of taking Dr. Channon Visscher’s astronomy course. “I really wanted to see the totality of the solar eclipse because that class taught me that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Huizinga. About 100 miles away from Utica, Visscher (’00) and his family stopped at a state park in Loup City, Nebraska. As
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SARAH MOSS (ʼ10)
the Visschers set up their folding chairs, they were greeted by eclipse watchers from all over the United States. They met people from Texas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—including a small group from the Omaha astronomical society. “This was my first total eclipse,” says Visscher. “I’ve seen a lot of partial eclipses, and the partials are amazing and cool, but that moment of totality is just—there’s nothing like it.” How does a planetary science expert describe what it was like to see a total solar eclipse? “During the totality, the moon is a sharp black disc, and you can see the corona,” says Visscher. “You can see a few stars. You can very easily see Venus, and Mercury is a little closer to the sun. The sky looks like a 360-degree sunrise or sunset because every direction has a pinkish, reddish hue, since there’s still sunlight shining elsewhere. As you look up to the sun the sky gets darker because the sunlight is being blocked out directly above you. The way I’ve been describing it to people is that it felt a bit like looking behind the curtain.” Seeing the total solar eclipse was a moving experience for Visscher, but sharing it with his family and other eclipse watchers in that park in Loup City made it even better.
Dr. Channon Visscher, professor of chemistry and planetary sciences, shows his astronomy students how to look at the surface of the sun using a sunspotter and a telescope.
that is such a shared thing,” says Visscher. “The same sky is above all of us. It’s a really great thing to experience together as a community.” Visscher and his astronomy students spend Monday nights looking at the night sky. Sometimes they end up in the Dordt prairie, each student using binoculars to get a closer look at constellations, planets, or star clusters. They jot down notes in their workbooks as they look up. Huizinga, who took Visscher’s astronomy course last fall, recalls how much fun it was to participate in those labs.
“One of the really cool things about the eclipse is that it’s best enjoyed in “In Grand Rapids, you don’t see a lot of groups,” says Visscher. “That park—there was a sense that we were sharing this together. We formed friendships with a couple from Texas and a group from Omaha, because we’re sharing — Dr. Channon Visscher, astronomy professor and participating in this event together. That’s far more edifying than seeing it alone.” stars because of the city lights,” she says. “At Dordt, when you walk into the middle THE SCIENCE OF of the prairie, there’s nothing to block PAYING ATTENTION them.”
holes are interesting.” Visscher wants his students to pay attention not only to spectacular events like a total solar eclipse but also to slightly less spectacular sunrises or distant stars. “That eclipse was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever experienced in my life,” says Visscher. “But I don’t see it as any more beautiful than the clouds at sunset that I saw later that evening. One of my goals in my astronomy class is not only to give God credit for the most spectacular but also to recognize that everything is spectacular once you start looking.”
“That eclipse was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever experienced in my life. But I don’t see it as any more beautiful than the clouds at sunset that I saw later that evening.”
In Visscher’s solar system astronomy course, Dordt students get that same sense of sharing and participating as they learn about planets, stars, and galaxies together. “There’s something about the night sky
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“A big part of science is paying attention,” says Visscher. “How do you teach someone to pay attention? I think astronomy has an advantage in that it is so captivating. I don’t have to convince people that galaxies, stars, and black
Marta Vander Top, a 2017 Dordt graduate who took Visscher’s class in the fall of 2016, recalls how the astronomy course helped her put things in perspective. “We wrestled with the tension that there’s this God of the universe who knows everyone and everything on this planet, and he also knows things the human race doesn’t even understand,” she says. “And, he knows every hair on
my head. It really helped me to see that the world is not all about me, that there is so much more than me, but still God cares about me.”
This fall, the twenty students in Visscher’s astronomy course are just as varied as the eclipse gatherers in the Loup City park, hailing from states like Missouri and Michigan and from countries like Canada and Indonesia. All the students except for one are juniors and seniors, and their majors span from elementary education to political science to accounting. During the second week of class, Visscher stands at the front of the classroom holding what looks like a large glass ball. On the outside blue lines mark the constellations; on the inside, a mediumsized model represents the earth and a tiny yellow ball the sun. “This is a model of a celestial sphere,” says Visscher. “It’s great, but it’s also horribly wrong—the wrong conception to have of the cosmos. It essentially treats the sky as if it were a fixed twodimensional glass sphere around us with stars on its surface.”
The students chuckle. Visscher’s teaching style is intended to help students think about topics beyond the northern celestial pole and the fact that the earth’s axis is at 23.5 degrees. “I’ll ask a lot of questions,” says Visscher. “Many great questions have counterintuitive answers until you really think about the movement of the stars or the sun. We all walk around knowing that the earth is rotating, but we intuitively treat the sun as moving around us.” The engaging questions that Visscher poses make his students consider why they think the way they do. That reflective, intentional teaching style sticks with his students, even after they have graduated.
“Visscher is so good at that type of community building—at making his examples relatable to everybody,” says Vander Top. “He is the perfect combination of being passionate about his subject and about his students. What he wanted at the end of the day was for us to get a little of the passion he has for astronomy.” As Visscher sets the model of the celestial sphere on the table, the conversation shifts to the stars that can or can’t be seen in the northern hemisphere. He talks about how the Big Dipper and Polaris will always be visible to those in Northwest Iowa, whereas the Southern Cross is always below the horizon. A student puts his hand in the air. “During the eclipse in August, did you see other constellations than you’d usually see at night?” “I think the basic question you’re asking here is, 'What determines whether or not I can actually see a constellation?'” says Visscher. “And you’re also probably thinking, ‘That’s totally not my question, but sure, go ahead and rephrase it in a way that you can use the slide you
JAMIN VER VELDE (ʼ99)
Visscher walks closer to the students’
“So why is this model of the celestial sphere wrong? Because it treats earth as if it is the center of the universe. Everything orbits us, right? We’re born with this conception that we are the center of the universe. I mean this entirely astronomically speaking, of course,” he adds with a touch of sarcasm.
Vander Top appreciated how much Visscher cared for his students and the subject of astronomy.
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STEPPING INTO VISSCHER’S CLASS
tables, pointing out that the model of the celestial sphere is helpful because it assigns positions to distant stars. He shows where the north celestial pole and the south celestial pole are located.
Dr. Channon Visscher challenges his astronomy students to consider why they think the way they do.
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Faculty Notes
prepared ahead of time.’” The student smiles, and a few others laugh.
Mathematics Professors Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld and Dr. Mike Janssen were awarded an IDEA Impact Grant for “The Effects of Pre-class WebBased Activities to Motivate Active Learning in First- and Second-Year Mathematics Courses.”
“There are two main factors,” says Visscher. “First, where are we on the earth? I can’t see a constellation in the northern hemisphere if I’m down in the South Pole. It depends on your latitude, not your longitude. If I’m at a different longitude, all I have to do is wait for night. And second, which constellations are visible depends on what time of year it is. Right now, I would have a hard time seeing Virgo and Leo because they’re behind the sun. Six months from now, no problem.”
Communication Professor Mark Volkers’ film “Balisana,” about the work among the unreached shepherds of Lesotho, won two Telly Awards and a Hermes award, all in 2017. The project included current Dordt students as well as Dordt alumnus Mark Eekhoff ('10).
— Dr. Channon Visscher, astronomy professor
The students nod, some jotting notes down into notebooks. It is evident that Visscher wants his students to see the practical as well as the theoretical nature of studying astronomy. “Visscher is really invested,” Huizinga says. “That made the course that much better—he is so enthusiastic about it all.”
Mathematics Professor Dr. Valorie Zonnefeld and Education Professor Dr. Ryan Zonnefeld coled a three-day workshop titled “Mathematics: The Common Core and Christian Integration” at the Vermeer Mathematics Conference in Christian Mathematics in the Pella, Iowa area.
WHAT KEEPS HIM INTERESTED Visscher has always been interested in science and space. “As a kid, I paid close attention to the space program,” he says. He remembers the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, how he stayed home sick from school that day so he could watch the television coverage.
Biology Professor Dr. Robbin Eppinga presented “Developing Tools to Promote and Measure Science-Faith Integration in Emerging Young Adult Christians” at the American Scientific Affiliation conference in Golden, Colorado in July.
