Tag Archives: Hannah Ebeling

A classroom for the ages

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The grant-funded Intergenerational Connections Project is providing a rich learning environment where traditional college students and adult learners are thriving together. (Courtesy Calvin College)

By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College


“We have so much to learn from other generations.


“At Calvin, we don’t just value academic knowledge—we value shared and collective wisdom from multiple communities,” said Kristen Alford, professor of social work and sociology.

Fostering inclusive intergenerational classrooms

The Council of Independent Colleges in partnership with the AARP Foundation awarded Kristen Alford, professor of social work and public health, and Julie Yonker, professor of psychology and public health, the Intergenerational Connections Project grant towards their intergenerational learning initiative. Both professors integrated some element of intergenerational learning into their classes, something they believe made the courses much richer. Yonker noted that the grant was instrumental in providing them adequate research and resources for the project.


“Older adults in our community tend to be marginalized,” explained Yonker. She felt this initiative would be an apt opportunity to serve a group of individuals who have not always been treated with the respect they deserve. “Older people have lived full and rich lives, and we can learn so much from them, but we don’t always take the time to,” she said.


Since the program was so successful during its first semester in fall 2018, Alford and Yonker repeated the intergenerational learning elements of their courses during the spring semester.

Cultivating rich environments for conversation

Alford invited nine older adults to join her class, Human Behavior in the Social Environment (SOWK 350), once per week for five weeks during the lifespan portion of the course. The older adults were co-learners and contributed to class and small group discussions.


“Our goal was to reach people in the community that were not already part of CALL or who maybe would not have access to Calvin traditionally,” said Alford.


The class learned about a variety of issues such as childhood trauma, harm reduction among teens, chronic disease, as well as grief and loss, in an intergenerational setting. The adults in the class were able to articulate much of the course content from their own life experience, explained Alford.


“It was really helpful to have a different perspective than maybe the traditional college students would hear. But then at the same time my college students were able to provide more input to our older adult learners on how teenagers and early adults function today,” she said. “Together we created these very vibrant conversations and gave deeper meaning to the course as a whole.”

Nurturing lifelong learners and listeners

Students in Yonker’s Health Psychology (PSYC 335) course were sent into the community alongside Tandem 365, a community partner serving older adults with limited resources. Pairs of students were matched with an older adult—often at high risk of being admitted back into the hospital—with whom they would visit weekly.


The students engaged with and discussed with their older adult friend a variety of health and wellness topics as well as served as a friendly visitor.


“I’ve heard from several students that their visits are one of the things they look forward to each week,” said Yonker. “Students have this wonderful opportunity to be agents of kindness, compassion, listening, smiles, and joy—essentially agents of renewal.”

Promoting dignity and worth no matter the age

Both Yonker and Alford noted that young adulthood and older adulthood can be two of the loneliest periods in a person’s life.


“You might think ‘why would emerging adults and college students be lonely,’ but you often feel the loneliest in a crowded room of people,” said Yonker. “One of the things I wanted to look at was if pairing older adults and students together had any effect on loneliness that older and emerging adults feel.”


Promoting the dignity and worth of a person and valuing the importance of human relationships are both values held by the sociology and social work department at Calvin.


“Each of those values come into play with this project,” said Alford. “We are trying to build intergenerational relationships and show the dignity and worth of people, no matter the age.”


Reprinted with permission from Calvin College.



Student photography guides senior citizens in their living space

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Calvin senior Lynn Park is one of the students who provided photography for the hallways at Samaritas. (Photo courtesy of Calvin College)

By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College

 

“I think the ability to take what you are learning in an academic setting and translate that to a real-world situation is such a helpful process,” said Jennifer Hoag, professor of photography at Calvin College. “You have to really think about what is needed and break down the criteria to be successful.”

 

Last fall, an intermediate digital photography class was given the opportunity to do just that.

 

Samaritas, a faith-based senior living home, approached Hoag because they wanted some new artwork for the walls in their memory-care unit that caters to residents in varying stages of dementia. Hoag visited their facility over the summer, and since everything looks similar, she said it was even tricky for her to navigate.

 

Art to help memory-care residents

 

“What Samaritas hoped for were images that could help their residents navigate the hallways,” said Hoag. “I thought it sounded like a really interesting project for students to think about the function of their photographs rather than thinking of them strictly as art.”

 

In groups of four and five, students came up with a theme for each of the facility’s hallways. “Students each approached the project in a very different way,” said Hoag. “Some groups decided they would get together and photograph with each other. Others worked more independently, but together decided how they wanted their photographs to look stylistically and went about it that way.”

 

This opportunity would act as the students’ final in the class. Hoag said she was not sure how the project would be received, but the students loved the idea right from the very start. They appreciated being able to serve in this way and have their work displayed in a setting, while being useful.

