Archives: News Stories

Origami has become an increasingly popular tool to use in primary, secondary, and college education. Paper-folding is also enjoyed as a hobby by many, including Mary Webster Moore, assistant professor of education.

Origami is not only a hobby for Moore, it is an instructional strategy she encourages future teachers to use in their classrooms. She also teaches origami to both education and non-education majors during Trinity’s two-week Interim in January.

The Interim class provides an opportunity for students to develop a new and exciting hobby and to gain insight into incorporating paper-folding into classes and other group activities. Students are also required to teach someone else the models that they have learned at three different points during the two week

For nursing major Caroline Klingbeil ’14 of Chesterton, Indiana, the class was her first experience with origami. Klingbeil constructed a swan with 430 strips of paper.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. It was a lot of fun, and it’s definitely something I’ll keep doing for enjoyment in the future,” she said.

Dr. Patti Powell, professor of education, is beginning her work as a Fulbright Scholar at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay, Jamaica. From January through May 2011, Powell will assist with the development of the college’s new deaf education program. In addition, she will introduce service learning into the curriculum and research how service learning enriches the experience of teacher.

In order to share her experience with the Trinity community, family, friends, and colleagues, Powell is documenting her journey through her blog “Jammin’ in Jamaica.” She invites all to visit her here: http://pattipowell.wordpress.com/

Powell, who is also director of the Alexander De Jong Center for Special Education at Trinity, has spent the past ten years leading Interim trips each January to the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf (CCCD). During the Jamaica Interim 2011, a service-learning experience, Trinity students had the opportunity to work at the CCCD on various projects and interact with the children who attend the CCCD after school. Students also experienced the Jamaican culture by traveling to Ocho Rios, climbing Dunns River Falls, and shopping in the straw market.

Read the January 2011 Interim blog.

Read more about Powell’s Fulbright award.

The Trinity community mourns the loss of Rev. Dr. Arthur DeKruyter, one of the founders of Trinity Christian College as well as the founding pastor and senior pastor emeritus of Christ Church of Oak Brook. Dr. DeKruyter passed away Friday, January 14, 2011.

DeKruyter was one of the 10 men who served on the Christian Junior College Committee formed in 1953 to study the feasibility of establishing a Christian junior college in the Chicagoland area. Those early meetings paved the way for the formation of Trinity, first as a two-year institution and eventually a four-year, baccalaureate-degree granting college.

DeKruyter served as the committee’s chairman and later as chairman of the Board of Trustees. On many occasions he addressed meetings of classes and other organizations to gain support for the college movement.

“That was our assignment,” DeKruyter reminisced during a 2009 interview for Trinity’s 50^th anniversary. “I felt very responsible for getting the Chicagoland people involved in something like this.”

In 2009, DeKruyter began the 50^th Jubilee anniversary celebration with a campus chapel message for students, faculty, and staff on October 2. He then offered the invocation at the Jubilee formal dinner and program at Navy Pier.

In another recent demonstration of his ongoing devotion to the College, DeKruyter donated his personal pastoral library, which will be housed in the Dutch Heritage Center of the Jennie Huizenga Memorial Library and will provide access to works of relevance for pastors as well as Trinity faculty and students.

DeKruyter is survived by his daughter Lucette and son-in-law Thomas Bamford; his grandsons Tab (Kristin) and Arthur; and his great-grandchildren Thomas and Robert. He was preceded in death by his wife Gladys.

Arrangements as published on the website of Christ Church of Oak Brook are as follows:

Visitation with the family will be held at Christ Church of Oak Brook on Tuesday, January 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m.

A private burial will be conducted on Wednesday morning, attended by family and invited guests only.

A memorial service will be held in the sanctuary on Wednesday, January 19, at 7 p.m. This service will also be broadcast live on the church’s website at www.cc-ob.tv. A reception will follow the memorial service in the fellowship hall. All are invited.