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“This was the first time I saw Neptune up close,” he says, pointing to a picture of the deep blue orb. “Before we just saw a pale blue dot, and now we’re seeing the planet—its moon, the rings. The Voyager mission certainly spurred on my love of space.”
“We’re all born with curiosity. I try to approach astronomy with humility, knowing that there’s so much we don’t know.”
The artwork of Art Professor David Versluis has been recognized in several curated art exhibitions this year. “Geometric Complexions” was featured at Zhou B Art Center in Chicago from April 28 to June 9. His sculpture “Rungs to Rings" was one of seven pieces selected for the Sculpture Artist Showcase at the Edina Art Center in Edina, Minnesota. Versluis’s artwork was also displayed at Dickinson Law Offices / HUB Tower for the Des Moines Arts Festival last June.
“In 1990 when my family was on vacation, I picked up this magazine somewhere about when Voyager first JAMIN VER VELDE (ʼ99)
Mathematics Professors Dr. Tom Clark and Dr. Mike Janssen participated in the Mathfest conference in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Clark presented “Splines from Scratch Using SageMathCloud,” and Dr. Janssen led a mini-course for college mathematics faculty on the use of mastery grading in the mathematics classroom.
arrived on Neptune.” He still has the magazine on his bookshelf in his office; he pulls it down to page through it.
Visscher's "Solar System Astronomy" course typically fills up on the same day that course registration opens.
As a chemistry major at Dordt, Visscher says he took any astronomy course he could. He chose to study earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis because they had research projects focused on chemistry within their planetary science program. After graduating with a Ph.D. in 2006, he worked in Houston at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and then at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, before returning to Dordt to teach in 2013. What keeps Visscher interested in astronomy? “We’re all born with curiosity. I try to approach astronomy with humility, knowing that there’s so much we don’t know,” he says. He also loves uncovering and exploring things—which he says is important in astronomical sciences. That curiosity and humility motivates Visscher to chase eclipses and make learning in community engaging for his astronomy students. “Astronomy is a blast to teach,” says Visscher. “I’ve been thinking about some of these questions for a long time, and I don’t think I’ll ever say, ‘Now I know.’ We’re stretched every time we encounter something bigger than ourselves. It’s exciting to be part of that with students.” SARAH MOSS (’10)
BODY, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND M E N TA L H E A LT H
THE FORCE-PLATE TEST The old racquetball court has been transformed. Motion-sensor cameras line the perimeter of the ceiling, their circuits winding across the floor. An EMG is hooked up in a corner. Lexi Eekhoff, a Dordt junior, sits crosslegged on the floor. In front of her is a large metal rectangle with a paper taped to the top. She is swiftly drawing lines, connecting numbers and letters. At the other end of the room, senior Gala Campos watches a computer screen intently. “Done.” Eekhoff stretches and sits back. “Interesting,” says Campos. “The results
KATE HENRECKSON
Soul AND
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MIND,
Dordt student Gala Campos works with Psychology Professor Dr. Bruce Vermeer on a force-plate test.
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“We are encountering a technology crisis in neuropsychology,” says Vermeer. “Great techniques have been developed, but they don’t use more complex technology to the field’s advantage. This is an effort to do so.”
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were different this time.” Under the supervision of Psychology Professor Dr. Bruce Vermeer, Eekhoff and Campos spent their summer on a new research project. Over the course of ten weeks, they worked on transforming the classic neuropsychology “trail-making” paper test.
“It’s a new way of thinking about neuropsychological assessment,” says Eekhoff. “Right now it’s all paper-based. We are trying to do something that no one has done before. It was a lot of trial and error.”
Neuropsychological tests assess brain function through systematic, structured observation. Although these tests are useful, the current scope of data they provide is limited. For example, current tests only provide completion time, types of errors, and error rates. Using computer technology, Eekhoff and Campos were trying to measure other factors. By placing the test paper on a force plate, they were able to gather new data. They could note force (how hard a person presses), velocity (speed), frequency/location of pauses, and average path length.
“It was difficult to know where to start,” says — Dr. Bruce Vermeer, psychology professor Campos. “But once we started, things went really well—although analyzing the data function affects actions and behaviors. was hard at times.” So Vermeer and Jelsma are weaving the
KATE HENRECKSON
With the help of engineering majors, Vermeer’s students created a program in Matlab, a software program for analyzing data, to produce graphics from the data received. They looked for commonalities and differences among the test subjects.
So what comes next? “Right now we’re looking at neurocognitive disorders,” says Dr. Tony Jelsma, a Dordt biology professor. “But the tests could also be applied to motor control. With Parkinson’s disease, for instance, initiating motion is hard to do. We’re measuring movement, but what is that movement indicating in the brain? Is it a motor control problem (my hand won’t move properly) or is it psychological (I can’t think of where to go next)?”
two disciplines into one neuroscience concentration.
Neuropsychology is actually a fairly young discipline in its current form—less than 80 years old. “It’s a burgeoning area,” says Vermeer. “Physicians have found that information gathered through neuropsychological testing provides them with information they can’t get in a CAT scan or MRI.” Historically, psychology has focused primarily on thoughts and emotions. Now, it also studies the neurological functions that occur during those thoughts and emotions. And neuropsychological testing can examine how the brain and body interact—how activities in the brain influence behavior.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND MENTAL HEALTH
According to Tara Boer, a social work instructor at Dordt, neuropsychology has begun to influence mental health counseling. In traditional counseling, patients reported symptoms that counselors then attempted to diagnose. But with the introduction of neuropsychology, it is possible to understand more concretely what is happening in the brain.
Before teaching at Dordt, Vermeer spent nearly 25 years in clinical practice. That experience has made him a valuable resource for students considering clinical
“With chest pain, you take an X-ray and prescribe treatment based on what you see in the scan,” says Boer. “I think mental health clinicians would benefit
“This is groundbreaking,” Vermeer says with transparent enthusiasm.
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Some students are interested in neuroscientific research—focusing on events at a biological level—and some in neuropsychology—how brain
“We are encountering a technology crisis in neuropsychology. Great techniques have been developed, but they don’t use more complex technology to the field’s advantage. This is an effort to do so.”
“When you get into it, neuroscience affects everyday life. Being able to detect disorders can really help people,” says Eekhoff.
Dordt student Lexi Eekhoff spent the summer working to transform the classic neuropsychology "trail-making" paper test.
work after graduation.
KATE HENRECKSON
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from being able to see if their patients’ brains have been damaged—whether through addiction, trauma, concussion, or infection. Then the symptoms could be more easily understood and appropriately treated.” The lower part of the brain, for instance, is responsible for the “fight or flight” response. When that kicks in, a person can only think about surviving and can’t think with the higher, logical part of their brain. “This is why neuropsychology is so helpful,” Boer says. “When my fight or flight response kicks in, I can’t access my language, regulate my emotions, or make good choices in the moment. I’m completely dysregulated. When children have experienced trauma or abuse, that lower part of their brain is very developed. Providing this information to caregivers of traumatized children enables them to connect with their child, especially in difficult and chaotic moments.” Mental illness is more common than most people realize, affecting at least 18 percent of Americans. The need for welltrained counselors has only increased in recent years. But in some Christian circles, counselors are suspicious of the fields of psychology and psychiatry. They prefer to advise people using solely the Bible and often view mental illness primarily as a sin issue. Instead of receiving therapy or prescription medication, the patient is told to repent. “The Bible gives insight, but it is not intended to be the total word on mental health. Studying the human mind and behavior is part of God’s general revelation,” says Psychology Professor Dr. Mark Christians.
