Archives: News Stories

Since Fusion 59 opened in 2018, many people across campus and from the Chicagoland area have benefited from Trinity’s innovation and co-working space. As Haley Heeg ’20 takes over as Fusion 59’s Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), she is looking forward to continuing and expanding on that tradition.

“Students from all backgrounds, majors, and disciplines engage with Fusion 59 in some form while being on and off campus throughout the summer months and school year,” said Heeg. “Alumni will come back to Fusion 59 to speak, present, or do workshops about how they are innovating in their current field of business.”

Heeg said she is excited about serving as Trinity’s EIR. The role allows her to serve as on-campus director and mentor within Fusion 59, while managing her own career. She takes over from Fusion 59’s first-ever EIRs, Ryan Hesslau ’18 and Tom Iwema ’18.

Fusion 59 consists of four core components: community, events, student clubs, and Trinity’s Consulting Team, Heeg said. “My job will be to manage the space and all initiatives that flow from the space.” She said she is particularly looking forward to working with guest speakers for “Fusion Friday” events and advising the Consulting Team, which works with clients from within and outside the Trinity community to help with event management, web design, social media marketing, photography, team management, and other functions.

Since Trinity has moved to online classes for the fall in order to keep the community safe, all Fusion 59 activities will be offered virtually. “Innovation Club will be virtual,” said Heeg. “We will be having a ‘Fusion Friday’ at least once a month for the entire school year, where guest speakers will present on Zoom [See more information below]. This will be very interactional, and students will be able to ask questions.”

Trinity’s Consulting Team will also be primarily virtual. “We will be helping local businesses in the Palos Heights community grow their social media and marketing strategies.”

Like several other campus facilities, Fusion 59 will be open as a place where students who are on campus can work in socially distant groups. The space, located in the Jennie Huizenga Memorial Library, will have a capacity of 15 people.

Heeg has always been an entrepreneur, and her time at Trinity helped her to focus on that calling. “From a young age I was always coming up with creative ideas and ‘businesses,’” she said. “At age 7, I started making doll clothes and selling them to my classmates. At age 15, my sisters and I started our own jewelry company called Trendy Trio.”

A native of Oklahoma, Heeg knew she wanted to study business at Trinity but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her degree. “My business department advisor and I discussed many things about my interests and skills,” said Heeg. Along with her interest in business, Heeg has successfully participated in pageant competitions, including being named a semifinalist in the Miss Illinois pageant in 2019. “I mentioned to him that I was selling my old pageant wardrobe and was ‘flipping’ dresses I bought from consignment stores. He told me that I was meant to be an entrepreneur and I have a business that I need to be serious about!”

With that encouragement, Heeg expanded Rosebud Bloom Online Boutique. “Because of the encouragement I received from my professor and advisor, I was able to pay my way through college and save money that would help me after graduation.”

Along with her studies and running Rosebud Boutique, Heeg was actively involved in Fusion 59 as a Trinity student and served as team manager for the Consulting Team and as president of the Innovation Club. “My professors and classes at Trinity equipped me to launch and succeed in owning my own business while being a full-time student, the Innovation Club President, and an active student in the classroom,” said Heeg, who graduated in May with a marketing major. “Now that I have graduated, I am fully prepared to enter corporate America and make a positive impact in my community.”

Along with serving as EIR, Heeg has a job with Ozinga as a Dispatch and Customer Service Representative. As part of her EIR duties, Heeg is on campus several evenings a week.

Fusion Friday Speakers

Throughout the academic year, Fusion 59 will be presenting a series of speakers who bring a variety of expertise and information. All Fusion Friday events will be accessible via Zoom. Scheduled speakers include:

Sept. 11 at 4 pm

Lawrence Weller, president of ECF Wealth, will be speaking and presenting on what being a business owner and working in finance has been like during a pandemic and offering advice for students who want to be entrepreneurs.

Visit here to learn more, including information about joining the Zoom meeting.

Oct. 9 at 4 pm

Anthony Ciccarone, coach and consultant with Amplify Chicago, will speak on career planning. Amplify Chicago addresses the racial wealth gap in the justice system by involving young people.

