If he didn’t know the unique hazards of that particular day on the farm calendar, he should have. It was the day of sorting cattle, and any farm kid should know that the worst days of the year to screw up are those days. But screw up he did. Big time. He drove the pickup smack into the side of …
Visser Helps People Overcome, Learn, and Make Changes
Looking back, Dr. Stanton Visser (’70) can see how God orchestrated moments in his life that prepared him for each new step or hurdle he tackled. Visser spent more than 35 years working as a counselor at Creative Living, a Christian counseling center in Rock Valley, Iowa, that he and two friends started as a part-time endeavor back in 1978. …
Du Mez Brings Energy to Engineering
“I have always been interested in how things worked,” says Kate Du Mez (’10). As a child, Du Mez spent her free time building or fixing things; in school she particularly enjoyed her math and physics classes. “When I was preparing for college, engineering seemed like it could be a good fit with how my brain works.” Deciding on a …
Alex Vasquez Brings Young Life to Sioux County
Alex Vasquez (’18) first heard about Young Life, a para-church organization, when he was a senior in high school in Dallas, Texas. At the time, he felt that he’d achieved everything he’d ever wanted—he had great grades, a girlfriend, football success, and popularity. So, when, according to Vasquez, a “super corny and weird” guy approached him about attending Young Life’s …
The Life and Times of Leonard Gooz
“Every experience in life influences you,” says Leonard Gooz (‘02). “Your family, your community, the friends you surround yourself with.” Gooz can point to many experiences over the years that have led him to his current position as vice president for customer experience and innovation at Hilton, where he works with brands like DoubleTree and Embassy Suites. His life today …
Bringing “What’s Out There” Home
Whenever Dr. Lee De Haan (’95) and The Land Institute (TLI) score major publicity for Kernza, the perennial grain they’ve been developing, De Haan’s phone rings. People want to know what he’s up to because they find Kernza as biologically fascinating as it is environmentally blessed. When he graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2001, De Haan came on …
Monique Lieuwen (’10)
Monique Lieuwen (’10) came to Dordt in 2006, from Lethbridge, Alberta. “I really wanted to go to a Christian university, and I wanted to go away from home and have my own adventure,” says Lieuwen, whose mother and several cousins attended Dordt. “I’ve just always known about Dordt—it was the only place I considered and the only place I applied …
Michelle Adams (’03)
“Honestly, I don’t view myself as ‘distinguished’ or different than anyone else who is doing what they were called to after college, so it was hard for me to accept this award,” says Michelle Adams (’03), the recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award. Adams has served the disability community in Nicaragua since she graduated from Dordt with a special …
A Downtown Ministry in Sioux Falls
Once upon a time, the place was a school for hairstylists, strangely enough. Dozens—well, hundreds—of students, most of them young women, came in to learn to cut and trim and set, then graduated and went back out to make the world a prettier place. When Stewart School of Hairstyling moved away from its downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, location, they …
A Step of Faith to Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
In January of 2013, President Erik Hoekstra visited Grace Christian Reformed Church in Burke, Virginia. A small group of Dordt graduates who lived in the Washington, D.C., area had gathered to hear Hoekstra share his vision for what Dordt might become. At the end of the talk, Ken Verbrugge (’69), a program manager at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab …