Faith Life at Hope: My Experience on an Immersion Trip

Hope’s Campus Ministries team organizes corporate worship (chapel and the Gathering), small group Bible studies, campus events, and an annual tradition called Immersion Trips.  On these trips, groups of students travel across the globe to serve God and be immersed in new cultures over spring break.  Last year, my friend Millie and I signed up …

The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Campus Ministries at Hope

Campus Ministries is one of my favorite places on Hope’s campus.  It perches on a hill near the edge of the Pine Grove.  In just the past year, it has held memories of early morning study sessions, nights reading by the fire, and days on the porch playing card games with friends.  Memories of meeting …

My Top 5 at Hope!

Last spring, the end of my freshman year, I dedicated a page in my journal to all my favorite things about Hope College. I’d only been a part of this place for a number of months and yet I loved it deeply. Going home for the summer and catching up with high school friends, I found …

My Best Advice to an Incoming Freshman from a Hope College Senior

From a Hope College Senior writing to an incoming Freshman, this is my best advice for you:  Fight the urge to compare yourself to other freshmen. Every upperclassman I know can recall a moment when they called their mom on the phone and said or felt some version of, “It just feels like everyone else …

Why Hope College?

If you ask a Hope student why they chose to come here, you’ll hear different answers every time. There are countless reasons to come here. Personally, what drew me here is how Hope as an institution is often described, which is as a small, Christian, liberal arts school.  Small Hope has a little over 3000 …

Art is a Lifestyle

“Artists have the hardest time finding a stable career.” People would tell me that I would not be successful until later in life if I studied in the arts. “Who studies art?” “What is there to learn about the arts in a classroom? Can’t you teach yourself with a Youtube video?” These are all questions …

The Reality of Campus Visits

I love Anchor Days–the sea of visiting students who can’t quite figure out the least awkward way to hold their bright orange folders and the parents buzzing with excitement, pride, and nostalgia, all while simultaneously feeling directionally challenged and overstimulated. I love visit days, not just because of the extra energy at chapel or the …

The metamorphic 8,107 miles of my college career

As an international student, it is hard to believe that a city kid like me would be going to a small town of Holland, Michigan, for college. I must admit that it was a process to go through and the fact that not a lot of people are able to have this opportunity made me …

Transformed by Hope College

What does it mean to be ‘Transformed by Hope’? Being ‘Transformed by Hope’ is the idea that Hope itself can bring profound changes to an individual’s life and worldview. I find this definition to be very fitting for my time here at Hope College. When a student is transformed by Hope, they experience a shift in …

Living Away From Home

In my four years at Hope, I have met only a handful of people that are more obsessed with their hometown than I am. I’ve been more and more aware lately of how early in my first conversation with someone I tell them, “I’m from Petoskey!” The love I have for the little laketown I …