2002
The Voice: Fall 2002
Campus capsules
Dordt offers help to quit smoking
Dordt College, in conjunction with the Sioux County Tobacco Coalition, recently received funds
from the Iowa Department of Public Health to start a smoking cessation program
on campus. Dordt will soon hold “Freedom From Smoking” classes, an eight-week program
that will be open to Dordt students, staff, and the general public. The
funds are being used to train facilitators for “Freedom From Smoking” groups, buy materials for the program, and to buy medical products proven to help people
quit smoking, such as nicotine patches or gum.
Students learn about Hungary and Ukraine
This summer, eight Dordt students had a unique opportunity to experience a different
culture. From May 21 to June 13, they lived in Hungary and the
Ukraine, teaching ethnic Hungarians new skills and working with gypsies. But this wasn’t
a missions trip; as part of Gen 272, “Serving and Learning in Hungary
and Transcarpathia, Ukraine,” these students’ most important job was to learn.
“The purpose of the trip was to have the students experience another culture,
and learn about it,” says Ron Vos, professor of agriculture and instructor for
the course. Vos adds that many mission trips don’t allow participants to really
experience the culture they are working in, since they tend to dominate the
culture of the people they intend to serve. “The goal for our trip
was service, but also learning,” he says.
Earlier forms of the course were geared mainly toward agriculture majors. This year,
the eight students who went were from a variety of majors. According to
Vos, the varied skills of the group were an advantage.
The group spent their first week in Budapest, Hungary, getting visas and experiencing
urban life in Hungary. Then, they traveled east to the Ukraine, where they
taught adults and students at Hungarian Reformed Schools, sharing their knowledge of agriculture
and North American experiences. Later, they spent three days in Munkacs, Ukraine, interacting
with the gypsies that lived there and teaching them some Bible stories through
mime.
“We really came together as a team,” Vos observes. “We each had our individual strengths, and we built on those.”
Film buffs join forces
This summer, a small group of Dordt students took their love of film
and put it to work. With the help of Chris Rehn, professor of
business and a film buff, they made their own original film.
The students, Rehn, and other Dordt professors started meeting together in the summer
to watch and discuss films. According to Rehn, “We chose films that weren’t
really mainstream Hollywood movies.” Among these were Richard Linklater’s Waking Life, Wes Anderson’s
Bottle Rocket, and Orson Welles’ classic Touch of Evil.
Later, they began discussing the possibility of shooting their own film. Sophomore Jack
Maatman wrote a script and directed the film, and junior Reuben Vander Kwaak
shot it with a digital camera.
The film, according to director Jack Maatman, “is about how different people view
the same event. Three people comment on a scene, and talk about what
they think it means.”
Although they have finished shooting, the film isn’t done yet, says Maatman. The
students are currently in the process of editing it and fine-tuning the finished
product. They hope to show it on campus and maybe enter it in
a film festival.
Retention is high
This year, Dordt enrolled 355 new students—277 freshmen, seventy-five advanced freshmen, and three
sophomores. In addition, there were thirty-nine transfer students, and a record high student
retention rate. Dordt’s total enrollment for the 2002-2003 academic year is 1347 students.
Ag department receives grant
The Dordt agriculture department, in cooperation with the University of Minnesota, received a $10,000 grant from the USDA
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. The grant will allow them to study
a potential new crop for the Midwest, called the Illinois bundle flower. Dr.
Donald Wyse at the University of Minnesota was the primary author of the
grant proposal, but Dordt will administer the grant and do much of the
research.
According to agriculture professor Robb De Haan, research into the Illinois bundle
flower will hopefully contribute to the development of more sustainable food
production systems.
