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Trinity senior Leanne Koetje of Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be moving to Indonesia after graduation to take a full-time teaching position. Koetje spent seven weeks there this spring for her student teaching.
Knowing she wanted to go abroad, Koetje spent time discussing different countries with her education professor Bill Boerman-Cornell. After reading a brochure about Sekolah Pelita Harapan, an international Christian school system in Indonesia, she was immediately impressed. She then made contact with the principal and teachers of the school.
“Things just fell into place,” Koetje said, “and it worked out really well.”
Koetje spent her weeks teaching a second grade class at the Lippo Karawaci campus and fell in love with the school and students. She decided to submit an application in the event any teaching positions would open. Although Lippo Karawaci didn’t have any positions available, the Sentul City campus did. After visiting the campus and gaining support from her family, Koetje accepted the two-year contract Sentul City offered.
Koetje will return after her graduation from Trinity to co-teach first grade with a national teacher.
“Being a first-time teacher is nerve-racking, let alone moving to a foreign country without my family,” Koetje said, but adding, “being in a Christ-centered environment my first two years will be really good for me.”
Koetje will move into a house provided by the school. With this opportunity, Koetje looks forward to focusing her salary on student loans and Indonesian transportation – a motorcycle. She plans to make the 48-hour trip to her new home the first week of July.
Light sabers, poodle skirts, Egyptians… and Shakespeare?
Trinity students in the Fine Arts in Education course are re-creating Shakespeare in new and unique ways as they team up with honors freshmen English students from Chicago’s Kelly High School. The rehearsed scenes are scheduled to be performed on Trinity’s campus on April 15.
Alumna Theresa Mathew ’06 was interested in finding a way for her Kelly freshmen English class to connect to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She contacted Bill Boerman-Cornell, assistant professor of education, and the two found an innovative way to collaborate.
Trinity and Kelly students teamed up in five separate groups. Working in the Marg Kallemeyn Theatre, each group is re-creating a significant scene from Romeo and Juliet in a different time period and setting, such as the 1950s, ancient Egypt, and even the world of Star Wars. The themes are a way for students to connect Shakespeare to a more modern setting, while integrating fun into the academic experience.
Education students gain experience working with high school students, while also providing a positive learning experience for the Kelly students. “The people in this class have a passion for the arts and for students,” said Erika Huizenga ‘11 of Highland, Indiana.
In their mentorship roles, Trinity students encourage the Kelly students by answering questions, explaining scenes, and getting them excited about Shakespeare explained Jackie Sanchez ’12 of Berwyn, Illinois.
“The time we meet will have an impact and be beneficial,” said David Hoekman ’12 of Caledonia, Michigan. Students are going to take something away from the experience, he explained, whether it is social skills, learning to express themselves, or a better understanding of the arts.
Energized by the project, Trinity students expressed a desire to see this collaboration with high school students not only continue in the future, but spread to other area high schools.
“I’m very excited about it,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s great that we’re working with high school students.”
Boerman-Cornell and Mathew received a grant from the State Farm Fellowship through Campus Compact. The grant provided the funding for the costumes and props as well as a chance for the students to see the Shakespeare production Comedy of Errors at Navy Pier in Chicago.
Three area high school students have been awarded Trinity’s Greater Chicago Christian Leadership Scholarship: Rochelle Burks of Downers Grove; Andrea Walters of Bolingbrook; and Erica-Symone Windham of Robbins.
The four-year renewable grant covers tuition costs and is awarded to students from the Chicago area who are from under-represented populations at Trinity and have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership, and Christian commitment.
Rochelle Burks—Downers Grove South High School, Downers Grove, Illinois
Burks plans to major in social work at Trinity and is highly involved at school, at church, and in her community. She is a member of many school organizations, including the marching band, Peer Leaders, National Honor Society, and the Student-Principal Advisory Board. She has served as a junior counselor at Camp Grow Ministries in Wisconsin, where she has participated since 5th grade. She has also traveled to Tennessee for mission trips and participates in her church’s music ministry.