For more information, visit:  http://www.cc-ob.org/dekruyter/

The Watoto Children’s Choir will once again be performing at Trinity. The free concert will be held Tuesday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Ozinga Chapel.

The choir is made up of 22 Ugandan orphans who are among the 2 million children who have lost parents to war and disease.

At its first appearance at Trinity in 2007, the choir attracted nearly 700 visitors to the Ozinga Chapel. Audience members enjoyed the musical and dance gifts of these children and also heard testimonies of how God had rescued them from hopelessness.

A free will offering will be taken to benefit the Watoto organization. For information, contact Troy Schemper at 708.293.4963 or troy.schemper@trnty.edu.

What is “Watoto”?

• In Swahili it means “children.”
• It is also an organization that has been rescuing Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS and civil war and meeting their physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs.
• It is an event that helps these children while simultaneously sharing God’s message of restoration and renewal with students, faculty, staff, and the community.

For more information about Watoto, visit: http://www.watoto.com/home.

Click here to see a video of the Watoto choir performing in Los Angeles with Chris Tomlin.

Click here to listen to the choir sing “Cast Your Burdens Unto Jesus”

Trinity Christian College has been reaccredited for 10 years by the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission.

The HLC accreditation team, composed of reviewers from various institutions of higher learning, visited the campus September 27-29 as part of the College’s periodic evaluation.

“It is affirming to have our professional accrediting body provide confirmation of our institutional strength and faithfulness to our mission,” said Dr. Steve Timmermans, president of Trinity.

Efforts in the report preparation and during the accreditation team’s visit were led by Dr. Sharon Robbert, dean for academic planning and effectiveness.

Below are some excerpts from the HLC report:

• In nearly every meeting with students, faculty, and administrators the spiritual focus of the college was evident. A strong sense of spirituality permeates the learning environment, both among the traditional students and the adult program students.

• It is evident the college takes seriously its mission to be a Christian community of learners who are dedicated to be servant leaders in the finest of Christian traditions. Students repeatedly expressed support for faculty who were not even their own advisors or in their own major, for going out of their way to provide support and help in finding jobs, obtaining internships, and helping with assignments.

• The past ten years has not only evidenced the substantial growth of the institution’s land and physical assets, it also witnessed a strong increase in enrollment, a diversification of that enrollment, strong alumni support, and very successful fund raising. This also helps the institution secure its future, with the necessary resources to support the learning environment.

• Trinity is an engaged partner with their local community and greater Chicago area. Last year, more than a thousand hours of volunteer time was donated to local churches, charities and non-profits. Trinity College engages its local community by opening its campus facilities to them. In discussions with local community leaders, Trinity was praised for its efforts in community development and campus outreach.

To obtain a copy of the full report, please contact Deborah Vincent in the president’s office at deborah.vincent@trnty.edu.

Trinity has announced the appointment of alumnus James Belstra ’91 to the position of vice president for business and finance.

Belstra, a certified public accountant with nearly 20 years of experience in the finance industry, will serve as the chief financial officer of the College. As a member of the president’s administrative council, he represents the division of the College which includes financial and business operations, human resources, and auxiliary operations.

When Belstra was a Trinity student, the College was breaking ground on the library where his office is now located. He majored in accounting and served as treasurer for the Student Association. Since his graduation, Belstra, who grew up in DeMotte, Indiana, has lived and worked in the area and kept close ties with his alma mater.

“It is nice to be back ‘home,’” said Belstra of his official return to campus. “‘Home is just a lot bigger now.”

He also said he is looking forward to working with colleagues with whom he has some long-standing professional relationships and building on what has been established in the financial operations division of the College.

Belstra resides in Tinley Park, Illinois, with his wife Renee and their three children Melanie, Katelyn, and Matthew, all of whom attend Southwest Chicago Christian School.

