February 5, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY

The fifth annual Cold Knight Club will be inducted at Calvin College on Thursday, February 6, 2003, beginning at 6 p.m. The Cold Knight Club is part of a week of festivities at Calvin for Homecoming 2003.

And what exactly is the Cold Knight Club? Simply put: a group of students willing to put on a bathing suit in February and submerge themselves in Calvin's "Sem Pond," a murky and muddy body of water on campus that lies between President Gaylen Byker's house and the Calvin Theological Seminary.

Last year 50-60 students took the plunge. A similar number is expected this year, despite recent temperatures!

During the day, Calvin professor Randy Buursma (appropriately pronounced BRRR SMA) will dig a hole in the ice. At about 5:45 p.m. students will come to the Sem Pond to register (the first 50 students get a big beach towel that says Calvin College, Homecoming 2003, Cold Knight Club).

And then they start jumping, one by one, into the frigid waters.

The club began in 1999 as a way to get current Calvin students more involved in Homecoming. The idea originated with Buursma.