Social Work Instructor Tara Boer observes two of her students practicing supportive counseling techniques from behind a one-way window.
right. There is sin in the world. It isn’t the way God intended it to be, and we’re experiencing its brokenness,” says Boer, who sees a direct correlation between physical health and mental health. “Looking someone with depression in the
When people understand brain chemistry, says Boer, they see that a depressed
“God could fix this mess right now, and social workers would be out of a job. But he allows us to be part of it. He is glorified both in the lives of people suffering and in our lives as social workers as we walk alongside them.” — Tara Boer, social work instructor
Boer often points her students to John 9:2, where Christ’s disciples ask him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Christ responds that no one sinned; it happened that God might be given glory. “For a long time we treated people with disabilities like they had sinned or their parents had sinned. That’s not real or
rope with PTSD, am I going to seek out psychiatric services? I hope so,” adds Christians.
face and saying, ‘You just have to repent and trust that God is good’ is like looking at a diabetic and saying, ‘Just pray, and God will heal your pancreas and it will produce insulin.’”
brain really looks different from a healthy brain. There’s something structurally wrong. And just as medication can heal a physical ailment, there are also medical ways to alleviate mental illness.
“If my arm is dangling by a tendon, I’m going to get help. If I’m at the end of my
That does not negate the power of prayer. God brings about healing through
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KATE HENRECKSON
Dordt theology and science professors discuss Matthew Dickerson's The Mind and the Machine: What it Means to be Human and Why it Matters. On a regular basis, Dordt faculty wrestle together in a cross-disciplinary way on topics such as the mind, body, and soul.
all manner of means. But one of those means is human relationships and interactions. “God could fix this mess right now, and social workers would be out of a job,” says Boer. “But he allows us to be part of it. He is glorified both in the lives of people suffering and in our lives as social workers as we walk alongside them. We should consider it a privilege when someone comes to us for help, because God tells us to carry one another’s burdens.”
MIND, BODY, AND SOUL “I belong, body and soul, in life and in death, not to myself but to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ…” In contemporary neuroscience, a centuries-old dilemma has resurfaced: the “mind-body” debate. The debate, which originated with philosopher Rene Descartes, revolves around a fairly simple question: How does a physical body interact with a nonphysical mind or soul? Recent neuroscientific research indicates that nearly every aspect of mental activity can be explained by brain functions. There doesn’t seem—at least from a scientific standpoint—to be a nonphysical component to humans.
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MONISM In response to these findings, some Christians have adopted a view known as “monism”—as opposed to “dualism,” which asserts that humans are made up of a physical and spiritual component. Monism proposes that humans are actually one whole substance, not a separate body and soul. Christian monists argue that the idea of an eternal soul actually came from Greek philosophy, not from Scripture. The Hebrew creation account describes human beings as dust (matter), breathed to life. When we die, we return to that dust again (Genesis 3:19). And Daniel 12:2 says that those who sleep now in the dust of the earth will one day awake, “some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” “In the Genesis narrative, there’s no talk of humans having a body that a soul was ‘stuck into,’” says Dr. Jeff Ploegstra, a biology professor at Dordt. “What’s the point of our whole material being if it is basically irrelevant? Why was Christ physically resurrected if material things can be dispensed with?” For Ploegstra, monism avoids the reductionism of valuing only the soul. Some strains of Christianity have focused excessively on the soul—often at the
expense of valuing the body or the created world. “Not only are you not just you,” says Ploegstra, “you are also all the relationships that you have. If you take away someone’s family, someone’s friends, someone’s hobbies—that changes who they are. I think there is an essence to a human—a soul in some sense—but it doesn’t exist independently of the other aspects of our identity. Most importantly, our identity is found in Christ Jesus—our relationship with him defines us.” “Neuroscience is finding that we are irreducibly social,” says Theology Professor Dr. Benjamin Lappenga. “There’s something wonderful about that, something that gets at the heart of the Christian understanding of humanity. We are not just individuals. We are inescapably relational.” Throughout Luke and Acts, the conversion to faith is depicted as inherently social. “If we think in terms of a soul, then we tend to think of conversion in individualistic and intellectual ways. But a monist perspective takes seriously the way the New Testament describes conversion: embodied, social, behavioral transformation.” Monism also emphasizes the importance
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philosophy that deals with the nature of reality and existence.
physicality is good, yet not all that there is.
“For the early Reformers, the body matters very much,” says Henreckson. “But they also talk about the incorruptible soul, the form of the body. You can’t quantify a human being. If you leave off the soul, it will give you insufficient explanation of what a human being is before God.”
Bailey says, “In the end, I want the same thing monists want. We cannot dispense with the body; it means everything for how we experience the world. But we are not reducible to the body. The things we attribute to the soul may be accounted for by brain activity, but not reduced to brain activity.”
“Neuroscientific findings do matter,” adds Theology Professor Dr. Justin Bailey,
“We’re both reacting to a reductionist view of what it means to be human,” says Ploegstra. “A human is not reducible to either your body or your essence.”
“Merely adopting scientific language can hem us in. We are material, but we have the breath of God. That requires some careful metaphysical handling.”
“The truth is probably somewhere in that negotiated middle ground,” says Mathematics Professor Dr. Tom Clark, “where we value the body deeply and the soul integrally. When it comes to a view of the soul, there’s some real mystery.” For both monists and dualists at Dordt, the body and soul are inextricably intertwined. And so the work being done by neuropsychology students like Campos and Eekhoff, or counselors like Christians and Boer, is crucial. If the mind and body are cared for, people will flourish. Whatever we are, we know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We know that one day, we will be raised incorruptible. And we know that in this flesh, we shall see God. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV) KATE HENRECKSON KATE HENRECKSON
Dualists argue that Scripture does suggest the existence of a soul, even — Dr. Justin Bailey, theology professor if it is not explained in detail. They argue that certain passages “because the soul and body are so indicate some intermediate state tightly connected. But merely adopting between death and the final resurrection. scientific language can hem us in. The In Luke 23:43, Christ proclaims to the gift of metaphysics is that it gives us a dying thief on the cross: “Today you historic Christian grammar to correctly will be with me in Paradise.” II Cor. 5:8 describe reality—especially nonphysical describes being “absent with the body reality. We are material, but we have the and present with the Lord.” In Philippians breath of God. That requires some careful 1:23, Paul says that he desires “to depart metaphysical handling.” and be with Christ.” And Revelation 6:9 describes the “souls” of martyrs under *** the altar. So where does the answer lie? Among For dualists, belief in the finality of death Dordt professors, there is more seems problematic. The idea that our commonality than is initially apparent. departed ones are not with the Lord right Those on both sides of the debate have now is a source of tension – emotionally legitimate concerns and motivations. and theologically. As Vermeer wrote in Both want to avoid reducing a human an article for In All Things, “Historically, to a body or a soul. Both insist that we have drawn great comfort from the belief that our souls depart the body and transition into the presence of the Lord until the day that our renewed bodies will be reunited with our souls in God’s new creation.”
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of the resurrection of the dead. “It has us take seriously God’s victory over death,” says Lappenga. “Thinking about it in terms of an immortal soul brings Christians away from a truly biblical understanding of the seriousness of death. We really die. All the ugliness you see of a body decaying—that’s the enemy that is death. When we recognize that reality, we can understand the true power of the gospel, and the audacious claim that it makes: these bones will live again.”
Dualists also note that there is not a consensus among neuroscientists: Some disagree that there is an obvious, oneto-one correlation between our physical brain and our mental activity. For Theology Professor Dr. David Henreckson, this is where traditional metaphysics provides some interesting answers. Metaphysics is the branch of
A model brain, used in biology and biopsychology classes.
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DORDT STUDENTS ENCOUNTER THE LAND OF ISRAEL
It’s 10 a.m. in Bethlehem. The air is hazy from heat and dust. Palestinian boys on bicycles skid to a stop in the middle of a narrow street, tilting their heads. In front of them a large group of Americans walks by in baseball caps and shorts, their hands grasping water bottles.
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The group of mostly Dordt students wends its way through quiet neighborhoods, sunlight winking in water tanks overhead. A family stands near the end of the street, two girls twirling and laughing, kicking up dust. A teenage boy sits in a dark doorway, half in shadow, head bowed like someone in prayer. As the students walk by in groups of two and three, he looks up, his face illuminated from below by the screen of his iPhone. This is the West Bank. This is the West Bank when it’s not in the news. It’s an ordinary Tuesday, when the calm of everyday life has not been shattered by intrusions of violence and sudden, deadly confusion. This is a place where—between hurled rocks and bombings, checkpoint humiliations and violent military reprisals—families rise early, go to work and school, buy their groceries. In the evenings, they sit down to shared meals.
