Strategies for Learning: Convocation Shares Success Stories: Photogallery
Wednesday’s Convocation welcomed new students, delivered encouraging messages from Trinity’s new president, Kurt Dykstra, and Professor of the Year Dave Klanderman, started the semester on a worshipful note.
In his address “Strategies for Learning Optimization,” Professor of Mathematics Dave Klanderman, Ph.D., shared many inspiring stories of alumni who maximized their Trinity educations and are living out their callings in a variety of careers.
Read these inspiring stories and Klanderman’s five strategies for optimizing the college experience.
Following the faculty and staff procession, Prayer Ministry Leader Benjamin Hoekstra ’17 of Andover, Minnesota, gave the invocation. Dr. Craig Mattson, professor of communication arts, and Megan Hanafee-Major ’16 of New Richmond, Wisconsin, led the audience in the litany reading based on Psalm 50.
Prior to the benediction by Chaplain Willis Van Groningen, Ph.D., Interim Provost Sharon Robbert, Dean of Students Mark Hanna, and Student Association President Halie Wisse ’16 of Oostburg, Wisconsin, offered prayers.
By Dr. Dave Klanderman, Professor of Mathematics and Professor of the Year
2015-16 Convocation address
Thank you Provost Robbert for those kind words of introduction.
Fellow members of the Trinity community, it is my privilege to offer a few words that may serve as a frame of reference as we begin this academic year.
Although many of my faculty colleagues are equally deserving, I was honored to be named the Professor of the Year. I view the award as an indicator of the excellent teaching that is done across the college. In my own career at Trinity, I particularly value the opportunity to work closely with students in the learning process, to collaborate with students and faculty colleagues on a variety of research endeavors, and to join students and departmental colleagues in service opportunities such as the Trinity Math Triathlon. It is with this mindset of my role at Trinity that I offer these remarks.
To set the context, I first ask each student to fast-forward in time to the day of your graduation. For some of you, this may mean looking no further than December 12, while for others it means looking several years into the future. As you picture yourself wearing one of these overly warm robes and unusually-shaped hats, ask yourself the following question: Did I maximize the value of my learning experiences while at Trinity Christian College? That is, did I take of advantage of opportunities to go beyond the minimum requirement, to dig a little deeper, to have a fuller academic and co-curricular experience? Or, was I merely marking time and crossing out days on the calendar until my graduation day – or perhaps the day I begin my first “real” job?
I want to prompt you to live a little more deeply into your current calling as a college student and I do this by offering several strategies. These strategies will allow you to optimize your overall learning experience. With your faculty mentors assisting you, we can together fulfill an important aspect of Trinity’s mission; namely, “to graduate students who are well-equipped to bring the discipline of rigorous academic work into their chosen vocation and the practice of Christ-like service toward others into their personal and public lives.”
Mathematically-minded members of our audience may remember the topic of optimization as part of a calculus course. For those desiring this more specific topic, there are still a few seats available in my Math 211 (Multivariable Calculus) course on MWF at 2:25pm in GR110. For the rest of us, I now offer a series of strategies of a more general nature. For each one, I will offer an example or two from students that I have taught during my 25 years at the college. I will also connect the strategy to one or more of my Trinity faculty colleagues who also happen to be Trinity alumni. My apologies in advance to nearly a dozen additional Trinity alumni who are my faculty colleagues but are not included in my remarks.
So, let’s begin…
Strategy #1: Go further – Did you know that Trinity sponsors semester-long programs in both downtown Chicago and Seville, Spain?
