Archives: News Stories

Trinity’s transformational approach to providing realistic tuition pricing and paid internships has garnered the attention of multiple news and media outlets across the country, bringing the College’s plan for debt-free education to the forefront of the national student debt conversation. Recent television features include ABC 7 News Chicago, The Fox News Morning Show – Fox and Friends, Newsy (Scripps News Company), and highlights on I Heart Radio.

In his interview with ABC 7 News Chicago, President Dr. Aaron J. Kuecker was asked about the motivation behind the Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative.  Dr. Kuecker explained, “We’ve gone to work on the front end to say, can we create economic pathways that prevent students from needing to take on so much debt? It’s just been important to us to think about the well-being of our students in that very holistic way, including their financial well-being. We want them ready to walk away from this place ready to contribute to their communities.”

The Tuition Transparency and Access Initiative, which was announced in October 2022, is designed to transform the often-confusing process of college tuition and financial aid by setting a realistic price to the actual cost of educating a college student, accessible to families across the income spectrum, and transparent about the process of college aid and scholarships.

When asked about the process of how students will benefit, Kuecker told Fox and Friends reporter Pete Hegseth, “We are giving our students the opportunity to connect with businesses as early as their sophomore year in paid internships that are resulting, for our students, in as much as $5,000 a semester in tuition grants.” Kuecker was pointing to the Earn, Network, and Learn Initiative, which connects students and employers in ways that provide significant mutual benefit. These paid internships, allow employers to connect with students who may help meet significant employment needs across sectors. This then allows students to receive tuition grants that support a move toward debt-free tuition while earning academic credit in a hands-on working experience.

In a January 2023 interview featured on Newsy (Scripps News Company), Dr. Kuecker talked about the impact of the initiatives Trinity has implemented and how they affect the overall well-being of the students. He shared, “For us, that is a way for us to say to our students, can we help you move the needle by making space in your schedule…to engage you with businesses that are seeking to do good…. the opportunity for students to Earn, Network and Learn with those business partnerships, we really can move the needle.”

With further appearances, such as an upcoming segment on PBS planned to air this summer, the continued engagement and traction through the media will help support Trinity’s initiatives and help forge new pathways in Christian higher education. “These are exciting times at Trinity,” said Kuecker. “We are taking bold, unique, and courageous action based on our convictions about God’s world and work, and we are honored to have the Trinity community join us on this journey.”

Trinity’s Clinical Mental Health and Counseling program has received accreditation from CACREP (Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) after a lengthy process that began in 2019. As an accrediting body, CACREP is committed to developing standards and procedures that reflect the needs of a dynamic, diverse, and complex society. CACREP accredits master’s and doctoral degree programs in counseling and its specialties offered by colleges and universities in the United States and worldwide.

“Even though we [at Trinity] know we have a strong program, we wanted that validation from an outside body…and so we pursued that with CACREP,” stated Dr. Kara A. Wolff, Director of the Graduate Program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Adding, “we were excited this week to learn about the approval of our accreditation through 2031.”

Trinity’s Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, which began in 2012, offers rigorous academic and professional training in counseling, combining theory, empirical research, and practical experience. Grounded in a Christian perspective, it teaches about integrating Christian faith and counseling practice and has graduated over one hundred students to date. It seeks to address the spiritual core of human life as responsive to God. It welcomes students of all faith traditions, emphasizing the formation of the whole person in each student’s training to answer God’s call to bring healing and restoration.

Dr. Wolff added, “The CACREP accreditation is a demonstration that experts in counseling have affirmed the high-quality training program that we have here at Trinity. What is really exciting about this is that it is great for our students to be able to pursue licensure more quickly and in various states, more easily.”

The program’s accreditation promotes excellence in counselor education and training. Holding this accreditation reflects Trinity’s ongoing commitment to developing and training highly qualified counselors. Additionally, the curriculum meets the educational and internship requirements for the Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor designations in Illinois and many other states.

To learn more, visit the Clinical Mental Health Counseling page.

