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Spain is the usual destination for Sarah Sanford, director of marketing and recruitment for Trinity’s Semester in Spain program.

As much as she loves to travel for her job, it’s also because of the position that she recently spent time serving in one of her favorite countries, the Dominican Republic. Each year, Trinity faculty and staff receive a service time allowance to carry out God’s call to serve others locally and overseas.

Sanford first travelled to Santiago, Dominican Republic, 10 years ago with her church to work with missionary Darlene Rimer, who has provided supervision and educational support for the country’s school children for over 35 years.

While there, Sanford interacted with students, worked at the local school and church, and assisted with the Bible club Christmas party.

“Every time I visit the Dominican Republic I fall more in love with the people and their joy for life,” said Sanford. “It is a reminder to be thankful for what God has given me.”

Sanford said that she benefits greatly from her travels and is grateful that Trinity encourages and supports staff in their desire to serve since serving others is an important part of the College’s mission.

“I become a better person mentally, emotionally, and physically just by stepping out of my culture and living amongst such amazing people,” she said.

The campus community commemorated the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the annual gathering on January 21. King would have been 84 years old.

Dr. David Brodnax, Sr., associate professor of history, offered remarks on King’s “powerful peace” in his address “’ A Certain Kind of Fire’: Martin Luther King’s Call for Powerful Peace.”

“King and the other civil rights activists were able to create real change because they knew that nonviolence could be more powerful than violence,” said Brodnax. “He also made it clear that nonviolent resistance was not simply a passive murmur of discontent offered in the face of brute force.”

As part of the celebration, poetry readings were given by students Ranesha McGee ’15 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Dominique Evans ’14 of Glenwood, Illinois, and scripture readings by Tabitha Matthews, pre-college coordinator, and Jeremy Klyn ’02, director of admissions.

Dr. Dennis Connelly, associate professor of criminal justice, commented on the responsibility of Christians in responding to violence in the world, a response that would follow the words of King’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

I believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.”

The annual celebration is sponsored by the Office of Ethnic Diversity and the Ethnic Diversity Committee.

Each January, Trinity students engage in interactive learning outside the classroom during Interim, a two-week program that occurs during the break between semesters.

Read blogs from some of our overseas interims! Check back often as trips occur and updates are sent in.

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“Every day some 200 tons of extraterrestrial material enter the Earth’s porous atmosphere.”

This is how Assistant Professor of Art Ryan Thompson begins his essay “The Dark Flight of Micrometeorites.”

“The largest of these objects, meteors, become giant fireballs with the ability to light up the daytime sky and can cause local, regional, or global destruction upon impact. Others become shooting stars, neither large enough to survive their fiery trip through the atmosphere, nor small enough to escape their fate. The smallest of these materials, however, make it to the surface of the Earth as micrometeorites without much in the way of fanfare. No fiery explosions in the sky. No damage or destruction. Just a silent fall to Earth.”

Published in Making the Geologic Now, the essay, like the others in the book, highlights what the editors describe as a cultural turn towards a heightened awareness of one’s place relative to geologic events.

Thompson’s essay is accompanied by his photo of a micrometeorite on the tip of his finger.

“In my recent studio art practice, I’ve been exploring a range of complex and often strange relationships humans produce in collaboration with natural phenomena,” said Thompson. “Looking at the field of meteoritics (the study of meteorites) has been one interesting way to do this.”

For Thompson, the connection between science and art is that being a professional artist allows him to also be an “amateur geologist.”

“Because art’s main function is not scientific, it gives one the freedom to look at other discursive fields [such as geology] from a different perspective—as an amateur with a different set of goals and possible outcomes,” said Thompson.

The fall issue of TRINITY magazine is now online!

This “Real-World Success” issue features profiles of recent alumni from a variety of majors who are enjoying careers in their areas of study, including accounting, art, biology, education, and many others. Some alumni are pursuing graduate school.

Meet the newest members of the Student Association, find out more about Trinity’s pre-engineering and accounting programs, and get updates on the athletics program and facilities.

As always, there are stories about how our students, faculty, staff, and alumni are serving others locally and globally, engaging in scholarship, and partnering with organizations in Chicago.

The service learning project combined student Vicky Ranftl’s Adult Studies education with her passion to raise awareness of pulmonary hypertension (PH), a rare disorder causing intolerable blood pressure levels in the arteries between the lungs and heart.

“We were instructed to choose a subject for our project that we are passionate about,” said Ranftl at a recent presentation to fellow Adult Studies students. On the screen behind her was a picture of her granddaughter Tatiana, 6, who was recently diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension.

We were instructed to choose a subject for our project that we are passionate about.” Vicky Ranftl

Trinity’s service learning practicum is the capstone course to a new major, Elementary Education Studies. The practicum requires that students engage in 80 hours of field work to create and implement a service learning project in an educational setting.

For the project, Ranftl enlisted the students in Shepard High School’s Leo Club to collaborate with her. She integrated the project into the 9-12 grade curriculum, educating the students about PH, introducing them to Tatiana–which Ranftl said “made it real” for the students–and leading them in efforts to educate the public.

That education involved an exhibit about PH that Ranftl and the students presented at the high school. They also collected 800 signatures to send to state representatives with a request that they co-sponsor the Tom Lantos Pulmonary Hypertension Research and Education Act. The bill calls for more research and increased efforts to raise public and professional awareness. Their efforts also prompted local mayors to declare November Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month.

“Although Vicky faced substantial challenges in implementing her service-learning project, she had a goal in mind and refused to give up or settle for an easy project,” said Dr. Rhoda Mattson, associate professor of education. “She went above and beyond to implement a multi-faceted and creative project and showed evidence that she really understood what service learning is about.”

