Overnight Stay at Hope

If you are prospective or admitted student you can spend a night or nights with current student. At Hope we call it an overnight visit. I have done one of those two weeks ago with my friend from Sweden. Unlike from other students, I knew him for two years, so we did not have to break the ice by all kinds of questions, so my jobs was easier from this point of view.

Personally, I was highly interested in what he, as an independent person and first time visitor, likes the most about Hope College and Holland. He stayed with me from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday early morning. I gave him the campus, showed him City of Holland and Windmill Island. Unfortunately, the weather was very unpleasant, so on the way to Windmill Island, the wind was truly strong and cold. He went to two of my classes, ate in the Phelps Dining Hall, and of course he stayed with me in the room, so he experienced a night in the dormitory.

After his experiences and speaking with him, he liked the food, campus, people, and area the most. We had four meals at Phelps and he said that the popcorn chicken here (Hope College) is better than in most of the restaurants that he ate. The scrambled eggs were a favorite as well. He thought that campus was as beautiful as he was expecting based on the virtual campus tour and people were very welcoming and nice. Lastly, he liked the downtown of Holland because it has everything that college student needs in one’s life and it reminded him Sweden little bit.

I think my friend really enjoyed his short stay at Hope College, so if you are thinking of doing overnight stay, then I would highly recommend it.

An Interview with Kevin Rukundo

This following post is an interview with one of the tallest students on campus. Kevin Rukundo is a sophomore from Rwanda. This is his second year at Hope College and he is majoring in Economics and French. In his free time, he likes to talk to his family, play FIFA 16, hang out with his girlfriend, go to athletic events and sleep.  

If you could describe Hope College academics in an adjective, verb, and noun what would it be?

  • Challenging
  • Take care of your business
  • Diligence

As an international student from Rwanda, what are you thinking to do after Hope College?

I want to work for one year and then continue to graduate school in the United States. After, I will finish graduate school, I am going to return to Rwanda.

Where did you go to high school and how much of difference Hope College is compare to your high school?

I went to a boarding school in Kentucky. Academically, my boarding school prepared me very well because it was college preparatory type of school. Also, since I was used to live on campus since my high school, the transition to Hope College was not that bad.

How would evaluate your experience at Hope College so far?

It has been very fulfilling. I met a lot of good people. I learnt a lot in the classroom. I just grown and I became a better human being overall.

 

Phelps Scholars Program

With the first semester ended, the First Year Seminar is finished as well. Since, I am part of the Phelps Scholars Program, my first year seminar was with Phelps Scholars. The first year seminar was only one of the things that we as Phelps Scholars did together.

But in this quote by former Phelps Scholar describes it well.

The Phelps Scholars Program brings together so many people from different backgrounds, cultures, and customs. Their experiences contribute to your own personal growth.

— Christopher from St. Louis, Missouri

What does it mean to be Phelps Scholar? Firstly, all Phelps Scholars live in one dormitory named Scott Hall. The main idea behind it is to bring as much diversity to one hall. By now means, it is not an international students dormitory. Besides the diversity in the dormitory, Scott Hall is in excellent location on campus. Scott Hall is 1 minute to Phelps Dining Hall, 1 minute to the Chapel (first year seminar takes place there) and less than 1 min to the Dow Center (gym, weight room).

A meeting about academic success.
A meeting about academic success.

Previously mentioned, Phelps Scholars have first year seminar together. From my point of view and understanding, the main idea of the class is culture transitions, stages of identities, less fortunate people in developing countries and how to help them. The first year seminar course is finished by a big resource project and final presentation in front of Hope College professors and students.

Also, as Phelps Scholars we had to do 18 hours of community service or volunteering during the first semester, so we connect with Holland community. There are multiple different options of volunteering, but with that being said, community services is required for all Phelps Scholars and it is part of the final grade. Besides community hours, we had multiple trips on the weekends to Chicago, Grand Rapids or Patel’s speech ( a writer whose book we read).

