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October
2006
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Volume
2 - Issue 4
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As I reviewed this issue of the eNewslink, I realized how focused this issue is on young alumni. We look at Homecoming, which celebrates some of our younger classes, the alumni profile which features a recent graduate, and the new staff who are a 2006 grad and a current student. I believe this is a testimony to the type of student Hope is preparing for the world: talented, intelligent, motivated, and capable. Tremendous forces who are using their abilities in different ways to affect the Hope community and beyond. In our office, two young employees have brought some interesting new skills; web design, computer skills and marketing experience that make our office more capable of responding to information and announcements in a more timely and aesthetically pleasing manner. Not only can we maintain the historical programs that make the alumni and parent experience special, we can improve the opportunities for both groups. I hope you will enjoy these two new staff members as much as I have. Enjoy the issue!
The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations welcomes Scott Travis as its
Assistant Director! Scott is a 2006 Hope graduate with a major in management.
As a student he worked extensively with various campus departments, including
the Admissions Office, event management at the DeVos Fieldhouse, and
summer camps and conferences for Conference Services. He played football
at Hope for three years, was a Resident Assistant, and graduated as a
member of Phi Beta Kappa.
I'm a communication and management double major. On campus, I worked at the Office of Career Services for two and a half years as credential coordinator and job bulletin editor. I have also conducted research with a former faculty member concerning race relations during the release of Birth of a Nation and attended the National Conference of Undergraduate Research last spring. I'm the senior captain of the college’s pom team, a member of Sigma Iota Beta, chair of the Sibylline Relay for Life team, and a member of the communication honor society Lambda Pi Eta.
Last fall, Katie Wright (’06) was sitting in a classroom listening to her education teachers preach about the importance of improving education for all students. Some students listened intently and wondered what they were going to doing about it; Katie knew exactly what she was going to do. At that point, Katie Wright had already made a two-year commitment to Teach for America (TFA), an Ameri-corps sponsored organization that takes graduates who have obtained their Bachelor’s degree and places them in rural and urban school districts where the achievement gap is widest due to socio-economic issues. In her two years with the program, her goal will be to bring her students up two to four grade levels to where they should be currently. TFA is a very unique organization with a serious mission: “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to obtain an excellent education.” TFA aims to impact the lives of lower-income youth by providing excellent teachers who understand their needs and want to effect change. She says that her experience thus far has been “super intense” because TFA has such a rigorous training program. Their training takes place all summer and following a week-long orientation, corps members are sent to Institute for six weeks where they take classes and teach in summer schools throughout the area. “I basically felt like I was being taught everything I learned in four years of college in six weeks,” Katie says. “It felt like I was working 24 hours a day.” Katie is fulfilling her two-year commitment in Baltimore at The Crossroads School, a charter middle school, where she teaches 6th grade humanities (language arts and social studies). She is also taking classes at Johns Hopkins (for free) towards her Professional Master of Arts in Teaching and will obtain her degree by the end of her two-year commitment. She has loved her experience and adores her kids. One experience in particular has come to shape her view of her work. It all began with one 11-year-old boy. He was your typical trouble-maker multiplied by 10 – he had a huge tattoo down his arm, he yelled and swore at teachers and other students, he acted out, and he could only read and write at 2nd grade level. Katie knew school was very hard for him because of this and much of his anger came out of frustration. She also knew that she and her co-workers could no longer tolerate his behavior. After weeks of documentation of his actions, they finally had a meeting with the boy and his mother during which they told him that if he continued to act like that he would no longer be able to attend Crossroads. “It was like he changed overnight,” Katie said. All of the sudden, he began doing his homework, answering questions in class, and completely turned around his behavior. When Katie asked him why the change, he simply said “Because you guys told me I couldn’t come back.” She said that it’s experiences like this one where she can actually see students motivate themselves to obtain a better life that makes her know she’s in the right place right now. Katie knows she will continue teaching after her time at TFA. She says the experience has really opened her eyes “to the way the rest of the country lives" in regards to poverty and inner-city life. “In our world today, I constantly see bad things in the world and wonder how I can fix all these problems; I’m only one person,” Katie says. “TFA is one way to be one person and help solve a lot of problems and see positive change on a daily basis.”
