Spark Spring 2023 Calvin University

SPARK

Fields, Fans & Faith

p. 12

SPRING 2023

LEFT: Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap ’14 gives a talk on the Christian response to climate change. “In a warming world, climate action is Christian discipleship.”

CENTER: Disabled scholar Dr. Amy Kenny speaks about disability justice in the church, reading from her acclaimed book My Body is Not a Prayer Request

RIGHT: Real-life “Guardian of the Galaxy” Dr. Moo Cooper speaks about being the planetary protection lead of the NASA 2020 Mars mission; she was responsible for keeping the red planet safe from Earth’s contaminants.

“Curiosity is a craving for knowledge. ... But you are only curious as long as your attention is on the gap between what you know and what you want to know.”

— MONICA GUZMAN

PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN ROELS, ANDREW DETERS, AND DANIEL XAYABOUT

WATCH THE 2023 HIGHLIGHT VIDEO FOR THE JANUARY SERIES

Calvin University equips students to think deeply, to act justly, and to live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA).

To learn more about the CRC’s work in North America and around the world, visit crcna.org

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Calvin University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). For more information, visit cccu.org

Spark is published three times a year by the Calvin Alumni Association, office of alumni relations, Calvin University, 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. ©2023 by the Calvin Alumni Association.

Telephone: 616-526-6142. Email: spark@calvin.edu Spark on the web: calvin.edu/spark

POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to Spark, Office of Alumni, Calvin University, 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546.

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FEATURES

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FIELDS, FANS & FAITH

New athletics plan focuses on building community and enhancing the studentathlete experience

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OUR CALVIN STORY

How common ground challenges the Calvin community to learn and grow together

Athletic director Dr. Jim Timmer and the entire Calvin community extend a warm welcome to new head football coach Trent Figg.

the world.

Philosophy professor Dr. James K. A. Smith discusses his new book How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now.

DEPARTMENTS

Art

ONLINE EXTRAS

THE CALVIN SPARK

Editor: Jeff Haverdink ’97

Managing Editor: Sara Korber-DeWeerd ’00

Art Director: Amanda Impens

Designers:

Vicki Dolsen

Erin Elders ’17

Olivia Stallmer ’22

Contributing Writers:

Sara Korber-DeWeerd ’00

Jeff Febus ’92

Matt Kucinski HON

Lynn Bolt Rosendale ’85

Madison Szczepanksi ’22

Contributing Photographers:

Matt Mitchell

Ryan Humm

Amanda Impens

Adrian Van Stee ’23

CALVIN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD

President: Jori Brink Hannah ’04 (Chicago, Ill.)

Vice President: Tyler Amidon ’93 (Centennial, Colo.)

Secretary: Karen Zwart Hielema ’94 (Toronto, Ont.)

Treasurer: Jim Valk ’87 (Paw Paw, Mich.)

Executive Director: Jeff Haverdink ’97

Members:

Jerry Cooper ex’66 (Holland, Mich.)

Minwoo Heo ’09 (Chicago, Ill.)

Carla de Jong Hiemstra ’94 (Visalia, Calif.)

Dale Kaemingk ’77 (Brier, Wash.)

Adam Kinder ’06 (Ada, Mich.)

Kathleen Smit Klaasen ’70 (Caledonia, Mich.)

Maxine Asante Mosley-Totoe ’06 (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Debra Perry ’91 (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Janorisè Evans Robinson ’92 (Oak Park, Ill.)

Stephanie Vogelzang ’07 (Alexandria, Va.)

Eliezer Yeong ‘18 (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Johanna Chambery Zandstra ’91 (Schererville, Ind.)

ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION

Are you interested in receiving Spark via email instead of print? If so, please email alumni@calvin.edu Include your email address and let us know if this selection is for you only, or if it includes your spouse/ household. Remember to include any additional email addresses if applicable.

educator turned entrepreneur, Kelly Karsten Tuit ’92, runs two businesses that help people gather together.

Inspiring Stories

After taking a bit of a break for the holidays, I and other colleagues hit the road again this winter and spring to visit Calvin alumni in their own communities around the world. In most cases, the main reason for these gatherings was to introduce more of you to President and Mrs. Boer. I enjoyed our Q&A sessions with the president, an informal opportunity for him to connect with alumni and to share his vision for Calvin’s future.

Our gatherings also reminded me of the incredible ways God uses Calvin grads to work toward renewal in his world. Sometimes this happens in very public spaces, but more often it occurs behind the scenes, as alumni give back within their local communities.

In Long Beach, California, Curt ’89 and Laura ’90 DeGroot graciously hosted an alumni gathering with the president, during which we also welcomed Calvin’s first men’s volleyball coach, California native Spencer Fredrick. It’s a perfect example of hospitality that celebrates cherished Calvin connections and creates new ones. Officially welcoming Coach Fredrick to Calvin is just one sign of the expansive strategic plan for the university’s athletics program, something you can read about in this issue of Spark

In this issue you’ll also read about our shared Calvin story, spoken in the words of current faculty and students. Their reflections remind us what we hold in common and nudge us toward continued growth and learning.

And you’ll meet alumni of all ages and vocations, whose faith inspires them to build relationships: from an art teacher turned entrepreneur, whose passion is gathering people together; to a Chicago lawyer, who helps current students discern God’s calling; to a former social worker, who founded a non-profit that helps reunite children in foster care with their parents.

You’ll also meet two urban farmers growing fresh produce for their neighbors, an author whose picture books nurture kids’ wonder and curiosity, and a young professional whose choice to travel solo across North America reconnected her to what she values most. Whoever and wherever we are, God continues to use each of us to reach his world for his glory in a rich variety of ways.

In just a brief time, we will officially welcome yet another graduating class into the broader Calvin alumni community. I look forward to witnessing how God continues to use the Class of 2023’s gifts for his good work—this is our continuing Calvin story.

Finally, in this season of Easter, I wish each of you a moment of restful reflection on “the great love the Father lavished on us” through the ultimate sacrifice and resurrection of his son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May his gift of grace strengthen us on every road ahead.

BY JEFF HAVERDINK ’97 DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

CORRECTIONS FROM THE WINTER 2022 ISSUE

At Spark, we believe it is important to carefully attend to even the smallest details of alumni stories. However, from time-to-time, editorial errors do occur. We regret these inaccuracies.

Jenny deFouw Geuder’s ’04 new book, Drawn to Birds: A Naturalist’s Sketchbook, was mistakenly identified on page 45 as Amazon has Drawn to Birds: A Naturalist’s Sketchbook. Astute readers likely noted that deFouw Geuder’s book can be purchased at amazon.com

“The Gift of Faith” on page 40 incorrectly identified An Dinh ’11 as an associate professor of speech-language pathology at Toledo University. Her correct title is assistant professor of speech-language pathology at the University of Toledo.

Above: Southern California Alumni Network Below: Lynden Alumni Network

TRANSFORMING A CAMPUS INTO AN ARBORETUM

In 2022, Calvin University’s campus was designated as an arboretum. While having an arboretum on a college campus isn’t necessarily uncommon, having an entire campus designated that way is rare. The care Calvin’s campus has received over the past several decades from certified arborist Bob Speelman is also unique. During his 34 years at Calvin, he’s planted more than 300 trees on a campus full of thousands of them.

On a walk around campus, Speelman, who the arboretum is now fittingly named after, talked trees. He shared memories of trees planted, ones that fell, and of the intentionality behind where and why each tree found a home on campus.

During the walk, he picked out some of his favorite trees—each making his list for its own reason: architectural beauty, rarity, even sentimentality. All have memories attached to them, and each was planted or cultivated by Speelman over the years.

The new designation was accredited by Arbnet, a global network promoting arboretum management, tree science and conservation, and education.

SCHOOL OF HEALTH CREATES BLUEPRINT FOR STUDENT AND CLIENT SUCCESS

Calvin University’s new School of Health has rolled out a new blueprint for future development. The plan brings many health-related disciplines, including nursing, pre-health sciences, kinesiology, public health, speech pathology, and audiology under the auspices of the school. Pulling multiple disciplines into close proximity will give students a more comprehensive understanding of the medical field.

Keila Pieters, a senior nursing major, said, “We are excited to collaborate with our fellow students from related disciplines. To be in the same space will provide us greater opportunities to connect with and learn from one another.”

Adejoke Ayoola, dean of the School of Health, believes “collaborating across disciplines in the field is essential to caring well for patients.” She and her colleagues have worked to establish trusted partnerships in the Grand Rapids community and are excited for how the new school will help them better equip students to care well for their neighbors and future patients.

“One of the things we are interested in is interprofessional education, to all work together as professionals, because our focus is the patient,” said Ayoola. “We can actually design holistic programs that will involve all of our students and meet the needs of our community.”

STAY CONNECTED

Read the full-length stories and more campus news daily at calvin.edu/news

The new School of Health blueprints pull health-related disciplines together in close physical proximity.

Calvin’s campus boasts over 3,500 trees from 99 different species.

WORLD-RENOWNED ARTIST MAKOTO FUJIMURA AWARDED KUYPER PRIZE

Makoto Fujimura will be the recipient of the 2023 Kuyper Prize, which is awarded by Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary. Fujimura is the first visual artist to receive the annual prize, which is presented each year to a scholar or community leader whose outstanding contribution to their chosen sphere reflects the ideas and values characteristic of Kuyper’s Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement.

“Through Fujimura’s work, his diverse global audiences are drawn to reflect upon deeper truths about human brokenness and restoration, which were central to Kuyper’s theology and politics,” said President Wiebe Boer.

Fujimura is a world-renowned modern artist, author, and speaker, who is the founder of the International Arts Movement and the Fujimura Institute. He uses the art of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery (often with precious metals), to take what is shattered and make it whole again.

A $10,000 monetary prize accompanies the award, which Fujimura said he will donate to IAM Culture Care and Embers International for their collective “Kintsugi-Peace Making” work. He will be awarded the prize during the Kuyper Conference which runs May 9–11, 2023, on the campus of Redeemer University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

STUDENT DOCUMENTARY HELPS HISTORY COME ALIVE

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Calvin’s archaeological work in Umm al-Jimal, Jordan, seniors Abi Van Doorne and Andrew Deters filmed “The West Church.” Their 12-minute documentary celebrates the decades-long partnership with the community there to preserve the 2,000-year-old site—a project begun by the late professor emeritus Bert de Vries ’60.

