Calvin News

The ninth annual Cold Knight Club will be inducted at Calvin College on Friday, February 9, 2007, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Cold Knight Club is part of a week of festivities at Calvin for Homecoming 2007.

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 over 200 students took the plunge, but into a pond that was free of ice as a result of a January and February that was unusually warm (so warm that a thunderstorm postponed the plunge by one day).

Lack of ice is not likely to be a problem this year. The forecast for Friday is calling for a high of 20 degrees!

The format for the annual event is simple. At about 5 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 2007, Cold Knight Club).

And around 5:30 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 Calvin professor Randy Buursma (appropriately pronounced BRRRRR SMA).

All told over 500 students have participated in this annual Homecoming event since it began in '99, including seven member of the Gold Cold Knight Club—those who have jumped four or more years. There are 10 possible new inductees into the Gold Cold Knight Club this year.