Nov. 6 at 4 pm

Rachel Holden, who is involved with recruiting and development at Northwestern Mutual, will be speaking about training, hiring, and recruiting, what companies are looking for during a pandemic and how students can be innovative in their approach.

Trinity Christian College and the North American Christians in Social Work (NACSW) are pleased to announce a new memorandum of understanding to mark the co-location of NACSW’s corporate headquarters on Trinity’s campus, effective June 1, 2020.

NACSW and Trinity’s Social Work Department have a long history of collaboration and support for one another, with Trinity’s social work faculty serving as frequent presenters at the annual NACSW convention.  Beginning in January, Dr. Allison Tan, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Trinity, accepted a position as Director of Programs for NACSW.  In this role, Tan has the opportunity to serve as a key point of contact for the oversight of NACSW’s day-to-day activities from Trinity’s campus.  This co-location offers Trinity students opportunities for employment, internships, and experiential learning and provides NACSW with institutional support, space, and other invaluable resources.

The leaders of both NACSW and Trinity see the value of this co-location.  Trinity’s President Kurt D. Dykstra said, “We are thrilled to welcome NACSW to its new home on Trinity’s campus.  Our students and faculty will benefit immeasurably from the close physical proximity to this wonderful organization.  I trust, too, that NACSW and its employees will find Trinity a very hospitable and collegial home and enjoy, as we do already, the great benefits of living and working within one of the world’s great metropolitan areas.”

Rick Chamiec-Case, NACSW’s Executive Director said, “Besides providing much-needed additional space for NACSW’s growing office and storage needs, NACSW’s move to Trinity’s campus will create a valuable partnership that will richly contribute to both NACSW’s and Trinity’s missions at several levels. Whether it’s creating opportunities for NACSW to work with and give experience to student workers and interns from Trinity’s Social Work Department and other majors, or sharing resources and providing consultation to support each other’s programs, this partnership will serve both NACSW and Trinity well in the years ahead.”

NACSW began in 1950 in Wheaton, IL and was incorporated in 1954.  NACSW’s mission and vision is to “be a vital presence in social work” by “equipping its members to integrate Christian faith and social work practice.”   With a membership of nearly 1,200 social work students, practitioners, and educators, NACSW’s work includes publication of the journal Social Work & Christianity as well as a number of textbooks aimed at equipping Christian social work and social work programs with resources to integrate faith and practice.  NACSW also hosts an annual convention, supports the mentorship of emerging leaders in social work, and provides a range of continuing education opportunities.

Nursing has always been a demanding profession, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the pressure.

Associate Professor of Nursing and Department Chair Tina Decker ’06, DNP,  recently talked with the Illinois Association of Colleges of Nursing (IACN) about how the expectations and requirements of nurses have changed and how nurses can adapt.

“I would dare say every nurse has been affected by the pandemic,” Decker said. “Even just trying to keep up to date with the newest guidelines, and verify actual versus fake information can be mentally, spiritually, and emotionally draining.”

Click here to read the entire interview.

Trinity is a member of IACN, which strives to advance excellence in baccalaureate and graduate nursing education in service to the public.

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Nursing Sarah Gouwens, DNP, who has been named a 2020 Illinois Nurse Educator Fellow. The fellowship, a program of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center Advisory Board, is designed to promote excellence in nursing education.

“It’s exciting to be part of the fellowship, and I’m looking forward to the opportunities that the fellowship offers in terms of learning and growing as an educator. It will give me opportunities to move forward in my career and provide more expertise around my role at Trinity as Simulation Lab Coordinator,” said Gouwens, who is working toward certification as a healthcare simulation educator through the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

Along with her work with simulation labs, Gouwens’s research also focuses on end-of-life care. “That is my other passion, and what I focused my doctoral research on,” said Gouwens, who worked in oncology and hospice and palliative care before focusing full-time on teaching. “The Nurse Educator Fellowship will help me to develop and implement knowledge, debriefing skills, and research.”

The fellowship includes grants for professional development. Attending conferences, gaining certifications, and pursuing other opportunities has been a little challenging with COVID shutdowns, she said. “But many of the conferences are now online, and I’ll still be getting the materials and content,” said Gouwens. “It’s rich in information.”