Darrell Rohl, assistant professor of history and director of Calvin’s archaeology program, requested photos and video footage during his three-week summer course in Jordan. Van Doorne and Deters, both interested in archaeology, traveled with Rohl and co-directed the documentary as the final project of their fall semester film and media production class.

The many partners on the Umm al-Jimal project are working to get the site added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Van Doorne and Deters hope their documentary will help advance that goal.

At the Media Showcase in December, Van Doorne and Deters reflected on the significance of their project and their experience. “It was really cool to become engrained in the community and work on this project together,” said Van Doorne.

Visual artist Makoto Fujimura will receive the 2023 Kuyper Prize.

Abi van Doorne and Andrew Deters’ film can be viewed at

ENGINEERING STUDENTS SHIFTING CARBON INTO NEUTRAL

In early September 2022, Professor Matt Heun posed a question to his Engineering 333 class: What would it take to eliminate Calvin’s natural gas-related net CO2 emissions from its heating? To up the ante, there was a real client for this project, and he was seated in the back of the room: President Wiebe Boer.

The 45 students involved from Heun’s classes conducted a site analysis of all campus buildings, totaling 1,800 hours of work over three months. In late November, four students presented “An Analysis of Calvin’s Heating System in the Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality.”

The team presented strategies such as reducing heating load through efficiency improvements, shifting the fuel source of heating systems from natural gas to electricity, and removing carbon emissions from electricity.

“I was really impressed with the final public presentation from our Calvin University Engineering 333 students,” said President Boer. “I’ve worked in both McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group, and the process our students followed and the solutions they came up with were at the same level of rigor and excellence.”

Implementing the strategies would help Calvin achieve the President’s 2017 Climate Commitment, which stated Calvin would be carbon neutral by 2057.

CALVIN ADDS TWO NEW COHORT PROGRAMS FOR FALL 2023

Sustainability and creation care have long been core values at Calvin, but campus sustainability program director Tom Hartzell says the new Sustainability Fellows cohort will provide a more meaningful experience for students.

Under Hartzell’s direction, student fellows will take courses together, will be paired in small teams with a community partner to address real sustainability issues, and will develop leadership skills by planning and executing a sustainability summit.

The Common Good Coalition will also be added to the university’s portfolio of programs in the fall of 2023. Student members of this cohort will take classes together that investigate how the common good manifests in material culture.

Investigating the common good means asking “how we get people to flourish, to thrive, to engage and to participate,” said Mark Mulder, director of the cohort.

Mulder, who is also a professor of sociology and director of the urban studies minor, said, “We need good public spaces, such as sidewalks, streets, hospitals, libraries, nature trails, parks—these are all material manifestations of the common good. We’ll be exploring how we draw people out into society to participate.”

In total, Calvin University offers five cohorts for students to pursue their passion in a tight-knit community.

STAY CONNECTED

Find more campus news daily at calvin.edu/news

The Ministry Leadership Cohort is one of five cohort programs through which first-year students can build intentional community.

Four students present their research team’s findings on November 30, 2022.

CALVIN STUDENT AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS HATFIELD PRIZE

For senior Emily Steen, the realities of prison were no longer out of sight, out of mind when former inmate Nick Nichols visited one of her core classes to talk about the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI). As a student in the sociology program, Steen often attended classes that included students finishing the degree they started inside Handlon Correctional Facility.

She quickly discovered the formative impact programs like CPI have in preparing students to be prime citizens. She also recognized the real struggles the paroled students face upon re-entering society, from barriers to employment to social stigma. Steen knew changed lives needed to be met with changed systems.

Sociology professor Mark Mulder encouraged Steen to apply for the Center for Public Justice’s (CPJ) Hatfield Prize. CPJ is a Christian civic education and public policy research organization based in Alexandria, Virginia.

Steen’s research project was one of just three nationwide to receive the Hatfield Prize. The award provides her with funding and access to dig deeper in understanding the challenges of re-entry and to explore policies and partnerships that could be formed to make it smoother for returning citizens.

FROM HOSTILITY TO HOSPITALITY: CALVIN RENEWS CIVICS EDUCATION

Teaching tolerance is a chief aim of civics education in K-12 schools. But, according to David Smith, director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, it’s time to go deeper. “What if instead of starting with tolerance we actually approached civics education through the lens of Christian hospitality?” asked Smith.

Under Smith’s leadership, the Kuyers Institute has become a leading center of innovative thinking around Christian education over the last 15 years. Their latest endeavor is The Civic Hospitality Project, a partnership with Calvin’s Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics.

The project, funded by the Issachar Fund, gives K-12 educators curricular tools and exercises they can use to develop their civics lesson plans. The resource comes at a time when the United States is experiencing increased political polarization. “A country has to review what it means to share common citizenship, and Christians are well suited to lead,” said Micah Watson, the director of the Henry Institute.

Educators across North America have tested the curriculum in their classes, and Smith and his team incorporated their feedback in refining the resources now available at civichospitality.com

Senior Emily Steen is one of three recipients nationwide to receive The Hatfield Prize in 2023.

The Civic Hospitality Project provides K-12 educators with resources to develop civics instruction.

SPIRITUAL TIMEKEEPING

James K. A.

Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview, talks about his new book How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now.

Spark: What inspired you to write this book? Smith: There were a few inspirations. The first, to be candid, was my own experience of therapy for depression, which was a personal exercise of reckoning with my past, so I could “live forward” into a different future. In counseling, coming to terms with the past allowed me to hope again. But then reckoning with our collective past is also something we have been undergoing as a country, particularly as we grapple with systemic racism and police brutality, since the murder of George Floyd. Finally, my work is part of a broader conversation about spiritual formation (in the work of Dallas Willard and Tish Harrison Warren, for example), and it seemed to me that we

had not yet taken seriously the significance of time in spiritual formation. I hope How to Inhabit Time takes us in new directions.

Spark: What can a reader expect to find in the pages of How to Inhabit Time? Smith: The book sort of defies genre. It includes aspects of memoir; biblical meditations on Ecclesiastes; and extensively engages the arts, including poetry, music, and painting. But overall, as I say in the book, my hope is that How to Inhabit Time revives the ancient art of philosophy as spiritual counsel. Philosophy as a way of life is a mission that we are committed to in the Calvin philosophy department. In How to Inhabit Time, this translates into an invitation to a more contemplative life, one in which we cultivate awareness about the spiritual significance of time.

Spark: What does a healthy relationship to time look like?

Smith: There are many facets of this, but I think it is fundamentally a matter of accepting our creaturehood—accepting our finitude. With the creation of the cosmos, God also created time, which he affirmed

as “very good.” So being creatures who live in the flux of history and the vicissitudes of time is part of the goodness of creaturehood. Of course, this is affected by sin and the Fall, but redemption for us creatures is not escaping time but learning how to inhabit it faithfully. That means reckoning with our past and discerning what God is calling us to in the present, all with the goal of living into the future with hope.

We also have to take history seriously in order to know when we are. Specifically, we can’t know who we are, or what we’re called to, if we don’t understand how we got to the present moment. When we undertake this reflection on our past—what has been handed down to us—we can also discern the possibilities God’s grace opens for the future.

There’s a lot more to say about this. For example, one chapter of the book considers why we experience time in “seasons” and how embracing that makes a difference for the Christian life. There’s also a chapter on “learning to love what you’ll lose.” These are various aspects of what I call “spiritual timekeeping.”

Spark: Christianity can seem like yet another polarizing paradigm in our current milieu, and believers and non-believers alike may wonder if the historical church is still relevant? How does your book address that question?

Smith: Well, I think many of those polarizing versions of Christianity are often unfaithful renditions of the faith precisely because they have cut themselves off from historic Christianity. One of the persistent problems with American Christianity, for example, is its tendency to spawn “freelance” forms that revolve around cults of celebrity. In fact, it has often been in the name of “relevance” that people ignore the riches and wisdom of the historic Christian tradition. Only our apprenticeship to the historic faith will give us the resources to resist merely falling prey to the zeitgeist We are called to be faithfully present to our “now,” without merely being products of the present.

Smith, Calvin philosophy professor and the Gary and Henrietta

JAMES K. A. SMITH PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY

FIELDS, FANS FAITH&

New athletics plan focuses on building community and enhancing the student-athlete experience

BY LYNN BOLT ROSENDALE ’85

A little more than a century ago, a group of eight Calvin students unofficially formed a basketball team and challenged Hope College to a game. To escape the wrath of the Calvin administration, which believed organized sports would hinder academic pursuits, they called themselves the “Calvin Y,” because they occasionally practiced at the YMCA, located three miles from Calvin’s Franklin campus.

This motley crew, with no coach and little practice, was soundly defeated. Yet the fledgling team sparked an interest in intercollegiate competition that would lead to the flourishing of Calvin’s athletic program over the next century.

Much has changed since that first game in Hope’s Carnegie gym in 1917: Calvin athletics has a mascot, school colors, a 5,000-seat arena, 25 varsity teams, the support of the university administration, and most recently a new strategic plan, designed to further develop the student-athlete experience and foster spirit across the entire Calvin community.

“We’ve become one of the most successful athletic programs in NCAA Division III,” said Calvin director of athletics, Jim Timmer. “We have 11 national championships, 27 national runners-up, 54 final four appearances, 19 national coaches of the year, and many, many All-Americans and Academic All-Americans. We’ve done all of this while standing firm in our commitment to the athlete-as-scholar and in our dedication to the leadership and faith development of student-athletes.”

While the foundation and success are apparent, an official plan for resources dedicated to Calvin athletics had never before been formally written and approved.

“Unlike athletic programs at almost every other college and university, ours is housed within the academic division and tied to the provost, which reflects the educational mission of athletics,” said Timmer.

This structure has fostered the development of athletes as students but has challenged the department’s ability to fully support intercollegiate athletics.

“We’re like the little engine that could,” said Timmer. “Most schools that do really well in Division III are state schools with much larger budgets and lower tuition or schools with huge endowments. Our programs are competing right there with them, and we’re committed to offering the best student-athlete experience in Division III.”

The inaugural five-year strategic plan adopted in fall 2021 lists providing the best student-athlete experience as one of its focused goals. Other goals include building spirit and community-wide engagement, creating an effective and sustainable administrative structure, and attracting additional students.