 

“I think the experience gave me a good chance to put into practice all of the things we had been learning in class, and with practice comes improvement,” said photography student, Marisa Seifert. “I think it is so important for students to gain this real-world experience and to engage in the community, not only for the personal benefit of experience, but also to benefit those around us who may be in need of certain services or skills. We can learn from them, and they can learn from us.”

 

Students put a lot into this project, said Hoag. Many bought their own props and went as far as baking and decorating a whole cake for the perfect shot. “A group of students even got together to make breakfast for their breakfast-themed collection,” she said. Samaritas plans to put these down the hallway that leads to the dining area.

 

“My favorite part about this project was seeing how my classmates interpreted the assignment in a different way than me,” said Seifert. “All of the photos were unique and beautiful in their own way.”

 

Students use what they learn to serve

 

The staff from Samaritas was very involved in the process and came to talk to the class. “The aging process can often affect the eyes, so they helped us understand which colors to avoid,” said Hoag. “We chose to use brighter colors within a certain spectrum.”

 

Once the photos were printed a representative from Samaritas joined the class for their final evaluation and critique. “She was able to walk around and see all the images that were made,” said Hoag. “She was really pleased with what the students came up with and already started talking about doing this again for another section of their facility.”

 

“It’s not often that I get to incorporate a service-learning aspect into the class,” said Hoag. “A lot of the photo assignments are very conceptually and technically driven and are not very collaborative. I loved the idea of having a collaborative project incorporated in the class and at the same time have students think about the function of the project.”

 

The 24 large prints of the students’ work will be mounted and hung at Samaritas Senior Living Home at the end of February.

 

Reprinted with permission from Calvin College.

New software enhances the study of animal ecology

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DeRuiter’s team, which included two students, delivered a workshop at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and allowed the students to develop meaningful connections with influential researchers. (Photo courtesy Calvin College)

By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College

 

“The underlying motivation of our work and research is always inquisitiveness and wonder at animal ecology,” said Stacy DeRuiter, professor of mathematics and statistics at Calvin College. “We can learn so much about creation by exploring.”

 

DeRuiter has for years studied marine animals, using bio-logging technology.

 

Recognizing a need

 

“Bio-logging studies, where data on animal movements are collected using small, animal-borne devices that either store or transmit sensor data, are growing rapidly in numbers and in scope,” said DeRuiter.

 

As the technology advances, there are more opportunities to track longer and more frequent data sets of animal behavior. Instead of tracking the animal once every few seconds, researchers are now receiving feedback multiple times a second. However, this means there is much more data to account for and sort through, explained DeRuiter.

 

“While these tags offer exciting opportunities to observe animal behavior in unprecedented detail, there is a desperate need for freely available, easy-to-use, flexible tools to facilitate proper analysis and interpretation of the resulting data,” DeRuiter said.

 

Developing accessible and efficient software

 

“We thought it would be worthwhile to spend a year making better software that would be more accessible, as well as creating documentation and a workshop to make it easier for people to use in general,” she said.

 

Throughout summer 2017, DeRuiter led a collaborative project developing software tools for analysis of data from animal-borne movement-sensors. Her team included two students, who developed tools and delivered a workshop at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, introducing researchers to the tools and providing hands-on practice.

 

Before DeRuiter made the proposal for the project she received more than 30 letters from other researchers, who would benefit from her work, in support of the idea.

 

“It was amazing having the support of the community that really wanted this to happen but either did not have the time or funding to make it possible,” she said.

 

Gaining meaningful experience and connections

 

This project allowed students to develop some meaningful connections with influential researchers, explained DeRuiter.

 

“That is part of the reason I wanted them to come to Scotland and the University of St. Andrews,” she said. “They had done such great work and software development, and I wanted them to see the workshop play out.”

 

“The thing I enjoyed most was participating in the international workshop at the end of the summer,” said David Sweeny, a student researcher. “It was amazing to see how many different kinds of research topics from around the world are using the software functions that we have developed and translated.”

 

Sweeny said he is interested in this research because it gives him an insight into the lives of magnificent marine creatures during the times and in places that he otherwise would not be able to observe were it not for tags.

 

“This research provides so many ways to learn how we can best protect these animals,” he said. “Given that I care a lot about protecting the environment, this work is really important to me.”

 

Opening the door to future research

 

“One of the most important things that the Reformed tradition tells us about being Christian is that we don’t do it alone; we do it in community. Science, for example, proceeds by the careful work of many, many hands,” said DeRuiter. “The goals of the project were to democratize this kind of research and level the playing field for those who don’t have the same mentorship, training, or funding to buy software.”