Andrea Walters—Bolingbrook High School, Bolingbrook, Illinois
Walters is a member of the National Honor Society, has been captain of the soccer team for the past three years, and serves as a peer math tutor. She has been a volunteer with The Bridge, a ministry to former inmates, and at the local hospital. She has also traveled on a short-term mission trip to Iowa and is active in her church.
Walters plans to study physical therapy at Trinity.
Erica-Symone Windham—Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, Blue Island, Illinois
An intended nursing major, Windham has already gained knowledge in the healthcare field through an internship with Advocate Christ Medical Center and through the medical scholar program at Christ Universal Temple. At school she has been a member of various clubs and organizations, including student council, junior and varsity cheerleading, and F.A.I.T.H. Bible study group, where she was instrumental in implementing a community outreach project for children at Hope Children’s Hospital.
The three students were surprised at school with the news of their awards. Walters said she was called out of class to come to the counselor’s office for a second interview with Trinity staff. “When my mom walked into the room with congratulation balloons, I broke down in tears,” said Walters, who said she has already given a great deal of thought to playing soccer and working hard in her biology classes.
Last year’s recipients were Sam Lankah ’13 of Warrenville, Illinois, and Brenda Romo ’13 of Chicago.
Every time she and her sister played school as children, Nelvia was always the teacher.
And there must have been some gift even her parents recognized in her because they encouraged her to one day pursue teaching as a vocation. Today, Dr. Nelvia Brady, professor of business and former director of ethnic diversity, is looking back on a lifelong career in education as she prepares to retire from Trinity.
“I knew I was called from the time I was a little girl,” she said, although ‘calling’ for Brady was more defined by Proverbs 3:5-6 than by an understanding of the term.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Those paths have included working as a school counselor; assistant, then associate superintendent for Chicago Public Schools; executive director of the Coleman Fund for Children and Youth; the first African American and only female chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago; and senior vice president of an executive recruiting firm while serving as a visiting professor at Chicago State and the Art Institute of Chicago.
“When I look back, I see patterns in the work I did that I didn’t necessarily set out to do but were directed by God,” said Brady.
One such recurring theme in her work: diversity. As one of 300 minority undergrads out of the 30,000 students attending the University of Illinois in the late 1960s, Brady became active in the interests of students of color. Working in the area of diversity continued into Brady’s professional life, including work on the Chicago Public Schools for Student Desegregation Project in 1980 and later as director of ethnic diversity at Trinity.
In her business communication classes, she integrates discussions about diversity, sharing data about demographics in the context of the Bible’s view of the “demographics” of the great multitude in Revelation. The data shows an increasing number of women and minorities entering the workforce, Brady said. “I teach my students that this is the world they will work in and that they have to be able to communicate within a global context to co-workers, clients, and customers.”
According to Brady, education and diversity have revealed themselves to her throughout her life. “This has been an interesting, painful, and gratifying path, and by being a participant, I feel my presence has made it better,” said Brady. “All my professions have helped develop the attributes you want in a good teacher. A good manager, researcher, colleague, and leader.”
Although plans for retirement include a move for her and her husband Jack to Tennessee, she refers again to that verse in Proverbs, and the fact that God may direct her onto a new path there. “I am still having to trust,” she said.
Dr. Patti Powell, professor of education, has been selected for a Fulbright award to teach 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 teachers.
“The idea of service to others is something the Jamaican people live daily,” said Powell. “The concept of service learning—of taking care of your brother—resonates with them even though the term ‘service learning’ is unfamiliar.”
Powell, who is director of the Alexander De Jong Center for Special Education at Trinity, has spent the past nine years leading Interim trips each January to the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf (CCCD), which is also located in Montego Bay. She serves on its U.S. board of directors. Her efforts to incorporate service learning into the curriculum there have met with success and have served as a testament to CCCD as well as Sam Sharpe’s students and administrators.
