Dance Marathon was last weekend, and I still haven’t caught up on my sleep. For those of you who don’t know, Dance Marathon is an event put on by Hope that raises money for the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Participants sign up for the full 24-hour shift or 8-hour shifts, and we all gather in the Dow for fun activities, dancing, and fundraising all night.
All night.
You’d be surprised at how long you can go until your feet start to feel like they’re going to fall off.
The coolest part of the marathon is hearing the stories of the families that you’re raising money for. Personally, this is what kept me going throughout the night. Being given a reminder as to why I was there, still awake and feet killing me, gave me all of the reason to go on.
Besides the speakers, there were various music groups that came, inflatable bounce houses, a pancake making competition (delicious), yoga, zumba, kickboxing, snacks, meals, and pool-time (time to dip your feet in the pool) to keep us busy. There was even a line-dance that they taught throughout the night that kept us all busy! In addition, there was a schedule of themes for certain hours; you dressed up for the theme and your team could get points!
I’m pretty proud of the positive attitude that I kept going at Dance Marathon this year… I didn’t really start getting grumpy until after lunch on Saturday morning, and at that point we only had four or five hours to go. I found the experience to be very rewarding. Tiring, but rewarding.
At the end of the experience, all of the participants circled around the Dow and the families went around and said goodbye to us all. I could tell by the tears on one of the miracle child’s (one of the kids from the hospital!) face that the time spent really meant a lot to her too. My heart was touched.
Our marathon raise $182,187.30 for the children of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. It’s truly a remarkable event that continues to raise more and more awareness and funds each and every year. I’m so glad that I got to take part in it!
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If you have any questions for me you can contact me at brookelyn.wharton@hope.edu, through Hope on Facebook, or my Twitter @hopebrooke18! I’d love to answer them!
Wow. What a weekend…This last weekend was Dance Marathon. This is an extraordinary event where all the money that is raised goes towards the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. This money is raised through fundraisers, but also through donations brought in through the participants of Dance Marathon. On top of the participants raising money, they stand on the feet for 24 hours in order to support the kids who are daily fighting their battle against their illness. This whole event is all for the families of kids at the Hospital, and for the kids themselves, to make them feel like superstars.
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This year for the marathon, I had the honor to serve on the Dream Team (the 28-ish students that put the Marathon on) as the Morale co-chair. One of the duties of this role is making and choreographing a 9-minute line dance that is taught throughout the entire Marathon. This is a project that my morale co-chair and I have been working at since the first semester and finally taught it to the DM participants last weekend.
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Last year, as a freshman, the Marathon meant a lot to me, mostly because it was a lot of fun as I love to dance and have unnatural surplus of energy – thus I didn’t get tired. This year the Marathon had a whole new spin. A lot of that was due to the larger role I had within it, but also due to the situations I went through leading up to the event. As some of you may be aware from reading my other blogs, I recently sprained my ankle. After I sprained it and got off my crutches, I re-sprained it just shy of 3 weeks before Dance Marathon.
This was a moment that was crushing in my life, yet also humbling. In this moment, I made the decision that it was not fair to myself, to my co-chair, to the rest of Dream Team, to the participants at Dance Marathon, and most importantly to the kids to continue on in my duty if I wasn’t fully able to enact in it. It was in that moment that a lot of pride was broken down inside of me and that I realized how little this event truly had to with me, but was 100% for the kids being treated at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.
Fortunately, my ankle was healed in time for the Marathon and I was able to continue in my duties as Morale-Co Chair, yet now I had a much healthier and correct perspective. Due this mindset, this year’s Marathon was a lot more emotional as well as passion driven. I loved hearing the families share their stories and I found it very moving.
I am so proud to be a part of this organization due to what it can provide for these families that have gone through so much. I am also proud of how at this year’s Marathon, we were able to raise a record amount of money and well as have a record amount of participants. I thank God for the events that led up to this marathon, including re-spraining my ankle, because if I didn’t stumble, that I would have seen the Marathon through blind eyes.
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If you are reading this as a prospective student or a student that has never done Dance Marathon, I encourage you to do it next year and allow these families stories to move you as they moved me.
For more about me, follow me on twitter @hopejohnluke17 or on Instagram at johnlukehawkins. If you have a question you can email me at john.hawkins@hope.edu. Until next time!
The “broke college student” thing is real. I watch my money pretty carefully to make sure I always have enough to pay for groceries, school, the occasional coffee run, gas, etc. I actually really like being able to take care of that stuff on my own and not needing to ask my parents for money, but this week it happened.
Twice.
