Student Life

The Bunker Interpretive Center is Calvin’s gold LEED-certified building at the edge of a 100-acre Ecosystem Preserve.

The Calvin Ecosystem Preserve & Native Gardens includes public trails and many other features to get you connected with nature.

Calvin’s community garden is run entirely by student coordinators.

Calvin's Environmental Stewardship Committee continuously seeks out ways to save energy and money, such as installing energy efficient LED lights in the Huizenga Tennis and Track Center.

Students are uniquely positioned to make sustainability a reality on campus. One of the few groups that interact with virtually every aspect of sustainability, Calvin students set an example for others by modeling green living habits and bringing their sustainability passions to the broader community.

Student activities and leadership groups

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  Calvin Outdoor Recreation & Adventure Club (CORAC)

  • Adventure Club exists to be a gateway for you and other students to learn more about God’s natural creation, and, in turn, have the opportunity to take leadership roles in outdoor adventures.
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  Food Recovery Network

  • The Food Recovery Network exists to feed the hungry and promote sustainability by recovering leftover food from dining halls that would otherwise be thrown out and bring them to local nonprofits who will serve those in need in the Grand Rapids community.
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  Nature Rx

  • Calvin joined the Campus Nature Rx Network to incorporate nature into our lives and promote mental health and well-being.
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  Wilderness Orientation

  • Every summer students begin their Calvin journey and take their first class for credit by signing up for an eight-day Wilderness Orientation to explore themselves, get to know God, and meet new friends in an iconic wilderness location.
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  Other student activities

  • Calvin is home to more than 70 student-led organizations where you can get involved, create community, and develop leadership skills. There is something for everyone.

Green communities

• Sustainability Fellows

  • Sustainability fellows cohort is a learning community committed to sustainability policy, infrastructure, and behaviors.

• Outdoor Rec & Creation Care Floor

  • This living-learning community is committed to growing intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally through wilderness-based experiences, engaging conversation about environmental issues, and actively participating in environmental stewardship and sustainable living.

Pursuing green lifestyles

• The Campus Sustainability Guide

  • An online resource for all those concerned with sustainability at Calvin.

• Knollcrest East (KE) Community Gardens.

  • The goal of the Calvin Community Garden is to raise awareness about the beauty and productivity of the land. The KE garden has 12 rental plots for student and community gardeners.

• Hampshire Street Community Garden.

  • This community garden is available for campus activities and provides food for Calvin’s dining halls.

• Calvin Ecosystem Preserve

  • CEPNG has mature forest, ephemeral ponds that are high quality breeding areas for native frogs, toads and salamanders, and carefully tended gardens of native plants. The trails and gardens are open to the public from dawn to dusk.

• Venema Native Garden.

  • VNG is West Michigan’s largest public native garden.

Internship and work opportunities

• Plaster Creek Stewards

  • PCS regularly hires summer research assistants, green infrastructure interns, and Green Team mentors. Positions are posted early in the spring semester through the Science Division Office. Post-grad students may contact PCS regarding the internship program which varies in description depending on the time of year, but often includes seed collecting and processing, greenhouse management, or green infrastructure installation. Here are some recent research projects.

• Calvin Ecosystem Preserve & Native Gardens

  • The Ecosystem Preserve employs Calvin students to work in a variety of positions both during the academic school year and in the summer. As an employee of the Ecosystem Preserve, you will gain valuable experience and develop skills that will prepare you for your future career in a variety of fields, including environmental science, education, environmental education, interpretation, biology, recreation, and nonprofit work.

• Calvin Energy Relief Fund (CERF)

  • The purpose of CERF is to pursue our calling to be stewards of God’s creation by implementing a process through which Calvin’s Campus can promote and realize a goal of energy stewardship and accommodate renewable and sustainable energy- and cost-saving projects. Contact Professor of Engineering and EESC Chair, Matthew Heun for more information or to apply to be a CRF intern.

• STARS and SIMAP

  • Calvin uses the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) to measure and guide their sustainability performance. Each year student intern are needed to help with data collection and analyzing.