The weekend provided some great opportunities for alumni to mingle with current students. One such event was the Alumni/Student Networking Reception on Friday evening which allowed current students to get valuable perspectives of alumni in their career fields. Saturday morning kicked off with the 29th Annual Hope Homecoming Celebration Run-Swim-Walk in which alumni joined current students and other members of the community in a triathlon event co-sponsored by Macatawa Family Medicine and Shoreline Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Clinic, PLC. More great fun was had by former Hope athletes who participated in the alumni men’s and women’s soccer games held Saturday afternoon. Former athletes also joined together at the H-Club luncheon to honor 100 years of MIAA baseball. One former baseball standout, Ron Boeve (’60) was honored at the luncheon, as he received the 2006 Hope for Humanity Award.
Soon you can be more connected than ever. Within the next couple of months, Hope’s very own online community, myHope, will go live for alumni. Similar to Facebook, myHope will allow users to contact old classmates, share pictures and news, and so much more. Here’s the rundown: Who: myHope will be available to Hope alumni, current students, faculty, and staff only. What: myHope is a private place online meant to foster a stronger connection among Hope alumni and between alumni and the College. Users will be able to update their own contact information, share news and pictures, post class notes, find other Hope alumni and events, become members of groups, expand their career network, and financially support Hope online. Though alumni must sign up to be a part of the career network, users will be able to search for alumni according to location and/or career field. myHope will help to enhance the current Career Resource Network sponsored by the Office of Career Services. myHope is a moderated, private, and protected online environment that will be secure from users other than those in the Hope community. When: myHope will be available to alumni within the upcoming months; most likely in early January to kick off the new calendar year. Current students will be invited to join with limited access beginning in the 2007 fall semester. Where: myHope will be accessible directly from the Alumni Relations website. It is hosted by iModules, a company that has set up similar communities for over 300 educational and non-profit organizations. How: Alumni will receive a letter in the mail which will include a unique username and password to log on their first time. Once logged on, users will have an opportunity to create their own password. myHope hopes
to engage alumni in the life of the college through shared information
and interaction. Easy and fun to use, the online community
can be a great place to catch up with old friends daily. Be looking for
your letter in the mail and get connected!
"The broad array of works in this exhibition is a testament to the varied journeys these artists have taken since their studies at Hope, and also evidences the versatility of a liberal arts education," said Bill Mayer, professor of art, the exhibition's curator. One such journey is that of Elona Van Gent, an English major at Hope,
who now is on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Art.
Matt Vander Borgh, a sculpture major, is now an architect whose firm
is based out of Den Haag, Netherlands.
Starting in 1992, Hope College began hosting international and educational trips for Hope alumni, parents, and friends to gather together for a whole new international travel experience. It typically takes place in the summer and lasts 10-14 days. The tour has traveled to a variety of places over the years including Sicily, the Galapagos, Africa, Costa Rica, and Dubrovnik. Though any tour of such regions is sure to be amazing, the unique element Hope’s trips bring is that each tour is organized and hosted by a faculty member. Participants learn about everything from the history to the culture, art and language of the areas they visit. An added bonus is, of course, that one gets to hang out and bond with a whole crew of Hope people. Now who could resist that? This year’s tour will be hosted by Brigitte Hamon-Porter, Assistant Professor of French, who is originally from France. Brigitte came to Hope after completing her PhD at Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Office of Alumni & Parent
Relations at 616-395-7250 or alumni@hope.edu.
One of the most efficient means of maintaining a connection with the Hope College community is by utilizing the resources available through the college’s web site. It is a timely means of obtaining information and can be done regardless of the distance you reside from campus. From
academics and athletics to the arts -- a multitude of resources are
available just a click away from the Visit "Hope College Today" regularly to keep up-to-date with campus and community news including:
We invite you to take some time to explore Hope's website and see what information awaits you there!
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Subscribers - Have you recently changed your email address? If so, please
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