 

This software will help DeRuiter track whale and dolphin behavior as well as open the door for other researchers to non-intrusively explore other animal habits.

 

“The availability of this software will only enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of current and future work being done around the world,” said Sweeny. “It will allow for increased collaboration between scientists which will have many different kinds of benefits in the future.”

 

Reprinted with permission from Calvin College.

Calvin College gifted complete set of Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’

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By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College

 

“The science that we have today is shaped so much by a desire to know the God that created it,” said David Malone, dean of college and seminary library. John James Audubon reflects this desire to understand creation in his passionate and detailed study of North American birds.

Rare Audubon prints gifted to Calvin

Calvin College was recently gifted, by Udean Burke, Birds of America, a collection of prints by naturalist and painter John James Audubon. The collection was produced in 1966 by American Heritage Publishing and has an estimated value in the tens of thousands. The set contains 431 colored illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States, and is one of only 120 complete sets known to exist. Audubon’s Birds of America was originally produced between 1827 and 1838, consisting of hand-colored prints made by engraved plates.

 

The donor, owner of Nancy and Udean Christian Tours, emphasized the importance of gifting this set to a Christian institution. “The donor was looking for a Christian school that would put them to use,” said Malone. The prints were given to be used at the discretion of the college, without restrictions, for the needs of the school, he said.

 

“I think it reflects well on Calvin that someone really not that familiar with Calvin, except by reputation, would select us for this gift,” said Randy Vogelzang, director of gift planning and major gifts. “It was an unexpected blessing and quite an honor and a privilege that they would have the confidence in supporting us and Calvin’s mission.”

Collection to be available to all

“Generally, when we have something like this, it’s my desire that we not hide it somewhere just in storage, and that the materials get engaged,” said Malone. “That’s really at the core of what a library does.” They are valuable and need to be well cared for, but that does not necessarily mean they need to be sequestered and unavailable, explained Malone.

 

The library’s goal would be that these prints are engaged and made available for natural science and history courses to understand the role of documentation in the history of science. “The collection is very attractive, and I can imagine that it could be framed and hung around the campus,” he said.

Complete set in perfect condition

The prints are in near perfect condition and while individual prints of Audubon’s Birds of North America are available, it is much rarer to come across a complete set of all 431 prints, much less in perfect condition, explained Vogelzang. “There are very few private colleges that have sets like this,” he said. “It is pretty remarkable for a smaller college to have something like this in their collection.”

 

“It was attractive to obtain them simply because of what they were, but it’s also desirable to find new ways of connecting curriculum with resources, and these kinds of visual materials are very different in that way,” said Malone.

 

What separates Audubon’s work is the detail and the intricacy that he was able to create in his documentation, explained Malone. The prints show the change in how the natural world was being documented and viewed at the time. “These fit well within a reformed perspective,” said Malone. “This is God’s creation, let us fully understand the depth of it and try and understand as much as we can.”

 

Reprinted with permission from Calvin College.

Symposium creates community for those affected by rare disease

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Kalina Reese is researching rare diseases alongside Calvin biology professor Amy Wilstermann


By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College

 

One in ten people is affected by a rare disease in some way, explained Rachael Baker, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Calvin College. “Because there are 7,000 different rare diseases, everyone is probably going to know someone, a friend or family member with a rare disease at some point,” she said. “We want to raise awareness about what that looks like.”

Rare diseases and real stories

On March 3, 2018, Calvin and the Rare Disease Research Group will hold the first Rare Disease Symposium. This event will provide individuals the opportunity to learn about current research efforts in rare diseases that affect members of the local community. It will also allow local patients and their families to talk about living with rare diseases. February 28 is Rare Disease Day. Across the country on that day, people gather to recognize rare diseases.

 

“We wanted to have our symposium as close to rare disease day as possible,” said Baker.

 

“In West Michigan currently there does not seem to be any sort of rare disease community,” said Amy Wilstermann, biology professor. “There are families in the area that are affected by rare disease, people doing research on rare disease, medical professionals that are treating patients, and we have a lot of our students that are headed into medical professions. The goal of the Rare Disease Symposium is to bring all of these people together so that they can talk to one another and build some support networks and connect people to resources that they might not even be aware of.”

A community for those affected by rare disease

“Rare diseases are very important for just understanding health and the human body, but we didn’t want our students to only think of them in that context,” said Baker. “We wanted them to have a bigger vision for who is affected in this community and understand how can we speak to and minister to those people as we research.”

 

“Being sick is not a unique experience, but having a rare disease is,” said Baker. “When you have a rare disease, you’ve probably never heard of it before, you probably don’t know anyone else who has had it before, your doctor has probably never even diagnosed it before.” In the case of one of the symposiums’ speakers, their child is the only person in the world who has this specific disease. Things like ‘How will the disease progress as my child ages?’ is an open question for many families.