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COMPETING NARRATIVES:
These are the words that keep coming up when students describe their two weeks in Israel last May for Dr. Benjamin Lappenga’s course, “Encountering the Land of Israel.” After arriving in Jerusalem, students soon learned “the conflict” is everywhere. To walk where Jesus walked means encountering firsthand the many complicated layers of history, political strife, and cultural accommodation that have continued to form this place in the centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
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Conflict. Confusion. Complexity. Competing narratives.
“We drove all over the country, and that often meant crossing military checkpoints to get to where we needed to go,” says sophomore Anna Christians. “Several times our guide, Kamal, came with us through checkpoints that were illegal for him to pass through.” A practice tolerated among professional guides, it still rattled her: “Experiencing a small part of the fear he lives with every day as a Palestinian hit close to home.” Students gather on the balcony of a Palestinian family home in Beit Jala before sitting down to a shared meal. While the number of Christians living in Palestine continues to dwindle, 75 percent of this city, adjacent to Bethlehem, is Christian. Rooftop water tanks, visible in the distance, are a common sight throughout the West Bank, where the water is often shut off unpredictably, sometimes for a month or two at a time. Neighboring Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory are not subject to water shortages.
Even the most earnest seeker of divine encounter can’t escape the way political tensions intrude upon and shape a visit to the Holy Land. Visiting important religious sites means encountering the realities of life “behind the wall.” For tourists and pilgrims in Israel, a visit to Jacob’s well or the Church of the Nativity requires crossing the border into Palestine. That border isn’t just a line on the map. It’s literal, much of it defined by a looming cement wall, 26 feet high in some places and covered in the bright graffiti of protest. ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
Senior Peter Rexford says to speak about "the conflict" the way newscasters or politicians do doesn’t come close to illuminating the reality of living each day in the midst of it. “My most significant moments on the trip were those talking to Jewish and Muslim and Christian Palestinians,” says Rexford, who found himself trying to make sense of attitudes about Israel he’d grown up with and his more recent reading and interactions with real people and places. Intensely interested in both the Bible’s historical context and the conflict in the Middle East, Rexford, who began
teaching himself Arabic before the trip, spent many hours talking with people he met to learn more. In those conversations, he encountered
Even the most earnest seeker of divine encounter can’t escape the way political tensions intrude upon and shape a visit to the Holy Land.
The group walked through vibrant Nablus streets, past walls bearing graceful Arabic script. Many American tourists visiting the Holy Land never set foot in the West Bank, or if they do, it is often a quick detour to visit one of the few holy sites in Palestinian territory.
anger, fear, grief, misunderstanding. He also saw people who, despite deep differences, were working together toward peace. “I was humbled by the scope of the hurt we saw,” says Christians. “My problems seemed so small.” Christians says she knew little about the specifics of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians before the trip. The experience was both
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overwhelming and deeply meaningful, giving her a new way to look at the world around her as she saw devout people of different faiths living their beliefs in often difficult circumstances. Junior Caleb Mundorf, a political science major, was inspired to go on the trip after hearing the group’s Jewish tour guide, Jared Goldfarb, speak on Dordt’s campus last year. Mundorf drew immediate connections between the wall separating Jews and Palestinians and conversations about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. “I only got a glimpse of the situation and can’t make any big statements about the conflict,” he says, but he did come to believe that the way to begin to understand conflict is to live with it.
Students took a walking tour of the Aida Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp just north of Bethlehem’s historic center. The key is an important symbol of Palestinian hope and protest, and students heard from Palestinians about their “right of return.” Many refugees long to return to homes and villages they, or their families, were forced to leave, often violently, when Israel declared the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948.
“The wall means different things for those living on each side of it,” Mundorf says. For many Israelis, it means safety, security, peace. Some have lost friends and family members to suicide bombings; some have watched their windows implode with the force of a nearby blast, sending shards of glass into their living rooms.
approach to biblical interpretation. He also wanted to help them think about contemporary politics in the Middle East. “As a biblical scholar, I delight in sharing with students my excitement for the archeology of the Bethesda pool, the literary features of ancient scrolls, the rhetoric of biblical historiography, and imagining the prisoner Paul among the magnificent ruins of Herod’s Caesarea,” says Lappenga. But he also wanted them to be more than tourists—to connect intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually what they know from the Bible with the layers of history and political conflict that are Israel and Palestine today. All of those things did happen. As the group visited archeological sites, their Jewish guide, Goldfarb, helped them see the significance of these places for understanding the Bible’s stories. Their Palestinian Christian guide, Kamal, helped them see the land through the eyes of his people. It was the complexity
“As nervous as saying so makes us, the Bible is political. We recognize some tendencies in the present political experience that the Old Testament narratives talk about.”
“My heart broke in Hebron,” says junior Elyse Tavary, who was struck everywhere she looked by the deep economic disparities evident between the Palestinian part of the city and the Jewish settlement erected at its center. “Splitting Hebron the way the settlers did put about half of the Palestinian shop owners out of business,” she says. “On top of that, the remaining shop owners had to put up nets to protect their merchandise. Many settlers living in apartments above throw garbage, rotting food, and various liquids onto the shops below.”
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For many Palestinians, the wall — Dr. Benjamin Lappenga, theology professor means humiliation, violence, occupation, injustice. Some live with bullet holes in their All this and more are what Lappenga doors, or trauma from having witnessed hoped would happen for his students. children and adolescents shot by soldiers He wanted them to gain a better in the street. appreciation and understanding of the Bible’s historical, cultural, geographical, Junior Courtney Van Beek says she signed and theological contexts—to consider up for a “Holy Land” experience but was how knowing more about the land of the surprised by the intensity of the political Bible could challenge and enrich their situation and how it affected the visit. The trip gave her a deeper understanding of the Bible’s stories, but it also left her with many questions and a sense of the complexity of the place and its history.
of these different perspectives, and their relationship to the conflict, that affected class members most strongly. “It really opened my eyes,” says Van Beek, who gained a deeper sense of compassion for people caught in conflict. The students learned so much, but they
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In the Holy Land, the political conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is unavoidable, and students on the trip were challenged to consider it from a variety of perspectives. However, students were challenged in other ways, too. The places and sites they visited were dizzying in scope. So were the questions they considered.
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ENCOUNTERING THE LAND OF THE BIBLE
Students sloshed their way through Hezekiah’s tunnel wearing headlamps, marveling at the ancient Israelites’ ingenuity. They walked in silence through Wadi Qelt, the “valley of the shadow of death,” sweating under a midday sun and reflecting on Psalm 23. Students with a few semesters of Greek under their belts translated biblical passages while gathered in a Franciscan chapel on the Via Dolorosa.
They floated in the salty waters of the Dead Sea, visited desert monasteries, and felt the fierce wind rush in across the Sea of Galilee. They sat on the seats of the amphitheater at Herod’s Caesarea, a blue Mediterranean sparkling in the distance, and listened as Lappenga lectured on the site’s biblical and historical significance.
Junior Courtney Van Beek and recent graduate Marta Vander Top don headscarves before entering St. George’s Monastery, a cliffhanging complex built in the sixth century and inhabited by Eastern Orthodox monks. The monastery is located in Wadi Qelt, widely believed to be the “valley of the shadow” referenced in Psalm 23. ALEISA DORNBIERER-SCHAT
“Every Palestinian I talked with about the wall expressed to me the conviction that the wall was built so the Israelis could forget the Palestinians and their plight," says senior Peter Rexford. Students heard about the ways the wall and the presence of Israeli soldiers throughout the West Bank affects the day-to-day life of Palestinians. They also attended a lecture by Dr. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian and theologian. Isaac says walls incubate fear— fear of the other, fear of the unknown—but they also breed a kind of forgetfulness. Many Palestinians ask, "In the shadow of a wall, can there be true peace?"
The group encountered artifacts related to the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, discussed literary features of ancient scrolls at the Israel Museum, and stood just outside Cave 4Q at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls had been stored in airtight jars for thousands of years.
left painfully aware of how difficult it can be to live peacefully as diverse people deeply committed to different faiths and traditions. “As nervous as saying so makes us, the Bible is political,” says Lappenga. “We recognize some tendencies in the present political experience that the Old Testament narratives talk about.” Violence fueled by competing claims on land and resources goes back as far as humans have been organizing themselves into groups. And while the Bible offers no simple prescriptions, Lappenga says we can look to it as a guide for responding to the ways conflict, violence, and injustice express themselves in our time.