I HATE asking for money and avoid it whenever I can, but between paying for things for spring break (like train tickets and extra toiletries) and being super busy and not paying as much attention to my bank account as I should have, I got pretty poor pretty quickly. In an effort not to let this happen again, and not to let it happen to you, I have compiled my list of ways to make money in college!
1. Get a job.
Thanks, Captain Obvious.
Actually, you might be surprised at the number of people who complain about not having money and also don’t work. A logical fix to that would be to get a job, but some people honestly do not have time for that either. The luckiest break you can get in that case is getting asked to be a notetaker for a student in one of your classes who can’t take notes. It’s basically like getting paid to go to class, but you also take extra nice notes and pay attention more because you are taking them for someone else, too! I have had a few jobs, both on- and off-campus, and both situations have their perks and drawbacks. For example, getting an on-campus job can be hard if you aren’t a work study student, but on-campus jobs are often more flexible with things like school breaks and class schedules than off-campus workplaces might be. Find something that is a good fit for you and your schedule and run with it!
JobStop is a great way to find a job as a Hope student!
2. Craft to sell.
Some paintings I did last December!
If you have a gift for painting, knitting, hand lettering, or anything artsy/crafty, you can make some pretty good money off of it if you put some effort into selling it. It may be as simple as posting a piece on Facebook and seeing if anyone would purchase it, or as involved as creating and branding your own Etsy store.
3. Sell your clothes.
I am not exaggerating when I say that I have made over $200 at Plato’s Closet this semester. I think of it as paid therapy for a recovering clothing hoarder. I free up space in my closet and my room, someone else gets to buy cool new clothes, and I make cash money. It’s a win-win-win. I sell my name-brand/more “popular” items on eBay and you can make some pretty good money there as well! Have a North Face, Patagonia, pair of Hunter boots, or Anthropologie dress sitting around that you don’t wear anymore? Stick it on eBay and see what happens!
4. Babysit.
Babysitting isn’t just for your 13-year-old sister! A bunch of my friends have steady babysitting jobs and make really good money from it. If you love kids, this is a great opportunity to take, especially because it can be hard to find little ones to hang out with when you’re off at college.
What do you do to make money while you’re at school? Let me know on Twitter @hopekathryn17, Instagram @kathrynekrieger, or via email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu. Thanks for reading!
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…
When I toured Hope College, I was given the opportunity to meet a few professors, students, and incredible exposure to what still stands as the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen in my life. The latter of which is something that still astounds me as even during Michigan’s heavy snowfall, I can drink a hot chocolate from inside my warm room and watch each white flake gently blanket the ground. Hope College is serene!
But there is so much more to Hope College and the town it has become synonymous with than what meets the eye, something that I think all prospectives should consider when reflecting about what Hope College has to offer.
This post will be dedicated to the three highlights of my week at Hope College that you probably won’t know about until enrolled at Hope.
The first is Hope College’s relationship with local and international artists. On Friday, Eames Demitrios came to Hope College to present his latest progress for his “The World of Kcymaerxthaere” series. “The World of Kcymaerxthaere” is a series of plaques placed around the world serving as landmarks and even as portals in the alternate universe. The plaques are hidden in places like outside the Depree Art Center, off the coasts of Indonesia, and even 8000 feet underwater. It’s one of those events that make Hope College unique, not only are you guaranteed a personalized experience with great artists from around the world, but also a chance to meet them in person.
This bring me to the second highlight of my week, the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series. Every year, Hope College hosts a series called the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series which invites prominent writers from around the United States to present their works and share their experiences in writing. It’s wonderful because as a college student, it is difficult to find time to read books to your own pleasure, and if you do free up that time, it will likely be send going out to explore the wonders of eighth street. The Visiting Writers Series is the perfect answer as it not only creates a social environment for you to meet students and authors, but also to listen to their work as well as commentary about how they created their work.
This year, we were treated to the wonderful works of EJ Levy and Joe Wilkins. EJ Levy presented her work called, “3 Christs of Moose Lake Minnesota”, about three men who were admitted to the local psychiatric ward because they claimed their were Jesus Christ incarnate. While inspired from true events, A wonderful work of prose serves as a visceral examination into our modern culture’s complex relationship with religion, science, and our personal lives. Joe Wilkins presented both prose and poetry that served as a time machine, transporting us to his childhood and serving as a vehicle allowing us to be present through fictional character’s experiences with life and loss.