Accompanying these strategic goals is a plan to support them with additional resources for coaches, more club sport opportunities, a director of club sports, outdoor facility upgrades, and the introduction of football, men’s volleyball, and women’s acrobatics and tumbling.

According to Amber Warners, associate athletic director and women’s volleyball coach, excitement surrounding the new initiatives has created a buzz around campus that has been missing.

“I think for a long time Calvin has wanted to send a message that athletics isn’t the end-all, and I 100 percent agree with that,” she said. “But if you do athletics in the right way and follow God’s calling, it can be celebrated. It can touch everybody’s life in a positive way. Even people who never step foot inside the fieldhouse will have a way to be connected and a reason to celebrate with the entire Calvin community.”

The new outdoor facilities plan will be implemented in phases as remaining fundraising benchmarks are met—providing the Calvin community with exciting opportunities to contribute financial support to significantly enhance the experience of our students, student-athletes, coaches, and fans. These outdoor facilities will support men’s and women’s track and field, lacrosse, soccer, and football. The project’s first phase will begin this spring.

“I’m envisioning a fall Saturday when there is a football game, a soccer game, and a volleyball game—events that will bring the whole campus together,” said Warners. “I think it will bring a feeling of ‘I want to be at Calvin because it’s an exciting place to be.’”

While creating an atmosphere of enthusiasm for all things maroon and gold is certainly one of the strategic goals, so is continuing to offer the best student-athlete experience in NCAA Division III. Calvin athletics’ three-fold mission of the pursuit of excellence in athletic competition, commitment to the scholar-athlete ideal, and devotion to the leadership and faith development of student-athletes is the foundation of providing that experience.

“We chase competitive excellence,” said Timmer. “If you talk to our coaches, if you talk to players, you’ll hear it. That’s what we do. Obviously, our faith commitment is foundational to everything we do, but we also believe that we are being less than authentic if we aren’t pursuing championships. Nothing flourishes if you aren’t doing that.”

Timmer and provost Noah Toly agree that strategically investing in this pursuit will benefit the university.

“Calvin athletics has been incredibly successful when it comes to athletic excellence and competitive achievement, and it’s been done without compromising academic integrity or our Christian identity,” said Toly. “This new plan links athletics with the university’s many other priorities. There is a lot of excitement in supporting existing programs and teams in new ways and expanding the student-athlete experience to more students.”

Timmer also feels adding teams and enhancing and expanding club sports will afford more opportunities for students to be shaped by the university’s mission.

“We’re pretty good at a large number of things at Calvin, and athletics happens to be one of them,” he said. “We’d like to invite more people into the Calvin University athletics community. We’d like to invite young people who play football or men’s volleyball or participate in acrobatics and tumbling to come and benefit from a Calvin education, something we had zero opportunity to do before.”

Toly believes the mission of Calvin athletics has always aligned with the university’s mission: to equip students to think deeply, act justly, and live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world.

“There is nothing we do—whether it’s teaching a student to play a trumpet, play a role in theater, or play a position on the football field—that doesn’t help shape them into Christ’s agents of renewal in the world,” he said.

And while the start-up of some of the new programs— particularly football because of its scope—will be formidable, Toly believes Calvin will achieve success.

“Football is not uniquely challenging; it’s just big,” he said. “Will we be good at it? I’m confident we’ll eventually be good at football. But if we define good as developing students with high character and shaping them to be Christ’s agents of renewal in the world, I expect to be good at that from day one.”

“We’d like to invite young people who play football or men’s volleyball or participate in acrobatics and tumbling to come and benefit from a Calvin education, something we had zero opportunity to do before.”

Right: Coach Ellen Barker, new head coach for acrobatics and tumbling, poses with Joust the mascot.

— JIM TIMMER, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

preparing champions on and off the field

Missouri native Trent Figg is the first head football coach in Calvin University history. Figg comes to Calvin from the University of Oregon, where, in 2022, he served as the football program’s senior offensive analyst. He and his wife, Tori, are parents to three young sons, Titus, Thomas, and Tobias. The Calvin community warmly welcomed them to Grand Rapids in January of this year.

Q: Describe your emotions on becoming the first head football coach in Calvin University history.

A: I am so excited. It feels great. This is not a position I take lightly. It is an honor to come to an institution like Calvin. Calvin is a special place and it’s a place that is home now for my family.

Q: How did you get connected to Calvin, and what started the wheels in motion to apply to become Calvin’s first head football coach?

A: The football coaching community is much smaller than you might think. A friend of a friend got me connected and thought Calvin would be a great fit, and that started the application process. Really, it was the overall commitment to excellence here at Calvin that drew me in. From the academic standpoint, from a university standpoint, to an athletics standpoint, to the people that live here, to the community of Grand Rapids. All of those things drew me in and are so right for me and my family right now.

Q: What style of football will you bring to Calvin?

A: We want to be explosive in all three phases of the game—offense, defense, and special teams. That starts with recruiting. We need to recruit those kinds of players. We want to be the type of team that fans want to come to see. We want to score points. On offense, we want to throw the ball down the field and establish the run game. We want to line up and run the ball whenever that is necessary. We also want to play sound physical defense, with an emphasis on attacking up front.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your recruiting strategy and how you plan to build your roster.

A: We are starting locally and in state, but there are also pockets throughout the country that know Calvin. We really want to dig in and tap into those pockets and recruit those players as well. We want to bring in young men from all walks of life and grow them as Christian student-athletes. The goal is to have them be ready to be champions in life by the time they graduate.

Q: To that last point, what does it mean to you to come to a Christian university and how important is that?

A: My faith is the most important thing in my life. It is so cool to be able to couple that with coaching football in an academic setting and truly give kids an experience that will change their life. They are not here just to play football. We want their experience to be one that is truly transformational in their life, not simply transactional.

Q: In 2024, your team will jump right into the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and compete in your first rivalry game with Hope (November 9, at Calvin). What do you know about the MIAA, and what are your thoughts on a Calvin-Hope football rivalry?

A: I’m well-aware that the MIAA has a rich tradition of football with great coaches. I know the Calvin-Hope rivalry is highly competitive and a lot of fun. The rivalry is something that we will embrace and look forward to. It will be something special for our players, our alumni, and our campus community.

WATCH THE FULL PRESS CONFERENCE INTRODUCING THE NEW FOOTBALL HEAD COACH, TRENT FIGG.

HOW COMMON GROUND CHALLENGES THE CALVIN COMMUNITY TO LEARN AND GROW TOGETHER

Calvin’s historical, present, and unfolding story takes place in what university pastor Mary Hulst names “the magnetic middle,” where what we share, confessional faith in Jesus Christ, guides how we relate to one another as a global, diverse campus community; shapes how we pursue knowledge; and guides what we do with that knowledge in the world.

Over the next pages, we hope to celebrate this shared story. You’ll hear from Calvin alumni who are also current faculty, staff, and students. They recall their Calvin past, appreciate its present, and reflect on the ways their faith informs the challenging task of learning and growing in community.

THEN AND NOW

The most common surname when I was at Calvin was DeVries. The most common surname at Calvin now is Kim. That’s a short way to understand what’s happening at Calvin: we’re a global university now.

Calvin is the magnetic middle that draws people in who say “I don’t know. I don’t easily fit into a category.” We say, “Yeah, most people don’t. Come on down. Get a sweatshirt. That’s who we are.” We don’t fear questions, doubts, or disagreements because equipping students to engage these things—rather than to avoid them—is what we have always done.

MARY HULST ’91 UNIVERSITY PASTOR

ENGAGING THE WORLD THROUGH A LENS OF FAITH

Emerging adulthood is a season of life when you’re asking the big questions, and you need space to run. You need a playground, companions, and conversation partners. We have to give students space to grow and think. How does my discipleship actually influence my life? What does that look like? How may my faith look different than my parents’ faith?

We move toward these conversations with a deep belief in who God created us to be. We’re aware of the fall. We move toward redemption.

The Calvin enterprise is to help our students engage with the world as it is, and to prepare them for the world that’s ahead of them.

Calvin resists being pulled in temporary, fleeting directions around contemporary issues because that’s not going to help our students when they’re out in the world 20 years from now and they’re dealing with a new set of issues. We are part of a larger story than just the American story, than just the twenty-first century story—we are part of God’s story.

We can take that enterprise into every classroom because the core beliefs and the core principles of engagement and renewal as Christ-followers apply to every discipline. Whether you’re doing an engineering project or shooting a film, those principles are consistent, and that’s what we want to show our students.

THEN AND NOW

I’m originally from Nicaragua, and I had only lived in the United States for one year before coming to Calvin. The culture was still new, but I immediately felt received and included. Now, as student body president, I love connecting with people and hearing how they’re doing.

I have a personal mission statement. By the end of my life, I want to be such a good father, that it’s not I who will be remembered, but my children. I have a similar view of leadership. I don’t care if people remember

me or not, but I think there’s so much value in mentorship and in being light and hope for others. It’s fulfilling when I see the people serving alongside me thrive.

SEEKING TRUTH IN COMMUNITY

Every now and then there is tension on campus, like any other place in the world. I would say tension and conflict are healthy to have, because then it means at least someone is being truthful. And I think a positive thing about Calvin is that people are seeking truth. It’s not always easy to think critically of everything around you but still extract truth, regardless of

viewpoint. But the average Calvin student is intentional, thoughtful, and overall, very kind.

A unique thing about Calvin is that students can have conversations with their professors about some of these things. Student Senate has a program where students can come and have lunch, on us, with their professors. We encourage that, because we think that’s one of the things that makes Calvin special: the fact that you can meet with professors, talk about life, and walk through life with them. I’ve learned from some great mentors here who have changed my life.

NAIN MIRANDA ’23

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT, MAJORING IN ACCOUNTING WITH A MINOR IN DATA ANALYTICS

MICHELLE LOYD-PAIGE ’81

EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

THEN AND NOW

I joined the Calvin community in the fall of 1977 as a first-year, first-generation, local student. The most noticeable difference between student life then and now is that back then less than 2% of the population would have identified as non-U.S. born or non-white, compared to around 30% of the student body today. As a student, I never could have imagined working at Calvin as a faculty member and later an administrator. There were no Black or other People of Color in leadership roles back then.