Students took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, nestled among the hills where Jesus of Nazareth spent his childhood and began his public ministry.
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“Recognizing these human elements doesn’t demote the Bible, but elevates it—and shows its importance for approaching issues in our world with biblical seriousness,” Lappenga says. He adds that learning about setting and context not only helps its readers understand the Bible, it helps them grapple with what the Bible cares about—it helps make tangible use of the Christian faith. Lappenga made sure that his students did not “miss the good stuff” by simply moving from one religious site to another, checking off one after another of the places biblically literate people usually visit. “The places we visited are so rich in history and layers of religion,” he says. They saw and experienced places such as Masada, Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the Dome of the Rock. They
Mundorf was deeply affected by the experience of being young Americans going through the checkpoint into Bethlehem, swept along by the crowd of Palestinians hurrying to cross during their short window of opportunity. As Israeli soldiers shouted orders, Muslim Palestinians hurried the students through the process, in part so they wouldn’t hold up the line during the only time of the day the Palestinians were allowed to go to pray.
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Students participated in a “dual narrative” tour, led by a Palestinian Christian and an Israeli settler living in Palestine. Students were impressed by the civility displayed by the two guides, who are divided by deep religious and political differences.
also saw Palestinian Christian families living peacefully in the West Bank with no control over their water supply, heard stories about violence suddenly erupting on the street, and listened to Jewish and Palestinian people give their opposing perspectives on life as they experience it today. Easy assumptions they had or were tempted to make about living in Israel today were challenged.
Students gather for a short lecture on the seats of the amphitheater in Caesarea Maritima, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The well preserved theater is a spectacular example of the architectural achievements of Herod the Great. It is also the site of Peter’s baptism of Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10) and the place where Paul set off on his missionary travels and was imprisoned for two years before being sent to Rome (Acts 23–26).
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“It felt like we were animals being herded through,” Mundorf says. It helped him see the conflict through different eyes. “I found it hard to understand how a state like Israel, whose people have suffered so much persecution and hardship throughout history, could treat people that way,” he says. But then, when he listened to Jewish people tell their story, he found himself empathizing with them on some issues, deepening his understanding of the forces that animate the Israeli emphasis on security and safety. Getting this dual perspective was built into the course and the trip. In addition to having both a Jewish and Palestinian guide, the students heard from a variety of people over the two weeks they were there—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim; Israeli and Palestinian. One day they sat down with a Jewish settler, Yitzhak Sokoloff, and their Palestinian guide, Kamal, in the living room of Sokoloff’s home, located in the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the heart of the West Bank. Sitting on couches or leaning against throw pillows, the students listened as each guide thoughtfully, passionately, and respectfully shared their experiences and perspective on living in Israel.
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They heard that Palestinians have no
Students gather in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The group’s teacher and guide, Hanna Bendcowsky, is an Israeli Jew who directs an important interfaith organization in Jerusalem.
control over their water supply—the Israelis use it as a bargaining tool to get concessions; they heard about Israeli frustrations with Palestinian actions; and they began to understand the ways political power players on both sides deepen the conflict’s intractability by refusing compromise. Another day, after visiting a Jerusalem synagogue, students broke into small groups and pairs to visit the homes of Jewish families—to hear their stories, share a Shabbat meal, and ask questions.
And he found that the conversations he and the group had with people of the Jewish faith and with Christians and Muslims gave him hope. “That some people on both sides are trying to talk is encouraging,” he says, adding that they are both living out their histories and won’t see another point
“Recognizing these human elements doesn’t demote the Bible, but elevates it—and shows its importance for approaching issues in our world with biblical seriousness.”
Students sit down to a shared meal in the home of a family of Muslim Palestinians. Meals were important cultural learning experiences on the trip; on another day, students broke into groups of two and three to join Jewish families for a traditional evening meal on Shabbat.
Rexford, who grew up in a faith community that was pro-Israel, found himself feeling — Dr. Benjamin Lappenga, theology professor angry about the injustices he saw toward Palestinians, some of whom are Christians. He says it of view unless they try. If the students is important not to identify the modern learned anything on the trip, they learned nationstate of Israel with God’s chosen the power of narrative to define reality. people of the Old Testament. Christians notes that despite the conflict, “It is not anti-Semitic to oppose injustice,” they found Christians, Muslims, and Jews he says. living their faith together quite well,
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Students listen to their Jewish guide lecture on the Southern Steps, the original stones over which Jesus and his family would have walked as they approached the Temple.
JERUSALEM THROUGH THE EYES OF FAITH Jerusalem is the dramatic point of convergence for three of the world’s largest faith traditions. Students were challenged to understand the ways different groups invest this city with sacred significance, and three days of the group’s itinerary were dedicated to exploring Jerusalem’s meanings, first for Jews, then Christians, and finally Muslims.
giving her hope for their future and inspiration for hers. She appreciated the opportunity to interact with people of different faiths and cultures who were trying to work together toward just solutions for living together peacefully. And, as she returned home, she felt that this model could also be employed in her country.
“You need a solid place to stand—and then compromise where possible,” says Lappenga. That’s how his students saw the Jews and Palestinians they met in Israel, living their daily lives as they try to work through their conflicts. It’s a strategy they came to believe could work anywhere—including North America.
“It’s important to form relationships before we form judgments,” Christians says. She returned believing that for communities anywhere to live together respectfully and peaceably, they must try to understand each other.
“Coming to the realization that the Bible is political makes it a powerful resource for being effective kingdom— and world—citizens,” says Lappenga. Back in the classroom, he still hears the challenge Palestinian theologian Munther Isaac gave to the group: “Asking, ‘Do Jews have a divine right to the land?’ is to ask the wrong question. The question should be, ‘How can we as Christians advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians?’ Suddenly, then, the entire span of biblical texts— poems, stories, prophecy, Gospel, epistle, apocalypse—begins to speak with immediacy and passion into a world badly in need of ‘faith working through love.’”
Mundorf agrees. “Everyone has a reason for believing what they do based on their experiences and commitments and history." He came to see that, to live together, people need information and humility, awareness and compassion. “You can’t just say ‘You’re wrong.’ You may not agree, but to find solutions you need to be willing to listen,” he says—a simple idea, but profound, and one Lappenga hoped all his students would come to see.
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“Reaching the Old City from below, making our way first through Hezekiah’s tunnel, then walking through the Roman sewer system, was a symbolically-charged venture. Part of it was simply the experience of being stripped of our visions of a clean and glorious path up to Zion on the ancient streets—which of course wasn’t the experience of Jewish pilgrims, including Jesus, either. And then there’s the way our journey reflected something true about the rest of the trip: we can’t imagine away all the hustle and humanity and messiness of real life, which was true then and is still true today—and the Bible doesn’t encourage us to think that way, either. So, we trudge our way to Zion through the sewers.”
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Theology Professor Dr. Benjamin Lappenga reflects on the day spent exploring Jerusalem from a Jewish perspective, which culminated at the Southern Steps, where Jesus himself would have ascended with his family on pilgrimage to the Temple:
Students encountered Jerusalem as it is now: a place where many different cultures and faith traditions co exist—and sometimes clash. The Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount, is a striking example of this convergence. A place of contested meanings, the world’s Jews, Christians, and Muslims invest the holy site with deep significance.
f you are discouraged about the next generation, I suggest you meet some of our Dordt students.
At our annual Scholarship Donor Dinner in September, I asked the two students seated at my table about their favorite class so far. “That would be my social work class with Professor Boer,” said one. “I just love my nursing ethics class with Professor Bomgaars,” said another. After identifying these classes, the students described how their eyes have already been opened to how they might bring God’s light into some of the darkest places in our society, how they’ve been challenged to look at issues in their potential careers through new lenses, and how they are more excited than ever about the callings they are pursuing. We also heard several seniors speak from the podium—students looking forward to starting non-profits or to sharing the Good News to unreached people groups.