Every year, Trinity accepts extraordinary students dedicated to making a difference in the world. The College welcomes two Founders’ Scholars among each freshman class, whose extraordinary spiritual, academic, and social leadership sets them apart. Trinity is pleased to announce our most recent Founders’ Scholars for the incoming class of 2027, Nana Oye Adansi-Ofori from Joliet, Illinois, and Jessica Byrdak from Alsip, Illinois. As Founders’ Scholars, Adansi-Ofori and Byrdak have both been awarded full-tuition scholarships to the College.

Adansi-Ofori, who attends Plainfield South High School, plans to major in Nursing and looks forward to getting involved in multiple campus organizations, including Nursing Student Organization and Multicultural Leadership Team. She is currently involved in her local church’s praise and worship team and leads a Christian club at her high school. Adansi-Ofori is actively involved in multiple clubs in high school, such as the National Honor Society, Robotics Team, and Black Student Association, to name a few.

“On my first visit to Trinity Christian College, I was overwhelmed with the amazing welcome and vibrant love it radiated. It emitted great love for God and for others,” Adansi-Oforsi stated.

Byrdak, who attends Alan B. Shepard High School, plans to major in Elementary Education with a minor in Special Education. She looks forward to getting involved on the campus of Trinity, including the Future Teachers Associate and Women Empowered, to name a few. She is currently involved at her local church as a greeter and usher. At her high school, she is President of the NHS, Leo Club, and Educators Rising and plays Varsity Badminton.

“Trinity has been my top college for as long as I can remember. I have grown up in the area and have always loved Trinity’s campus,” stated Byrdak.

“We are so excited to have Jessica and Nana Oye become a part of the Trinity community this fall,” said Tina Tate, Visit and Event Coordinator for Trinity. “This year’s Founders candidates were dynamic and strong. Jessica and Nana Oye demonstrated strong gifts, and we look forward to seeing how they will each impact our community and flourish.”

The Community Alliance Program (CAP) is an exciting new venture launched out of the Business Department at Trinity Christian College, focused on helping to support local businesses while giving students real-world paid job experience.

The mission of CAP is to connect student talents alongside the financial resources of donors and alumni to serve Chicago area low-income and minority businesses and enhance their communities. “The story of the Good Samaritan is at the heart of this program, said Professor Sundeep Vira, Dean of the Business Department and Program Manager for CAP. Jesus shared this parable as an example of how we should help our neighbors, and this program does just that,”

Vira added, “This really can be simplified to a three-step process. Step one starts with the business posting a job to the portal, step two is matching the students with those jobs, and lastly, step three is finding donors and alumni to help fund the jobs as students are placed. As a result, the small businesses do not have to pay for the valuable work the students do, as the donor and alumni funds cover that cost.”

Nearly fifty Trinity students from various majors have applied for jobs through the CAP portal, hosted by Parker Dewey, a technology partner, giving students unprecedented opportunities to work alongside over thirty local businesses and aid in tasks that specialize in generating revenue. Feedback from participating students has been overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing how this program has provided meaningful work they enjoy while helping businesses in need.

“This is such an innovative effort by Trinity that is creating positive outcomes for both its students and the community.  Through these short-term projects, Trinity’s students gain valuable experience. At the same time, local businesses benefit as students apply the lessons learned in the classroom to help create business plans, develop marketing content, analyze data, and support other professional needs of small businesses.  What a great example of win-win collaboration that should serve as a template for others, stated Jeffery Moss, Founder, and CEO of Parker Dewey.

Additional partners, such as The Christian Association of Business (CAB) and Chicago Prison Outreach, have come on board and begun posting jobs online for the new semester and beyond. Professor Vira looks to the bright future ahead in this program, stating, “CAP has just begun; we plan to have a hundred or more students benefiting from this innovative program in the years to come.”

To learn more about the Business Program at Trinity Christian College, click here.

Chicago Semester, an off-campus urban experiential education program that serves college students by equipping them to pursue their vocational callings and emerge as professionals as they faithfully engage the city, has announced scholars selected for their Summer 2023 Scholar-In-Residence program. Selected scholars include two Trinity Christian College professors, Lisa Doot Abinoja, Assist Professor of Social Work, and  Dr. Lenore Knight Johnson, Associate Professor of Sociology.