But, by the grace of God, I became a faculty member in the department of sociology and social work in January 1985. While I am still a tenured member of the department, my work shifted in 2006 from primarily teaching to primarily administrative work. Currently, I am serving in my last year as the Executive Associate to the President for Diversity and Inclusion.

GROWING EQUITY, BELONGING, AND INCLUSION

What has and continues to excite me is Calvin’s commitment to remain true to its Christian Reformed roots while seeking to become a welcoming and inclusive community. Calvin is seeking to both achieve and move beyond compositional diversity. Our goal is equity, inclusion, and belonging. And, we are not afraid to speak about racism; in fact, we have an anti-racism position.

We have made good progress, but there is more work to be done. For example, our student diversity has grown faster than the diversity of our faculty, staff, and board. We can do better. With God’s help, I believe we will.

What has and continues to excite me is Calvin’s commitment to remain true to its Christian Reformed roots while seeking to become a welcoming and inclusive community.”

— MICHELLE LOYD-PAIGE

MICHAEL WILDSCHUT ’00 DIRECTOR OF THE JANUARY SERIES

THEN AND NOW

I’m not the same person I was when I graduated, thankfully. If I look back on where I’ve seen significant growth, it’s when I’ve been challenged to learn something new, tasked with a project outside of my comfort zone, or discovered new information that caused me to enrich my perspective.

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WORLD

My role is uniquely suited to helping our community get a deeper understanding of a particular piece of God’s world. By

providing a forum to learn about something new, we leave with a fuller set of lenses, an enriched perspective.

Disability and accessibility are areas of interest for me, but talking about them can cause uneasiness—especially when hearing of the ways people have been treated in the past, or when we are unsure about the particular language we should use. I want to uplift those in the disability community and provide a space for them to share their stories and help us all live in a richer community together. Doing that requires a lot of listening.

I love hearing when audience members were pleasantly surprised by a speaker’s talk. Maybe they didn’t think it would be interesting or worthwhile, but they stayed and came away with a new perspective that surprised them. I’m a richer person when I know that others are learning through the January Series, and I’m so grateful to be a part of that.

JANE KNOL ZWART ’00

CO-DIRECTOR OF THE CALVIN CENTER FOR FAITH & WRITING AND ENGLISH PROFESSOR

THEN AND NOW

As a first-year student at Calvin, I took an introduction to philosophy class. We spent much of the semester crafting definitions for concepts that I thought (wrongly) I already had in hand: justice, love, freedom. I remember Professor Lee Hardy urging us to wrestle with the distinction between “freedom from” and “freedom to.”

To learn in a community is to give one another the freedom to speak our minds and to change our minds; it is the freedom to ask questions bigger than our ability to lay them to rest; it is the freedom to test our convictions, to wrestle our way toward a truth that none of us owns.

NAMING QUESTIONS, PRACTICING GRACE

American writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry enjoins us to “practice resur-

rection,” and Calvin, at its best, is a place that encourages us to do that. Practicing resurrection, though, before Christ returns, means staking our lives on a kingdom we cannot see; it means all our works are the imperfect labor of an imperfect love. It also means being vulnerable enough to tender grace to others (which is hard) and to receive grace ourselves (which can be even harder).

I have found, in Calvin, a place where I can confess my faith and confess my fallenness. I have found a community where people name convictions about who God is and what that means about who we are, where people confess Jesus as Lord and Savior: that is daring.

But it is also daring—and perhaps especially in an academic setting, which values being right, and a Christian setting, which values righteousness—to name our questions, the

things we are still wrestling to understand. And it is daring to name what we have gotten wrong: the places where another person’s solution has more integrity or more elegance—or the places where we did not take enough care.

I want to keep adjusting my heart, training it on Jesus, and I also want to keep changing my mind as I learn more, training myself in new ways of being faithful. I have a great deal of hope that Calvin is a place where my students, colleagues, and I can continue to do both things. But “practic[ing] resurrection” is a messy business, and it will take no small courage for us all to keep Christ, our only righteousness, at the center, rather than idolizing our own rightness.

ELEANOR LEE ’23

CALVIN CENTER FOR FAITH & WRITING SENIOR STUDENT FELLOW, MAJORING IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND WRITING

THEN AND NOW

I came to Calvin as a first-year student in 2019. Since then, Calvin’s community has challenged me to prioritize listening—to God and to people around me—and to reflect on what I hear.

In high school, I was a relentless overachiever, mostly because “success” gave me a sense of purpose. But Calvin’s routines encouraged me to “be still”—from solo time on wilderness orientation, to meditative Thursday Chapels, to Pastor Mary’s reminders that God’s success looks very different from ours. I found that, surprisingly, life felt more successful when I sat still.

Stillness—surrendering my plans of busyness and productivity—helped me connect more deeply with God and with others.

NURTURING STILLNESS AND PEACE IN A CHAOTIC WORLD

American culture encourages us to avoid being still. Always, we’re working, scrolling, typing, and judging. But I found that being still and knowing God; knowing this beautiful, chaotic world; knowing God’s love reflected in professors and friends, left me with no quick judgments about “right” theology, policies, or choices. Instead, it left me with empathy for my thoughtful, faithful fellow Knights: people who seek their Creator wholeheartedly, even when they arrive at different conclusions.

This honest, diverse spiritual fruit is one of the things I love most about Calvin. At Calvin, the norm isn’t to lock your faith away out of fear, shame, or apathy. Rather, it’s to share your faith. To examine it (and, sometimes, to change it). To carry it into the most pressing issues of our day.

I thank God for the friendships, questions, and holy stillness I’ve been led to at Calvin. And I encourage all my fellow Calvin students— past, present, and future—to be still and know. Know just how good God is, and just how tightly grace holds us all together.

WHAT’S [Y]OUR CALVIN STORY?

We’d love to hear from you! In one hundred words or fewer, tell us about a Calvin experience that meaningfully impacted you. We’ll curate and publish a selection of stories in the fall issue. To be considered, send your story with your full name and graduation year to alumni@calvin.edu by June 1, 2023. Include “My Calvin story” in the subject line.

Alumni Profiles

BY SARA KORBER-DEWEERD ’00

Calvin seeks to equip students to think deeply, act justly, and live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world. These stories demonstrate how our alumni are living out that mission.

Larissa Theule ’01 is the author of seven fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her lyrical, introspective stories ignite curiosity and wonder among young readers, nurturing their love for God’s world.

Childhood friends Andrew Rescorla ’10 and Joel Love ’10 both majored in engineering at Calvin but now co-own Urban Greens, a hydroponic farm nestled in a suburb of Minneapolis. They grow pesticidefree herbs for local grocers, with a commitment to community and sustainability.

Kimberlee Bickley Cooper ’01 founded The Family Room, a nonprofit organization that offers welcoming visitation spaces and meaningful support for parents and children in the foster care system. Her research-based approach restores dignity and hope for families on the margins. Read more profiles online calvin.edu/spark

Art education major Kelly Karsten Tuit ’92 has a passion for gathering people together. Her businesses in Rockford, Michigan, invite patrons to cultivate hospitality and warmth in their own homes, or to slow down and enjoy time with friends.

Larissa Theule ’01

Kelly Karsten Tuit ’92

Kimberlee Bickley Cooper ’01

Andrew Rescorla ’10 and Joel Love ’10

Love Underscored

Larissa Theule ’01 English Children’s book author Pasadena, California PHOTO CREDIT: LYD & MO PHOTOGRAPHY

Children’s author Larissa Theule ’01 fell in love with picture books in a season of uncertainty. She moved to Chicago with a Calvin friend shortly after 9-11, but describes living in the city and looking for work in the aftermath of that national tragedy “a little scary.”

In 2004, seeking new opportunities, Theule returned to her parents’ home in Rochester, New York, where she started working with kids in a variety of capacities. During that time, Theule’s mother, “a wonderful storyteller, in her own right,” shared a curated collection of picture books with her daughter.

“My mom has a gift for understanding what makes a story beautiful. She found ones that were more obscure, often translations, and shared them with me. I grew to love the picture book format, the sweet and powerful dance between text and illustrations. But it didn’t register with me yet that I could write books of my own.”

Theule, who has lived in 11 different states and countries, met her husband, Philip, while in Rochester. After marrying, they moved to Boston and then China, during which time Theule earned master’s degrees in both education and creative writing. Today, she resides in California with her

husband and two children. She is the author of seven published children’s books, with three more scheduled for release next year.

Theule’s Calvin story begins with her parents—teachers and missionaries—who met and married at the university. Attending Calvin, she says, “felt like a natural segue.” However, going to school stateside, after growing up overseas, came with challenges. She says she met wonderful people at Calvin, who helped her through that rocky season.

“I found real homes in the English and theater departments. James Vanden Bosch taught me to love literature, but I also admired his general magnanimity and openness to the unconventional. I wanted to live like that, too.”

She also remembers the way theater professor Michael Page “encouraged me to weave life and art in a way that works for who I am—an ongoing journey.”

During late-night shifts as a campus switchboard operator, Theule discovered her artistic north star, Madeleine L’Engle, the beloved author of A Wrinkle in Time. “If you worked the night shift, nobody called. So, I read a lot, and I read Walking on Water for the first time in that switchboard room.”

She still revisits L’Engle’s memoir about faith and writing at least once a year and

believes, as L’Engle did, that “children are far more capable readers than they’re given credit for, as they’re open to life and new ideas in ways grown-ups have forgotten.”

Theule’s work has received wide acclaim, including her picture book Kafka and the Doll, which was recognized on Booklist’s 2021 Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth. It tells the true story of an unlikely friendship between a young girl and twentieth-century German writer, Franz Kafka. “It’s really a story about grief,” says Theule, whose books exemplify her belief that stories help children process and appreciate complexity. Her newly released picture book Mouseboat also explores grief through a child’s eyes, with lyrical language and poignant illustrations. Other books celebrate nature, friendship, determination, and invention.

Theule describes her body of work as “love underscored.” Her stories speak to readers of all ages and call them to remember that “we belong to one another in this life, and we should take care of each other.”

Meeting her young readers during school visits is a definite perk to being a writer. “I really like talking with kids. I like their easy joy,” she says. School visits also allow kids to learn about being an author. “Kids realize, ‘Oh, that’s a job! Maybe I could write books one day.’ And I hope they do!”

Whether she’s crafting stories about caring for others, paying attention to the world, or being brave, Larissa Theule says she feels “grateful.”

