Calvin alumni
Rick Beerhorst ~ Artist answers call to the Big Apple
Class of 1985
“Life for artists in New York can be so hard, so alienating, so expensive,” said Rick Beerhorst ’85. “If you’re interested in reaching out to artists, New York City is a good place to be. There’s a great need.”
John Dahm ~ Welcoming the children—in prison
Class of 1961
John Dahm '61 knows some grim statistics. He's been in the prison business for 33 years, 21 of them as a warden. One statistic that especially bothers him is this: The child of an incarcerated parent is six times more likely, when grown, to go to prison.
Nancy Martin Goodrich ~ Offering love, direction through horse therapy
Class of 1988
When her husband died nine years ago, Nancy Martin Goodrich '88 promised him she would take up his visionary approach to life and pass it on to their two daughters, then 7 and 5. In the years that followed, "visions came and went," Goodrich said.
Daniel Hoebeke ~ Helping deployed chaplains to serve their soldiers
Class of 1972
From the start, Daniel Hoebeke '72 , founder of Adopt-a-Chaplain, knew he was in the middle of what he calls "a God thing."
Dorothy Hoekema Graham ~ High-tech bug catcher
Class of 1967
If you've ever been billed for merchandise you didn't purchase or been gridlocked at a traffic light gone inexplicably haywire, you can understand why increasingly computerized societies need the work of Dorothy Hoekema Graham '67.
Kevin Huizenga ~ A thoughtful cartoonist
Class of 1999
In both 2005 and 2006, Time magazine named Kevin Huizenga '99 one of the top 10 comic book artists of the year. Its reviewer called him “one of the most promising of a new generation of cartoonists.”
Tim Jipping ~ Filmmaking's jack-of-all-trades
Class of 1991
There's a scene in the 2006 movie World Trade Center where Nicolas Cage has fallen into a hole in the rubble of the collapsed towers. One dim light illuminates him. "I did that," Tim Jipping '91 tells friends when they see the movie.
Peter Lagerwey ~ Helping build livable cities
Class of 1975
Bicycling magazine calls Seattle, Wash., “the most bike-friendly city of its size.” For cities of more than 500,000 people, Seattle also has the lowest rate of pedestrian fatalities. Though he won’t, Peter Lagerwey ’75 could take a good deal of credit for all that.
Barb Bandstra Newman ~ The heart is a circle—of friends
Class of 1984
It was the horror stories that lit the fire in Barb Bandstra Newman. She began in 1989 to develop programs with the Christian Learning Center (CLC), that would fully include children with special needs in mainstream classrooms.
Jennie Nichols ~ Capitalism done right
Class of 2001
Zimbabwe is not a country to which many Americans venture these days, yet to Jennie Fennema-Hengeveld Nichols, Zimbabwe is home to the artists and the stone sculptures she sells through Venture Imports, her company based in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Edward Postma ~ Painting towards truth
Class of 1936
Until he turned 65, Edward Y. Postma ’36 had never held an artist’s paintbrush. Then, in 1980 the ob/gyn retired from his medical practice and found himself searching for something to occupy his time.
Amy Heerspink Ruis ~ Art of the (neighborhood) table
Class of 1994
Within two years of opening her store, Amy Heerspink Ruis ’94 had been named one of the nation’s “top 20 under the age of 40” retailers in the gourmet food industry and a “rising retail star” by Home Accents Today magazine.
Mark Tamminga ~ Running to extremes
Class of 1981
It’s hard to believe Mark Tamminga was not athletic growing up, that he was the kind of kid picked last for sports teams. In July 2006 he won the Atacama Crossing, a 250-kilometer footrace across Chile’s Atacama Desert, the most arid place on earth.
Patty Tawadros ~ Bringing integrity to the online dating game
Class of 1995
Late in 2005 Patty Tawadros thought she had met Mr. Right. A busy, urban professional (she owns Xercel, a Philadelphia-based Web development firm with a satellite office in Russia), Tawadros first learned of the man through an online dating service.
Jon Zwier ~ Hands on the arc
Class of 2005
Hard at work in the national campaign headquarters of Barack Obama, John Zwier '05 still believes God is not a Republican—or a Democrat.
Rachel Zylstra ~ Singer/songwriter in NYC
Class of 2002
A singer and pianist from childhood, Rachel Zylstra began writing her own songs and performing them in Calvin’s coffeehouse “as an emotional and spiritual release.” She soon realized there was more than simple catharsis going on.
Download some of Rachel's songs