Scholars will join Chicago Semester and professors from other institutions for up to two weeks between June and July. They will live at Canterbury Court Apartments, the program’s housing partner, and have access to workspaces at 1871, where Chicago Semester’s offices are located. Each scholar is awarded a stipend to be used to further their research agendas while participating in the program.

The purpose of the Chicago Semester Scholar-In-Residence Program is to build relationships with faculty from our founding institutions by offering opportunities to nurture their research through resources available in Chicago. Chicago Semester was founded in 1974. The program currently serves approximately 100 students per year from 30+ partner institutions.

Ryan Thompson’s exhibition, Crude Futures, which was held in the Seerveld Gallery, concluded on Thursday, February 2nd. Members of the Trinity community attended a closing lecture and reception. Professor of Art and Design John Bakker opened the lecture with an introduction of Ryan Thompson, Department Chair and Professor of Art and Design.

Thompson opened his lecture by sharing his passion for this project and his motivation for the work centered on the climate crisis affecting our world. When talking about Crude Futures, attendees were asked to think about what comes to mind when they hear crude futures – “oil,” someone shouted. Thompson’s play on words and puns in this display comes together in his motivation and inspiration for these pieces.

Crude futures, by definition, are “futures contracts in which buyers and sellers of oil coordinate and agree to deliver specific amounts of physical crude.” He explains this exhibition was about the climate crisis being called a “Crude Future,” something he admits he has been thinking about for some time, and what our place in it is.

The project started 15 years ago while Thompson was in graduate school.  His inspiration came from conceptual artist, On Kawara, whose series of Date Paintings recorded nothing more than the date on which they were made. These simple monochromatic paintings were done intricately by hand, “he would start one each day, stretching the canvas, painting it black, and if he didn’t finish it at the end of the day, he would destroy the piece,” explained Thompson.

“I was excited about this work and still am today,” he stated. Thompson’s version of Date Paintings explores the same concept, with the closing price of oil futures on specific days, the value, and whether it went up or down.  “When you look at the price, you’re thinking about what is happening in the world. Are we using more oil? Is there a war going on?”

The paintings were made with a vinyl stencil and spray paint, which is a way he enjoys, stating, “art means something, and as long as I’m alive, I am going to make art.”

Thompson shared other inspiration for his exhibition in a play on words like “sour heavy or sweet light” along with a 1970’s era Shell Oil thermometer that he fitted with a clock setting, naming the piece Time and Temperature. “The movement this piece brings is really important to me; every day, week, month, and year counts,” said Thompson.

High Watermark, in his display, featured mylar balloons in the numbers of the final high point that oil was trading at in 2008. His direction in this design was not only to capture a trend but to think about the big companies who would have been so happy with the price of oil so high that they would have thrown a party, and balloons seemed like a perfect way to express this through art.

He shared his chosen techniques and materials for each piece, stating that he found different ways to work with different mediums, sharing, “these are the ways that worked for me. I think it’s really important that we [as artists] find processes, materials, and techniques that work for us in our studios.”

Click here to learn more about the Trinity Christian College Art and Design Academic Programs.

Students (left to right): Annika Biel, Gaby Hernandez, Mandi Csuka, Sarah Conners, Love Delfin, Bethany Moultrie, Lillian Rucker, Jaden Taylor, Megan Tamminga, Olivia Oostema, Regan Steenwyk, Sydney Vandenbos

-Sarah Conners ’25

Student Activities (STAC), Serve, and Future Teacher Association partnered to take Trinity students to Feed My Starving Children on February 15th. The reason behind this collaboration was that each organization, STAC, Serve, and Future Teacher Association, wanted to create an event that would not only bring students together but also create a space for students to find compassion and value in the meaning of service. Placing this event on a Wednesday was meant to create an opportunity for students to try something new and meet new people.