 

“Because of those factors, it can take a long time to get a diagnosis, and once you get a diagnosis, it can feel very isolating,” said Baker. “But, there are some very common emotions and experiences that are shared by many families that are diagnosed with rare diseases even if they don’t have the same rare disease. We think it is important to help them gather together and meet each other.”

A space to connect and learn

“Studying rare diseases is really important to me, because as a Christian I place a lot of importance on being a steward of all God’s people, especially the ones who are in the minority,” said Kalina Reese, a biochemistry and music double major, assisting in the symposium’s planning. “This experience has made me seriously consider the availability of disability research and the importance of making public areas accessible to those with diseases and disabilities.”

 

“I think the symposium fits into Calvin’s mission in a lot of ways,” said Wilstermann. “We are thinking about acting justly and living wholeheartedly.” In the rare disease community, because there are so many rare diseases that so few people have, there is not a big emphasis on research, she explained.

 

“I think one of the ways we feel that we are living out the mission is seeking out some of those areas of God’s kingdom that are neglected and devoting time to them.”

 

“We are hoping a lot of students attend the Rare Disease Symposium,” said Wilstermann. “Many will be working with people who are affected by rare disease at some point, and I would hope that they get a greater sense of the prevalence of rare diseases and understand the challenges, but also the resilience of some of these families at the event.”

 

“If someone comes in from the community who has a rare disease or is caring for someone that does, I hope they walk away from the symposium seeing Calvin as a new resource,” said Baker. “We are hoping the symposium will be the beginning of new relationships with a lot of community members affected by rare disease.”

 

The Rare Disease Symposium is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to register for the event online.

 

Reprinted with permission from Calvin College.

Music’s part in life’s harmony

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Fuentes is a professor of music at Calvin College and he also enjoys composing music for theater, television and the concert hall. (Photo courtesy Calvin College.)

By Hannah Ebeling, Calvin College

David Fuentes believes it is impossible to find a piece of music that is not about who we are and what we care about. “In fact, I even offer $500 to any student that can find one,” said the music professor. “I’m not out any money yet.”

Fuentes addresses this in his writing for, Vocation across the Academy, a book collaboration with NetVUE, a nationwide network of colleges and universities. NetVUE is working to create resources that empower students in vocational exploration, said Fuentes. Fuentes contributed chapter five, “To whom do I sing, and why,” addressing the place of music in human flourishing.

Fuentes began his musical journey when his mother picked up his first instrument, an accordion, at a garage sale. From then on, said Fuentes, he had a knack for music and liked making up his own songs. Since then, Fuentes has enjoyed composing music for theater, television and the concert hall as well as teaching a number of Calvin’s music courses.

Music as vocation

The topic of vocation is particularly important to Fuentes because part of his job is to help students uncover their personal calling and understand how much of their lives will be directly related to music. “For some this will be 100 percent, for others it will be a smaller part,” he said.

Fuentes believes the way students approach education has changed over the years. In the past, it was about learning reasoning and critical thinking, he said. Then, in whatever field you pursue, you would be pulling from a pool of knowledge. “Students today are trying to be practical about what they are going to go into. If they don’t have a job right out of college, they feel like a failure.”

Fuentes said students are often so focused on finding a career that they forget to ask: What are my gifts and loves? How can I contribute to God’s Kingdom? Educating students about vocation helps them fine-tune and understand all of their giftings, he said. It also gives students permission or a calling to help people.

“I have been nervous about pursuing music as a major for the longest time, but I definitely felt more comfortable after taking his class,” said Alexia White, a student of Fuentes.

Why music matters

Each semester Fuentes asks his students: Why does music matter in human lives? Are people just listening because they like it or is there something deeper?

“I assumed that when I took this class it would be about how music is only meant to bring glory and honor to God,” said White. “But Professor Fuentes helped us understand how that can be one purpose for music, but music can help us explain our biblical worldview. Music can teach us about God, others and ourselves.”

In the chapter he wrote in Vocation across the Academy, Fuentes tackles the issues of artists creating only for self-expression and audiences expecting a profound emotional experience with every artistic encounter. According to Fuentes, this is only a small part of what music can do.

“Sometimes people use music to escape; music is good at that. We go into a different state of mind and can experience great emotion there. On the other hand, music can help us delve into issues,” said Fuentes. “The deepest and most profound emotions come when we realize something. Rather than escaping from reality, music can bring us deeper into reality,” said Fuentes.

“There are two basic ways human beings make sense of the world: rationality and intuition,” said Fuentes. “Music brings those two together beautifully.”

Copyright Calvin College, reprinted by permission.