“It’s an honor to be a part of growing a child’s love for the world.”

“It’s an honor to be a part of growing a child’s love for the world.”

The Power of Yes

Kelly Karsten Tuit ’92

Art education

Founder of Gather-d and Pour-d Rockford, Michigan

Not many entrepreneurs would open two brick-and-mortar businesses in the midst of a pandemic, especially when those businesses rely on gathering people together. But Calvin alumna Kelly Karsten Tuit ’92 did just that. Her stores, Gather-d and Pour-d, both located in Rockford, Michigan, are home to a range of goods and services, with a focus on the restoration, joy, and hope gathering together brings.

Step into either space and you’ll find shoppers and friends lingering over beautiful displays and delicious food—evidence that Tuit’s passion for human connection makes a successful business model, too.

Tuit’s first store, a small boutique called Gather-d, opened in 2020. At the time, she and her dad ran Rusty Palette Co., making and selling farmhouse-style décor at area stores and local markets. Early in the pandemic, Tuit’s close friend decided to close her own home décor business and offered Tuit the lease on her small retail space.

“I basically said yes to this crazy idea. And the minute I did, God gave me a vision of what it should be. I’m a people gatherer.

My house was always full of people and I’m happiest around my table. We need people, we were created to be around each other. I really believe God gave me that vision in the middle of the pandemic to give hope to others.”

Gather-d boasts a curated collection of goods to help customers host get-togethers— everything from table settings to clothing. Tuit applies her artistic training to creating a full experience for shoppers. “It’s about all your senses. What you see, hear, feel, how you’re treated. The better the experience, the more likely people are to come back. I really take a lot of time with the visuals. We do these huge resets every season, and people know when they come in, they’re going to see something new.”

From the beginning, Tuit envisioned Gather-d as much more than a store. She also wanted to offer customers space to pause, gather, and enjoy or learn art. Though the limited space at Gather-d supported this dream in its early phase, it wasn’t a long-term solution. Enter Tuit’s second business, Pour-d.

“Another building became available in Rockford in June 2021, and I made the mistake of going to look at it. It was perfect.” Pour-d, an art gallery and tea bar that opened in January 2022, offers classes, provides rental space for private gatherings, sells art from around the country, and hosts local exhibits. An upcoming exhibit will feature Calvin senior art students between May 2 and June 17.

How do tea and art relate? Tuit says she hopes visitors feel welcome to linger over both. “I’m actually a coffee drinker, and I opened a tea bar,” she laughs at the irony. “But serving tea takes time and you have to let it steep, just like you have to let friendship steep. We do offer coffee, but even our coffee is made with a French press, so that takes time, too.”

Tuit says she doesn’t think of herself as the typical entrepreneur. “I was not a business major. I just love what I do. It’s one of those things where you say yes, and God immediately blesses it.”

Though no longer using her art education degree in a traditional sense, Tuit credits her alma mater with encouraging a spirit of lifelong learning. “Because Calvin is a liberal arts school, I never felt pegged into a single path. It made me bolder. Not scared to dig into stuff.”

Tuit and her husband, Dave ’90, are parents to three daughters, Allie ’18, Emma ex’21, and current sophomore, Olivia. An empty nester, she admits owning two businesses keeps her busier than she imagined possible at this stage of life. Yet, with her family’s support and the talented team of women she employs, Tuit doesn’t plan to slow down just yet. “We’re trying to be a positive presence in our community,” she says.

“We need people, we were created to be around each other. I really believe God gave me that vision in the middle of the pandemic to give hope to others.”

Basement to Table

Central Avenue in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, looks like many urban business districts—strip malls and buildings dot both sides of a busy thoroughfare—with one exception. Tucked away in the basement of a one-story plaza, fresh herbs flourish in nutrient-rich water under grow lights that mimic the sun’s energy. There you’ll find lifelong friends and business partners Andrew Rescorla ’10 and Joel Love ’10 tending their hydroponic herb farm, Urban Greens.

Hydroponics is a method of growing food that relies on water instead of soil. “We’re trying to grow the highest quality herbs in the world, with the highest performing team in the industry,” says Rescorla. How they accomplish that goal matters to both of them at least as much as the goal itself.

“Our location is part of our philosophy,” says Rescorla. “You can only get to it by the alley. People have no idea it’s there.” Committed to using what already exists, the former engineers utilize what used to be storage space to grow herbicide- and pesticidefree herbs on three levels. To further limit their carbon footprint, Rescorla and Love purchase wind energy credits to run their LED grow lights. They also utilize a water system that recirculates and reuses water.

“It’s always been very important to us to fix our little piece of a broken food system, which is just pouring gobs of pesticides on plants to maximize yields and do whatever it can to keep costs down. That’s not our

model,” says Love. “We want to grow food that we’re proud of, that we’re eager to have our friends eat straight out of the farm.”

Rescorla and Love first met as kids on a soccer field in their hometown of Zionsville, Indiana. They both attended Calvin, majoring in civil engineering and mechanical engineering, respectively. After graduation, Love took a job at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, a firm specializing in nuclear energy. Meanwhile, Rescorla and his wife, Laura Price ’10, attended the University of Minnesota to earn master’s degrees. Then after two and a half years developing water and sanitation systems in Ecuador and Ghana, the couple returned to Minneapolis. “We were asking, ‘What next?’” says Rescorla of that transition period. The question ultimately led to Urban Greens.

“After Calvin we were always daydreaming about business ideas,” admits Love, though their early ideas never gained traction. Aquaponics, a closed loop system that cultivates both plants and fish in the same water, especially interested Rescorla. An early trial in Love’s Pittsburgh attic led the pair to settle on a similar, but more economical, farming method: hydroponics.

Love relocated to Minneapolis and the entrepreneurs spent a year learning their trade in Rescorla’s basement, reading blog posts, watching YouTube videos, and dreaming up a business model. “There was a lot of flailing about, but also a lot of study, a lot of experimentation,” says Love.

In its infancy, Urban Greens sold fresh greens to friends and family, then at farmers markets. For a few years, Rescorla and Love even offered a home delivery service. Now, they primarily sell wholesale to grocery stores.

It seems there’s little the lifelong friends don’t share; and now, as new fathers, they share the experience of early parenthood, too. Work-life balance matters to both of them, and running a farm can sometimes be a family affair. They both credit their wives, Laura and Rachel, with offering endless support.

As their herbs continue to reach more tables around the Twin Cities, Love and Rescorla remain committed to creating something of value within their community, a goal that stems from their commitment to Christ. “We deeply hold our faith as the real foundation of our identity, not just a framework or perspective,” says Love. Faith influences all aspects of their work, from how they treat their employees to what motivates them. “We imperfectly practice our faith every day,” he acknowledges.

Under a purple glow, herbs headed for produce aisles fill a former storage space with an earthy aroma—it’s the unique way two former engineers, turned farmers, cultivate good in their corner of the world.

“We deeply hold our faith as the real foundation of our identity, not just a framework or perspective.”

Andrew Rescorla ’10 and Joel Love ’10 Engineering Co-owners Urban Greens Minneapolis, Minnesota

— JOEL LOVE

Holding Hope

Kimberlee Bickley Cooper ’01

Social work Executive director, founder of The Family Room Portland, Oregon

Nine years ago, Kimberlee Bickley Cooper ’01 needed a change. After a decadelong career as a social worker in the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), “I was reaching the end of my stamina there,” she says. Cooper hoped to find another way to support families in the foster care system, so she started researching. She knew restoring children to their birth families leads to better long-term outcomes, so she wondered, “What gets kids home?”

The answer: visitation. “Research has been really clear that more than any other intervention in the child welfare system, it’s the quantity and quality of the visitation that is the number one predictor of whether or not families reunite,” says Cooper.

But when she looked for existing programs that prioritized family visitation, she couldn’t find any. And that’s when The Family Room was born. “I was not trying to start a non-profit, I was planning to go work for someone else. I started the program basically with my family and friends and their financial support.”

Today, Cooper serves as the executive director of The Family Room, a non-profit that partners with ODHS to provide families in the foster care system meaningful visitation in a natural setting, up to ten hours a week.

Walk into a Family Room location in Portland on a typical afternoon and you’ll see children and parents spending quality time together: cuddling, reading, playing, doing homework, and sharing a meal. “It’s a happy place,” says Cooper, “and yes, there are hard things. Of course, there are broken bonds and broken attachments, but the environment is very intentionally one of hope and of partnership.”

Cooper says studying social work at Calvin planted the seeds for her program model. Professor Peter De Jong taught strengths-based practice, an approach to social work based on “the idea that every individual possesses personal strengths and meaningful resources.”

“It’s the primary lens we put on when we engage with families. What is already working? What inside of you can you draw from, and how can we emphasize that for you, and then look at other resources within your community? We try to be a community and a space that can hold hope for people when they cannot hold it for themselves.”

Cooper applies strengths-based practice to running her organization, too, leveraging existing resources in the Portland area— partnering with churches for physical space, mobilizing volunteers, and generally making much with little. These days, filling the role limits the time she spends one-on-one with her clients, but that hasn’t altered her commitment to them. “Anytime I can have an opportunity to get into one of our sites with families, I just come alive.”

“There is such a vehemently compassionate and supportive community behind The Family Room, from our staff to our volunteers, our church partners, our donors, and our grant-makers and foundations that have come on board. And our families? Really, they are at the root of it. None of this would mean anything if not for their vulnerability and their determination and their hope.”

The mother of five in a blended family, Cooper and her husband frequently find themselves conversing with their own teens and emerging adult children about future life choices and about channeling personal

passion to do good. Cooper, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, says she understood the importance of community at a young age. “I could look around, even as a teen, and wonder why some of us have so much. Or at the very least, enough of everything. And why do others just struggle and struggle? Early on, I gravitated toward social work.”

Cooper understands the challenge young adults face as they weigh options. Her belief in the power of doing good, along with her “make it happen” mentality, grounds her advice to anyone looking for a way to meaningfully contribute to society. “What fuels you? What is one thing that sparks your spirit a little bit? Jump in. Just jump in. It’s not glamorous and it’s not fancy. But, boy, is it rewarding.”

“We try to be a community and a space that can hold hope for people when they cannot hold it for themselves.”

SAVE THE DATE

We would love to see you at upcoming alumni and university events.

Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning

May Term

May 2–25, 2023 calvin.edu/call

Homecoming & Family Weekend

Sept. 29–30, 2023 calvin.edu/homecoming

Calvin Classic 5k & Youth Fun Run

Sept. 30, 2023

On campus or virtual— run where you are! calvin.edu/classic

Festival of Faith & Writing

April 11–13, 2024 calvin.edu/festival

Class of 1974 50-year Reunion

May 3–4, 2024 calvin.edu/reunions

TRAVEL WITH CALVIN

Our alumni tours are open to all— invite a friend to join you. calvin.edu/go/travel

Stratford Festival, Ontario

May 22–25, 2023

June 5–8, 2023 (full)

Hosts: Debra Freeberg, Gary Schmidt

Utah & Southwest Colorado

Sept. 14–23, 2023

Host: Ralph Stearley

Namibia & South Africa (full)

October 12–29, 2023

Host: John Apol ’67

New Zealand

March 2024

Hosts: Debra Freeberg, Janel Curry

Rhine River Cruise

May 2024

Host: Ken Bratt

Nova Scotia & New Brunswick

June 2024

Host: Karin Maag

Indonesia

Fall 2024

Host: Don DeGraaf

These 13 Calvin alumni held a reunion in September at First CRC of Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

Back row, left to right: Fred VanArragon ’89, Richard Strikwerda ’64, Sandy Strikwerda ex’64, Nancy Van Daalen ’68, Andrew Dykstra ’69, Janet deWinter ’78, Gloria Hwang Kang ’08

Front row: Pastor Jack Vos ’57, Pastor Harry Salomons (Calvin Seminary), Pastor Siebren “Brenny” Van Daalen ’69, Pastor Harry Bierman ’69, John deWinter ’76, Pastor Moses Kang (Calvin Seminary)

REUNION IN A BOX

More on these events and others calvin.edu/calendar

Four friends, who first met at their freshman orientation, gathered in October on the beautiful beaches of Anna Maria Island, Florida, for their reunion.

From left to right: Karen Schiestel-Evans ’98, Megan Davis-Uecker ’98, Julie David-Asper ’98, Amy Rech-Helms ’99

Planning to get together with four or more Calvin alumni roommates, teammates, or friends this summer? Request a “Reunion in a Box” kit from calvin.edu/go/reunion-box for your party!

These five former Calvin roommates gathered in Big Rapids, Michigan, in November 2022 for a reunion.

From left to right: Jill Kuyers Fahr ’84, Ann Zylstra De Groot ’84, Mary VanDuyn Zandstra ’84, Kerry Courtley Peltola ’85, Linda Peters Carey ’84

A San Francisco gathering marked the 10-year reunion for these Calvin roommates and suitemate.

From left to right: Stephanie Nykamp Lee ’15 holding son Enoch, Kelsey Cok ’17, Ashley Naghtin ’16. (photo taken by: Zion Lee ’15)

COAST TO COAST: ALUMNI MEET THE BOERS

President Wiebe Boer ’97 and his wife, Joanna Bachew Boer ’03, continued to visit alumni across the U.S. In January, President Boer headed to sunny California for events in Escondido and Long Beach. He also met up with young alumni from the Grand Rapids area at Founders Brewing Co. for good food, drinks, and conversation. In February, he and Joanna made stops in Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Georgia; and Bradenton, Florida.

The Boers and accompanying Alumni Association staff enjoyed each visit and are eager to make more travel plans in the coming months!

MUSIC ON THE MOVE

The sounds of Calvin’s Wind Ensemble and Orchestra traveled to the East Coast, as students gave concerts and led worship at sites in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. After an out-of-state touring hiatus of five years, the 35 musicians were ecstatic to perform for new audiences, including a public concert at Westside Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

CALL OFFERS MAY TERM COURSES, ORGANIZES INTEREST GROUPS

Do you want to reconnect with Calvin in the classroom, but without homework or exams? This academic year, more than 1,300 Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL) members took courses in person or online, participating in popular spring sessions such as The Human Brain (Simplified) taught by Peter Tigchelaar ’63, emeritus professor of biology, and The Parables of Jesus as Middle Eastern Stories taught by Calvin Seminary professor Gary Burge.

Be sure to check out CALL’s upcoming courses, which are open to all alumni and friends. May Term classes do not require a membership, so use this opportunity to try out CALL for free before joining in the fall. If you’re looking for a personalized way to connect with the Calvin community, CALL also offers its members interest groups for hiking, knitting, and birding. Learn more at calvin.edu/call.

EXPLORING VIETNAM

Jim Bratt ’71, professor emeritus of history, led a group of alumni and friends on a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia in November 2022. Alumni who attended Calvin during the Vietnam War era found this trip especially meaningful as they enjoyed the fascinating sights of nature, history, and culture, as well as meeting the two cultures’ resilient people. The travelers experienced their adventure-packed trip by bus, foot, tuk-tuk, trishaw, boat, and plane.

Want to join Calvin alumni and friends on their next trip?

Professor Ralph Stearley will lead a group to Utah in September to visit Dinosaur National Monument, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and more. Learn more at calvin.edu/go/travel.

COLD KNIGHT PLUNGE

The Student Alumni Association hosted the 25th annual Cold Knight Club Plunge on February 10, 2023. Even with a lack of snow on the ground, the Seminary Pond was a cold blast for 270 students who emerged from the icy waters as lifelong members of the Cold Knight Club, including 26 who earned their Golden Towel for jumping all for four years.

Washington, D.C. Alumni Network

Current students bravely continued a multi-generational tradition at the annual Cold Knight Plunge, which began with just 28 jumpers in 1999.

Photo courtesy of Thi Hoang

Relationship-centered Giving

“Knight for life” Jon Van Gorp gives back to Calvin pre-law students

Jon Van Gorp ’91 reunites with Calvin alumnus and former mentee Ben Shoemaker in London. Shoemaker, who once worked for Van Gorp, is now the special counsel and senior advisor to the chief legal officer at HSBC, the largest bank in Europe.

What exactly is a “Knight for life”?

A fan at a Rivalry game decked out in maroon and gold? Someone who attends every January Series lecture? Maybe. But there are myriad other ways Calvin alumni engage with their alma mater, and Jon Van Gorp ’91 is leading the way with a new endowment for Calvin’s pre-law program.

Van Gorp is the chair of the international law firm Mayer Brown. Since 2014, he has partnered with Calvin’s pre-law program director, Joel Westra, to mentor students interested in pursuing careers in law.

“Pre-law is a co-curricular program,” explains Westra, a specialization students from a variety of majors pursue while earning their bachelor’s degrees. The track pairs students with alumni mentors, offers a semester in Washington, D.C., and includes a biennial two-day trip to visit Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. There, under Van Gorp and Westra’s direction, students connect with lawyers, think about vocational calling, and experience private practice at a large firm.

Over the years, Van Gorp’s partnership with Calvin has grown, inspiring him, along with his wife, Amy, who is also a lawyer, to take the additional step of creating an endowment that will sustain and grow the university’s pre-law offerings.

“The program Professor Westra runs is incredibly important, but when you’re thinking about funding at Calvin, you’re thinking about keeping the lights on, keeping the core curriculum going, and getting professors paid.”

“Pre-law advising is probably a little bit far down on the list, and I wanted to make sure that it didn’t get sacrificed. I’m hoping to encourage other alumni in other fields to try something similar,” Van Gorp says.

Relationship, not funding, is the core value of Van Gorp’s philosophy of stewardship. He says alumni are uniquely positioned to help current students discern meaningful vocations. “Some of the best conversations I’ve had were the ones that ended up with people not going to law school, because they just weren’t that passionate about it. And then there are those really bright spots, where people have pursued law school because they visited Mayer Brown. I’ve kept up with those students, and a few of them have even come to work with me.”

When asked why he chose to give back to Calvin, Van Gorp says, “I learned how to think at Calvin. But mostly I learned that mindset of stewardship and responsibility to take care of something for a period of time that isn’t yours, and to leave it in a better place than when you picked it up.”

Van Gorp hopes creating the endowment, as well as investing his time and expertise, encourages others to “do good and make a difference in the world.”

Alumni interested in contributing to The Jon and Amy Van Gorp Pre-Law Fund can make a gift at calvin.edu/support or contact Melanie Lyons at melanie.lyons@calvin.edu.

Alumni interested in how they can support and mentor students in the pre-law program can contact Joel Westra at joel.westra@ calvin.edu.

CLASS NOTES

Spark readers: This section emphasizes Calvin graduates’ service, vocational, and reunion stories, along with “In Memoriam” notices. Send us news of your promotions, achievements, recognitions, and other announcements at spark@calvin.edu. Photos must be 300 dpi or approximately 1MB or greater in size.

The alumni association is also interested in knowing about important family milestones such as marriages and newcomers. Please send that news to alumni@calvin.edu

HERITAGE

(graduated more than 50 years ago)

01 Multiple generations of the Dr. James Timmer ’63 and Jacqueline Groot Timmer ’65 family gathered in Grand Rapids for Homecoming Weekend in September 2022.

Front row, from left to right: Jamie Visser Wierenga ’16, Michael Wierenga ’15 (professor of exercise science), Dr. James Timmer Sr. ’63 (professor emeritus of exercise science), Jacqueline Groot Timmer ’65, future Knight Ella Drews, Nathan Drews ’17, Anna Timmer Drews ’17

Back row, from left to right: Mike Wierenga ex’84, Jayne Timmer Wierenga ’89, Mitchell DeBruin ’18, Taylor Wierenga ’18, Gabrielle Timmer ’23, Calvin Miller ’23, Lauren Zeerip Timmer ’20, Christian Timmer ’19, Kathy Hulst Timmer ’90, Dr. James Timmer Jr. ’91 (athletic director)

An article titled “Schools and Teachers that Contributed to the Kentucky Sampler Tradition,” by Sheryl Vander Zee DeJong ’68 was published in The Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts. DeJong’s is the first published scholarly research on Kentucky’s samplers. The tradition, often connected to New England and Mid-Atlantic histories, also has a rich history in the American South. DeJong has volunteered in the Textile Collection at the Smithsonian Institute since 1998 and has published articles and lectured on the collection. She is a contributor to the Antique Kentucky Samplers database.