“We are just two people of about nine million in this city, and we’ve been called to do a specific job working with certain students, teaching, discipling, and preparing them to do the work that they are called to do in God’s kingdom,” said Rebecca (VanderWilt) McKeever ’10.

Rebecca and her husband Ryan are currently teaching at El Camino Academy in Bogotá, Colombia, where Rebecca did her student teaching while enrolled as a Spanish education major at Trinity. She also minored in English-as-a-Second Language (ESL), and since approximately 85 percent of the students are learning English as a second—or even third or fourth—language, the experience proved to provide excellent experiential learning for the future teacher.

This initial student teaching experience also planted the seed for Rebecca to return to Bogotá with husband Ryan a month after they were married in June 2010.

“We knew we needed to go where we could serve but at the same time receive a lot of support, as this is our first year of marriage, and we are both first-year teachers,” said Rebecca. “Because I had student taught at El Camino, I knew that this would be a school where we could grow together and gain experience in a supportive Christian environment.”

Ryan teaches Bible class for grades 5-8, and he serves as the middle school chaplain. Rebecca teaches language arts and social studies for 6th grade, and she provides ESL support in the middle school.

El Camino Academy

El Camino Academy started as a school solely for missionary children, but has grown so that now mostly Colombian students attend. None of Rebecca’s students speak English as their first language.

“I’m always teaching them new vocabulary and answering questions like, ‘How do you say…?’ I’m so glad that I learned Spanish, not only because I can translate for students when necessary, but also because I know what it’s like to learn a second language, and I can identify with their struggles.”

One of the school’s main focuses is ministry. The goal is for students to take what they’ve learned at the school and use it to serve God and to serve people wherever they go.

“We’ve gone with our classes to after-school programs, orphanages, and other ministries,” said Rebecca. “It’s great to see God working through our students.”

Being Prepared

Many opportunities at Trinity prepared Rebecca well for her work abroad.

“My experience at Trinity was very rich and full,” she said.

Rebecca spent a semester in Spain and a semester student teaching off campus. Her involvement in Trinity’s Semester in Spain program reinforced her language skills so that she arrived in Bogotá able to communicate in Spanish. In addition to the two months student teaching at El Camino, Rebecca’s second student teaching experience was in a dual-immersion 3rd grade classroom in Blue Island, Illinois, where she taught in both Spanish and English.

During her capstone project for the College’s Honors Program, Rebecca conducted a study on the experience of students with English as a second language on Trinity’s campus. She discovered how language and cultural differences affect the learning and social lives of multilingual students.

Continuing the work

“We love our friends in Bogotá, most of who are teachers at the school. We like the fresh fruits and vegetables. We like looking out our apartment windows and seeing the mountains. We like walking and taking public transportation everywhere and being amongst Bogotanos. We love our students and their families– they’ve really helped us feel at home,” said Rebecca.

The McKeevers plan to work in Bogotá for the next two years. They work as volunteers in order to subsidize the cost of education for the missionary and ministry families who attend El Camino. Although the school provides a stipend, which covers rent, the couple depends on funds from supporters in the United States.

“We have to trust God to take what he’s begun in our students and what he’s begun in us and carry it on to completion.”

For more information, visit the McKeevers’ blog at http://rrmckvr.weebly.com.

The Trinity Christian College community is deeply saddened by the loss of 22-year old student Giselle Charissah McComb of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Giselle passed away on Tuesday, December 28, 2010, from injuries sustained in a car accident in Wadsworth, Illinois.

She was the daughter of Michael and Janice (Newsted) McComb, of Pleasant Prairie.  Giselle grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, attending Christian Life High School and was currently a senior at Trinity. She is survived by her parents; her two brothers, Jonathan McComb and Kendrick McComb, both of Pleasant Prairie; and her sister, Kaci McComb of Pleasant Prairie. She is further survived by one grandmother, one grandfather, and other relatives and friends.