2015-2016 Phelps Scholars in front of Scott Hall.
2015-2016 Phelps Scholars in front of Scott Hall.

All these factors combined together, Phelps Scholars Program gives students great start to the college career. Personally, I had an excellent experience. I explored new things about myself, other cultures, Holland community or www.kiva.org, a place where I can help less fortunate people in developing countries. In a conclusion, I had an amazing experience and I definitely do not regret of joining Phelps Scholars Program.

 

A Thought on Lazy Nights

Happy Thursday, Readers! I hope that your days are going well and you are getting ready for an awesome weekend. How was the Hope/Calvin game? Heard Hope won – no surprise.

Do you all want to know what I did yesterday? I did absolutely nothing. I made dinner, did homework, and laid in my bed until I decided to go to bed at 11 p.m. My friends were out on the town, but me? I was bed. And I was so happy.

Three weeks ago when I arrived in Ireland, I never expected to be in my bed this early, especially when I didn’t have class in the morning. I thought I would be constantly going going going, always seeing something new or finding some new little cafe or pub where I would drink English Breakfast Tea, eat a scone, and enjoy a cider. I didn’t incorporate down time into my semester as silly as that sounds. But I’m here to tell you today that down time is ABSOLUTELY needed, as I discovered yesterday by being oh-so-lazy.

I think this need to be going all the time has something to do with FOMO (fear of missing out). I felt like if I was constantly going and seeing new things, I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. However, the reality is that if I’m exhausted from going all the time, I’ll be missing out on experiences anyway. So last night I decided that I wasn’t going to feel bad about myself for staying in and having a lazy night. It’s perfectly healthy to take a night (or two) to stay in and work on your mental health and get cozy with a good movie on Netflix. So while all of you are getting ready for the weekend, remember that if you aren’t feeling like doing anything, it’s okay! Take a night for yourself and do something the next night. You know yourself better than anyone.

Today will be the day that I enjoy the experience of staying out late with friends and walking Grafton street late at night, and I have my lazy night of yesterday to thank for that enjoyment.

Until next time, Readers!

One of the reasons I took a lazy night yesterday - I still hadn't recovered from my trip to the Wicklow Mountains last weekend! Here are the mountains.
One of the reasons I took a lazy night yesterday – I still hadn’t recovered from my trip to the Wicklow Mountains last weekend! Here are the mountains.

 

Smells Like Pickles

If you go about a mile down 10th street from Hope’s campus towards Lake Macatawa you will find yourself in Kollen Park.

My friend Ashley sitting along the board walk that runs along Lake Mac from Kollen park and along the Heinz factory property
the boardwalk is a great place to catch a sunset.

Kollen Park sits on land that used to a basket factory in the late 1890s into the early 1900s. Eventually the land was bought by Martha Diekema Kollen who gave the land to the city of Holland with the purpose of it being converted into a park that everyone could use. She dedicated it in memory of her late husband who noted the lack of lake front green space for the people of Holland to enjoy.

Next door to the park is a Heinz Pickle Factory. The factory was established in 1898, and is apparently the largest pickle factory in the world. When I first visited Hope with my parents we took a drive around Holland to check it out and drove on past this Heinz pickle plant. We were surprised to see it because, to us, Heinz is associated with home: Pittsburgh, PA. It was funny to find out that of all places I would go to college in a little city in Michigan that happens to have a connection to Pittsburgh via pickles. So, if you’re a Pittsburgh fan or a pickle fan, you can add this to your “Reasons why I should go to Hope College” list.

Moral of the story: when you visit Kollen Park or are on a run along the walkway, nine times out of ten you can expect to have the strong smell of pickles and vinegar in the air to greet you.

Thanks for reading!
-Erin

*my historical information came from the various articles I linked out to so if you want to learn more you can check those out to read on. It’s amazing what you can learn on the internet. 🙂

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at erin.hoolahan@hope.edu

Why Be a Religion Major?