1970s

On December 13, 2022, Bert Adema ’78, a commissioned pastor in the Christian Reformed Church and the executive director of Indigenous Christian Fellowship in Regina, Saskatchewan, received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. This award, presented to Adema by Saskatchewan Lt. Gov. Russ Mirasty, was created to celebrate the 70th anniversary year of the late Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne. Indigenous Christian Fellowship is one of three ministries of the Christian Reformed Church that supports healing and reconciliation between Canada’s indigenous and non-indigenous people. Adema has served the Fellowship since 1993.

1980s

02 Kevin Adams ’82 and Gerry Meninga Adams ’82 spent forty days during the summer of 2022 walking the Camino Francés of the Camino de Santiago. Their pilgrimage began in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, in early July and concluded in Santiago, Spain, in mid-August. Despite record-breaking heat waves, they walked an average of 12 miles each day and enjoyed interactions with fellow pilgrims, spiritual reflection, and delicious food. The pilgrimage totaled over 500 miles.

1990s

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) appointed Kevin Dykema ’95 president for a two-year term. NCTM is an international organization of more than 30,000 members. In this role, he will partner with

educators to implement high quality mathematics instruction and advocate with policymakers to implement change. Dykema has taught 8th grade mathematics for over 25 years. He currently teaches at Mattawan Middle School in Mattawan, Michigan.

03 Eric Entingh ’91 led a 12-man canoeing and backpacking adventure to Isle Royale National Park for five days and four nights in August 2022. Among the 12 men were eight with ties to Calvin. The adventure successfully fostered new friendships, and the group is planning its next adventure.

Pictured from left to right near the Rock Harbor Lighthouse: Alex Corner ’15, Eric Entingh ’91, Darrell Bierman ’91 MDiv’96, Bill Corner ’89, Rich Wildeman ’86, Mike Dunn, Brian De Vries ’17, and Nathan Kerkstra ex’22

04 Steve Fridsma ’91 served as the project leader and architect for Monroe Community Church’s renovation of

a 1963 industrial building in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The project received a 2022 Small Commercial Design Award from the American Institute of Architects. The church’s newly renovated ministry center was also named the best venue for the 2022 ArtPrize festival, an international art competition held annually in downtown Grand Rapids since 2009.

Fridsma is the leader of the ArtPrize Curation Team at MCC and an owner and principal architect at Elevate Studio, Grand Rapids. Alumni Jim VanderMolen ex’80, Michael McKinnon ’12, and Mary Wolters Fridsma ’92 served on the project design team as well.

Former teacher Erin Heuker ’91 has been employed as a counselor at Paddock Counseling PLLC in Cadillac, Michigan. She recently completed a master of arts in clinical mental health counseling from Cornerstone University.

The College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago awarded Donald Vander Griend ’98 the 2022 Departmental Faculty of the Year Award for outstanding contributions to the department of pathology on November 16, 2022. Dr. Vander Griend is associate professor of pathology and associate director of shared resources at the UIC Cancer Center.

2000s

In October 2022, Jeremy Konyndyk ’00 became the president of Refugees International, an advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on international refugee, displacement, humanitarian, and human rights issues. Konyndyk said he is “eager to build on the organization’s long legacy of expertise and vocal leadership, while developing new partnerships and approaches for the years ahead.”

Senate Confirms Alumnus as Federal Judge

On June 9, 2022, the United States Senate confirmed President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s, nomination of Robert Huie ’98 to serve as a U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

05 After serving 20 years as an educator in traditional school settings, Mandy Sytsma Priore ’01 recently became the Director of Junior Tennis at the Shrewsbury Club in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, where she instructs juniors’ tennis lessons at all skill levels, focuses on building strong relationships with clients and families to help them see the health and emotional benefits of playing tennis, and trains assistant professionals. Priore hopes to instill a love of tennis in her clients in central Massachusetts and beyond.

2010s

Keagan Johnson ’15 earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Advanced Public Health Nursing from Rush University in Chicago, Illinois. Her DNP project was titled “Implementing health literacy screening and targeted intervention in the More Life Mas Vida population.”

The U.S. Foreign Service recently accepted Carolyn Lang ’15 as a Consular officer at the Consulate in India. Lang received her master’s degree in public administration from Grand Valley State University in 2019 and has worked for the U.S. Department of State since 2018 in the civil service, in Detroit, Michigan.

06 On February 21, 2023, Lindsay Laurie ’21 began a master’s program in urban development, with a focus in sustainable and energy efficient cities, at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. A 2020 Faith and Computer Science Interim to Zambia, along with on-campus learning and mentorship at Calvin, sparked Laurie’s interest in pursuing her current career path.

Huie was sworn in at a ceremony on June 21, 2022, during which he was robed by his wife, Michele Risany Huie ’98. He filled a judgeship vacant since October 2018.

Huie graduated from Calvin with majors in English, philosophy, history, and religion, and he received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2002.

Huie’s experience as an attorney ranges from private practice in Connecticut and California to public service, including serving for 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, where he specialized in prosecuting fraud and public corruption cases. Notably, Huie also worked for three years for the U.S. Department of Justice as a diplomat and legal advisor at U.S. Embassies in North Africa and Eastern Europe, focusing on counterterrorism.

“Rob Huie is an exceptional choice,” said Chief District Judge Dana M. Sabraw at the time of Huie’s confirmation. “He’s an exceptionally kind, gracious and warm person. … My colleagues and I are so pleased he will be joining our bench.”

Chasing the Good Life

In 2020, embracing remote work, Erin Vander Plas ’12 purchased an empty cargo van and spent six weeks retrofitting it with her dad and some friends. Now her “home on wheels,” she has used it to travel across the U.S. and Canada, accompanied by her canine companion, Lincoln.

“I started traveling at a time in my life when I was experiencing isolation from the pandemic, work burnout, and personal disappointment. Van life was a tangible way to embrace a courageous spirit and to make room for the future God has for me.”

During the summer of 2022, Vander Plas took a sabbatical from her San Franciscobased career at a large biotech firm to focus on travel and well-being. “My job is highly strategic, and I had put a lot of identity into my work. I really wanted to decouple my worth from my productivity.”

A growing sub-culture, especially since the pandemic, van life has offered Vander Plas unexpected opportunities, from spending more time with family to reconnecting with fellow Calvin alum Ben Landheer ’14 and his wife, Malory, who documented their van life on social media from 2020-2022. She also appreciates finding common ground with fellow travelers of diverse backgrounds. “It’s refreshing and beautiful to connect with

people. We have more alike with each other across the country than we do divides.”

Vander Plas, who chronicles her adventures on the social media platform Instagram, commonly fields questions about traveling alone as a woman. Though she encounters challenges on the road, such as waking up after an overnight storm without cell service to her van stuck in the mud, she never feels unsafe. “I hope sharing my story empowers women to believe traveling solo is something they can do.”

At Calvin, Vander Plas balanced academics and athletics, playing volleyball all four years. She co-captained the women’s volleyball team to its first national title in 2010, under coach Amber Warners. She says returning to campus for a recent team alumni event felt like “coming home.”

“Calvin was a place of immense growth. I walked away with some special friendships and built character through mentorship and sports. I still remember my mentor, Aaron Winkle, saying to me senior year, ‘Continue to ask yourself, what is the good life?’”

Vander Plas carries that advice with her. Though she has returned to San Francisco and an office, she still lives full time in her van. She says the lifestyle keeps her focused

Anaiah Zainea ’18 was recently promoted to the position of private wealth management vice president at Goldman Sachs, a global financial institution.

07 Anchor Construction (Granger, Indiana) completed a project for manufacturer of plastic films, Transcendia, outside of Columbus, Ohio. Project manager Daniel Weaver ’16 led the complete design and build of the 60,000 square-foot building. His team included professional engineers Austin Kearby ’16, who conducted the civil site design; Ryan Byma ’16, who completed the structural design, and Matthew Smith ’13, who served as the project manager of design. The team, representing four of the six Calvin alumni who work together at Anchor, values “the collaboration and teamwork instilled in them while at Calvin.”

From left to right: Ryan Byma ’16, Matthew Smith ’13, Daniel Weaver ’16. (Not present: Austin Kearby ’16, who recently moved back to Kenya, but continues to work remotely for Anchor Construction.)

on what matters most to her: community, family, health, and her relationship with Christ.

When asked if she will hit the road again anytime soon, she answers, “We’ll see! Alternative lifestyles excite me, and van life might only be the start of living in creative ways.”

Erin Vander Plas at the Sawtooth Mountains in Stanley, Idaho

05

09 Spring

Jean

06

07

08

10 Think of Good

Rochelle

Self-published

11 Gotta

Rochelle

Self-published

12 Young Adult Literature and Spirituality: How to Unlock Deeper Understanding with Class Discussion

Bill Boerman-Cornell ’88, Deborah Vriend Van Duinen ’98, Kristine Alatheia Mensonides Gritter ’91, and Xu Bian Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

01 Mouseboat Larissa Theule ’01, illustrated by Abigail Halpin Viking

02 Under the Wings of God: Twenty Biblical Reflections for a Deeper Faith Cornelius Plantinga ’67, president emeritus, Calvin Theological Seminary Brazos Press

03 A Mindful Moment: 5-Minute Meditations and Devotions Irene Kraegel, Director of the Calvin Center for Counseling and Wellness Zonderkidz

04 A Hidden Wisdom: Medieval Contemplatives on Self-Knowledge, Reason, Love, Persons, and Immortality

Christina Van Dyke ’94, professor emerita of philosophy Oxford University Press

Talking to Kids about Race: An Introductory Guide to Building Foundations for Racial Equity in Early Childhood Anissa Adkins Eddie ’05 Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance

Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action Kyle Meyaard-Schaap ’12 InterVarsity Press

The Mediterranean Dish: 120 Bold and Healthy Recipes You’ll Make on Repeat Suzy Kades Karadsheh ’01 Clarkson Potter

Spring Flower Book 2: Facing the Red Storm Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, edited by Richard Perkins Hsung ’88 Earnshaw Books

Flower Book 3: Torn Between Shifting Worlds

Tren-Hwa Perkins, edited by Richard Perkins Hsung ’88 Earnshaw Books

Things

S. Ruiz, illustrated by Pennie Hale Mirande ’00

Give It to God!