For example, she is planning to participate in SimOps 2020, sponsored by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, and the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium conference.

Gouwens is also excited about the opportunities that Trinity students will benefit from, as the Nursing Department Simulation Labs are currently being renovated and upgraded. “We treat our Simulation Lab as real-life environment. Our students will have even more opportunities to practice their skills and critical thinking with these renovations,” she said.

Trinity’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program, which has had a 100 percent first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN exam for three of the last four years, prepares graduates in all areas of clinical nursing with a Christian perspective.

Trinity’s Staff Council is pleased to announce that Diana Pell, Administrative Assistant to Faculty, has been named Staff Member of the Year for 2020-21.

“There were a lot of deserving candidates for this year’s Staff Member of the Year award,” said Caleb Jonkman, Chair of Staff Council for 2019-20 and Director of the Trinity Fund. “But when we looked at Diana’s nominations, her recommendations came from across Trinity’s campus. It was not just from people she works with on a day-to-day basis, but from all different departments. That really speaks to the work she does here.”

Nominations cited how Pell exemplifies Christian service, generosity, and professionalism every day.

Pell, who has worked at Trinity since 2001, said she was surprised to learn of her award. “I know that there are so much more deserving staff members,” she said. “I love my job. I love my faculty, fellow staff members, students, and our administration, so serving is a joy to me.”

Pell said she has developed many close friendships at Trinity and God has taught her a great deal through them. “I have learned to listen more and speak less; I have learned that love truly does cover a multitude of sins; I have learned that sometimes all a student needs is a mama-hug and to know that there is someone is praying for them, and a smile goes a long way!” she said. “I am so blessed to be part of a community who loves and cares for each other and hopefully the world knows that we are Christians by our love for one another.”

Her favorite Trinity memory involves her father’s visits to campus one summer. “He spent June and July with us and liked to come to campus with me. He typically walked around the campus and prayed, but once when he came back to my office he said, ‘There are angels here at Trinity and they are very interested in Trinity Christian College,’” she recalled. “He prayed prayers of blessings over this College for many years.”

The Staff Member of the Year Award recognizes the achievements of a distinguished staff member. This is the second year that the Staff Member of the Year award has been given. Laura Chávez-Dávalos, Director of the Office of Learning Services, received Trinity’s inaugural award last year.

President Dykstra shared this message today with the Trinity community:

Hello, Trinity Community.

I write to you today about our plans for the Fall. I know that we have communicated with you repeatedly over the summer about those plans. But I also know that as the fall semester gets closer and as the world around us continues to experience the effects of COVID-19, you have been asking questions about those plans and wondering if we would be modifying them in any way to account for changing factual circumstances and recently released governmental guidance. So, I write to you to share and describe Trinity’s modified plans to be In It Together during this unique Fall semester.

In short, for the Fall semester, while the campus will remain open, Trinity is moving most of its academic program on-line and offering limited campus housing for undergraduate students.

Let me tell you why we have made this decision, how we came to it, and what this all means for our students and for their education.

All of us hoped – and expected – that, after the flow in spring, by late summer we would be seeing a substantial ebb in the spread of this virus. That is what the models predicted and that is what the data was showing. That expectation informed our announcement back in May that Trinity intended to return to a predominantly in-person, on-campus experience for this Fall. And, behind the scenes since that announcement in May, scores of people at Trinity – included among them members of our science and nursing faculty, student life team, physical plant members, food service providers, and College leadership – have been working tirelessly to best prepare this physical campus for the return of the human community in the Fall. This COVID Response Team’s work is as comprehensive and as good as you will find anywhere – and largely done with non-existent, delayed, or contradictory guidance and regulation from the State of Illinois and Cook County.

So, I want you to know that for months, Trinity has been working the problem with the stated goal of a return to campus in the fall for students, faculty, and staff.

