Legacy Honors Graduates

We are pleased to present the 2020 students that are graduating with honors from our Legacy Honors Program. In order to earn a degree with honors in their discipline, a student must take at least six courses for honors credit and finish their coursework at Calvin with a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher. In addition, students must complete a directed honors project in their major. A link to a poster summarizing each student’s work can be found next to their photo.


  • Eliah Anderson

    Major: Psychology
    Hometown: Ketchikan, AK
    Thesis project: The Processing of Auditory Distractors When Searching for Real Objects

    View Eliah's thesis project
  • Maria Bleitz

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Milan, MI
    Thesis project: Great Lakes Colonial Waterbirds as Sentinels for Continuing Reproductive and Health Impairments at Contaminated Sites in Michigan during 2010–18

    View Maria's thesis project
  • Matthew Bone

    Major: Mathematics, Philosophy
    Hometown: Midland, MI
    Thesis project: The Nature of Boundaries: Perspectives from Casati and Varzi and Alfred N. Whitehead

    View Matthew's thesis project
  • Sophia Bryson

    Major: Spanish, Environmental Science
    Hometown: Dexter, MI
    Thesis project (Spanish): La responsibilidad de cuidar bien: Towards a Protestant Environmental Paradigm in Latin America
    Thesis project (Environmental Science): Beyond Regulation and Privatization: Critically Evaluating and Responding to the Tragedy of the Commons

    View Sophia's (Spanish) thesis project and her (ENSC) thesis project
  • Luke Burroughs

    Major: Chemistry
    Hometown: Woodbury, MN
    Thesis project: Progress Toward the Synthesis of Novel Bacterial Topoisomerase Inhibitors Derived from Fluoroquinolones. N-1 Amine Derivatives.

    View Luke's thesis project
  • Joyce Chew

    Major: Mathematics, Chemistry
    Hometown: Brea, CA
    Thesis project: Defining the Relationship: Computer-Driven Characterization of the Binding of Host and Guest Molecules

    View Joyce's thesis project
  • Hyeryeong (Joy) Choi

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Philippines
    Thesis project: Anthropogenic noise does not impact nestling health in Eastern bluebirds

    View Hyeryeong's thesis project
  • Olivia den Dulk

    Major: Environmental Studies, International Relations
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
    Thesis project: Legal Mobilization and Non-Human vs. Human Rights Claims

    View Olivia's thesis project
  • Katherine Fetter

    Major: French, Linguistics
    Hometown: St. Charles, IL
    Thesis project: Linguistic Relativity in Letters from a Peruvian Woman by Madame De Graffigny

    View Katherine's thesis project
  • Peter Ford

    Major: Literature
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
    Thesis project: Hannah More’s Village Politics: A Digital Annotated Edition

    View Peter's thesis project
  • Danielle Frempong

    Major: International Development Studies
    Hometown: Accra, Ghana
    Thesis project: Tackling Corruption in Ghana

    View Danielle's thesis project
  • Olivia Harlow

    Major: Biology, Biochemistry
    Hometown: Kalamazoo, MI
    Thesis project: Non-hemolytic and hemolytic Group B Streptococcus: interactions with cells in vitro

    View Olivia's thesis project
  • Anna Henson

    Major: Strategic Communication, Philosophy
    Hometown: Shawnee, OK
    Thesis project: Facilitating and Navigating Tension: A Qualitative Study in the Dialectics that Animate Dialogue

    View Anna's thesis project
  • Sarah Hughes

    Major: Biology, German Studies
    Hometown: Tulsa, OK
    Thesis project: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Reassessment of Wildlife Reproduction and Health Impairments in the Saginaw Bay and River Raisin Areas of Concern and Grand Traverse Bay

    View Sarah's thesis project
  • Nathanael Kazmierczak

    Major: Chemistry, Music
    Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA
    Thesis project: The Tie That Binds: Optimal Design of Equilibrium Spectrophotometric Titrations

    View Nathanael's thesis project
  • SoMyung (Sharon) Kim

    Major: Elementary Education
    Hometown: Buson, South Korea

  • Katherine Kim

    Major: Biochemistry
    Hometown: Novi, MI
    Thesis project: The Expression and Purification of Acetylmimetic Cytochrome c

  • Yejae Kim

    Major: International Relations

  • Evan Klein

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Beaverton, OR
    Thesis project: C3 production as acute response to Neuromyelitis Optica IgG

    View Evan's thesis project
  • Sara Knapp

    Major: Chemistry
    Hometown: Midland, MI
    Thesis project: Determining the Effectiveness of Drugs using EC50 and MIC Assays

    View Sara's thesis project
  • Elizabeth Koning

    Major: Computer Science
    Hometown: Holland, MI
    Thesis project: Visualizing Classic Synchronization Problems

    View Elizabeth's thesis project
  • Brianna Kuperus

    Major: Biochemistry, Spanish
    Hometown: Sussex, NJ
    Thesis project: Effective Methods to Recruit Ethnically Diverse Women for a Reproductive Health Promotion Program

    View Brianna's thesis project
  • Hannah Larsen

    Major: Geography
    Thesis project: Is Domestic Migration Moving the United States Towards a Sustainable Energy Future?