Spending an entire semester, or perhaps a portion of the summer, in one of these programs can expand your view of the world and your future vocational role within it. Among my former students who have completed one of these programs, I briefly mention two. Emily Ward completed the Chicago Semester prior to her graduation from Trinity in 2009. As part of this experience, she completed an internship as part of an exhibits management team at the Field Museum of Natural History. As sometimes happens with these internships, she was offered a full-time job at the Field Museum at the end of her Chicago semester experience. Since graduating, Emily has worked as part of a creative team to design digital stories to accompany major exhibits at the museum including one entitled Mammoths and Mastodons. Cara Tacoma Kuiper was a classmate of Emily and completed the Semester in Spain program while at Trinity. She later taught middle school math at a charter school in Chicago in a context where fluency in multiple languages is an asset. Both of these students chose to go a bit further and were rewarded with an incredible journey and a wider lens through which to view the world. As a link to my Trinity faculty colleagues, I mention Dr. Mackenzie Huyser. Dr. Huyser graduated from Trinity with a social work concentration and later return to the college to design the current social work major. She later served as both professor and chairperson of the social work department. Her current role is the Director of the Chicago Semester program. If you decide to pursue this semester program, then you will meet her at some point in the future.
Strategy #2: Education majors — Go further as you teach students – Did you know that you can elect to complete one of your student teaching placements in a location outside the Chicago area, perhaps outside of Illinois, or even in a different country?
Trinity education majors have access to a wonderful diversity of school settings in Chicago, the surrounding suburbs, and nearby rural communities. However, those who are willing to go further can apply to complete a student teaching placement in another state or even another country. Among the May 2015 graduating class, I offer two examples from my department. Kelly Ludwig worked with Navajo students at Rehoboth Christian School in New Mexico. These experiences helped her secure her current teaching position at Trinity Christian High School in California. Chad Westenbroek completed a placement at a missionary school in China. He shared his blog of his incredible experiences with me and I could see how his life was enriched even as he helped his students learn. He later received three different job offers before accepting a position teaching middle school mathematics at Redlands Christian School in California. As a link to my Trinity faculty colleagues, although there are at least five Trinity alumni in the Education Department, I mention Dr. Joy Meyer who completed Trinity’s education program before teaching 6th grade for a number of years. In her current role, Dr. Meyer oversees these teaching placements outside the Chicago area and ultimately approves each teacher candidate for entry into the teaching profession.
Strategy #3: Go deeper – Did you know that you have the opportunity to complete a research project with a faculty mentor, either as part of the Honors Program, or as part of the Vander Velde Junior Scholarship Program?
In the past decade or so, I have worked with several students in a research mentoring role. Dr. Lee VanGroningen completed an honors project in Non-Euclidean geometry. After graduation from Trinity, he completed a Ph.D. in mathematics from Michigan State University and is now a mathematics professor at Anderson University in Indiana. Lauren Zylstra Ludwig and Jamie Blauw worked collaboratively with me to complete an honors project that used Geometer’s Sketchpad to develop a series of lessons for use at the high school or college level. Lauren now teaches mathematics at Highland High School in Indiana. Jamie initially taught at a missionary school in Bogota, Columbia where she had completed a student teaching placement and now works with Young Life. The Trinity faculty link to the Honors Program is Trinity alumnus Dr. Aron Reppmann who designed the program and served as its first director. He continues to teach Honors Philosophy, one of the required courses in that program.
The Vander Velde Junior Scholars program offers a scholarship to students who work as research colleagues with a faculty member. Trinity faculty alumni Dr. Lou Sytsma of the Chemistry Department and Dr. Bob Boomsma of the Biology Department have sponsored numerous Vander Velde research projects over the past decades. I recently had the privilege to work collaboratively with Dr. Bill Boerman-Cornell as we sponsored a project with Alexa Dokter Schut. She researched links to higher dimensions in young adult fantasy literature including the Harry Potter novels, the Chronicles of Narnia, and other works. Alexa recently began her graduate work in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, but we are continuing to work on multiple journal articles that build on a series of presentations made at local and regional conferences.
Strategy #4: Go deeper and use your abilities in a group setting — Did you know that you can participate in multiple musical ensembles and/or one of Trinity’s varsity athletic teams?
