“Open your math textbook to page 25 and try solving problem #3.” That’s how I expected Professor David Austin might begin the Hope-Western Prison Education Program’s first-ever mathematics course. Instead, he welcomed the students warmly in his trademark soft, gentle voice. And then he asked the students to play a game with each other. And …
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The Hope-Western Prison Education Program relies on the generosity and goodwill of hundreds of people. Most have never met the students they support. Prisons are often located far from public view, and visiting someone in prison is fraught with bureaucratic challenges. Incarcerated people are largely invisible to most of us. Our students are fully aware …
The Hope-Western Prison Education Program has made terrific strides since launching the degree-granting phase of the program in August 2021. The program’s first two cohorts are succeeding marvelously as college students. Prospective students for the Third Cohort are now applying to begin their college education in July. We’re very well begun in reaching our goal …
The Hope-Western Prison Education Program’s fall semester just concluded. Our 23 students are taking a well-deserved break from their studies, though the Cohort 1 fellows all promised to practice their Hebrew so they didn’t begin Hebrew II in January rusty from disuse. Do you know what יוֹנָה means? Thanks to professors Travis West, Pam Bush, …
I’ve sometimes wondered why the incarcerated students of the Hope-Western Prison Education Program are so remarkably committed to their college studies. Anyone who has ever spoken with them can’t help but come away from the conversation deeply impressed by their passion for learning. This overwhelming sense of enthusiasm is perhaps most acutely felt by their …
During his August 2022 installation Mass as bishop of Winona-Rochester, MN, Bishop Robert Barron made reference to an interview with Johnny Cash, during which he was asked why he performed in prisons. Cash responded by citing two reasons. First, he said, in prisoners he found his most enthusiastic audiences. Second, he was a Christian. Why …
Early next month I’ll begin teaching a new course to the combined first and second cohorts of Hope-Western Prison Education Program students at Muskegon Correctional Facility. The first cohort students are evolving into fine college students — their mean GPA is 3.77 — but for the second cohort students this will be their first college …
Please join the students, faculty, and staff of the Hope-Western Prison Education Program in welcoming Amy Piescer, who began work last week as HWPEP’s first Operations Coordinator. Raised in Japan, Amy recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in Social Work and a major in Psychology from Calvin University, where she interned with the Calvin Prison Initiative …
On this Saturday morning before Easter I stare out of my window at the weak Eastern light that begins to illumine the world and give thanks for the impending joy of new creation which is — even now — rising and about to be revealed. The scriptures for the Easter Vigil which will conclude this …
Libraries are repositories of all that is known and has been known for 3,000 years. They are places — physical structures — containing the written words of millenia. But they are also programs dedicated to connecting those words with eager learners. How do the eager learners of the Hope-Western Prison Education Program incarcerated in Muskegon …
