Archives: News Stories

Trinity Christian College is pleased to announce that our 2019 Commencement speaker will be Dr. Christina Ritsema, Ph.D., professor at Colorado State University. The College’s graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m.

Ritsema will be speaking on the topic of “Celebrating Work:  Past and Future.” She is a clinical professor at Colorado State University, where she teaches both undergraduate and MBA graduate students and serves as CPA advisor and as a Daniel Fund Ethics Fellow.  In 2018, Ritsema was awarded an Adaptive courseware grant to integrate active learning strategies into the classroom.  She earned her Ph.D. in Accounting and her Master of Accountancy from the University of Arkansas and her Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Miami University. She has also taught at the University of Northern Colorado, St. Norbert College (WI), and Hope College (MI). Earlier in her career, she worked as an auditor with Arthur Andersen.

Trinity will rejoice with our graduates and their families and friends throughout the weekend of May 3-4.  From the Honors Ceremony to the Seniors Picnic, there are activities happening all over campus. Check out the graduation page for more information about all these events!

The gift of scholarships can make all the difference for Trinity students, both during their time at the College and into the future. “After my husband Norm passed away, someone suggested a scholarship as a lasting remembrance of him and all the work he did at Trinity,” said Hilda Ozinga. “I’m really proud of this nursing scholarship.”

Currently, there are four Ozinga scholarship recipients enrolled in Trinity’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program: Amanda Jackson, Sarah Boeringa, Abigail Kleyn, and Katelyn Geerlings.

In a recent meeting with Sarah, Katelyn, and Amanda, they expressed their thanks to Hilda. “I’m very appreciative of the scholarship,” said Sarah, a junior. According to Katelyn, a freshman, scholarships are one of the reasons she came to Trinity.

Amanda Jackson a senior, said, “The scholarships I have received through Trinity have lightened my payment load in the present and the future, since I won’t have as many loans to pay.”

“I’m very appreciative of the scholarship,” said Sara, a junior. According to Katelyn, a freshman, scholarships are one of reasons she came to Trinity.

The Norman Ozinga Nursing Scholarship, which Hilda created  in 1982, has done more than provide financial assistance to dozens of nursing students over the years. Her personal involvement with recipients includes hand-written notes, meeting with their families, helping them find jobs and, of course, homemade cookies.

Hilda commented, “I’m here for these students…I go to the pinning ceremony every year. It’s a real accomplishment for these students.”

From beginning basketball players to high-school-level softball pitchers, Trinity Summer Sports Camps have something for athletes of all types and experience levels! Camps are led by the College’s coaching staff at the state-of-the-art sports facilities at Trinity Christian College.

Trolls Sports Camps provide opportunities for athletes of all ages to develop their skills in a fun, sportsmanlike environment. In addition to fundamental instruction, campers will be exposed to sport specific strategies and will have the chance to meet new people. Trinity’s Athletics Department is committed to challenging athletes and promote individual improvement that will eventually lead to athletic success.

Sports camps, which are held throughout June and July, include:

–Baseball

–Boys’ Basketball

–Girls’ Basketball

–Co-Ed Soccer

–Softball

–Co-Ed Track & Field

–Co-Ed Volleyball

To learn more, visit https://www.trollssportscamps.com/

With topics ranging from “Calvin and Old Testament Metaphors” to “Who were the Israelites in the Netherlandish Reformation?” as well as a banquet, organ recital, and much more, Trinity welcomed the 2019 Calvin Studies Society Colloquium to campus from April 11-13.

The Trinity community was deeply involved in the symposium. Professor of Theology Yudha Thianto, Ph.D., serves as vice president and program chair for the Calvin Studies Society. Dr. Michael Vander Weele, Professor of English, spoke on the topic, “What Can Literary Studies Learn from Calvin’s Reading of Deuteronomy?” and Professor of Philosophy Aron Reppmann chaired one of the sessions. Assistant Professor of History Kyle Dieleman, Ph.D., and his students helped to provide hospitality to the 60 attendees.

The colloquium brought together scholars from across the country, including attendees form Duke, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Calvin Seminary, University of St. Andrew, and University of Chicago.

Vander Weele expressed his appreciation for the work that Thianto and others on campus invested in making the event such a success. “This was an extraordinary feat. Yudha expanded the kind of Christian learning community we can be,” he said. “It was an awesome gift of time, vision, and energy!”

