Grace Stoffer '15

Melissa and Grace had no idea that lacing up their hiking shoes one September morning would bond them for life.

But that's the kind of friendship they've found as they've hiked, camped, kayaked and climbed together at Calvin.

"It's not your average girl that doesn't mind going without a shower," Grace says. "The wilderness takes away all the walls you can put up."

The two met during their first semester at Calvin when they geared up with 14 other female students to backpack the Manistee River Trail.

Splashing in the river and singing hymns together as they hiked helped Melissa, a transfer student, realize she had a home at Calvin.

"I found a really good community, especially in the women that I met," she says.

Since then, Melissa and Grace have backpacked, climbed and trekked all over the U.S. together. One of the best trips? A January interim class in Florida spent swimming with manatees and kayaking at night in bioluminescent waters.

"We were together for 20 days straight, and that's when we became really close," Grace remembers.

A 2013 interim course took them to the American Southwest, where they backpacked in the Grand Canyon, went rock climbing at Joshua Tree National Park and trained as wilderness first responders.

Melissa and Grace's advice to someone new to Calvin? "Don't be afrait to try something that you're uncomfortable with." You just might make the friend of your life.