When I came into my freshman year at Hope I was a music education major. After my first semester, at some encouragement from a professor and a “life crisis” spurred on by myself and by emotion-creating medication for my consistent and random freshman year illnesses, I made the call to add a major in voice performance and a minor in management (possible, but crazy).

Making this decision was a pretty long process. I made a list with highlights and strikethroughs of every single major that Hope offers, hoping to figure out what I was supposed to do with my life (often asking anyone who would listen why I was expected to plan my whole life at 19 years old, which is an incorrect perception).

In the middle of the semester I decided to switch to just voice performance, which then turned into a general Bachelor of Arts in music with a ministry minor. That is how I left at the end of my freshman year. Throughout the year, becoming a religion major or minor had popped into my head a few different times, but I suppressed it each time because I had never taken a religion class at Hope. It seemed a little weird to drop everything I’d been planning for years to pursue a major in a field I had never studied at all, so I didn’t do it.

Over the summer, the idea kept popping up in my head, and one of my best friends at camp affirmed this thought more than once. I kept thinking that I couldn’t drop my music major; it was what everyone had always told me to do, it was the thing I thought I was best at, and it was the thing I had planned on for years.

Then the fall came. I was registered for 20 credit hours of almost exclusively music classes (typical for a music major), and I realized that I didn’t want to do any of it. At all. Why would I spend my time and money pursuing a field I no longer wanted to spend all my days and nights studying? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I could not find a better way to spend my years at Hope than to use them to learn all I could about the Christ I love, the community of saints from which I draw my heritage, and the people who make up the world around me.

I looked at the course catalog and discovered a recent addition: The ethics, culture, and social witness track housed within the religion major. I saw it and I knew that it was exactly what I wanted, needed to do. This was Saturday, the day that all my freshman residents arrived in my cluster in Dykstra. I’m convinced that they all thought I was insane when I came out of my room and into the cluster in pajamas, probably a little teary-eyed from such a sudden sense of relief, bouncing with energy from the decision I had just made. When Monday rolled around (the eve of the first day of classes), I went to the registrar’s office, dropped all my classes, and picked up all new ones. It was crazy and stressful but I knew that it would be worth it. How would I rather spend my remaining time at Hope than being equipped to become the best disciple that I can be?

That semester was hard. I took classes that stretched me, challenged me, made me cry, and changed my life. It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time, but I knew that the seemingly random mishmash of classes I found myself in with so many last-minute changes was leading me into a field of study that was going to shape who I would become as a person and the direction of my life. I am thankful for the craziness that I encountered that semester, even though in the moment it was so difficult.

Most of the time when God reveals things to us, they aren’t that loud at first. A lot of times, he is telling us things that we aren’t listening for, and sometimes they are things that we simply do not even want to hear. Putting aside the career goals and perceived passions I had held for years was scary for me – I knew I was letting go of my expectant hope to someday direct a high school choir or to own a voice studio, but I also knew that there was something else in store for me.

Two ways I have learned to realize that maybe God is speaking are when I feel consistently unsettled about something, and when something comes up repeatedly. Both these things were present as I contemplated changing my major; I was discontent with my music major, and majoring in religion just kept popping up even though I did not feel prepared for it. Even in that nervousness, I felt so much more at peace once I made the decision to change my major. That is another way I think that God communicates with us; he gives us peace in chaos as we do the things he is calling us to.

I do not want to make this sound like I am some sort of mystical expert at listening to God or that I always do exactly what he calls me to, because that would absolutely be a lie. I am thankful that through the process of becoming a religion major I have learned what it means to listen. God’s will is not something we need to painstakingly and unhealthily search for until we are so destroyed by our own uncertainty and impatience that we begin to doubt God’s work; no, as a Christian, I am called to do God’s will. This means that when he makes something clear to me, I do it, but if I am not sure of what he wants, I do not think that he has abandoned me or that he must not care about me anymore.

