Calvin's Commencement is May 19

On Saturday, May 19, more than 900 students will participate in Calvin College's 2012 Commencement ceremony, held at 2 p.m. in the college's Van Noord Arena. The college awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1921 to a senior class of just eight men.
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Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. will deliver the Commencement address. Plantinga served as president of Calvin Theological Seminary from 2002 to 2011. He is also the seminary's Charles W. Colson Professor of Theology Emeritus.

In addition, Ilga Svechs '58 and John Booy '74, will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards from the Calvin Alumni Association.

Svechs of Cleveland, Ohio, is a professor at Case Western University and a psychotherapist. As a young girl, Svechs and her family were taken from their home in Riga, Latvia and sent to a Nazi detention camp. The family was eventually sponsored by a Michigan family, and Svechs enrolled at Calvin, graduating with a degree in sociology. The Latvian government bestowed the "Cross of Recognition" upon Svechs for her work in establishing social work, social ethics and human development course work and expertise in her home country of Latvia.

Booy, of Grand Rapids, Mich., is the superintendent of Potter's House Christian School. Booy founded the innovative Christian urban school in 1981, while he was still a teacher in the Grand Rapids Public School system. Potter's House now serves a diverse student body of 530 pre-k through 12th grade students. Booy is active in national conversations about urban education.

The college has a host of events planned leading up to the ceremony on Saturday, including the Commencement worship service, the Commencement Celebration Cookout, a bachelor of arts exhibition and reception, and a reception for international students and their parents, to name a few.

For a complete schedule of Commencement Weekend activities, visit http://www.calvin.edu/commencement

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Received on Thu May 17 11:20:48 2012