In fact, Sam Sharpe student teachers collaborated with Trinity and CCCD students on a community service project to reach out to residents of one of the poorest areas of Montego Bay. Powell hopes to nurture the relationship between CCCD and Sam Sharpe as well as open more doors of collaboration between Sam Sharpe and Trinity.
During her five months in Jamaica, Powell is also looking forward to strengthening her personal ties with friends at CCCD and the local church. “Part of my heart is and always will be in Jamaica, and I am excited about the opportunity to spend more than one week in my ‘home away from home.’”
From the first time she volunteered at CCCD, she said God’s call for her to serve in Jamaica has been clear: “My passion and the world’s great need collided—boom!” she said, referring to her education and experience working with the deaf and being led to a Christian school for the deaf. She explained that CCCD is something of an anomaly, and to her knowledge, no Christian schools for the deaf exist in the United States.
Receiving the Fulbright will give Powell the opportunity to live out her calling to an even greater extent.
“My background and expertise, as well as my familiarity with Jamaica, service-learning, and deaf culture, have prepared me for this next phase in my professional journey, and I am confident my contribution will be of great benefit to Jamaican education and deaf culture in Jamaica,” said Powell. “I eagerly anticipate spending an extended period of time teaching and researching in a country that I love so dearly.”
As a representative of the United States in Jamaica, Powell will help fulfill the principal purpose of the Fulbright Program, which is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of the more than 150 countries that currently participate in the program.
Great food, basketball and prizes, mixed with some friends and a little fun, what’s not to love?
The annual “Hoops Happenin’” event added a little fun to dinner time on March 9. The Pepsi-sponsored event featured basketball contest games with prizes and “game-style” food, including everything from popcorn and candy bars, to pretzels and burgers. Prizes this year included a mountain bike and a variety of Pepsi products.
Creative Dining hosts the event each year, packing the Dining Hall. An undeniable synergy takes over as students come together for fun and a little friendly competition.
“I enjoyed it a lot,” junior Mike Merlino of Holland, Michigan, commented. “I thought the food was really good, and the games were a lot of fun.”
With new and exciting prizes each year Hoops Happenin’ continues to be a crowd-pleaser on campus.
“Some wonderful things have occurred,” said Pete Post ‘74, assistant professor of special education, of his Introduction to Exceptional Children course.
Trinity students in the class are being challenged in new and exciting ways, according to Post. To prepare for future interaction with students with disabilities and the parents, students in the course each choose a specific disability to study and present to the class.
Post encourages his students to “make that human connection” by bringing in people with these disabilities and/or parents of the children to talk with the class.
Senior Dan Ludwig of Crestwood, Illinois, chose to present on Tourette syndrome, and chose to read Brad Cohen’s book, Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had. Encouraged by Post to contact the author, Ludwig e-mailed Cohen and received a rapid reply.
Ludwig was able to communicate with Cohen about his project and send him a copy of his paper. Ludwig said it was exciting to hear from the author and to be able to include direct quotes in his presentation.
“I certainly walked away with a good understanding of what Tourette syndrome is,” Ludwig said.
Inspired by Ludwig’s initiative, Post contacted Cohen about speaking at Trinity for the annual Disability Awareness Week. Cohen presented on March 2 in the Ozinga Chapel.
The presentations given by the students give true-to-life descriptions and establish an understanding and empathy for people with disabilities. With the help of Trinity alumnus Jordan Huenink ’07, Post has been able to share the incredible stories and presentations with local station Channel 4.
“It’s exciting that Jordan is doing this,” Post said, as the stories have the chance to make a large impact and reach a broader audience.
The annual Faith Without Borders conference once again unified Trinity believers without racial or denominational borders. Held March 6 and 7, the conference brought 75 students and faculty together for a time of worship, discussion, and various workshops.