Scholarships, as celebrated in our annual dinner event, are critically important pieces of support for these students, making it possible for them to imagine serving in areas like social work, education, and missions without accumulating a heavy burden of debt. I invite you to join the growing community of scholarship donors who are making these careers possible. Our Advancement Office is ready to help make that happen. Beyond scholarships, all of your gifts, whether for the Dordt College Fund, AMOR, building projects, departmental support, or the scholarship program, make a Dordt experience accessible for many students. These gifts deepen and enrich their experience. I sometimes describe Dordt College as rich soil. Students “planted” here grow in extraordinary ways. The gifts of the community supporting them are the sunlight, water, and nutrients that enable them to flourish. Imagining the harvest gives me great hope for our future.
JOHN BAAS, VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVANCEMENT
DAY OF
ENCOURAGEMENT
AT DORDT COLLEGE | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2018
A day to inspire, encourage, and equip all God’s people KEYNOTE SPEAKER: REV. REGGIE SMITH Breakouts on family, shepherding, technology, worship, and teaching
Register and learn more at www.dordt.edu/doe
Campus has changed since Stan Oordt started work as a custodian in the science building in 1991. “Southview Apartments wasn’t built,” says Oordt, who recently retired from his position as Director of the Physical Plant at Dordt College. “There was a trailer court on the edge of campus. We didn’t have a soccer field. Yes, a lot has changed since I first started.”
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STAN OORDT LEAVES HIS MARK ON CAMPUS
Oordt was promoted to Director of the Physical Plant in 1993. “Since then, every building on campus has changed or been renovated in some way,” he says. Over the years, Oordt and the maintenance team made many improvements to Dordt’s campus. Walk around campus, and you’ll notice beautifully manicured trees, freshly cut grass, and clean sidewalks. Step into the Campus Center, and you’ll feel like you’ve set foot in a brandnew facility, not a building built in 2002. Dordt’s maintenance team, led by Oordt, had a hand in nearly all beautification efforts on campus. “When you have passion and ownership for the job that you do, you’re going to do well,” says Oordt. “God entrusted these buildings to us to take care of, and that’s been a priority for us.” “Stan also cared deeply about the employees that worked in his department,” says Cindy Groeneweg, physical plant secretary. “He had a servant heart and was always willing to jump in where help was needed.” SARAH MOSS (’10)
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f, back when I was in high school, I had to write a script for my life, I would’ve said that after Dordt I’d be an engineer somewhere in the Midwest, maybe involved in agriculture since I was a farm kid,” says Mike Vander Wel (’89). “I never would have written back in high school that I’d be living in Seattle, have a beautiful wife and family, have these job experiences and the ability to be in aerospace and travel the world—I never would have written that down.”
“As a Dutch kid in a Dutch immigrant household in a Christian Reformed church with very Reformed-minded parents, Dordt was a family school,” he says. “By the time I, as the youngest of four, graduated from high school, there wasn’t a lot of debate as to where I was going. It was more of a check that the engineering program was legit.”
time every week didn’t go very far.”
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Even though he’d known since his sophomore year at Dordt that he wanted to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Vander Wel never expected that he would end up on the West Coast for graduate school.
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“I was looking at Midwest universities like Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin,” he says. “But my brother Theo had moved out to Seattle to work as an attorney, and he encouraged me to check out the University of Washington.” After applying to the program, Vander Wel received a teaching assistantship, which included a monthly stipend and
Begun by Dr. Charles Adams in 1979, Dordt's engineering program was less than ten years old when Vander Wel began his freshman — Mike Vander Wel ('89) year at Dordt. Vander Wel says his Dordt experience prepared a tuition waiver. Then he met another him to be competitive in any academic Christian who became his roommate and and professional environment in which a close friend. he found himself—in part because his professors gave a lot of valuable one-on“It wasn’t quite like a Gideon moment one attention to engineering students. with the wet fleece, but there were some
“I tell people that I get out of bed in the morning and speed to work because I can’t wait to be here.”
“I could go talk to Professor Van Gaalen any time I wanted, and he’d make time for me,” recalls Vander Wel. “So would Professor Adams. I think that’s a big deal.” Vander Wel grew to appreciate what he calls “Dordt’s close-knitness” even more after he graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and enrolled in a master’s of mechanical engineering program at the University of Washington. During that time, he also worked as a teacher’s assistant. “I graduated with eight engineers out of Dordt,” says Vander Wel. “Three months later, I walked into a classroom in Seattle and introduced myself as the T.A. to a class of 120 people. I had an eight-inch stack of papers to grade. They got to see the professor every once in a while, but I was supposed to be the front line for those students. As you can imagine, my four hours of open office
signposts that I think God put in place that helped me feel comfortable with going to the University of Washington,” he says.
Once finished with his master’s degree in 1991, Mike decided to backpack through Europe. “I bought a Eurail pass and saw as many countries as I could in three weeks,” recalls Vander Wel. During that trip, he accrued enough credit card expenses that, when offered a position at The Boeing Company back in Seattle, he decided to take it. “I didn’t think that I would work there very long,” he says. “I thought I would be back to the Midwest in time.” Instead, he found opportunities to grow and thrive at Boeing; 26 years later, he sees himself as a “lifer” at the company. “I tell people that I get out of bed in the
Paul Hoogendoorn (’06) launched his new business: Integrated Financial Planning, Inc., in Sioux Center.
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Vander Wel, who works as chief engineer in production engineering at The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington, is the 2017 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Although his adult life turned out differently than he imagined as a high school student, Vander Wel knew for certain that he would attend Dordt.
Paul is also an adjunct professor for Dordt College, where he teaches Portfolio Management and serves as the faculty sponsor to the Defender Capital Management Club. Eric Gritter (’05) is now a Chartered Financial Analyst. Eric has dedicated several years to passing all three levels of the CFT exams in June 2017. Obtaining the CFA charter demonstrates Eric’s commitment to being an ethically accountable investment expert with mastery of investment analysis and portfolio management skills. Josiah Murphy (’03) and David Hjelle (’04) were the founding members of what became known as the “SUB Club,” a group of friends who could always be found in the Student Union Building (SUB). “We were never a formal organization,” said Murphy. “But we did study, eat, play games, worship, and do life together on a daily basis for over three years.” This year was the first time the SUB Club has had a reunion since graduating from Dordt, as they all lived across the globe. Rick Elgersma (’98) and his wife Monique have found their calling in marriage counseling. They started Real Connections Counseling, LLC., in Des Moines, Iowa, where they work with couples, families, and individuals through strife, trauma, and stress. Rick and Monique believe strongly in “together or not at all,” which carries over into their counseling. Elgersma earned a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at Regis University (Colorado) and has plans to pursue a doctorate degree. On August 25, Linda Dehaai (’89) took part in a fundraiser called Bridge to Bridge. She swam 45 miles up the Missouri River, starting at Chamberlain Bridge and ending at the Platte, to raise money to buy a generator for the new hospital Kari Umana (Brink) just built in Nigeria.
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morning and speed to work because I can’t wait to be here,” says Vander Wel. “A lot of people can’t say that after 25 years of working.” Vander Wel’s title is chief engineer for equipment and tool engineering and manufacturing engineering. What exactly does that entail? “At Boeing, there are people who design the airplane, and there are people who build the airplane—the factory guys,” says Vander Wel. “In between, there are production engineers who design how to build the airplane. So, we design everything from the factory down to what mechanics do to build the airplane or fix it. That’s my area. I’m more involved in how to build an airplane, which is just as complex as the airplane design itself.” The aspect of his job that he most enjoys is influencing and problem-solving matters related to the production system. “I can affect and influence a broad swath of what goes on in building commercial airplanes technically and from a leadership perspective, which is what my education background has primed me to do,” says Vander Wel. Looking back, Vander Wel recognizes a few key career moments that helped him reach where he is today. One such experience happened three months after he started working at Boeing. “There was a guy who told me that I had to take these CAD classes,” says Vander Wel. “I had just finished 25 years of school, and I did not feel like taking classes on my own. But he nagged me
Dordt's engineering faculty recently toured one of Boeing's factories with Vander Wel in Everett, Washington.
until I signed up for them.” Vander Wel says that, a couple weeks later, Boeing canceled the B2 program, which was where Mike was working. A program manager came to Vander Wel’s department and asked how many people had skills in CAD design. “I put my hand up with six other people out of twenty,” says Vander Wel. “They told us, ‘Pack up your stuff— congratulations, you’re now on the Triple 7 program,’ which was a major commercial jet program. I went off and did some really cool stuff for the next two years. It gave me a jump start in my career.” Another key experience for Vander Wel was being chosen out of 30,000 Boeing engineers to enroll in M.I.T.’s Leaders for Manufacturing Fellows Program. There he earned a master’s in business administration and a master’s in civil and environmental engineering.
