Category: Winter 2020

President Emeritus Gordon Van Wylen, who died on November 5 following a determined fight with COVID-19, lauded for his quality of character and lasting, transformational impact on Hope.

A prominent campus landmark with a storied history is providing a spacious new home that not only enhances Hope’s efforts to foster a diverse, welcoming community but is itself inviting. The college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion and multicultural student organizations (MSOs) moved to the Keppel House on 10th Street between College and Columbia avenues … Continue reading “New Home for Center for Diversity and Inclusion is a Dream Come True”

To fight an invisible opponent like the novel coronavirus in 2020, Hope College determined that the best battle plan was one that prioritized and relied upon transparency and science. During the fall semester, those attributes carried the campus community through 13 weeks of in-person, on-campus operations in the midst of a global pandemic. (Final exam … Continue reading “Hope’s Battle Plan for Besting the Novel Coronavirus … So Far”

Among all the firsts that 2020 brought, here’s something no one saw coming: Hope College staffers parked in campus intersections, opening maintenance holes to get to the sewage below. Six mornings a week, rain or shine. They are the front-line workers in the college’s wastewater surveillance program, which since August has kept tabs on COVID-19 … Continue reading “Water-Quality Expertise Helped the Semester Happen”

Walking- and running-themed First Year Seminar and Senior Seminar courses take a literal approach in reflecting on making life‘s journey.

Statewide size restrictions on gatherings to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have presented interesting challenges for Hope, which annually hosts hundreds of events not only for the campus and alumni but the general public. The situation has been a particular predicament for the college’s arts programs, for which exhibitions, concerts and plays are not only … Continue reading “The Show Must Go On”

COVID-19 has put a full stop to the arts industry. Actors, musicians, technicians, arts administrators and so many other people are in a state of limbo. Hope College was among the lucky few places that implemented safety protocols that allowed student and faculty artists to come together in these trying times to put on something … Continue reading “Personal Reflections on Twelfth Night in a Pandemic”

To call 2020 the perfect year to accomplish anything noteworthy, one has to either be the world’s biggest optimist, or a master of determination. It turns out, Jon Ornée ’03 — the proclaimer of such an ironic compliment about the year 2020 — is a bit of both. To pull off a monumental, relay-style swim … Continue reading “The Year of Living Ep!cally”

Four years ago, when the idea to convert the Young Alumni Awards, which honored two recent Hope graduates, into the 10 Under 10 Awards, increasing the number of yearly recipients considerably, one of the concerns brought forth was the rate at which we would deplete the nomination pool. Despite the risk, we decided to have … Continue reading “10 Under 10”