For some of the students that went on this trip, it was their first time going to the Feed My Starving Children packing location, so we were all very excited to be going together. Once we arrived, we all eagerly walked through the door and were greeted by the wonderful staff. From there, we put on hairnets, listened to instructions and stories about Feed My Starving Children, and were sent off to start packing. We each were assigned different jobs while also needing to work together as a team to pack the bags. Each bag of food we made contained: vitamins, vegetables, soy, and rice. Students would hold the bags open, put the food into them, weigh them, and seal them.

One of the wonderful things about serving is the opportunity to meet new people. While we were at our stations, we were also paired with other individuals that had chosen to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children that day. It was wonderful to work with other individuals who were dedicated to serving.

A fun stand-out moment we had as a group was to celebrate by screaming with excitement when we completed a whole box filled with bags of food for children. We even set time limits to see how many boxes we could finish in ten minutes.

At the end of our session, we all took a moment to pray for the children who would be sent the food, for the volunteers at our session, and all the volunteers that have participated in serving with Feed My Starving Children. This was another key aspect of our experience because we must remember to serve and live among God’s grace and love together.

Before we left, we had a debrief with the staff and all volunteers to see how many meals we packed during our time serving. To our surprise and excitement, we packed a total of 12,096 meals to feed thirty-three kids for a whole year!

On the ride back to Trinity, we spent some time reflecting on the service experience. Some common reflective words that students used were “heartwarming,” “eye-opening,” “love,” and “gratefulness.” This last part of the serving experience was important because we could take time and reflect on what the experience meant to us and what we had learned. In addition, each student expressed gratitude for their decision to participate in this event.

Overall, it was a wonderful event involving learning, teamwork, harmony, and community. I am so glad that STAC, Serve, and Future Teacher Association were able to collaborate and make this event possible.

To learn more about these student groups and more, click here.

-Julia Oostema ’23

Resident assistants (RAs) play a valuable role in the Trinity community. As students and leaders on campus, they are invested in promoting the well-being of our students through meaningful collaborations, resources, and peer support.

Indira Escalante, Area Director for Alumni and Tibstra Halls, said that “our collective vision and rally cry is for Residence Life to be an ‘indispensable part of the student experience.’” This means that RAs are involved in bringing people together, cultivating community, and creating a safe space for all students.

Although it can be challenging at times to adjust to different leadership styles and ensure that residents are taking care of themselves, Danyelle Luckett (‘24) tries to be intentional about creating a welcoming space. As an RA in Tibstra Hall, she goes out of her way to ask residents what types of events and activities they are interested in because, in her words, “you can’t help others if you don’t know how they want to be helped.”

Danyelle’s favorite part of being an RA is being a connector. “As an RA, my job is to act as a resource for students and a mentor and a guide. I’m not your parent, but I can be your cool big sister if that makes sense.” This means that Danyelle approaches her job with laughter and care, but she still holds her residents accountable and ensures they’re doing what they need to do.

Nicole Wideman (‘23) is also an RA in Tibstra Hall. As a senior social work major, she decided to become an RA because she wanted to challenge herself and gain valuable experience for her future career: “I knew that the field that I would be going into…would be one where I would have to learn how to navigate and address conflict, and be assertive. These were areas that I knew were struggles for me, so I am challenged by this role in these areas and am learning how to improve in it every day!”

One of Nicole’s favorite parts of being an RA is the community that has been created among the Residence Life staff. “From our first RA retreat in the beginning of August until now, we have gotten to know each other quite a bit through team bonding, team meetings, planning events, and more. Although we have gone through many transitions and obstacles, I am so glad for the family that has been created throughout it all!”

Highlights of RA-organized events this year include movie nights, karaoke at the BBC, reverse trick-or-treating, de-stress events, and more.

-Christy Wolf ’10 and Jeremy Klyn ’02

One incredible way for Trinity alumni to express their gratitude toward the College is through a financial partnership supporting student scholarships. Not only does this help ease the financial burden of college tuition, but it’s also a way to recognize student accomplishments and achievements tangibly. Thanks to the generosity of a multi-generational Trinity family, the efforts of Trinity’s Alumni Board, and the greater alumni community, over $200,000 was raised through a matching opportunity to support future legacy students, growing the Alumni Scholarship Fund (ASF) endowment to more than six times its current amount.

