The Community's Purpose
APPLY to live in this community for FALL 09 Returning van Reken Residents APPLY here |
This floor provides a place for highly motivated students to build friendships with peers, strive for deeper learning, and create new links between their experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Through social events, a floor seminar, and avenues for leadership, students engage with each other and with the Honors Program in a community focused way.
*Students applying to live on this floor should normally meet honors eligibility standards: a Calvin GPA of at least 3.3 and involvement in at least one honors course or contract per year.
Residents of the floor commit to the following
- Attendance at floor meetings at least once a month
- Participation in the community's interdisciplinary course each semester (for 0/1 hour of credit)
- Participation in other floor learning and social events at least twice a month
- Normally, involvement in at least one honors course during the year (options include cluster courses, stand-alone honors courses, an honors DCM during interim, or an honors contract)
Is this community for me?
The Honors Program is having a growing impact on campus life at Calvin, providing students with opportunities to engage their academic work more deeply and develop strong relationships with peers and faculty members inside the classroom and beyond. Honors students can register for clustered honors courses in their first semester, or for designated honors sections of core courses at any time; they can contract for honors credit in any regular course, and at the junior and senior level they often conduct research with faculty mentors in their major -- sometimes they even co-author publications or make presentations with the faculty.
The Honors community in van Reken has room for approximately 20 men and 20 women, selected from interested applicants. This unique housing opportunity for motivated students, primarily in their first or second year at Calvin, is intended to build a stronger sense of community among honors students and create new links between their experience inside and outside of the classroom.
The leaders of Calvin's Honors Program (classics Prof. Ken Bratt and English Prof. Jennifer Holberg) work with residence life leaders to integrate a series of special events into the regular routine of life together on a floor. Events may include a retreat, service projects, field trips, movie nights, conversations with faculty members or visiting lecturers, and social activities. The floor could also host events for other honors students on campus, or collaborate with other living-learning communities in van Reken. The wing was designed with this in mind, including program and study spaces in the basement of Kalsbeek-Huizenga, and reception lounges on each floor featuring fireplaces, tables and chairs, and soft seating.
This floor is a place where students can encourage each other as they seek for deeper learning, enjoying a distinctive experience in living with other motivated students. The intent is to develop a vibrant place of community.
