Throughout my two years (!!!) at Hope, I have had the great blessing of meeting all sorts of people from a variety of backgrounds. However, it didn’t take long for me to notice that there some characteristics that several Hope students seem to have. Keep in mind that not all students fit into these categories and some students may be in more than one!

Type one: The Renaissance Man/Woman

Because Hope is a liberal arts school, it gives students the benefit of exploring many different subject areas and having the ability to not only have a major, but a minor, and double major, and even a triple major! Meet Nicki Hames. My lovable roommate from freshman year is using her college years to earn complete double majors in psychology and sociology, and has loads of extra credits from other departments. She is the perfect example of someone who is making the most of her classroom time!

Type Two: The Martha Stewart

I don’t know about all of you, but none of my friends in high school ever crafted. So I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when I came to Hope and met so many people crafted all the time. And they didn’t make mediocre stuff either; some of the things I have seen put Pinterest and even Martha herself to shame. Meet Kelly Pierce. To all of her friends, she is known as the crafting queen. She started crafting seriously her senior year of high school and gets motivation to craft from seeing things in stores and recreating them at the fraction of the cost. Check out some of Kelly’s handiwork!

Type 3: The Always Involved

This might be a little self-indulgent, but this is me all the way. With the many different clubs that Hope has, it can be hard to not get involved. However, I think I may have gone a little overboard. My activities this year include being in the Kappa Beta Phi sorority, vice president of the Black Student Union, Ballet club, Hope Democrats, being a student blogger, Nykerk, and CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ). How I do it all? I have no idea.  

Type 4: The Giver

Hope’s Reformed Church affiliation naturally attracts students of the Christian faith who have had all kinds of extraordinary experiences through their churches. One common experience that many students share is a mission trip, or in this case, multiple mission trips. Meet Melissa Pace. She has been on mission trips to Iquitos, Peru, La Carpio, Costa Rica, and Detroit. From all of the trips, Melissa has learned the importance of being grateful for life’s blessings, though they may not all seem like blessings. In particular, she took away  the gift of a good education, and wants to use her education at Hope to help give more opportunities to those in need. 

Type 5: The Dew Crew Fanatic

A long standing student activity at Hope is to join the student section of the basketball games, otherwise known as the Dew Crew. Some people only casually attend the games, but these people go all out, sporting impossible-to-miss orange shirts and chanting encouragement to the players. Though you may never become one, you are bound to befriend one. Meet Destini Pulido. A freshman and avid Dew Crewer, she loves being a part of anything that supports school spirit. She has also enjoyed meeting some of her best friends at the games and being a link in the chain of the crazed fan section.

Of course, these categories aren’t two dimensional; there is more to everyone than a label, and there are people at Hope who may not fit into one of the categories described here. 

Hope people: do you agree or disagree with the five types of people? High school seniors: which type of person are you most excited to meet? Tweet me or leave a comment!

-Rachael

Hello Everyone!

I’m writing this blog while sipping my favorite latté from
JP’s, the coffee shop located downtown right next to campus. It has been
raining all day so it is nice to escape the weather and sit inside a cozy
coffee shop with some friends. I really enjoy studying in coffee shops because
the atmosphere is welcoming, tranquil, and studious. I needed to come here
today to catch up on homework from the weekend.

My parents came to visit me this weekend, and I loved
spending time with them. On Friday they took Matthias and I out to dinner at 84
East, located downtown. We ate a great meal together and after we ate Matthias
and I headed to Evergreen Commons, a senior living facility in Holland, to
enjoy Moonlight Serenade. Moonlight Serenade is a dance put on by Volunteer
Services, and it is a dance for Hope students and the elderly people living at
Evergreens Commons to attend. This event is one of my most favorite events of
the year to attend. We dance to oldies music, and they have someone on stage teach
us line dances.

After the dance, we headed to the talent show at Hope. This
was Hope’s first ever talent show, and the acts were amazing! I could not
believe how talented all the acts were. My parents really enjoyed the show and
wished they could have seen more acts. I hope that Hope continues with the
talent show in the future. The first-place winner received free books from the
bookstore for the next semester. After the talent show, I ended the night with playing some euchre with friends and
enjoying a late night Taco Bell run.

On Saturday morning my parents took Ali, Steph, and I out to
eat at DeBoer’s, my all-time favorite place to eat in Holland. We enjoyed some
great food and enjoyed each other’s company. Later in the day I took my parents
to Biggby and was able to catch up with them and talk about future plans. I
really love my parents and value their insight and advice.

After Biggby, Steph, Matthias, and I played soccer with my
dog and ran around with him. I always miss my dog and love spending time with
him. My parents offered to take my house out for dinner on Saturday night, so we
ate out and then went to Captain Sundae afterward for dessert.

On Sunday morning I went to church with my parents and ate
our last meal together at Alpinerose for their Sunday brunch buffet. The food
was incredible and I was stuffed for the rest of the day! In the afternoon my
parents attended the Mortar Board induction ceremony and then headed home. It
was great to spend time with my parents and enjoy their company. I had an
awesome weekend with them and can’t wait to see them again at the end of the
semester.

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Have a great week!