Unfortunately, over the last month, the promising COVID infection trends took a decidedly unexpected and unfortunate turn. Instead of receding, the virus is resurging. You have seen the reports and heard the news. This is not solely an issue in education. For example, professional sports teams have barely been able to operate without infections, even with all of the sizable resources at their disposal; the Miami Marlins, for example, did not last much more than a weekend before COVID infections paused their play and put the rest of the Major League Baseball season in jeopardy. In the last ten days, most small college athletics programs, including ours, have postponed Fall competition to Spring. More states, counties, and cities have implemented quarantine travel restrictions for persons coming from other states both near and far. And, very importantly, in our recent survey of our Trinity students, a sizable – and growing – percentage of you told us that you wanted or needed to have the semester altered due to the COVID-19 situation.

We are committed to providing an outstanding Trinity education that best protects the vulnerable members of our students, faculty, and staff while creating the kind of memory-making college experience that every member of the Trinity community, and especially our students, wants to enjoy together. Every institution, whether implicitly or explicitly, vows that the safety of their community is a paramount concern; Trinity refuses to simply pay lip service to a platitude. We really mean it.

So, on the cusp of the start of a new school year, let me tell you how, in the face of new facts and current reality, we are modifying our plans for Fall. More detail about these plans can be found at the College’s website and will be forthcoming to you in follow up emails yet today and in the coming few days.

We are calling this Fall plan Trinity: In It Together because we believe that this provides the best realistic opportunity for the Trinity community to learn together and to support one another during this remarkable time. There is much around us that can easily tear us apart and cause division. Surely the COVID virus and the policy choices that flow from it could cause such a result. Thankfully, and to your credit, that has not been Trinity’s experience thus far and I trust that we will keep the faith with one another. For we need to continue to come together.

Our Trinity: In It Together plan seeks to do just that. Our Fall will not be like the Fall of 2019 – but it will not be like the end of the Spring Semester 2020 either. The campus will remain open in modified ways: faculty will have access to their offices, classrooms, studios and labs; the Huizenga Library will be available; limited residence halls will welcome undergraduate students with modified safety expectations; new co-curricular opportunities will be available; and campus ministries will offer worship and discipleship experiences.

Permit me to describe all of this in some further detail. First, I will start with Trinity’s academic program. Most of our courses will be offered entirely remotely. In fact, for most of our students in most of our programs, the entirety of the semester can occur without needing to be on campus at all. I know that this is a relief for some, a frustration for others, and a disappointment for all. We heard what you told us about your concerns of physically returning to campus in the present environment. We share those concerns.

Though students will not be present in a classroom, this is not a repeat of the Spring’s emergency transition. Rather, our faculty will have the full resources of their offices and campus spaces available to them to provide a more comprehensive remote learning experience. They also will have more time to craft courses designed with that model in mind.

For a small number of programs, especially upper level courses in those programs, remote learning simply is not a plausible way to do the necessary work. For those limited students and programs, your courses will be in-person and on-campus. Over the course of this week, those limited number of students in these particular programs will be contacted directly by the departments’ faculty to discuss how these programs will proceed on-campus in the Fall.

What will campus life look like this Fall? Surely, with limited persons on campus and state restrictions on gatherings to 50 people or less, some of the most important Trinity traditions will be modified. As a Christian College, Trinity will provide regular campus worship and discipleship experiences in ways that are different from both our “usual” forms and from what we experienced in the sudden shift in the Spring.

We will continue to tackle the important, difficult, and seemingly intractable issues in modern American life and continue to do so from a biblical worldview. College is a season and place to think hard about important issues, issues that matter. It is a dedicated time to get in on the big conversations that have captivated the human intellect for centuries. This especially is so at Christian colleges. As a result, we will continue to expand our knowledge so that we can deepen our wisdom. We want to be a people and place that knows and loves God – and knows and loves the justice, grace, and truth that God cares so much about, too.

Importantly, Trinity will again offer students a Student Success Coach, and we will open a new Remote Learning Support Center to support students in the specific challenges faced in online learning. Counselling services and academic support will be available as they have been before. Campus offices will be staffed in person during normal business hours. Student programming, the arts, athletics, and others across campus are working to craft experiences that harness the best of our Trinity traditions, perhaps create new ones, and adapt them for this short and unique season.