Click here to learn more about the Calvin Studies Society.

As part of its Mozart celebration, “From Wit to Wonder,” the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes Robert Chen, acclaimed violinist and Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The evening showcases the range of Mozart’s melodic gifts conducted by Maestro Stilian Kirov. The concert begins at 7:30 pm on April 27 at Trinity’s Ozinga Chapel Auditorium.

This all-Mozart performance features some of Mozart’s most famous and beloved works, including: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, k. 492,  Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major (“Turkish”), k. 219, and Symphony No. 41 in C Major (“Jupiter”), k. 551.

Guests will also have an opportunity to attend a free pre-concert lecture from 6:25 pm until 6:50 pm featuring Robert and moderated by IPO Assistant Concertmaster, Elizabeth Huffman.

“Mozart’s genius music is quite immortal,” said Kirov. “His works are quite extraordinary and timeless. You never get tired of Mozart. A major part of IPO’s programming concept is diversity, and as we have a substantial amount of American music, early and late romantics, Slavic and Russian composers, we thought that an all-Mozart program would be a nice musical gift to our audiences.”

Guest artist Robert Chen is generously sponsored by Four Seasons Heating and Cooling in loving memory of Jozef Maka.

Concert single tickets start at $27 in advance. Student tickets are $10, and group tickets are available with a minimum of seven patrons. Ticketing fees may apply.

To order, or for more information, visit ipomusic.org or call 708.481.7774.  IPO Ozinga Chapel box office opens one hour before the performance on concert night.

Everyone has a calling from God. And for Kevin Walker ’05, business is his calling.

“You have to recognize what that calling is and how you can impact the world for Christ,” Walker, owner of several El Famous Burrito restaurants, told the audience at a TBN Speaker Series event on April 10.

Walker learned at a young age that he enjoyed the world of business, when he found $20 on the sidewalk. He continued to work throughout high school at jobs such as piano tuning. At Trinity, he majored in business, then went on to work in the insurance industry and for Corporate Chaplains of America before entering the restaurant industry. “But I came to realize that being in business wasn’t just about how much money I could get,” he said. “And I want to challenge the thought process that business isn’t a calling.”

Walker pointed out that most people spend 40 or more hours a week at work, but only an hour a week in church—if they go at all. That leaves many opportunities to practice one’s faith in the business environment. “People who may never get inside a church, you may see every day. You can be a light to those people.”

Walker discussed the set of principles that drive his business’s goals and purposes:

1. Do the right thing
2. Give
3. Be a light
4. Do ministry

“God has given each of us a calling,” he said. “The question is, how are you utilizing your calling?”

The Speaker Series, presented by Trinity Business Network (TBN) in collaboration with Fusion 59, is focused on entrepreneurship and innovation for students, alumni, and friends of the College. The series focuses on Trinity alumni and friends who have flourishing companies and exhibit the entrepreneurial spirit woven into much of our business curriculum.

April 9 was a beautiful day for the 20^th Annual OPUS celebration! The College also welcomed incoming freshmen and their parents as part of  the Third Annual Admitted Students Day.

As part of the rich tradition of OPUS, the day was filled with Christian scholarship, presentations, and performances. There were also games, a dunk tank, chalk drawings, snacks, and much more.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

Awards in Art & Design

Graphic Design:

• 1^st Place– Yolanda Sinaga: “Vaporfly 4% Infographic”
• 2^nd Place – Mariah Nelesen: “Unroll”
• 3^rd Place –  John Michael Jones: “Gene’s Refried Beans”

Printmaking/Photography:

• 1^st Place – Claire Sukamto: “Facelift”
• 2^nd Place – Jacob Boglio: “Doy Dags”
• 3^rd Place – Emilianna Sweeting: “Faded”

Sculpture/3D:

• 1^st Place – Deborah Fry: “Untitled”
• 2^nd Place – Deborah Fry: “Jumble”
• 3^rd Place – Dainius Soliunas: “Ever-Shifting Sun”

Drawing/Painting/Mixed Media:

• 1^st Place – Alexandria Johnson: “My Safe Space, Untitled Inner Feelings, Untitled black & white, A Rainstorm”
• 2^nd Place – Samantha Willis: “Normal vs Mental, Still Life”
• 3^rd Place – Anne James: “Bart Simpson”
• Honorable Mention – Rachel Bast: “Disappointed”
• Honorable Mention – Gabrielle Lenting: “Headache”
• Honorable Mention – Jacob Boglio: “Expanse”
• Honorable Mention – Gabrielle Lenting: “Color Theory”