The final highlight that may have been mentioned during your tour, but probably not experiences is the Holland Farmers Market. Every Saturday (and Wednesday during the summer), local farmers come to Holland’s famed market plaza at the end of 8th Street to present their produce. Freshly grown and purely organic, bakers, farmers, and other companies of the food industry come to sell freshly harvested syrup, baked goods (sometimes made on the spot), or fruits and vegetables taken fresh from the farm and brought do the square for prices competitive to Meijer. A bushel of organic apples will cost 5 dollars while at Meijer’s it will be 6. It’s perfect for the food junkies out there like me. You also get to meet the people producing the food that you eat at Phelps Dining Hall, often these farmers work in partnership with Hope’s dining services such as Nathan Vannette, owner of Growing Green Family Farms, who provides Hope with fresh vegetables (pictured).
Hope is currently hosting its first ever dorm sustainability competition!
The poster for the dorm sustainability competition put on by the Hope Eco-Agents.
Dorms gain points by pledging to live more sustainably (I pledged to go vegetarian for a week), hosting a sustainability event, and showing enthusiasm. For example, liking the Hope Eco-Agents Facebook page, sharing a picture of a sustainability sign you made, etc.
Currently, Van Vleck Hall is in the lead!
The scoreboard in the dorm sustainability competition as of Thursday night
The competition has been a lot of fun so far and taking a closer look about how our living habits affect the environment is intriguing.
Tonight I made a sustainability poster as my roommate and I added some decorations to our door for the competition.
Our Sustainability Facts & Tips poster complete with a “share your own green living ideas” jar AND a globe that my lovely roommate made and hung up.
The facts I put on the poster were from these awesome infographics I found on Pinterest that have some shocking facts on the way our living habits affect the world.
tea instead of coffee? Check! I’m a tea person anyway.
It’s pretty incredible to think that that one glass bottle you put in the trash instead of the recycling is going to sit in a landfill for 500 years!
A plastic bag takes about ONE THOUSAND years to dissolve in the environment. Wow.
While this sustainability competition is lots of fun, it has also been a great eye-opener to the fact that if I change little aspects of the way I live it can improve my impact on the environment dramatically.
Take a look at those infographics and maybe you can tweak a few things in your life to live a bit more sustainably. Little changes make a big difference.
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Thanks for reading!
~Erin
You can find me on Twitter (@HopeErin18) and Instagram (@e_delaney333) it you’d like some more pictures and thoughts about life at Hope through my eyes
This is my “letter” to you. As of today the class of 2015 graduates in 58 days (less than 2 months)! A large sum of my four years at Hope have been shaped by involvement within the campus community. Hope has so much to offer, but you have to seek many of these opportunities out. I want you to take advantage of what Hope has to offer; these opportunities will enhance your college experiences beyond what words can imagine. Trust me, these 4 years have flown by and I can still remember move-in day as if it were yesterday. Here are some opportunities you can take advantage of and tips that will make experience at Hope memorable.
My freshman self.
1. MEET NEW PEOPLE!
This may be obvious, but it’s the first thing you need to do. Move-In Day is overwhelming, you’re stepping into what will be your home for the first year. Your first instinct is to stay in your room, but go meet people! Whether that’s in your residence hall, or just around campus. You can also meet new people at the Activities Fair, or through Orientation! You may feel uncomfortable, but it’s worth it. I have many friends who go to state universities and they stuck together. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but expanding that bubble will make or break your experience.
2. Introduce Yourself to your Professors!
This was advice I received from an upperclassman when I was going into college. The professors at Hope don’t profess for the sake of education. They care for your well-being as a student and want to be a resource. Take 5 minutes to introduce yourself before, or after some of your first classes! Heck, set up meeting times to discuss your Hope experience or academics. I meet with one of my professors weekly to discuss academics and my life. This ultimately led me to having an academic mentor, and those are so beneficial.
3. STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ARE A MUST
Well, you should definitely give them a try! Student Activities Committee, or SAC is part of the student organizations category, and being a director of the largest student organization has been a blessing, really. My leadership skills continue to grow, and the team I work with is simply amazing! There so many more groups to get involved in too, which is so great! Some examples are Dance Marathon, Student Congress, and Student Ambassadors.
4. Greek Life
Greek Life is another great way to meet people and to get connected with Hope. The Greek organizations at Hope are unlike any other in that they are local. You will only find these sororities and fraternities at Hope! Within the organizations, you can network with current students and alumni. I have many friends involved in Greek Life, and they absolutely love it!
5. VOLUNTEER!
The Holland community is very spoiled in that it has a large supply of volunteers! Many Hope students volunteer in the Holland community. There are so many places you can volunteer within the community. Some are the Holland Health Clinic, CASA (Children’s After School Achievement), The Rock, Holland Hospital, Center for Women in Transition (CWIT), and so much more. Hope College also has the Volunteer Services office where they can network with you organizations you can volunteer for!