Instead, I do the things that I believe I am called to and that I believe will build God’s Kingdom. I study, I read, I listen, and I pray for clarity. Sometimes God isn’t abundantly clear, and that is okay; though I do not always understand why, I know that he is good and he is working through all parts of my life. Sometimes there are moments of insane clarity, like in my choice to become a religion major, and sometimes there are times that I have no idea what to do, like in my decisions about whether and where to go to seminary. In both times, I know that God is working for my good, and I do what I believe he asks of me, even though most of the time I do not see it written on a neon sign.

Thanks for reading! Keep up with me on Twitter (@hopekathryn17), Instagram (@kathrynekrieger), Etsy (LakesPointCollective) or send me an email at kathryn.krieger@yahoo.com!

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
—Matthew 6:33

 

 

Why Go to Church, When I Go to Hope College?

Most students at Hope College grew up going to church with their families. Wake up, eat breakfast, Sunday school, church service, eat family lunch afterwards. We lived a weekly spiritual rhythm during the first 18 years of our lives.

Now that we’re away from home, this rhythm changes. We might not go to the same church every Sunday, or go at all. We must decide for ourselves what we believe and where we will spend our time and energy.

Pillar Church
Pillar Church is a beautiful community of college students and families.

Holland is the land of a thousand churches. But many of us college students have begun to ask why church is so important in the first place. Many of us attend Campus Ministries services, like Chapel and the Gathering, but a fewer number of us are involved in a local church.

Maybe we don’t want to leave campus. Maybe we just want to sleep in. Maybe we think our doubts are too many and too great to go to church anymore. But to not go for these reasons is to miss the point.

Hiking with friends in the fall.
Hiking with friends is a good way to get out of your routine and allow yourself to question.

Church and college are the two of the only places where it’s acceptable to consistently ask the big questions in life. And in the time of our lives in which questions matter most, it would be a shame to miss out on half of the equation.

Maybe we need to make new routines, with new people. Hiking regularly with people you care about, attending a nearby church, or grabbing lunch on a weekly basis can become new spiritual practices in our lives. The church is not confined by its walls, but engaging in a spiritual rhythm like regularly attending church breathes new life into the old, weekly grind.

Writing for Media at Hope College

One of my jobs on campus, this job, is essentially the title of this blog post: Writing for Media at Hope College. However, when I titled that post I wasn’t planning on talking about my job as a student blogger, though it is relevant.

Right now I’m enrolled in a communications course (Comm 255) called Writing for Media. In this class, we learn the basic skills to construct news and feature stories. We also learn how to properly use social media sites like Twitter.

My professor, Dr. Doshi, instructed us to choose a “beat” that we will write about for the entire semester. A beat is a theme or area to focus on. I’ve decided to write about the Campus Ministries here at Hope.

Because of this, I have started a blog where I will report on various stories throughout the semester on things that go on at Hope involving our campus ministries. I have a Twitter that you can follow as well.

This class intimidates me. After all, the journalism world is cut-throat. But I know that when I come out on the other side, I will have so many new writing and media skills to take me further in my career.

I think it’s really cool how we focus on one area the entire semester, almost as if we run a column in a newspaper about that subject. We also have weekly news quizzes, where we’re asked to write about something in the news that happened relating to a random topic like sports, international affairs, politics, arts and culture, etc. In addition, we are being quizzed on the AP Style Guide, which is really useful when it comes to media writing.

If you’re at all interested in journalism, blogging, writing, or media for a career one day, I would highly recommend this course. While it’s been only two weeks, I have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in media as well as news stories.

Check out the blog and the Twitter to keep up with what I’m writing about Hope’s Campus Ministries this semester!

Thanks for reading,

Brooke

Give Me Moher!!

Okay, readers, I’m going to dive right into it: on Friday, I got to experience something breathtaking. I got to go to the Cliffs of Moher.

Here are a few pictures of this fantastic seascape:

This was the path to get up to a vantage point of the Cliffs. Still just as pretty!
There was a castle at the top of one end of the Cliffs!
The Cliffs and I
Perfect opportunity for a panoramic.
If you see the small rock toward the bottom of the Cliffs, that was where Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was filmed!