Student leaders Kristin Thomas ’11 and Tatyana Smith ’11, both of Chicago, Illinois, continued the work of Trinity alumna Susana Medina-Lopez ’09 who started the event on Trinity’s campus as a smaller version of the annual National Christian Multicultural Student Leaders Conference (NCMSLC), Inc. The conference gained immediate support from NCMSLC as seven Trinity students involved in Faith Without Borders were awarded for their intentional efforts and commitment to support multicultural programming throughout campus.
The conference was implemented as a way to empower student leaders and encourage cultural diversity on campus, offering two different worship services, multiple workshops, and discussion.
The two worship services were lead by the Living Hope Church worship team and featured guest speakers. The Saturday workshops offered special presentations from Trinity faculty.
“Guest speakers challenged us to work together as one body of believers and see the need for one another,” Smith said.
The Saturday morning speaker, Pastor Craig Barnett, engaged his audience, drawing them closer to God.
“Craig Barnett was an excellent choice for the morning session,” commented Professor Pedro Aviles, assistant professor of church and ministry leadership. “His words of wisdom, his exposition of the scriptures, his honesty, and humor were insightful and an inspiration to me.”
Saturday events concluded with students joining together for an ethnicity caucus intended for deeper insight into themselves and those around them; and a showing of the movies “Crash” and “The Blindside,” which portray racial tension and integration success.
Through the conference, new opportunities for Trinity students to openly discuss their faith and culture have been started, allowing more room to grow with one another.
As a recently chosen youth board member of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, junior Melissa J. Voss of Orland Park, Illinois, attended the annual CRWRC conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 25-27.
The Christian Reformed organization, whose motto is “Living Justice, Loving Mercy,” seeks to provide ministry in community development and disaster response and relief and connect people around the world on global issues, Voss explained.
Meeting with many CRWRC directors and board members, Voss learned how the CRWRC advocates their ministries, as well as ways they, as an organization, can better promote their work.
Inspired to become a voice for the CRWRC, Voss was given support from other board members who helped brainstorm ways for her to spread the word about the organization’s work throughout campus and in all areas of her life. With two other youth delegates, Voss was chosen to be the “eyes and ears” on her campus, finding ways to promote better involvement with the CRWRC.
“The CRWRC wants to continue to make a connection with this generation,” Voss said, “and it is their hope that, through our work, college students will be more interested in the work of CRWRC and want to continue to support this organization in the future.”
As a representative of Trinity, Voss hopes to connect with different clubs, organizations, and departments on campus to help organize service trips through the CRWRC, invite speakers to talk on behalf of current issues, and offer more ways for students to connect with service possibilities.
“God is working through this organization and through this opportunity,” Voss said, recognizing her new found awareness for the global needs in the world. “Not only am I hoping to promote the CRWRC motto ‘Living Justice, Loving Mercy,’ but I also hope that my life and actions mirror that same motto.”
Trinity Christian College has once again been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative community service and service-learning programs.
Last year, over 750 Trinity students volunteered more than 8,000 hours through the College’s Office of Community Partnerships, student service efforts, and classroom-related service opportunities.
“We are thrilled to once again receive this award,” said Anna Rosas ’06, director of community partnerships and service learning, “but not surprised as Trinity and its students show strong commitment to helping others through many service opportunities.”
“Trinity and its students show strong commitment to helping others.”
One of Trinity’s community service programs is the service committee’s annual spring break service trip. Last year students gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and put in over 40 hours of service while living in one of the inner city projects for the week. Partnering with Hope for Chattanooga, students helped remodel and update the community center while interacting with local teens.
Each night the students gathered with neighborhood children and conducted a short Bible school with stories, crafts, and snacks. This provided an opportunity for the children to experience an environment very different from that of the neighborhood violence and gangs, according to Service Committee President Katie Matthuis ’12 of Mokena, Illinois.
“The trip was a good experience, and there was a lot to take from it,” Matthuis said. “Not only did we teach Jesus to them, but some of the kids showed Jesus to us.”
About the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll
Schools recognized for the Honor Roll are chosen based on a series of selection factors including the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
The Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.