6. Campus Jobs
I previously posted a blog about having a job during college. If you decide to have a job, GREAT! This will definitely make your time at Hope worthwhile. Having a job not only gets you money, but it also networks you with various faculty and staff throughout campus and teaches you the importance of time management skills. Definitely worth it. This job, as a student blogger, is all of that and rewarding. I am able to help YOU ALL out!
And lastly…
7. RESOURCES, RESOURCES, RESOURCES
Oh my lanta. Hope has SO many resources for its students. These resources will help you with your Hope College experience. For example, use the career development center for tips on resumes, have mock job interviews, and get networked with businesses! Maybe you’ll even get your first “big kid” job through them! Another great one is the Academic Success Center! They will pair you up with a tutor (fo’ free) for help with any of your classes. I’ve had several tutors for several classes. It really makes a difference! There are so many more resources on campus, you just have to come here to find out!
I hope this was helpful for you all! Your time at Hope will change you (in the best way)! If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me through Hope on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
With Spring Break fast approaching, it’s starting to hit me that my college days are coming to an end. In fact, 59 days from now, I will be a graduate of Hope College. I just have so many mixed emotions about leaving this place. On one hand, I can’t wait to graduate and never take a test again. On the other hand, I dread the day that I have to say goodbye to a place thats become home and given me so many great friends. So here are the five things things I’m most looking forward to as the semester (and college) draws to a close.
Warmer weather and trips to the beach: one of my favorite things about Holland, MI, is how close the beach is to campus. When the weather becomes nicer, Hope students love to take trips to Lake Michigan. I can’t wait for a 75 degree day where my friends and I pick up shaved ice and drive to the beach to play volleyball and watch the sunset.
Lake Michigan
Spontaneous get togethers: some of the best times in college happen when nothing is planned and you just meet up with people. As college comes to an end, it seems that life becomes more structured. After I leave this place, I’ll be missing the late night Taco Bell runs, Friday volleyball games at DeVos with friends, playing cards till 1:00 am on the weekends, and the late night adventures that you can’t explain unless you’re there.
Taking the last exam: as fun as college has been, it’s also been a ton of work. I cannot wait to leave my last exam and know that after I pass the CPA exam I won’t have to take another test.
The Rope of Hope: at the last Gathering (Sunday night Chapel service) all seniors are asked to stand around the pews in the chapel, and cut part of a rope. There’s just something about standing with all of your classmates and knowing that you have been a part of a great school, and that school will continue with you wherever you go.
Commencement: even though I know it signals the end, I can’t wait to walk across the stage and be a graduate of such a great institution. Also, watching my friends walk across the stage will be equally as rewarding. Knowing that we’ve achieved a college degree is a great feeling – and I can’t wait for the day!
So this will be my last and final post on my winter break in Spain! Like I mentioned in my last post, plans were changed last minute so we could get to our final destination a bit earlier than planned. Actually, it was a bit funny because we didn’t decide on how to get there until we were in Madrid! I think unexpected decisions like that are what make traveling more fun 🙂 Luckily we were able to purchase bus tickets that would leave at 11 pm and arrive at 7:00 am. 8 hours on a bus was not the most comfortable option, but it wasn’t too bad since I was exhausted and slept the whole way there (or at least tried to). So where did we go? Malaga, Spain! We figured that the south of Spain would be a bit warmer, and any excuse to get some beach/relaxation time sounds perfect to me!
Our final destination in Spain!
We had two full days in Malaga, so we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather as much as we could before returning to the cold and grey skies in Paris! Thanks to my friend Elsie, we were able to stay in a beautiful condo that was five minutes away from the beach! It felt so weird being able to put on short sleeves, shorts and sandals! We also had a balcony from which you could see the pool and the other surrounding houses. Waking up to this view was the best part:
View from our balcony!
We spent most of our time relaxing on the beach, and you will see why in the pictures below. The water was too cold and the waves were too big for us to go swimming, but that didn’t mean we still couldn’t put our feet in 🙂
The Mediterranean Sea!The water was freezing, but I didn’t show it! 🙂
There was also a long boardwalk that went as far as the beach ended, so it was nice to take a walk and check out the rest of the town we were in. I was surprised at how hot it was when we were walking. Not that I was complaining though! It sounds so silly, but seeing the sun shining throughout the day really brightened my mood. Summer please come sooner!
Boardwalk!I never got tired of this view
The rest of our time we spent simply relaxing and taking it easy since the last two places we were in, we did a lot of walking and running around. I am so happy we chose Malaga as our last destination because it was just what we needed to not only relax, but also to realize how truly lucky we are to be able to go to such beautiful places! This trip made me thankful for this opportunity I was given to be able to not only study in Paris, but also travel to other countries I have only seen through pictures. I hope to see more and travel more during my last two months here!