Now let’s talk about the experience of being at the Cliffs. The Cliffs of Moher are easily the most beautiful landscape I’ve seen while in Ireland. And that’s saying something, too, because I’ve been to Howth, the Wicklow Mountains and Dublin City, which all their own special beauty. But those Cliffs… they were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Our tour guide had us write a limerick poem about how we experienced the Cliffs because he is doing a project where he compiles poems people have written and will give them to a charity. Here is my limerick, just to give you a taste of what I was thinking:

To paint and to write are both lovely ways, / But to sit and watch the Atlantic ocean waves / opens my prayers to the land and the skies / and unscrews a lid of perpetual “whys”. / Why did he die, our souls to save?

I feel like the entire time I was viewing the Cliffs I was in constant prayer. Because if God created these vast, wonderful, breathtaking Cliffs, how much love He must have for the world that He would take the time to create a human like me, who is horrible and sin-filled. I had to thank Him for loving me and creating me and finding worth in me like he finds worth in every person. It was the best experience, and my heart is full.

Until next time, readers!

Questions about what I wrote or want to see something specific? Check the bio and shoot me an email!

Attending the MLK Civil Rights Lecture at Hope

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Lecture that was held in Dimnent Chapel. The speaker, David Paul, is a Hope alum and, fun fact: he is the youngest speaker to be asked to speak at the MLK Lecture! He presented his lecture entitled, “Dare to Be BOLD,” in which he spoke about Dr. King in his early life and the struggles he faced as he spoke out against injustices he witnessed. Those who were planning on attending the lecture were encouraged to read Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham” in advance. I have to admit, I didn’t find it easy writing this post, not because I didn’t want to write it, but because I wanted to take the time to reflect on what was said.

In his lecture, Paul spoke about Dr. King when he was in his twenties, before he became one of the most prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, Dr. King was pursuing his graduate studies at Boston University, where he later earned his doctorate in systematic theology. He often referred to Boston as his second home, as that was the place where he also met his future wife, Coretta Scott. So then, what would drive a man to leave a place of comfort, pack up his things, and relocate his family to Montgomery, Alabama? This was the question Paul asked us, and it made me ask myself: how far I am willing to surrender myself to His call and surrender my life? Paul also touched on the importance of vulnerability in this kind of situation. He spoke about how vulnerable Dr. King must have been to have made that decision that would forever alter the course of his life. It was not an easy road for Dr. King, who was just as human as the rest of us, a person who had flaws and faced pain and suffering.

Paul encouraged us to join him on his “King year 2016,” by presenting us a “3-point challenge,” which includes the following:

  1. Identify who you are
  2. Develop some substance
  3. Light up the Tower of Hope

Now is the time to think about how you view yourself and whether or not your identity is rooted in something other than the surface level. Paul gave a funny example of his own by talking about how he became obsessed with growing and maintain a mustache in college. One day, some of his buddies held him down and tried to shave it off, but he managed to break free. It wasn’t until later that he realized how wrapped up he was in his image that he didn’t see how he was neglecting those around him. It was a powerful statement to think about how we view ourselves and how we want to represent Christ in our everyday lives. What is really important, Paul said, is how we treat others and how we give back to our communities.

It’s also important that you start reflecting on what you have done with your time on campus. As a senior, my time right now is focused on polishing off my resume and making sure all of my accomplishments and achievements are recorded down on one sheet of paper. But when I look at each one, I ask myself, was I engaged in each of these activities? Did I put my time and effort into everything I did? Paul spoke about how we should, as students, broaden our worldview, especially here on campus. It’s important that we hear out different perspectives, different views from those who come from different cultures and backgrounds. In the words of David Paul, “It’s time to start digging our roots in the soil of Hope.”

Students and Faculty with speaker David Paul.
Students and faculty representing the Office of Multicultural Education as well as Black Student Union, Hope’s Asian Perspective Association, Latino Student Organization and the Theta Gamma Pi Sorority alongside speaker David Paul.