Calvin News

NOTE: Due to lightning, the Cold Knight Club has been rescheduled for Friday, February 17th. Registration at 5 p.m. & jumping at 5:30 p.m.

The eighth annual Cold Knight Club will be inducted at Calvin College on Thursday, February 16, 2006, beginning at 6 p.m. The Cold Knight Club is part of a week of festivities at Calvin for Homecoming 2006.

And what exactly is the Cold Knight Club?

Simply put: a group of students willing to put on a bathing suit in February and submerge themselves in Calvin's "Sem Pond," a picturesque body of water on campus that lies between President Gaylen Byker's house and the Calvin Theological Seminary.

Last year 83 students took the plunge, braving blowing snow and temps in the teens.

That brought to over 400 the number of students who have jumped since the event began in 1999. Some 100 students are expected to brave the chilly waters again this year.

Interestingly, recent weather conditions have tweaked the format of the plunge somewhat.

In past year Calvin professor Randy Buursma (appropriately pronounced BRRR SMA) dug a hole in the ice. That won't be necessary this year says Buursma.

"Due to recent warm weather there is no ice on the pond," he says. "But we will get creative with how we allow students to make the plunge. It will be a different experience this year, but one they will remember."

The format for the annual event is simple. At about 5:45 p.m. students will come to the Sem Pond to register (all of the students who jump get a big beach towel that says Calvin College, Homecoming 2006, Cold Knight Club).

And around 6 pm or so they start jumping, one by one, into the frigid waters.

The Cold Knight Club began in 1999 as a way to get current Calvin students more involved in Homecoming. The idea originated with Buursma.