The beautiful sunset in Malaga
Thanks so much for reading and keep up with me on Twitter or send me an email at marisela.meraz@hope.edu!
Woohooo, it’s finally March! Besides the fact that it means that spring is almost here, it’s also my birthday month. It’s actually today, so I thought I would dedicate this blog to the awesome friends that have made today absolutely amazing!
Let me first begin with last night! My apartment as well as a few other friends and I went out to dinner at Crazy Horse here in Holland, and that was one of the greatest meals I have ever had. It has become a tradition to go there for my birthday because I celebrated my 21st there last year and thought the atmosphere and food were to die for. After regretting eating so much, I was able to Skype with my parents for a while, which was a nice treat because that doesn’t happen a whole lot. A lot of stories and catching up took place, which was much needed! At this point it was close to midnight and so I decided to hit the hay. However, a few friends thought it was necessary to keep me up because I got texts at midnight as well as a phone call. Regardless of how tired I was, it was such a great way to start off my birthday!
This morning was filled with a ton of excitement. First of all, my roommate and I went to the Dow and ran for a bit before going to chapel and classes. I’ve never had so many people come up to me to wish me a happy birthday in such a short window of time! I guess that just reflects on Hope College because everybody is so close to one another that everybody is aware of when birthdays are and reach out to people, even if you don’t know them very well. After going to class and having people sing to me during class, I was able to have some down-time with my friend and just laugh for a good amount of time before finally working on some homework.
The celebration doesn’t end there though! Tonight I have Foundations for Fitness (check out my other blog if you don’t know what this is), which should be super fun and then I’m planning on hanging out with some close friends and grabbing dessert before my birthday comes to a close. I feel like this birthday has been superior to others in the sense that I really saw how much people reached out to me for simply living another year. It’s also fun just blasting Taylor Swift’s song “22” an annoying amount of times, just because it’s my only opportunity to do so.
Well, that pretty much sums up my birthday! Thank you to all of those who wished me a great day and those of you who are prospective students, know that Hope is such a welcoming place where nearly everyone makes you feel special, especially on your birthday! Have a great rest of your week!
I was drinking a slushie today in the parking lot of Holland State Park.
I know that sounds kind of weird, but it’s actually an experience I take part in on a semi-regular basis. It was a 20 oz ICEE, to be exact, and it was one sale for only $1 from the Meijer convenient store. But this is not a post about promoting the consumption of slushies.
Today I encountered a concept that is likely one I experience often, but never understood in this capacity until this particular day.
Drinking the slushie was really cold. And it was really cold outside. The radio said it feels like 7 degrees in Holland, and my car agreed. And the more I stood outside – doing something I wanted – and drank the slushie – also doing something I wanted – the colder I became. And I started getting frustrated.
It wasn’t real frustration, but it was a “grrr” feeling that started in my heart, because the exciting adventure I thought I’d encounter at the beach ended up being me enduring a freezing Holland winter day. My teeth started chattering. My face became numb.
And that’s when it hit me.
I created an expectation of an “awesome” experience that I thought would occur when I did everything I wanted.
But I soon realized that external factors caused what I want to not be enough to provide comfort. In that moment, there was no fulfillment. There was no joy. There was just me, getting colder by the second as I stood outside in the winter wind.
It’s pride every time, isn’t it? I’m so quick to assume that everything that I want will be enough for me. Then, when it isn’t, I’m reluctant to change my path. I could have climbed back into my car in an instant. Instead, I walked further down the pier.
I kept pushing myself, saying, “things will get better. Things will change.” And they didn’t.
Nothing changed until I realized and accepted that I had shown up underprepared. I couldn’t do this on my own with the resources I had.
Instead of walking further down the pier, I turned around and walked back to my car.
It wasn’t giving up. It was choosing humility. Because in that moment, I realized that pride produces anguish and humility produces endurance. And I needed the heater in my car to make me feel warm again.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” – Proverbs 11:2
We’re so quick to keep pushing forward on our own. So quick to “prove ourselves” and continue until we get stuck, feeling guilty in the end. But it’s not worth it. Many times, we have to back off and realize that pride is the culprit of being able to find true success. Next time, I’ll think before I act. And maybe bring an extra pair of mittens.
When we walk into situations fully prepared, it’s amazing how quickly pride diminishes.
And that’s why drinking a slushie in 7 degree weather was good for my ego.
Are you staying warm in the winter wind? Follow me @hopesophie17 for college tips and to keep up with what I’m up to in-between blog posts. Have a great week!