“That was an amazing experience, too—to get paid to go to M.I.T., one of the premier engineering schools in the world,” says Vander Wel. In sum, Vander Wel holds four master’s degrees. “I’m looking to trade a couple of these in for a Ph.D., but nobody is biting,” he jokes. Vander Wel believes Dordt graduates have the ability to succeed professionally and personally through their Dordt education. “I’ve been in classes in a business environment with almost every educational institution out there, from M.I.T. on down. And the reality is, if you come with the right worldview, hard work ethic, and the right kind of academic training—which is what Dordt provides— then you can hang with anybody.” SARAH MOSS (’10)
ADRI VAN GRONINGEN ('18)
50 YEARS LATER In May, members of the class of 1967 and their spouses gathered on Dordt's campus for the 50th class reunion. The weekend included a luncheon, a tour of campus, and a chance to watch to the Class of 2017 graduation ceremony.
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2 0 1 7 H O R I Z O N AWA R D W I N N E R
NOTHING KENDRA BROEKHUIS K
endra (Potgeter) Broekhuis (’11) “embodies what it means to be hospitably reformed, and she does so in a way that is open and honest,” says Brandon Huisman, Dordt’s Director of Alumni Relations. Broekhuis is the first Dordt alumna to be given the Alumni Association’s Horizon Award.
Broekhuis was drawn to Dordt because it offered her support both as a volleyball player and as a student. She didn’t have to choose between academics and athletics; she majored in elementary education with endorsements in reading and English as a second language (ESL) while playing competitive volleyball. “During my junior year in high school, I thought I was going to graduate, forego college, and immediately move overseas as a missionary,” says Broekhuis. After a missions recruiter advised her to “study first” and suggested that becoming a teacher would bring opportunities to work overseas, Broekhuis tentatively declared herself to be an education major.
“It is wonderful for students to see an alumni living out Dordt’s mission,” says Brandon Huisman, Director of Alumni and External Relations. “We see recipients of the Horizon Award as people who can walk alongside students and talk about where Dordt has had an impact on their life.”
After graduating in 2011, Broekhuis married her husband, Collin (’09), and one month later they moved to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, to teach at Inter-American School, a Christian English immersion school. “Living in Guatemala changed us and challenged our perspective on many things, and I don’t think that’s something you can ever really prepare yourself for,” says Broekhuis. “One of the most significant things we experienced was coming face-to-face with the privileged lives we had been living up until that point. We chose to fly on an airplane and move to a foreign country to work. And when we lived among obvious poverty and injustice in Guatemala, we learned that having the option to choose is wealth in itself.”
AMBER VANDER VENNEN
“The most significant things I learned at Dordt were not facts or dates as much as they were attitudes and postures,” says Broekhuis. “The professors who gave me personal, valuable training in the field of education taught me that the work I do is an act of worship to our Creator. The people in the community who invited me – a complete stranger – over for meals taught me about living generously. The friends I met taught me that within the Body of Christ, there is home, even when you are 11 hours from your parents.”
“I loved the first education courses and practicum hours that I did in an elementary school, and that helped me make my decision to continue majoring in education.”
The Horizon Award was established by the Dordt College Alumni Association in 2016 to demonstrate how Dordt’s mission–to equip its students to work towards Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of life–takes root in the lives of its alumni. The award honors young alumni who are becoming leaders and innovators committed to faithful living. Each year, the selected alumnus/a will share words of advice and encouragement with Dordt students, parents, and alumni during Defender Days by speaking in classes and at the Friday night dinner.
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This realization made the Broekhuises recognize that their wealth was not meant to be “hoarded in some unattainable quest for the American Dream.” Rather, it must be used to advocate for their neighbors, especially those in poverty. They were also reminded that their faith in Christ ties them to the community
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of the global church and that unity transcends differences in nationality.
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“For three years we were the ‘strangers,’ but we were graciously welcomed in,” says Broekhuis. “We really gobbled up Guatemalan hospitality. The slower pace of life there was sometimes very infuriating to our timely-minded selves, but it also taught us the beauty of not always rushing to get to the next thing. Offering our full presence to the people in our everyday lives is often a lost art in the United States, but not so in Guatemala.”
KATE HENRECKSON
While in Guatemala, Broekhuis began a blog to stay in touch with family. “After two years of teaching first grade, I decided to stay home with our daughter, and I used her nap time not to shower or to cook or clean our apartment, but to write. I fell in love with writing. I was able to articulate better than when I speak and put my endless thoughts into clear words,” says
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Broekhuis with her husband Colin ('09), daughter Jocelyn, and son Daniel.
Broekhuis. “It has become like therapy for whatever ups and downs we are going through in life. Our six-year marriage has been filled with a lot of change, a lot of heartache, and a lot of joy, and writing has helped me process it all.”
between knowing God loves me enough to let me rest, yet he also stretches me in uncomfortable ways on behalf of other people.” Just as Broekhuis tried to apply her gifts of organization, hospitality, and encouragement in her Guatemalan community, she is now doing so in her new community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “There is a lot of brokenness—poverty, broken families, loss—and while I can't fix all of the brokenness, I enjoy using hospitality and encouragement to walk alongside people in their pain,” says Broekhuis. “I hope I can be an advocate for people like our neighbors. And I hope that as I share my own faith journey, other people will realize they are not alone in their emotional and spiritual
Broekhuis was prompted to write Here Goes Nothing (2017) because she wanted to apply what she and her husband had learned in Guatemala to their lives when they moved back to the United States. — Kendra Broekhuis ('11) In the book, she seeks to recognize the ways battles or daily grind.” God says “I love you” in the everyday moments as well as how he prompts us “I hope that we can live a long time in to share that love with the people in our our new neighborhood, and that we lives. may become an established presence of
“For three years we were the ‘strangers,’ but we were graciously welcomed in. We really gobbled up Guatemalan hospitality.”
“The book captures tensions I feel day to day—for example, finding value in my work as a stay-at-home mom, yet knowing that if we are Christ followers we will love people outside our own walls too,” says Broekhuis. “There is also tension between feeling jaded by various aspects of the American church when we moved back from Guatemala, yet knowing that shunning the Body of Christ was not the answer. And there is tension
Christ as we fully invest ourselves here. I hope on behalf of our neighbors—who are fighting what feels like the losing battle of poverty—that God’s kingdom will come in powerful ways even before Christ returns,” says Broekhuis. “I hope that my children will learn to love Christ, and that his love in their hearts will pour over for even the people who are most different from them. I hope that Collin and I will continue to genuinely enjoy being married to each other. I hope that I will continue to have the opportunity to write, and, if not, that I will find contentment in whatever work God has prepared for me to do. I hope that one day I will meet Jesus and our baby girl who died. And I hope that in everything we do—whether it’s working or resting, eating or praying, going out or staying in—that Christ’s name will be glorified.” LYDIA MARCUS (’17)
LUKE SEERVELD,
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GAFFER
Luke Seerveld (’85) says he’s usually the “old guy” on the set these days—but producers keep asking for his services. Thirty years as a gaffer and the wealth of expertise he’s gained keep him busy lighting film and video shoots in and around Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area. In fact, people around the world have benefitted from his expertise through the more than 40 posts on his YouTube video blog, “Meet the Gaffer.” “I’m just a small outfit,” he says, but the list of people he’s made look good by the way he lights them ranges from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Basketball player Stephen Curry to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to pop star Lady Gaga. Lighting setups for companies like Google, Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle,
NFL films, and many others make up a photo record that helps him recall how he solved specific problems, provide a teaching tool for lighting seminars, and remind him how to bill his clients. Seerveld notes with irony that he usually enters buildings from the back, through a loading dock or service entrance, but then ends up going to the CEO’s office to set up for an interview. “It’s a sort of blue-collar-meets-whitecollar experience and a perspective I always enjoy,” he says. As he flips through some of the photos that document the jobs he’s done, Seerveld uses words like “rigging" and "C
stand,” “key light, scratch light, fill light,” “hard light and soft wrap.” Over the years, as he’s built up his expertise, he’s also built up his collection of gear, moving from a van to a two-ton truck to carry his equipment from job to job and regularly upgrading his equipment to keep up with the dramatic and rapid changes in lighting technology. The evolution of digital and LED technology means being a gaffer is dramatically different from what it was when he started as a recent Dordt graduate, but that also keeps it interesting. One thing has remained constant, though—his faith continues to shape the way he sees the world and does his work. MARK VOLKERS
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A poem by Luke Seerveld
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“Men and equipment,” he said to me, “It’s your lot in life. Anticipate the gaffer’s needs And you’ll escape the knife. Organize the wandering herd, The lost, electric sheep; Guide them to the promised land Through 4 ott ankle deep.”