Members of the women’s soccer team were told they would not be sleeping in for one of the mornings during their time in Kissimmee, Florida, at the NCCAA national tournament. Instead, they would be making an impact on the lives of more than 30,000 people.

The team spent the morning with seven other soccer teams at Feeding Children Everywhere, a charity in Sanford, Florida, that supplies food to children around the world. The teams packaged 33,000 meals by mixing lentils, rice, and vegetables. Some of the meals went toward international aid while others will feed victims of Hurricane Sandy.

“I was willing to serve, but I quickly became excited to serve after hearing we would be making a tangible impact on the lives of over 30,000 families around the world,” said KC Roller ’13 of Lake in the Hills, Illinois.

Roller said the eight teams brought their competitive nature to the charity as well. “Being the competitive athletes we naturally are, at one point we had to make it a competition and see which team could pack three boxes of meals the fastest,” she said.

In the bigger competition—the NCCAA national tournament—the team ended with a 0-1-2 record and 8th place, finishing with a 13-10-3 overall record.

“It was nice to be able to be on a trip for soccer, but for soccer not to be the entire focus of our trip,” said Amanda Henderson ’13 of Calgary, Alberta. “Feeding Children Everywhere was a refreshing step back from focusing on my life to thinking about serving others.”

Business. Dignity. Ending poverty.

This was the focus of the Partners Worldwide Marketplace Revolution conference in November. Over the course of two days, eight junior and senior business students attended several group sessions and workshops to learn about the work of Christian business people around the world.

The conference, held at Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, Illinois, brought together professionals, business people, international workers, university students, and church leaders from more than 20 different countries. Dr. Lynn White and Professor Todd Barre, professors of business accompanied the Trinity students.

“Being a business major, I was thankful to have this opportunity where my faith is intentionally strengthened in light of the business world,” said Sarah Jongetjes ’14 of Delavan, Wisconsin. “I felt encouraged about my faith and my future profession at the conference’s completion. One speaker even pointed out that for some Christians, their mission field is the business field.”

Being a business major, I was thankful to have this opportunity where my faith is intentionally strengthened…” Sarah Jongetjes ’14

The attendance of the students and their professors was made possible by the Vander Laan Business Connections Grant, which has also provided White with opportunities to travel to Ghana and Malawi to teach financial literacy workshops to people from various businesses, ranging from farming to garment manufacturing.

Craig Kallemeyn ’13 of Alsip, Illinois, said the conference helped prepare him for his future in business.

“When business is used as a tool, it places a secondary emphasis on the business. This creates a mediocre business at best and a mission tool that reaches few people,” he said. “When a business is built to its full potential, it has the ability to transform lives of its employees, their families, and those in the surrounding community. This is a much more powerful way to perform Christ’s work through business.”

Some of the conference speakers included Bill Moore, owner of PacMoore Products; David Daniels, a representative from Chick-fil-A; and Alex Forrester, co-founder and CEO of Rising Tide Capital. 

Graduating seniors in Trinity’s Honors Program were recently recognized at an inaugural pinning ceremony, led by program director and professor of communication arts, Dr. Craig Mattson.

The Honors Program challenges and supports academically gifted students through collaborative research with publishing scholars in the field and participation in co-curricular activities.

During the ceremony, seniors Brian Hofman of Waupun, Wisconsin; Megan Regalado of Glendora, California; Trevor Schaap of Lansing, Illinois; Kimberly Van Spronsen of Escalon, California; and Daniel Thayer of Buchanan, Michigan, were honored by fellow students and professors, who offered personal thoughts and words of congratulations and blessing.

To read some of the comments offered, visit the Honors Program blog.

“I thought the pinning ceremony was extremely thoughtful in that each senior graduating from the program was given ‘tribute’ by another member of the Honors Program,” said Regalado.

Said Thayer, “It meant a lot to have current students talk about the graduates and to enjoy a time that was in honor of the hard work we put in over the years.”

In my four years in the program, I have built many friendships that will last beyond college,” said Schaap.

At the closing of the ceremony, Dr. Mattson recited verses from the Book of Isaiah. “Isaiah 61 concludes with words that aptly describe Brian, Kimberly, Trevor, Megan, and Daniel.

“’They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.’” 

Mattson plans to hold pinning ceremony every semester prior to graduation.

“The ceremony was a wonderful conclusion to the work that I had done,” said Hofman, “and I appreciated the chance to celebrate with many of the students and professors who played significant roles in my honors experience at Trinity.”

The business department has received a $50,000 2012 NetVUE Program Development Grant, which will be used to strengthen the focus on vocational calling and to develop a more integrated approach to the study and realization of vocational opportunities for students.

Trinity recognizes that, especially in today’s challenging economic climate, students and parents are focused on the connection between a college education and the opportunities afforded to students to deepen their understanding of their vocational calling.

Students and parents are focused on the connection between a college education and the opportunities afforded to students to deepen their understanding of their vocational calling.

Faculty and staff from three campus departments—academic business department, Cooper Career Center, and Trinity Business Network—will work together to develop a model program for how to support students and serve alumni and business partners with regard to vocational formation.

Currently, these three distinct programs operate separately and focus on vocational calling within the field of business to varying degrees.

“By closely examining the purpose for the work we are currently engaged in and the theological underpinnings of living out our vocations, we plan to build a sustainable model for coordinating and developing these efforts,” said Dr. Lynn White, professor of business.

She and her business department colleagues, Dr. Deborah Windes, Dr. Rick Hamilton, and Professor Kyle Harkema, will work over the next two summers to develop the model, which the group envisions could be helpful for other departments at Trinity.