We are offering a full-service college experience and adding new programs and structures to support our students during this temporary season of disruption. To that end, our pricing will remain the same and existing financial aid packages will be honored. A Trinity education already is typically priced at or below that charged by our peer institutions. At the same time, we recognize that every student’s situation is different and, due to the generosity of friends, alumni and supporters of Trinity, have created the In It Together Fund that, by application, also can offer direct financial assistance to students in need of particular help.

Let me emphasize in closing that this is a short and unique season even as it is a frustrating one. Measured over the span of a college experience, let alone an entire life, a semester is a limited time. I do not mean to minimize the disappointment that this news brings – trust me, all of us feel it, especially after working so hard for so many months to return to an on-campus and in-person experience. At the same time, those who have gone before us experienced depressions and world wars lasting multiple years and, in their own ways, persevered through those more disruptive eras. I am confident that we, too, will persevere through this trial and do so together.

Over the last number of weeks, I have gone back to re-read C.S. Lewis’ wonderful message to students in the fall of 1939. He gave this message, “Learning in War-Time,” to students about to embark on their studies as the world stood at the edge of World War II. His words, edited slightly to fit our moment, perhaps will speak to you as they have to me:

“The [COVID pandemic] creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If [humanity] had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare [pandemic] with “normal life.” Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil … turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes.”

We, too, as a part of the Trinity community want knowledge and beauty now. So in this season and during this time, we will pursue knowledge and beauty, wisdom and truth, for God’s glory and for the good of the world.

I look forward to spending the Fall with you and look forward to seeing how God will use this time in our lives together.

Kurt D. Dykstra, President

Trinity Athletics has hired Theo Owens as the new head women’s basketball coach, Director of Athletics Mark Hanna announced.

“It has been a real joy getting to know Theo during these last several weeks – he has a keen knowledge of the game of basketball, has a big heart for supporting and developing young people, and has a unique desire to do this work with student-athletes here at Trinity,” Hanna said. “We are eager for Coach Owens to be our colleague and to provide leadership to a remarkable group of Trinity student-athletes.”

Before coming to Trinity, Owens was the associate head coach of CCAC opponent Robert Morris University’s women’s basketball team. Last season, he helped the team to an overall record of 19-12, which was the team’s best finish since the 2014-15 season.

Owens also worked in the CCAC prior to his year with Robert Morris, as the assistant coach for the University of St. Francis women’s basketball team for three seasons. In that time, he helped the team to a conference championship in the 2018-19 season. The Fighting Saints also made it to the NAIA Elite Eight that same season. During the 2017-18 season, he guided the team to a second-place finish in the conference and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NAIA tournament.

Before coaching at the college level, Owens was a boys’ basketball coach at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill., where he led the team to a fourth-place finish and a runner-up appearance at the state tournament in 2013 and 2012, respectively. Along with coaching at Proviso East, Owens coached at various other high schools in the area, including Christian Heritage Academy and his alma mater, Farragut High School. He also coached at various clubs including Full Package Athletics and TAW Basketball School.

As a player, he started at Kennedy-King Junior College, where he was a JUCO All-American and Region IV Player of the Year in 1994 and an All-American honorable selection in 1993. After spending two seasons playing at the junior college level, Owens transferred to Loyola University Chicago, where he played for the Ramblers. Currently, he sits in fifth in the record books for career assist average. He was also named to the 1990’s All-Decade team for Loyola.

He has established his coaching philosophy over the course of his career, and he plans to bring that same outlook to this position.

“When it comes to coaching, my philosophy is that it is 90 percent attitude and 10 percent technique,” Owens said. “While I believe that a good coach can change a game, I am confident that a great coach can change a life. But as we all know, change is a process and I am committed and dedicated to that process.

“After going through the hiring process, God gave me the desires of my heart. I was excited to receive the call from Mark Hanna with an offer to be the new head coach,” Owens said. “I accepted without hesitation. While I still had a few options on the table, I knew Trinity was where I desired to be and where I was called to be.”

Owens began as the head women’s basketball coach on July 13.

“I am so elated to be a part of Troll Nation,” Owens said. “The moment that I first stepped onto the campus, I felt the warmth and genuineness of the community. I know without a shadow of a doubt that as I begin working with my new colleagues, we will continue to grow and expand the Trinity brand. I look forward to this new chapter in my life and all that Trinity has to offer.”