BEST IN SHOW  (Printmaking/Photography)

Claire Sukamto: “Incognito”

Awards in Literary Arts

Fiction:

• 1^st Place – Leah Taylor
• 2^nd Place – Leah Taylor
• 3^rd Place – Emily Homman
• Honorable Mention – Shinhye Hwang

Non-Fiction:

• 1^st Place – Deborah Fry

Poetry:

• 1^st Place – Leah Taylor
• 2^nd Place – Jessica Pilota

Awards in Music

Instrumental:

• 1^st Place — Ranita Luhur, piano: “Selling Sundry Goods”
• 2^nd Place — Jonathan Rietveld, trumpet: “Fantasie Brillante”
• 3^rd Place — Emily Homman, bassoon: Sonata in F minor, movement 1

Vocal:

• 1^st Place — Morgan Limback: “Stars and the Moon”
• 2^nd Place — Aaron De Boer: “Love Leads to Battle”
• 3^rd Place (tie) — Benjamin Friesen: “Extraordinary” and Ryan Van Gilst: “Lost in the Wilderness

Presentation Showdown Award (Best Presentation)

• 1^st Place — Abigail Lammers, Casey Wiegers: “Tiny Killers on Campus: Viruses in Local Waterways”
• 2^nd Place — Abigail Lammers, Amber Shoberg, Andrew Kowitz: “Writing in the Language of God: Editing Genomes at Trinity”

Runners up:

• Abigail Lammers: “From Predators to Prey: Shark Misconceptions, Threats, and Conservation Efforts”
• Nicole Syverson: “Therapeutic Communication”
• Peyton Carroll: “Creating a Wellness Program”

Golden Troll (department with highest proportion of presentations, both at OPUS and off-campus: Biology Department

As part of a yearly tradition for Trinity’s Social Work Department, a group of students, faculty, and practitioners visited the state capitol in Springfield, Ill., for the National Association of Social Workers-IL Chapter Advocacy Day on April 3.

A dozen students, along with Dr. Cini Bretzlaff-Holstein, department chair and associate professor of social work; and Dr. Allison Tan, assistant professor of social work, attended the event.

The Trinity group spent the day with more than 1,000 fellow participants from around the state in educational sessions and advocacy activities.

Art therapy has been recognized as a powerful way to heal the mind and improve the spirit, and Trinity is proud to offer a B.A. in Art Therapy.

But we don’t just teach art therapy–we practice it, too.  With the end of the semester quickly approaching, Trinity’s Counseling Services recently offered an art therapy event for students, with all the materials provided.

The April 4 event was led by a graduate counseling intern, Sharina Porter, according to Dr. Stephanie Griswold, PsyD., Director of Counseling Services and Instructor of Psychology. “In the Counseling Center, we talk a lot about ways to support students through the ups and downs of college. We do this through one-on-one counseling all the time, but it’s also important to do this on a larger scale within the community.”

The Counseling Center identified two goals for the event: to provide a creative and intentionally relaxing space to support students who might be stressed; and to support those students who are managing their stress well but would could perhaps benefit from a new and creative way to express themselves.

“We were blown away by the response. Around 80 students came to the event. I even had to go run and get extra supplies!” said Griswold.

Trinity is pleased to welcome Kevin Walker ’04 to campus as part of the TBN Speaker Series.

The Trinity Business Network in collaboration with Fusion 59 is presenting this free year-long speaker series focused on entrepreneurship and innovation for students, alumni and friends of the College. The series focuses on Trinity alumni and friends who have flourishing companies and exhibit the entrepreneurial spirit woven into much of our business curriculum.

Walker has opened several El Famous Burrito locations in the Chicago area. Join him, students, alumni, and friends of the College for this free event on April 10 at 4 pm. Registration is required. Learn more and register here.

4 pm Networking and Food Sampling (El Famous Burrito)
4:30 pm Presentation

Walker was recently featured in Forbes: Click here to watch the video.

Thank you to our event sponsorsL
-Baird & Warner – Tom Lemmenes
-Edward Jones – Rick Powell
-Evenhouse & Co. P.C.
-P&L CPA
-Schepel Buick, GMC, Cadillac
-Service Sanitation