    View Hannah's Thesis project
  • Sophia Lee

    Major: Biochemistry
    Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
    Thesis project: Investigating the effects of antibiotic perturbation on lactobacillus species metabolomics profiles

    View Sophia's thesis project
  • Si Gyong Park

    Major: Engineering
    Hometown: Tangerang, Indonesia

  • Hunter Pham

    Major: Biochemistry
    Hometown: Lowell, MI
    Thesis project: Scopoletin Excited-State Proton Transfer and Excited-State pKa

    View Hunter's thesis project
  • Samuel Poortenga

    Major: Economics, Political Science
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
    Thesis project: Criminal Justice: An Examination of the Role of Retribution

    View Samuel's thesis project
  • Kalina Reese

    Major: Biochemistry, Music
    Hometown: New Paris, IN
    Thesis project: Elucidating Genotype-Phenotype Connections in BCS1L Mutations

    View Kalina's thesis project
  • Victoria Richardson

    Major: Psychology, French
    Hometown: Acton, MA
    Thesis project: Forgiveness Seeking and Conflict Resolution in Romantic Relationships

    View Victoria's thesis project
  • Sam Schellenberg

    Major: Biochemistry
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
    Thesis project: Expression and Characterization of a Metalloprotein in Bacteroides Fragilis

    View Sam's thesis project
  • Jeremiah Shultz

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Whitestown, IN
    Thesis project: Chk1 target validation in recurrent mutant p53 pediatric tumors

    View Jeremiah's thesis project
  • Leah Thompson

    Major: Biology, Spanish
    Hometown: Whitehall, MI
    Thesis project: The Effects of Anti-Sumoylation Drugs in Inhibiting Osteosarcoma Cell Expansion

    View Leah's thesis project
  • Kyle Timmer

    Major: Engineering, Biochemistry
    Hometown: Grandville, MI
    Thesis project: Searching For GLUT-1 Transport Protein Interactions

    View Kyle's thesis project
  • Sara Vigesaa

    Major: Nursing
    Hometown: Mansfield, OH
    Thesis project: Nursing Interventions Assisting Patients with Congenital Heart Defects in the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Care

    View Sara's thesis project
  • Ty Vredeveld

    Major: Computer Science
    Hometown: Zeeland, MI
    Thesis project: Visualizing Fuel Economy Information

    View Ty's thesis project

Collegiate Scholars Graduates

We are pleased to present the 2020 students that are graduating with distinction from our Collegiate Scholars Program—Calvin’s first class of Collegiate Scholar graduates. In order to graduate with distinction from Calvin University, a student must complete four advanced academic or community engagement activities, take an upper-level interdisciplinary honors course, and finish their coursework at Calvin with a cumulative grade point average of 3.65 or higher. We are excited to honor Collegiate Scholars graduates from Calvin’s Knollcrest and Handlon campuses.


  • Joshua Boers

    Major: Business—Marketing Concentration
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI

  • James Eapen

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Kochi, India

  • Jason Entingh

    Major: Linguistics
    Hometown: Grandville, MI

  • Allyson Fea

    Major: History, Psychology
    Hometown: Mechanicsburg, PA

  • Lindsey Fox

    Major: Biology
    Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI

  • Debora Haede

    Major: International Relations
    Hometown: Alheim, Germany
    Thesis project: Religious Rhetoric in Politics and Christian Minorities in Turkey

    View Debora's thesis project
  • Tristan Hazlett

    Major: Economics
    Hometown: Tampa, FL

  • Anna Jeffries

    Major: Mathematics, Literature
    Hometown: Asheville, NC
    Thesis project: The 4-Dimensional Light Bulb Theorem

    View Anna's thesis project
  • Jamie Kuiper

    Major: Art
    Hometown: Gallup, NM

  • Michael Merz

    Major: Engineering
    Hometown: Spring lake, MI
    Thesis project: Six Wound Closure Alternatives For an S-ICD Procedure

    View Michael's thesis project
  • Hannah Smith

    Major: Literature, Classical Studies, Philosophy
    Hometown: Grove City, OH
    Thesis project: A Statistical Analysis of Discussion Forum Posts Made by Fall 2018 ENGL 338: “Shakespeare” Students

    View Hannah's thesis project
  • Paul Steenwyk

    Major: Mechanical Engineering
    Hometown: Hudsonville, MI

  • Andrew Thomas

    Major: Computer Science
    Hometown: Litchfield, IL
    Thesis project: Evaluation of Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) for Documents Requiring High-Quality Translation in Low Resource Domains

    View Andrew's thesis project
  • Jennifer Van Dalen

    Major: Biochemistry, Spanish
    Hometown: Calgary, AB

  • Ben VanderWindt

    Major: International Relations
    Hometown: Hamilton, ON
    Thesis project: Rule of Law and Tolerance

    View Ben's thesis project
  • Sarah Vroegop

    Major: International Relations
    Hometown: Holland, MI