The Calvin community gathered together on the Commons lawn on Wednesday, July 11 to celebrate a notable occasion: the 20th birthday of the Entrada Scholars Program.

Entrada, a month-long summer college experience for college juniors and seniors of color from all around and outside the United States, attracted a record number of enrollees this year.

“We have a lot to celebrate,” said Rhae-Ann Booker, Calvin director of Pre-College Programs, under whose auspices Entrada operates. Calvin faculty and staff gathered to enjoy cake and punch and to hear from past and present Entrada directors and from an alumnus of the program. Current Entrada students watched photo highlights of past Entradas on a video monitor.

Also on hand to celebrate the occasion were 18 senior administrators from 13 colleges and universities around the nation who are spending the week studying the Entrada model through the Lilly Network Exchange Program.

“I’ve heard about Entrada for a long time,” said Rodney Sisco, a Lilly delegate from Wheaton College. “This is about seeing how it works and implementing something similar at Wheaton.”

The event began with remarks from Student Academic Services counselor Jan Heerspink, who guided Entrada through much of the ’90s. At that time the program consisted of college-related activities rather than actual college experience.

“Trepidation,” is the word Heerspink used to describe how she felt when her then-boss Steve Timmermans, former Calvin director of Student Academic Services, suggested that Entrada students enroll in an actual summer class.

“I wasn’t home much during Entrada,” Heerspink summarized those years when she helped transform Entrada from a college simulation into the real academic deal.

Booker began her turn at the mike with an old African proverb: "You can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been."

Booker, who put the “Scholars Program” in the Entrada title when she assumed the directorship in 1999, built on the foundation pioneered by her predecessors.

Under her leadership Entrada doubled in numbers and increased the percentage of Entrada alumni who chose Calvin over another college (currently 50 percent of Entrada Scholars who graduate high school come to Calvin, and Entrada graduates make up one-third of all African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American students who come to Calvin). Booker also praised the leadership of current Entrada director Tasha Paul, who continues to build academic rigor into the program.

Following remarks from former Entrada Scholar and current Calvin sophomore Markeisha Jordan, who called Entrada “a life changing experience,” the birthday event concluded with Booker leading attendees in a chorus of “We’ve Come this far by Faith.”

The celebrating continued, however, as Entrada staff, faculty alumni, current students and parents joined the Lilly Network Exchange representatives on a Hawaiian-themed dinner cruise (featuring karaoke) on Lake Macatawa aboard the Holland Princess.

“You guys have an amazing program,” said Adrienne Forgette, associate dean for academic affairs at Northwestern College and another Lilly delegate. “Just the fact that it’s been going on so long and that you have so many students who attend Calvin or another college: It seems to be a fairly unique program. I just heard of it this fall, and I’ve never heard of anything else like it.”

Tom McWhertor, the Calvin vice president for enrollment and external programs who oversees Pre-College Programs, was also on hand for all the festivities.

“I’m glad we took a few minutes to celebrate a program that’s been going on 20 years and made a great deal of difference in the lives of so many people,” McWhertor summarized. “Entrada continues to make a difference at Calvin. It has changed the complexion of our student body.”