CAMPUS NEWS
Plaster Creek Stewards work to restore the local watershed.
PLASTER CREEK STEWARDS RECEIVES TWO GRANTS The Plaster Creek Stewards is a Calvin University initiative that was founded in 2009. Faculty, staff, and students work with local schools, churches, and community partners to restore the health and beauty of the Plaster Creek watershed in Grand Rapids. Earlier this year, the group received two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants. One extends its curb-cut rain garden initiative in the Alger Heights, Garfield Park, and Oakdale neighborhoods. The other funds the planting of 390 trees in the watershed. Both projects began in summer 2020 and will finish fall 2021. Next summer will be especially busy for Plaster Creek Stewards because they were also awarded a $806,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy that begins this fall and extends to December 2022. This grant allows the group to perform a large floodplain restoration project, add additional rain gardens, and to install permeable pavement in the parking lot of one of its church partners.
SAO director Jack Droppers hosts a variety show called The ToKnight Show.
SAO: CONSISTENTLY CREATIVE If you want to experience a bit of Calvin, head over to the Student Activities Office’s YouTube channel. You’ll find mini-concerts, discussions, and episodes of The ToKnight Show, a weekly variety show.
have in common is the ability to adapt to changing culture,” Droppers said. The work of the SAO this year has been funded in part by students, alumni, and friends who donated more than $45,000 to the Save SAO campaign in 2019.
SAO director Jack Droppers has had to think creatively to safely engage students in the ongoing discussion of how Christians should engage with popular culture. Droppers has also organized in-person events such as small outdoor concerts and films.
“That money was used to augment the hours of the SAO director to nearly full time through the 2020-21 academic year,” said vice president for student life Sarah Visser. “Absent additional donor funding, after this school year, the role will continue at 60%.”
“This year has been a weird year for everyone at Calvin and everyone in both the live music industry and movie industry. However, one of the gifts all three of these
The university seeks donor partners interested in endowing the work of the Student Activities Office. To donate, contact Melanie Lyons at mnl2@calvin.edu.
VISIT YOUTUBE Search for “Calvin SAO” on YouTube to see videos from the Student Activities Office.
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