This past Spring Break, I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life. As you may have read in one of my previous posts, I was blessed with the opportunity to lead an immersion trip to East Palo Alto, California. Describing the entire trip would take me many, many blog posts, so instead I have decided to highlight a few key moments:

The High School Retreat

As soon as we got off the plane in San Francisco, we were driven to Mission Springs, a Christian camp and conference center in Scotts Valley, CA, to go on a retreat with a group of high schoolers. We had a bit of an idea as to what the weekend would look like, but most of what occurred was a surprise to us. The retreat ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip because of the students we got to meet. They didn’t come from the best situations; during a testimony-sharing portion of the retreat, some students revealed that they had been pressured by family and friends to join gangs or sell drugs. After getting to know them, it was almost hard to believe that they had rough lives because of all the joy and passion they have for life. The students inspired me, and the rest of the group, to find happiness amidst the chaos of life. The campsite itself was phenomenal. It was in the middle of the woods, and we were lucky enough to take a hike to the highest point. The view is something I will never forget!

Visiting Schools

Since our trip was education focused, we did a lot of work with a Christian youth ministry service, Bayshore Christian Ministries, as well as learning about the educational environment around East Palo Alto and in the United States. One particular day, we visited a magnet school in the area, and on another we visited a public K-8 school. The difference between the two was astonishing. The students at the magnet school had all the supplies/equipment that they needed to provide a quality education for their students. The public school lacked severely in funds to the point where it did not have enough money to provide balls for the kids to play with during recess. It was heartbreaking to learn the statistics of the 600 kids that attend the public school: 100% of the students come from low-income households; 75% are not at grade-level reading or writing; 50% are homeless. With statistics like those, it is no wonder that the school is in the bottom 20% of schools in California. The two schools were perfect examples of how education across the country is very unequal. As a future teacher, this infuriates me, and motivates me to be the best teacher I can possibly be so I can provide a great education for my students.

San Francisco Adventures

East Palo Alto is about 30 minutes away from San Francisco, so we spent one day exploring the city and surrounding area. Our first stop was the Muir Woods, a national park in Mill Valley. The trees in the park are Redwoods, so they are ridiculously tall. The beauty in the park was amazing and a reminder to me of just how beautifully God made this earth. After the park, our group split up into smaller groups and we tackled San Fran separately. My group went to Lombard Street, the curviest road in America, Fisherman’s Wharf, Haight Ashbury, the birthplace of the counter-culture movement in the 60s, and even saw a TV show being filmed! Take a look at the pictures!

All in all, the immersion trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I would encourage anyone reading this to think about going on an immersion trip next year. If you have any questions about my trip, feel free to ask! For a different perspective on the trip, check out Steve’s post!

-Rachael

Hey Everyone!

I hope your weeks are going well. As the school year is beginning to wind down with only four more weeks left of classes, I thought I would write about some things I have enjoyed about being a junior. I remember in high school that junior year was definitely my least favorite and hardest year because of my difficult classes and the ACT. However, I have found my junior year at Hope quite enjoyable and here are some of my reasons:

1. Living in a cottage has been a total blast with 7 of my closest friends.
2. Knowing more people on campus.
3. Finally knowing my major and taking more courses that concentrate on my major. This has also allowed me to become closer with my professors because I have taken multiple classes with them and frequently stop by their offices.
4. Many juniors study abroad.
5. More dining options. Juniors can eat in Phelps, Cook, or use their meal plan at the Kletz.
6. Not everyone is asking you what you plan do do after graduation… YET.
7. You have closer relationships with friends because you have been able to get to know them better. 
8. Register for classes early. No more worrying of your classes being filled, because you get to pick yours first.
9. Hosting dinner parties and game/movie nights in your cottage.
10. Normally you have figured out which extracurricular activities you are going to devote your time.
11. Nursing students are able to do clinicals as juniors and apply what they have learned from the classroom. 

Junior year may or may not be coming up for you, but just know that somewhere down the road that it is a great stage of life. I feel established in where I belong at Hope and am excited for the journey that still lies ahead.

Have a great week!

Well prospies, spring semester will always get you. It’s the busiest, shortest, most fun, but most stressful time of year. With breaks every few weeks, it never feels like your in class for long. Tests creep up on you super fast and you NEVER have the long, relaxing experience of fall semester, though both the same length of time.

As busy as we all are, it means a lot of things are happening. Decisions are being made, committees are meeting, and progress is in the air. Here are a few cool things that have happened lately at Hope:

• Hope got a new president (!finally!). 
• We also have a new (but returning) dean of sciences!
• I officially accepted my summer research position under Dr. Fraley to continue working on my project for a 10-week span at Hope.
• Hope’s own William Pannapacker wrote a great piece about building a liberal arts foundation for the New York Times. In the article one particular sentence has resonated with me for the week. Keep it in mind as you are on your college search and decision process:

When it comes to choosing a major, you should engage with things that
you care about, that interest you and that will produce your strongest
efforts.

In other news, my friends have been going crazy in efforts to maintain our scholarly statuses and sanity. We have taken to doing absurd amounts of homework until late at night and rising early for breakfast. Though we struggle to maintain this routine of happy, early, college students (breaking norms are never ok), here is a photo of us in our prime, enjoying the atmosphere in the Cup and Chaucer before our 8:30 AM class.

In our spare time, of course, we keep ourselves occupied. Marvin and I recently designed our Halloween costumes for next year. He’s on the left, dressed as the rough endoplasmic reticulum and I on the right as a mitochondria. We also took all the food in our dorm rooms and checked it all out on the app Fooducate to see how unhealthy we are… Believe me, we are unhealthy.

…Ok… maybe we spend too much time studying the sciences.

Last but not least, I went home and worked (and studied a lot) all of spring break. I got to see my puppy, made a bit of cash to pay for school, and of course… studied orgo.

Questions, comments, concerns? Want to go out to coffee when you’re visiting? Want to see my research lab or meet a professor? I’ll get you in touch. Contact me at amanda.porter@hope.edu or @hopeamanda15 on twitter ;).