Giselle was pursuing a double major in psychology and criminal justice at Trinity. She served as the president of the College’s Criminal Justice Club. She was currently working hand-in-hand with the Cook County Sheriff’s office to develop a program in which young offenders were given information about turning their lives around through education, with an emphasis on helping these young offenders earn a high school diploma and continue in their education at the college level.  Giselle had just been accepted into graduate school to study forensic psychology.

Visitation and the funeral service were held on Sunday, January 2, 2011, at the Proko Funeral Home in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the family would be greatly appreciated. Visit Giselle’s Online Memorial Book at www.prokofuneralhome.com.

The Trinity community will remember Giselle during chapel at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 26.

Please uphold the family in your prayers.

Sandy Aggen ’10 graduated from the Adult Studies program at Trinity, receiving her diploma during the Commencement ceremony on December 18, 2010. Aggen is also an employee of the Adult Studies department at the College but never planned to pursue her education when she first came to Trinity in August 2005.

With an associate’s degree from Fox College, she had no expectation of furthering her education. Aggen was inspired and began to rethink her educational future as she observed Lori Scrementi ’00, director of the Adult Studies program, balance her career, her family, and her pursuit of her doctoral degree.

“When I saw that Lori could do it, I thought maybe I could as well,” said Aggen. “Once I mentioned it to her, she was very encouraging. I also had lots of support at home,” said Aggen.  So in September 2008, Aggen entered the Adult Studies business program.

While going through the program, Aggen, who serves as the student relations coordinator in the department, was able to share her first-hand knowledge of the program with prospective students.

“I can really empathize with their obligations of family and work, because I have the same demands on my time. But when they hear that I am able to work through the program, it encourages them,” she said.

With aspirations of teaching college, Aggen took a week off when the program ended in August 2010 and then began a master’s degree program at Gonzaga University. “I feel very prepared for the program. The high expectations at Trinity in reading and writing have served me well in the next level of my education.”

Aggen walked in the graduation ceremony in December 2010 with the rest of her Adult Studies cohort. Her family and co-workers were present to help her celebrate this milestone.

Adjunct Professor Tricia Paarlberg has learned from her experiences—from living in Asia for several years to traveling to India on a group Fulbright as a student at Columbia College. She knows the importance of learning through experience and gives her Trinity students the same opportunity.

Paarlberg may engage geography students by taking them to Chicago to enjoy Indian cuisine or by involving them in a service project at the Chicago Food Depository. Recently her education students benefited from an entirely different project. Twenty-five Trinity education students were partnered with 25 students in grades 6-8 from Southwest Christian School in Oak Lawn, Illinois, for an experiential learning opportunity.

With the goal of developing Individualized Self Instruction Modules, or SIMS, the Trinity students met on different occasions with their junior high counterparts before creating lesson plans designed to meet the specific interests and learning needs of their assigned students.

“This was a practice experience for the education students that they were able to see played out,” said Paarlberg.

The lesson plans, which included topics such as Egyptology and physical education, were recorded on CDs and administered by Southwest. Trinity’s future teachers then visited with their students to follow up and gather feedback on each child’s individual experience.

Junior Vanessa Noonan of Oak Lawn, Illinois, worked with a sixth grader interested in history, so Noonan decided to base her SIM on Native American history. In it she included activities about fossils and the first Thanksgiving, and explained the differences between Disney’s Pocahontas and the actual historical figure.

“When I met with my student and saw how well she did on the SIM, I was floored,” said Noonan. “She put so much work into the project. What I learned most about students through this assignment is that as teachers, we cannot underestimate the great potential that each student has.”

Senior Kathy Hossink of Byron Center, Michigan, said, “This project was beneficial for me because it equipped me with another tool to use as a teacher, and then gave me practice implementing it. I can see myself using a SIM for some of my general education students and especially for my special education students.”

Paarlberg received her master’s degree in multicultural education from Columbia College in Chicago and her bachelor’s degree in history and business from Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Paarlberg completed her student teaching through Trinity at Timothy Christian School.