From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed Sep 11 2002 - 16:32:57 EDT
September 16, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calvin College faculty and staff will get a sneak peek at the school's new
Prince Conference Center on Friday, September 20 at an event the school is
calling "First Knight."
All faculty and staff have been invited to submit their name into a drawing for
a chance to stay for free in the Prince Conference Center on September 20.
It's a way, says Calvin's Craig Farrell, to give Calvin employees a taste of
what the Prince Conference Center is all about and a way for the Conference
Center staff to have a trial run with a forgiving clientele!
"This will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the entire hospitality
package," says Farrell. "Service will be extremely important to us. We want to
provide an excellent experience in a wonderful setting and will be available to
help the guests in any way possible."
Calvin faculty and staff will check in after 5 p.m. on September 20 and be
served hors d'oeuvres from 7 to 8:30 p.m. There will be a movie shown early in
the evening for families and children and there will be tours of the new Center.
After the movie Calvin will serve milk and cookies as people wind down for the
night. The next morning will see a continental breakfast and then check-out.
"The whole evening should a good trial run for us," says Farrell. "We have
been looking forward to this for a long time. We hope our guests that evening
will have a wonderful time."
The Prince Conference Center will be a big plus for local groups who need
flexible meeting space in a tranquil setting. The main level of the building
includes not only the lobby and fireplace, but also a second lobby with two more
huge stone fireplaces. The Great Hall is a 4,480 square foot meeting space that
can hold up to 400 people for a banquet and about 450 people for a lecture. It
can be divided into smaller spaces as well. Behind the Great Hall are smaller
rooms, including a dining room that looks out onto Calvin's Ecosystem Preserve.
There also is a President's Dining Room and a Board of Trustees room. Needless
to say the new kitchen for the facility is state of the art.
The Prince Center features three levels of rooms with 23 rooms on each level
for a total of 69. Each level offers 18 rooms with two queen-sized beds, four
with a king and a sleeper sofa and one large suite, complete with a large desk
and computer. Local company Billco manufactured all of the furniture for the
rooms.
The two buildings, and Calvin's Crossing, the pedestrian overcrossing that
spans the East Beltline and links the DeVos Center to near the Fine Arts Center
on the west side of campus, make up a $25 million project for Calvin. Of that
$20 million was donated via a pair of $10 million gifts to Calvin from the
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation.
"The DeVos and Prince families are long-time supporters of Christian
education," said Calvin College president Dr. Gaylen Byker at the time of the
gift (July 1998). "Their support of these two new ventures means a great deal to
all of us at Calvin. We are very grateful."
Elsa Prince is a 1954 Calvin graduate. Richard DeVos is a 1947 Calvin alum and
winner of the school's 1982 Distinguished Alumni Award. His wife Helen is a 1947
Calvin graduate.
-end-
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