Seerveld has spent thirty years working as a gaffer, lighting video and photography shoots. Seerveld visited Dordt's campus last spring to share his expertise with digital media students.
“Lighting can be done from a Christian perspective,” he says. A philosophy major and film buff in college, he learned the nuts and bolts of his profession through experience, but his education gave him the tools to think and learn and relate. He likes to use a cardboard frame to help show how he—and everyone—frames the stories they are telling, whether the message is verbal or visual. At workshops, he hands each participant a piece of poster board and has them cut a hole to make a small frame. “You choose which frame to use—not only what you put in but also what you leave out,” Seerveld says. He gets involved in the whole process of a video shoot, interacting with his clients and trying to make sure that the way he lights the shoot fits the producers goal and the integrity of the people involved. “The face is important,” he says. “How you light a face tells the story on an emotional level.” It also shows respect for the person being filmed and for the producer’s intentions. It takes much more than a good camera to tell a story. A close look at ads or films on your screen gives some clues, but comparing a final product with photos of the setup used to shoot a scene might surprise you. The lighting possibilities are many and involve problem-solving skills and creative thinking. Some assignments give a gaffer plenty of time to plan.
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Some demand quick action following minimal pre-planning. A major corporate announcement builds in time to carefully think through and work with a company on the kind of impact they want to make. A quick, live announcement by a politician doesn’t. And lighting experts learn what techniques soften the effects of an aging chin when shooting an older person or how to effectively light a person who shows up with thick, reflective glasses. In the black-and-white video world of a generation ago, camera lenses were not only less sharp, but camera people often wanted a softer look—sometimes even putting a nylon stocking behind the lens. Things are very different today. “With 4K or even regular HD, you see everything,” says Seerveld. And he means everything. Working with the director of photography and the make-up artist, an experienced gaffer can help the viewer focus on the intended story—not an unintended distraction. After graduating from Dordt in 1985, Seerveld moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul to attend Film in the Cities, a small twoyear program. Based on his work on a few professional shoots landed through a family friend, he was exempted from the first year and ended up leaving before he actually completed the program. But it was enough to launch him into his life’s work. A family friend from California
“Talk to transpo... Call the Hall... We just lost power Along that wall! Sound wants the genee Around the block... When did we break? Are we on the clock? What’s the job number? Can I still get to my stuff? Dolly wants a stinger... Is this tied off enough? Parent, coach, psychiatrist, Sargeant, friend, and diplomat; Manage crisis as it comes, “I thought I asked for that?” And when it stops... You ask yourself, Is this where I want to be? Is the pay worth getting so stressed? But after six hours of rest, Once you have showered and dressed, You think, What could be better than ‘Best’? www.seerveld.com/SL/SL_Poetry.html
doing a shoot in Minneapolis hired him as an assistant camera person. They liked his work and took him on other assignments. At a local video production company, he became the “fix-it guy,” a grip, an electrician—whatever was needed. “It was a great experience,” Seerveld recalls, so much so that he decided to load his few belongings in his pickup and head for San Francisco where he had a couple of contacts. He “did some free stuff”—assisting producers, helping electricians, working as a Grip. He traveled between San Francisco and Los Angeles working on some low budget films, a miniseries, joining the IATSE union, and learning the ropes for a couple of years. Marriage and a daughter changed his focus. He bought his own
gear and began to take on corporate work, not sorry to give up the life that went along with the longer form work. He still likes the work—the challenge of finding the right solution to a lighting problem; the unpredictability of a shoot and of what job will come next; the relationships with camera people, other gaffers, producers, sound technicians. Freelance work comes mostly through word-of-mouth contacts, but it always seems to be there. "It’s about who you know and what you know,” he says. “Your reputation is as good as your last job. Your word is your bond.”
“There’s often a tension between the creative desires of the camera person and the financial constraints of the producer,” he says. Experience helps— and Seerveld’s easy-going friendliness. He can suggest alternatives based on
“What I thought wasn’t my ideal of a wonderful life has actually turned out to be a very wonderful life.” — Luke Seerveld ('85), gaffer
what he’s learned on other jobs, and he jokes that he often “produces from below,” helping come up with lighting options that the mostly younger crews or the producer may not have thought about. His contributions and varied experience beyond lighting, as a lineproducer and as an audio recordist, continue to make him a valuable team member.
And he likes the people he works with. Freelancers join together as needed for the demands and size of the job. “There’s a lot of trust among people in the field,” he says. He may get a call from a producer scheduling a job two weeks later. “There’s no contract. You MARK VOLKERS
Would he do it again? Absolutely. He’d even tell students interested in the field not to worry too much about specific training. “You learn as you go,” Seerveld says. "What’s important is having something to say and a way to say it. A liberal arts education gives the best preparation. It also helps you keep life in perspective.” “I’ve worn a lot of hats,” he says. He’s also gotten to know many different people, enjoyed the self-starting and flexible nature of his work, realized his love for building things (but not too permanently), and become a thoughtful citizen, husband, father, church member, and friend in the process. Thinking about his original goal of becoming a documentary producer, Seerveld says, “What I thought wasn’t my ideal of a wonderful life has actually turned out to be a very wonderful life.”
Seerveld talks with Dordt students about the ins and outs of gaffer work.
SALLY JONGSMA
ALUMNI NOTES Nathaniel J. Zylstra (’98) received his law degree from Yale Law School. He has practiced in many institutions, including Biol & Benson, PLLC and Faegre Baker Daniels; he was also a law clerk to the Honorable Roger L. Wollman on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Now, Zylstra is returning to the Minneapolis office of Faegre Baker Daniels as counsel, where he helps clients resolve commercial and financial disputes, claims of trade secret misappropriation, and class actions. He has represented manufacturers, technology companies, and service providers on regional, national, and international levels.
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agree, you show up, you send an invoice. The money almost always comes in— although TV networks and nonprofits sometimes take a long time to pay,” he adds wryly.
Stephanie Baccam (’97) has been named Executive Director of Finance and Risk Management at Dordt College. “I was drawn in by the passion that the staff and faculty have for helping train and guide Dordt students,” says Baccam. “I am excited for the opportunity to be part of the campus, and I hope to bring a similar passion with me into this role and help Dordt continue to grow and pursue its vision.” Baccam has worked as a staff auditor at the Iowa’s Office of Auditor of State and as a contract administrator and an accounting supervisor for the Harbor Group. Baccam earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting and business administration at Dordt College. Brian Huseland (’93) is a fifth-grade teacher at Northwest Christian School near Spokane, Washington. In June, Huseland took part in an international Protestant schools camp in Wittenberg, Germany, a project organized by a partnership between the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland and the University of Bamberg. Alongside Christian high schools, students, and teachers from countries like Brazil, Rwanda, the Netherlands, and the Philippines, Huseland recognized and celebrated the importance of the Reformation to inspire a new generation. He assisted in presenting the banner for GPEN (Global Pedagogical Network) to launch this fall. “I am thankful for opportunities to meet new friends and to hone our craft and encourage one another to apply the insights of the Reformation to our time," says Huseland.
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