Chicago Semester provides great benefits

I applaud the ���貹����’s coverage of Kirsten Kelly’s excellent documentary on homeless youth in Chicago—The Homestretch (spring 2015). The article states “As a Calvin student she did a semester-long internship program in Chicago at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.” That semester-long program is Chicago Semester (formerly Chicago Metropolitan Center), a program Calvin has been sponsoring and supporting for 40 years and from which dozens of Calvin students (including myself) have greatly benefited. Chicago Semester continues to provide students from participating colleges with the opportunity for urban experiential education in a global city, exposure to art and cultural activities, diverse neighborhoods, challenging internships and city living.

Nancy Triezenberg Fox ’77
Oak Park, Ill. 

An unexpected reunion

I am writing to share an unexpected reunion with you under very bizarre circumstances.

On Nov. 29, my husband and I were driving back from visiting his parents over Thanksgiving break. They live in Manhattan, Kansas, and we were headed back to our home in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. I was pregnant and started having contractions so we pulled off the highway in Kansas City and rushed to University of Kansas Medical Center. There, our twin girls, Mina Katherine and Elizabeth “Elle” Ann, were born at 23 weeks, two days weighing 1 pound, 3 ounces. Tragically, we lost our daughter Mina on Nov. 30. But after 118 days, our daughter Elle graduated from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit! We are back in Mt. Pleasant and adjusting to life with our sweet baby. We praise God for her health and for the amazing care she received, which is why I am writing.

Elle worked with a team of nurses, doctors and other specialists including an occupational therapist and speech therapists. To our immense surprise, one of the speech therapists on her care team was a fellow Calvin grad and one we knew from our time in Schultze-Eldersveld.

Annie was an absolute delight to work with and even helped connect us with doctors at DeVos Children’s Hospital, near our home in Michigan, for Elle’s follow-up care. While we were casual friends during our time at Calvin, we have quickly rekindled our friendship and hope to be reunited again at the NICU reunion next April.

We thank God for His goodness and for equipping people like Annie with the skills and the passion to care for micro-preemies like Elle!

From left: Annie Plasman Dalton ’04, Anya Le Griffith ’05 (holding Elle) and Aaron Griffith ’04

Anya Le Griffith ’05
Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

Partners in ministry

Greetings and thanks for another splendid issue of Spark. I especially enjoyed the article about Trevor Rubingh’s New City Church (“Fully Invested in Youth”). What was sadly missing in the article was any reference to Trevor’s wife, Linda, who was pictured alongside of Trevor. Linda is also an ordained minister and a major player in his life and ministry.

Rich Westmaas ’54
Cadillac, Mich.

How very good that you included an article about Rev. Trevor Rubingh in the most recent issue of the Spark. And how very sad that you did not mention his wife, Rev. Linda R. Rubingh, in the article. Since its inception, Linda and Trevor have been partners in their ministry with children and youth at New City Kids in New Jersey and most recently in Grand Rapids. The Rubinghs met while at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Linda is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is a licensed social worker. Although the Spark beautifully feature its graduates’ work, New City Kids has always been a combined effort of both the Rev. Rubinghs.

Paula Vander Hoven ’68
Grand Rapids, Mich.

Sloppy work

Why in the world did you select illustrations for “Study in Realism” that featured misspelled words?

The ad with the socks claims the desk “transfroms” your office space. The Tranquility ad is environmentally “firendly,” economically “sensibile” and humanly “desireable.”

The students apparently don’t know how to spell or use spell check, but that doesn’t mean you have to feature their sloppy work in a cover article.

Nancy Houskamp Jaeger ’83
West Allis, Wis.

The Chosen Seven

Ken Bootsma’s letter in the summer Spark about the Calvin Historical Society for the Preservation and Furtherance of American Folk Music—a bureaucratic blemish which I cannot recall having heard actually spoken, but which has the saving virtue of inadvertently alluding to Preservation Hall in New Orleans—calls for a bit of tweaking.

John Calvin’s Chosen Seven, as we called ourselves (6 + 1 actually), had the following lineup: Chuck Vanden Berg (trumpet), Ken Bootsma (piano), Howard Huisman (drums), David Huisman (bass), Jack Fortner (sax), Ed Leinse (clarinet) and Pete Sherman (trombone). All were alumni except Fortner, who was an Aquinas music major.

As the accompanying photo reveals, we were not above showboating, though this was our first gig. (Or were the funny hats mandated?) Incidentally, a later date found us (same hats) in the Commons basement where we ended with a dirge-like chorus of Calvin’s alma mater, and then, in the tradition of the French Quarter funeral parades returning from the cemetery, we “kicked it upstairs,” to wild applause. One way to save the alma mater?

David Huisman ’59
Grand Rapids, Mich.

Correction

The children of Theodore Minnema were incorrectly listed in the last Spark. The names should be Tom and Sondra; Hank and Cindy; Ted and Courtney; and Rick and Vivian.