Calvin News

“I came in with a certain idea of what I could do, and now I have a larger vision of what that could be, based on the classes I’ve had.” 
 
When looking for colleges, Maia Peterson ‘28 had a few criteria in mind: she wanted to stay in the Midwest, preferred a Christian school, sought a smaller community, and hoped for hands-on opportunities in environmental science. 
 
She explored several schools throughout the Midwest, determined not to attend Calvin simply because both of her parents are alumni. What she discovered, however, was that Calvin fit her criteria best. 
 
Once she stepped onto campus, Peterson realized choosing Calvin was actually opening the door to a world of opportunity. 
 
Now, almost two years in, Peterson sees the many layers of value in a Calvin education continuing to unfold.

Faith and learning fit together

One of the ways she’s found value is through seeing how intentionally Christian faith is woven into her majors: environmental science and philosophy. 
 
“In my family, caring about the natural world was always a very natural thing for us. We believed that we are called to care for it, but there’s definitely been times when I’ve seen the church not actively care by not talking about it,” said Peterson. “And then I came to Calvin, and everybody talks about it. I’ve seen a deeper realization of how faith and environmental science go together.” 
 
“Calvin’s philosophy department is one of my favorite things about this place,” said Peterson. “Calvin philosophy is a place where big questions about God and the world are taken seriously in ways I had never seen demonstrated before. When I came to the philosophy classes at Calvin I was like ‘wow, there are people who are doing this and teaching classes on really important conversations that we should be having.” 
 
Peterson has appreciated the opportunity to wrestle with big questions like, “why should we care for the natural world? And why is the church so bad at it? That was a question in a way that was answered at Calvin that I had never heard a coherent answer to before,” said Peterson.

A community of care

She’s also seen her faith grow through community. She’s made it a regular rhythm to go to chapel with her friends and to participate in “Food for Thought” gatherings in the philosophy department where she is involved in important conversations with peers and professors. 
 
“The faith community here has meant a lot to me. The students are really welcoming. The professors are like some of the best people I’ve ever met, and they know me by name. And it’s weird to think where I would be if I hadn’t been at Calvin because I’ve been so shaped by the people here and the classes I’ve taken,” said Peterson.

Every class matters

And that includes classes like urban sociology and geographic information systems, which Peterson said were surprisingly impactful. 

“I’m in the same majors I started in, and I have no plans to change those. That said, there are classes I’ve taken that have encouraged me to look at new academic or career pathways that I never thought I would,” said Peterson. 
 
She says her urban sociology class “tied together a lot of my interests” and geographic information systems “was super helpful to my future career because it taught me important skills.”  
 
These classes and others outside of her major have expanded her imagination for what she wants to do after Calvin. So too have the experiential learning and leadership opportunities she’s engaged in already.

Learning by doing

“Calvin ended up being at the top of my list in the end in large part because of the hands-on environmental science opportunities that I knew about and that was something that other small schools couldn’t compare to,” said Peterson, who worked with Plaster Creek Stewards her first summer at Calvin and is working for the Ecosystem Preserve & Native Gardens this coming summer. “I think a surprise has been discovering the many opportunities that I didn’t know about until I got here, like sustainability student organizations.” 
 
“It’s been an amazing experience for me to learn about what running a student organization looks like and all the logistics and the communications and organization it takes,” said Peterson. “That’s kind of the hands-on part that I wasn’t expecting, and it’s been a really great surprise.”

Doors continue opening

This past month, the latest door of opportunity opened for Peterson when she was notified that she was awarded Au Sable Institute's Calvin B. DeWitt Leadership Fellowship Award. The institute only gives one of these awards out each year and there are more than 50 supporting colleges and universities that send students to Au Sable. The award comes with a $5,100 fellowship that funds two hands-on classes in June: conservation biology and field techniques in wetlands. Better yet: the credits transfer to Calvin and apply toward her environmental science major. 
 
She credits her professors with opening up these kinds of doors. 
 
“I’ve gotten to know a lot of them really well and they’re such amazing people,” said Peterson. “Whether I’ve taken a class with them or not or had them as an advisor for a student organization, one thing that’s been consistent is they are really, really encouraging. They give lots of great advice, have connections, and they really care about us. That’s something I’ve really loved.”