S. Ruiz, illustrated by Pennie Hale Mirande ’00

Suzy Kades Karadsheh ’01 holds up her New York Times best seller The Mediterranean Dish: 120 Bold and Healthy Recipes You'll

recently returned to Calvin as part of her book tour.

ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT

on

Bringing Bold Flavors to Every Table

Suzy Kades Karadsheh ’01 released her debut cookbook The Mediterranean Dish: 120 Bold and Healthy Recipes You’ll Make on Repeat in September 2022. In just under a month, the title became a New York Times best seller and landed her in the spotlight, as she cooked on Good Morning America and CNN, and was mentioned in prominent media outlets like Forbes, Real Simple, and the Food Network.

Karadsheh returned to Calvin on December 1, 2022, to share her love of hospitality, healthy ingredients, and bold flavors. During the public event at the Prince Conference Center, she cooked and spoke about her journey from Egypt to Calvin.

Karadsheh was born and raised by the shores of the Mediterranean in Port Said, Egypt. She fondly remembers her mother’s “vibrant kitchen” where she learned the “hospitality and love that accompanies the bright, bold flavors of the Mediterranean.”

A couple of years after graduating from Calvin, Karadsheh returned to work for her alma mater as its annual fund director. In 2014, her husband’s career took their family out-of-state.

Looking for a new direction, Karadsheh decided to combine her love of writing, cooking, and culture to start a blog called The Mediterranean Dish. What began as a way to help her Michigan-born daughters appreciate the flavors and heart of her homeland soon amassed quite a following. Since its inception, the site has served more than 100 million readers seeking to live a healthier lifestyle and millions more through the company’s social channels.

Karadsheh uses her growing platform to share three simple values with her readers and followers: “eat with the seasons; use mostly whole foods; and above all, share.”

Make

Repeat. Karadsheh

Deaths

HERITAGE

(graduated more than 50 years ago)

Larry Alderink ’62

Oct. 31, 2022, Minnetonka, Minn.

Naomi Allspach ex’58

Oct. 15, 2022, Parkersburg, Iowa

Donald Alsum ’61

Dec. 29, 2022, Winona, Minn.

Marcia Moes Anema ex’44

April 21, 2022, Denver, Colo.

Gerald Bakker ’55

Nov. 7, 2022, Grand Haven, Mich.

Mary Lou Tinholt Belote ’67

Dec. 17, 2022, Bonita Springs, Fla.

Duane Beukema ’50

Dec. 17, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Clarice Kredit Blankers ex’57

Sept. 4, 2021, Kennesaw, Ga.

Laurel Arendsen Bonnema ’65

March 22, 2022, Zeeland, Mich.

David Bonnema ex’66

Dec. 20, 2022, Zeeland, Mich.

Ramon Borrego HON

Aug. 31, 2022, Miami, Fla.

Charles Bos ’72

Jan. 2, 2023, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Donald Bratt ’55

Oct. 5, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Frances “Jo Ann” Bulthuis ’64

May 31, 2022, Oldsmar, Fla.

Kenneth Bylsma Jr. ’72

Oct. 21, 2022, Pinckney, Mich.

Frederick Cousino Jr. ’60

Dec. 9, 2022, Hudsonville, Mich.

Walter Dahnke ’62

Nov. 18, 2022, Fayetteville, Tenn.

Alvin De Kam ’66

Oct. 3, 2022, Fremont, Mich.

Carlene Gabe De Roo ’61

Jan. 9, 2021, Williamsville, N.Y.

Gerald Deters ’70

Jan. 4, 2023, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Bruce Dice ex’48

Nov. 5, 2022, Spring, Texas

Norman Duininck ex’61

Jan. 9, 2023, Prinsburg, Minn.

Gertrude Bolt Erffmeyer ex’61

Nov. 30, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Arnold Essenburg ’61

Dec. 12, 2022, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Phyllis Huizenga Fritzsch ’63

April 21, 2020, Johnson, N.Y.

Betty Sikkema Gerritsen ’55

Nov. 8, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Marcella Walhof Gulker ex’56

Dec. 11, 2022, Bothell, Wash.

Wilbur Haak ’56

Sept. 7, 2022, Tucson, Ariz.

Jeannette Slager Harter ’62

Dec. 13, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Nellie Harthorn ’56

Dec. 30, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Adelene Haverhals ’61

Sept. 12, 2022, Lynden, Wash.

Marian Gelder Heerema ’57

Jan. 3, 2023, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Gary Helder ’72

Dec. 29, 2022, Shelbyville, Mich.

Roger Hendricks ’51

Dec. 26, 2022, Centennial, Colo.

Robert Holkeboer ’65

Aug. 28, 2022, Saline, Mich.

Kenneth Holleman ’50

Dec. 3, 2022, Saint Germain, Wis.

Stanton Holthouse ’56

Nov. 2, 2022, Willard, Ohio

Larry Johnson ’71

Feb. 28, 2022, Holland, Mich.

Delbert Kamerman ex’67

Sept. 26, 2022, Manhattan, Mont.

Suzanne Huizenga Kanis ex’57

Oct. 19, 2022, Holland, Mich.

Stuart Kingma ’56

Dec. 17, 2022, Rolle, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland

Mary Beth Weeber Kleinheksel ’57

Oct. 15, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Arnold Koekkoek ’55

June 30, 2022, Hawarden, Iowa

Marilyn De Jonge Koops ’53

Nov. 25, 2022, Highland Park, N.J.

Richard Kreuzer ’64

Nov. 15, 2022, Hudsonville, Mich.

Charlotte Fonger Larsen ’58

Dec. 9, 2022, Dexter, Mich.

John Link ex’58

Oct. 9, 2022, Grandville, Mich.

Ruth Van Laar Link ’61

Oct. 14, 2022, Grandville, Mich.

Helen Hoogland Meulink ’53

Nov. 22, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

James Meurer ’62

Nov. 1, 2022, Bay City, Texas

Celeen Lemke Neumann ex’56

Oct. 1, 2022, Kenosha, Wis.

Paul Oostendorp ex’63

Jan. 1, 2023, Jenison, Mich.

Eldon Pals ’69

Nov. 17, 2022, Jenison, Mich.

E. Suzanne Leestma Pettinga ’44

Oct. 10, 2022, Holland, Mich.

Joyce Veldheer Polly ex’54

Sept. 28, 2022, Platte, S.D.

John Rickers ’52

Dec. 1, 2022, Norfolk, Va.

Gerhard Ritsema ’64

Jan. 5, 2023, Laguna Woods, Calif.

Wendell Schaal ’59

May 19, 2022, Kentwood, Mich.

John Sterk ’58

Nov. 12, 2022, Byron Center, Mich.

Robert Strikwerda ’72

Dec. 3, 2022, Saint Louis, Mo.

Lois Gesink Tinklenberg ’53

Dec. 28, 2022, Zeeland, Mich.

Berton Van Antwerpen ’59

Jan. 10, 2023, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Audrey Gebben Van Eerden ex’62

Sept. 5, 2022, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Martha Peters Van Genderen ’58

Nov. 22, 2022, Jackson, Wyo.

Dorothy Lindemulder Van Hamersveld ex’51

Nov. 6, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

John Van Ryn ’53

July 1, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Henry Van Til ex’65

Sept. 27, 2022, Spring Lake, Mich.

James Vanden Berge ’57

Nov. 4, 2022, Naperville, Ill.

Daryl Vander Kooi ’63

Nov. 6, 2022, Sioux Center, Iowa

Judson Vander Wal ’60

Sept. 4, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Frances Vanderweg Vander Wall ’52

Dec. 19, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Richard Vander Zyden ’52

Dec. 2, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Clarence Velgersdyk ’52

Dec. 2, 2022, Bloomington, Minn.

Julius Vigh ’61

Nov. 30, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Henrietta Stam Vissia ’69

Dec. 11, 2022, Palo Alto, Calif.

Lester Wallinga ’59

Dec. 22, 2022, Jenison, Mich.

Lloyd Wolters ’52

Oct. 7, 2022, Holland, Mich.

Marjorie Medema Wrisley ex’52

Dec. 5, 2022, Everett, Wash.

John Zegers ’57

Dec. 4, 2022, Gloucester, Ontario, Canada

1970s

Stanley Bossenbroek ’75

Aug. 31, 2022, Plover, Wis.

Deborah De Jong Heyboer ’79

Sept. 24, 2022, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Stephen Jansma ex’75

Dec. 29, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Sandra Meppelink Klassen ’74

Dec. 12, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Martha Datema Lipscomb ’74

Oct. 4, 2021, South Padre Island, Texas

Ronald Vander Lugt ’77

Sept. 10, 2022, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Daniel Vredevoogd ex’73

May 21, 2021, Grandville, Mich.

1980s

Dan Beukelman ex’88

Dec. 15, 2022, Ripon, Calif.

Mary Snyder Casey ’81

Dec. 21, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

James Cnossen Jr. ex’84

July 9, 2019, Holland, Mich.

Sara Datema Lipscomb ’80

May 27, 2022, Chicago, Ill.

1990s

Randall Smit ’90

Dec. 2, 2022, Holland, Mich.

Christopher Smit ’96

Jan. 4, 2023, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Cameron Tracy ’98

March 1, 2021, Alameda, Calif.

Jeffrey Wykstra ’93

Aug. 3, 2022, Grand Rapids, Mich.

David Zylstra ’90

Dec. 14, 2022, Kentwood, Mich.

ALUMNI

Seeking Beauty, Finding God

“My goal as an artist is to make art that’s part of a conversation. My favorite question is: How can beauty, honesty, and wondering change the world? And my second question is: What does it mean to be an artist in community—a community where we seek to treat each other as beautiful?

When I’m out in the field collecting images, I find myself holding a conversation with my Creator through the subjects that I capture. I see, hear, smell, and touch God as I move through the dunes, wetlands, streams, forests, fields, and urban and rural settings. I say prayers in return—prayers of thanksgiving for the beauty, prayers for healing brokenness, and prayers that simply acknowledge the greatness of our Creator.”

—Photographer Robert deJonge ’78

GO BEYOND YOUR REACH

You’ve experienced how Calvin University inspires students to think deeply, act justly, and live wholeheartedly. Now, with a growing number of master’s degrees and professional development opportunities, you can gain new skills and continue to go beyond—as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world.

Learn more at: calvin.edu/go-beyond

CALVIN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

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APRIL 17–21

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