Calvin College will celebrate Commencement on Saturday, May 22 at 3 p.m. in its Fieldhouse. Commencement 2004 marks the 84th such conferring of four-year degrees in Calvin's 128-year history. 
This year's ceremony will feature a graduating class of approximately 900 students, including a record 71 students who will graduate with honors. Calvin awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1921 to a senior class of eight men.
The 2004 Commencement speaker will be Calvin professor of English Susan Felch.
Calvin's 2004 Commencement Ceremony also will be marked by the presentation of Calvin's highest alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Award -- to Dr. James Gage, a 1960 graduate, and Lois Ackerman Raap, a 1968 graduate. Calvin College has presented its Distinguished Alumni Awards -- intended to honor those who have made significant contributions in their field of endeavor -- annually since 1966.
Gage is professor of orthopaedics at the University of Minnesota and a former medical director of the Gillette Children's Hospital. He specializes in walking (gait) problems in cerebral palsy patients, developed the first computerized gait analysis laboratory and regularly does analysis and surgeries on children with cerebral palsy in Quito, Ecuador.
Ackerman Raap hails from Los Gatos, California, where she has been an adoptive and foster parent and advocate for over 40 HIV-positive and other special needs children. After a career teaching and serving her children, in 1997 she enrolled in law school so she could better represent the rights of foster children and parents. In 2001, she graduated with a J.D. degree in the same class as her daughter, Rachel Raap Bouman.
And a quintet of Calvin professors will mark their final Commencements as they move from the classroom into retirement. Together the five - John Hamersma (50 years), Beverly Morrison (25 years), Larry Nyhoff (41 years), Davis Young (26 years) and Marvin Zuidema (43 years) - have served Calvin for a combined 185 years!
Commencement weekend actually begins on Thursday, May 20 with the department of nursing pinning ceremony from 7 pm to 8 pm in the Fine Arts Center.
Then, at 5 pm on Friday, May 21, there will be a worship service of thanksgiving and celebration in the Calvin Chapel, followed by a Commencement Cookout from 5:30 to 7 pm on the Commons Lawn (the rain location will be the Knollcrest and Commons Dining Halls). Also, there will be an ROTC Commissioning Service in the Calvin Chapel from 6:15 to 6:45 pm for four Calvin students in the ROTC program. From 7 to 9 pm there will be an art department reception in the Spoelhof Center and at 7:30 pm in the Fine Arts Center there will be the education department teacher certification ceremony.
Commencement day begins on Saturday, May 22 with the Senior Breakfast Celebration from 9 am to 10:45 am in the Commons Dining Hall. Commencement Rehearsal will go from 11 am to noon in the Calvin Fieldhouse and the actual Commencement ceremony is scheduled from 3 to 4:30 pm, to be followed by various Commencement receptions from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm on the Commons Lawn.