For over 20 years, the ASF has supported children of alumni who study at Trinity, drawing from an established endowment and annual fundraising efforts. Since its inception, the fund has helped 80 students (and counting) and has distributed over $260,000 in scholarship funds. “It’s humbling to be able to award multiple scholarships to incoming students whose parent(s) attended Trinity,” said Jeremy Klyn ’02, Senior Director of Alumni and Family Engagement. “With 70% of all Trinity alumni having graduated in the year 2000 or later, we know that there are only more legacy children who will be of college age soon. We are already aware of over one thousand children who have signed up to be part of our Legacy Program – a 20% growth since 2019. There is a wave of alumni children who are approaching college age, and we want to help them as much as we can.”

While this tremendous growth provides excellent opportunities for many families, it also has restrictions. Awarding a scholarship from the ASF to every child of an alumnus isn’t possible. Only 13% of students who applied for the scholarship in the last three years received the award. Crystal Allen ’11 currently serves as President of Trinity’s Alumni Board. “It’s challenging not being able to help all of our alumni and award scholarships to every student who applies. That was a huge motivator for why this scholarship campaign needed to take place,” she shared.

In May of 2022, Trinity’s Alumni Board learned of an incredible matching opportunity – thanks to an estate gift from John and Bernice Hoekstra. Three of their children graduated from Trinity, including their late daughter, Jean, who was a member of Trinity’s first four-year graduating class in 1971. In 2006, their granddaughter, Sandra, also graduated from Trinity as one of the top students in the business program, receiving the departmental award at graduation.

As executors of the estate, Fred ’80 and Barb ’81 Hoekstra approached Trinity about doing a matching campaign to benefit the college. “Dad was good friends with Mr. Marty Ozinga, as well as Dr. George DeJong, both founders of Trinity, whose feet were on the shovels,” Fred shared. “During my time working at Barnabas Foundation, it was great to hear firsthand about Mr. Ozinga’s dream of a chapel on campus and Dr. DeJong’s heart for stewardship and Christian education.”

A few months later, Trinity’s Alumni Board began raising awareness of the campaign, introducing the opportunity during Homecoming, and encouraging year-end gifts. By God’s grace, the match was fully met by 125 donors who gave over $100,000 – a generous addition to the ASF!

Klyn shared, “When I moved into this role in 2019, one of the first conversations I had was with (then) Board President Christian Perry ’16. He told me he had a vision to raise $100,000 for the ASF, so when this opportunity presented itself, I knew that the Alumni Board and the Alumni Office had to act on it. What an incredible story to share with alumni for years to come.” Ben Borst ’13 serves as Vice President for the Alumni Board and added, “As an Alumni Board, we wanted to do something that would long outlast our time on the board and also impact so many of our fellow Trinity alumni. What a blessing from God to see these gifts come in.”

Current scholarship recipients like Alex Hofman ’24, daughter of Craig and Linnea Hofman ’97, remind us of the impact made while studying at Trinity. She shared, “The community on campus has been so amazing since the day I arrived. While it can be cliché to say that, it is just true. Every new freshman gets nervous thinking about meeting people, but it just happened. That was so comforting as a new student. What’s even more amazing was how natural it all felt. It was as if we had always known each other for years even though we had just met.”

As Trinity moves forward with a transformed tuition structure – reducing the annual tuition cost to $19,800 beginning in the fall of 2023 – these gifts will have an even greater impact on students to provide access to higher education and help more students graduate debt-free.

“The timing of this opportunity to help future students couldn’t be better,” said Klyn. “We are so grateful to the Hoekstra family and the legacy that John and Bernice have left.” While the campaign has closed, the Alumni Board will continue raising awareness and funds for the scholarship yearly. Stay tuned for more information about how you can partner with other alumni to support this fund.

If you would like to donate toward the Alumni Scholarship Fund, visit Trinity’s website for more information. If you would like to get more involved or nominate someone as a member of the Alumni Board, please use this form online.