June 18, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Sunday, June 23 some 40 high school juniors and seniors from across the
country will move into the Calvin residence halls to begin Entrada, a month-long
summer immersion program for ethnic minority students.
Students will come from Michigan, of course, but also as far away as California
and Florida. They represent a wide variety of heritages, including African
American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and multi-racial. But all, says
Entrada director Rhae-Ann Booker, are in for a typical Entrada experience.
The heart of the Entrada Scholars Program is a regular three-week Calvin
College summer school course that Entrada students take with the Calvin
students. A true college immersion program, Entrada sees the high school
students not only take a regular class, but also live in the residence hall,
worship and grow spiritually together, eat in the dining hall, study in the
library, shoot hoops in the gym, order late-night pizzas, do a service project,
get a heavy dose of computer skills -- in other words, have a typical college
experience.
That, says Booker, is the whole idea.
"We want students to get a true sense of what college -- particularly Calvin --
is all about," she says. "At the end of Entrada, students have taken an actual
Calvin class for credit and they've lived on campus for a month. The Entrada
experience gives them a good look at what college life entails and what it takes
to succeed in college. It also gives them a taste of what Calvin's unique brand
of Christian education is all about."
Life in the classroom includes six local certified teachers as Academic Coaches
and one trained teacher as Rhetoric Coach. Life in the residence hall also
includes a special Entrada residence hall director as well as six Calvin
students as Resident Assistants.
Since its inception in 1991, about 315 students have completed Entrada. Some
have gone on to Calvin; some attended other colleges. Almost all have pursued
some sort of post high school education.
NOTE TO MEDIA: Students will move in on Sunday, June 23 between 3 and 5 p.m.
Location is the Beets-Veenstra Residence Hall. Orientation begins that day at 5
p.m. in the Knollcrest Dining Hall. There will be an opening Worship Service
on Wednesday, June 26 and a closing Commencement ceremony on Sunday, July 21.
Contact Rhae-Ann Booker at 616-957-6749 for more info.
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