Although the commitment to be both a scholar and an athlete or musician is substantial, I have seen numerous examples of former students and colleagues who have excelled in both endeavors. In the process, their abilities to work in a team context have propelled them in their chosen vocations. Michelle Schurman Wigboldy served as a co-captain of Trinity’s women’s volleyball team as she simultaneously completed a double major in elementary education and mathematics education. Each spring, she returns to Trinity with her middle school math students from Crown Point Christian School in Indiana as they participate at the Trinity Math Triathlon. Lynne DeYoung, an accounting and math double major, competed on the track and field team while at Trinity and now works as the Director of Finance and Administration at the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau. Logan Vos, an accounting major with a math minor, participated on the men’s golf time while at Trinity and now serves as an investment banker at Rabobank in New York City. Among a number of Trinity faculty alumni who were also athletes, Nursing Professors Tina Decker and Janna Schemper played women’s soccer, Physical Education Professor Shari Jurgens played women’s basketball, and Dr. Mackenzi Huyser played women’s volleyball. The common denominator of all of these Trinity alumni is a willingness to combine the teamwork of a varsity sport with their academic pursuits. Each now works as a member of a larger team in their current vocation.
Evan VanderZee probably set a record for most appearances at a Christmastide event, including concert choir, honors ensemble, wind ensemble, brass ensemble, and I might be forgetting another ensemble. In his spare time, he completed a double major in mathematics and computer science at Trinity, later completed a Ph.D. in a mathematical sub-specialty of computer science at the University of Illinois, and currently works as a programmer at Argonne National Laboratory. Courtney Rozeveld, now a high school math teacher in Florida, achieved the rare combination of concert choir, wind ensemble, and the track and field team while a student at Trinity. Among my new faculty colleagues who are also Trinity alumni, Professors Christine Scholma in Special Education and Jon VanderWoude in Chemistry both participated in concert choir and honors ensemble while students at Trinity. In addition, Dr. Aron Reppmann not only participated in both concert choir and honors ensemble while a student at Trinity, he continues to sing in the bass section of the concert choir, now as a faculty member! Dr. Helen Van Wyck, conductor of both the concert choir and the honors ensemble, told me last week that there is still room for a few more able and willing student voices in these vocal groups. I would guess that similar statements could be made about the wind ensemble and the gospel choir.
And finally … Strategy #5: Lean on God throughout the journey – especially when you choose whether or not to accept a job offer.
When I arrived on Trinity’s campus in August 1990, one of my very first students was Matt Hofman. Matt graduated from Trinity in 1993 with a math education major and was offered a teaching position at a high school in California. After much prayer and discussion with his wife and other family members, he made the difficult decision to turn down this job offer – without another offer to take its place. For Matt, it was a priority to live closer to family in Wisconsin. In God’s providence, Matt did get that additional offer, this one from Randolph Christian School – in Wisconsin. During the past 22 years, Matt has taught middle school math and Bible at Randolph and later both middle school and high school math and science at his alma mater, Central Wisconsin Christian School in Waupun, Wisconsin. He has served as a local host to several Wisconsin-based Trinity Math Triathlons, including ones attended by both of his children – who later enrolled as students at Trinity! These 2nd generation Trinity students serve as a reminder that I have been teaching at the college for a LONG time! My link to a Trinity faculty alumnus in this category is Dr. Lou Sytsma. Back in the 1970s, Lou was working as a research chemist when Trinity contacted him about an opening in the chemistry department. Ultimately, Lou accepted the offer and has served at the college for the past 38 years. During the most recent 25 of those years, he has served as a mentor to me in my work as a teacher and a scholar.
While these five strategies are not meant to be a comprehensive list of ways to optimize your learning experience at Trinity, they are meant to prompt further reflection. They are a challenge to each of us to, in the words of Trinity’s Mission Statement, “view vocation as a divine calling,” “evaluate our lives in relationship to God, to others, and to creation,” and “be co-workers with Christ in subjecting all cultural activities to the reign of God.”
So, now is the time and this is the opportunity for all of us to lean on God and to choose to go a little further and dig a little deeper with the gifts that God has provided to us in this Christian learning community.