Calvin Distinctives

4. Promising Futures

A Calvin education is the foundation for a successful life calling.

Through the development of essential character, knowledge and skills, Calvin helps students understand God's world, discover their unique gifts and excel in vocations of meaning and purpose.

• A Calvin senior is one of only two students accepted into the first PhD program offered through Van Andel Institute (VAI), the cancer research center based in Grand Rapids.

  A Calvin political science and communications major recently won a trio of awards for his work as an intern in the Michigan Legislature. Nate Knapper was honored with the Congressman Paul Henry Integrity Award, the Daniel Rosenthal Legislative Intern Award and the Frank M. Fitzgerald Public Service Award.

  
  
• Calvin provides an excellent foundation for students to pursue graduate studies. A study of the number of scholars earning doctoral degrees reveals that Calvin ranks first in the nation among master's degree-granting institutions for total amount of graduates receiving doctoral degrees, and 22nd when compared with over 1,000 similar private colleges.
  
  
• Calvin engineering majors routinely demonstrate excellence on national and state exams. In October 2003, 100 percent of Calvin engineering students (44 of 44) passed the exam given by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, one of four steps required to become a licensed engineer. By May of 2007, 91 percent of those graduating from this program had received a job offer.
  
  
• Calvin's list of Distinguished Alumni contains world-class educators, scientists, politicians and artists — men and women from virtually every field of endeavor.
  
  William Garvelink '71 oversees the major humanitarian operations of the United States government as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
  
  
  Ed Bos ’68 and Carol Yonkers Bos ’68 are the founders of Worldwide Lab Improvement, Inc., a non-profit ministry devoted to assisting mission hospital and clinic labs in developing countries with consultation, equipment, supplies and training.
  
  Lois Ackerman Raap '68 has been an adoptive and foster parent and advocate of numerous HIV-positive and other special needs children. Lois recently graduated from law school so she could better represent the rights of foster children and parents.
  
  
• Calvin graduates are leaders in their fields, bringing the light of Christ into a wide range of professions. Of the 53 social service agencies in Kent County, Michigan, over half were either pioneered by or are currently headed by Calvin alumni. Seven alumni serve in the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate. One alum, Vernon Ehlers '56, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Dozens of Calvin alumni preside as judges in courts across the country.
  
  
• Education is a popular field of study at Calvin and continues to produce graduates who are making a difference in public and Christian schools around the world. Calvin also offers a Masters of Education degree which provides the graduate student an opportunity to integrate a Christian perspective on life and teaching with their understanding of the professional role of educator.
  
  
• Three pioneering programs that enrich the educational futures of minority youth — the Entrada Scholars Program, Pathways to Possibilities and ¡Aspirando Alto! encourage the exploration of career and college opportunities for all levels of minority students.
  
  
• A Calvin education shapes the whole person. The John Templeton Foundation has named Calvin to every edition of its Honor Roll of Character-Building Colleges, a designation reserved for just 100 institutions nationally.
  
  
• Calvin graduates define success not in terms of advanced degrees or job titles. Rather, they see these as means to bring shalom wherever God leads them.