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Welcome to Calvin College. My name is Jordan. I am a psychology major from Michigan and I'll be one of your tour guides. Here are the ways you can explore our campus. You can click on the front facing arrow to start the tour. You can also skip an area by clicking on the next stop button. If you already know where you want to go, select any location by using the drop-down list or by clicking on the map. You can also explore any particular location in more detail on the 360 picture, photo gallery, or video icons.
Commons Lawn trail
Commons Lawn
Tour stop audio transcript
We're beginning on the Commons Lawn, right in the middle of campus. This is a great space where students gather to play Frisbee, study, or stay active. In the winter students build impressive snow sculptures on the lawn. Right behind me you can see Hiemenga Hall, home to many of our excellent humanities departments. Calvin is a top-ranked national liberal arts college, which means you will take courses in subjects like philosophy, religion, history and foreign language in addition to your major. This is all a part of equipping you to fulfill Calvin's mission: to think deeply, act justly and live wholeheartedly as Christ's agents of renewal in the world.
Chapel
Tour stop audio transcript
Hi, my name is Katie and I am a nursing major from California. This is the Chapel, where the Calvin community gathers for worship and prayer. Here at Calvin, you aren't required to attend chapel, but services are offered each weekday at 10 a.m. Each day features a different theme like sharing faith stories and prayer. On Friday, the chapel is packed for a songfest that includes hymns and modern worship songs. You can also attend a full worship service called LOFT on Sunday evenings led by our chaplains and Calvin students.
DeWit Manor
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's President and all of our professors sign a statement of faith and work hard to integrate faith into all the learning done here. DeWit Manor is home to President Michael Le Roy, his family and their dog, Gus. The Le Roys host hundreds of people here each year, ranging from international lecturers to Calvin students. Right behind DeWit Manor is the picturesque Seminary Pond. This is home to one of Calvin's biggest traditions, The Cold Knight Plunge. Each February, over 600 students including myself, professors and even the President line up to jump into the icy waters of this pond to receive the Golden Towel Award.
DeVos Communications Center trail
DeVos Communication Center
Tour stop audio transcript
The DeVos Communication Center is located on the east side of campus. This is where you'll find state-of-the-art video and audio equipment, speech pathology labs and a movie theater. Here you can study film and media, as well as digital, organizational and strategic communication. Many of these programs include internships, which make it easier for Calvin students to find jobs after they graduate. In fact, 99 percent of 2013 graduates were employed or in graduate school one year after graduation. In this building, you can also take classes in political science, international relations or speech pathology, which offers a five-year masters degree program.
Covenant Fine Arts Center
Tour stop audio transcript
The Covenant Fine Arts Center is home to the music and English departments, an art gallery and two performance venues. English students study linguistics, writing, or literature with award-winning professors, including the Grand Rapids' poet laureate, Lew Klatt. Music students have access to dozens of practice rooms, music labs and performance spaces with exceptional acoustics. The Recital Hall is a great place for film showings, public lectures, and, of course, student recitals. The Center Art Gallery exhibits artwork from renowned artists around the world and the Calvin community.
Tour stop audio transcript
The Covenant Fine Arts Center Auditorium is the most-used performance venue on campus. As you wait for events to start, check out the starry-night lighting on the ceiling. You can go to big concerts like Switchfoot, Ingrid Michaelson and Needtobreathe, as well as campus events like orchestra concerts and January Series lectures. During the school year you can also watch recent movies for just two dollars, thanks to the Student Activities Office. Dance Guild is Calvin's largest student organization and it puts on sold-out shows right here on this stage. And Rangeela, a celebration of international cultures at Calvin, is held here each February.
Covenant Auditorium
Tour stop audio transcript
The Covenant Fine Arts Center Auditorium is the most-used performance venue on campus. As you wait for events to start, check out the starry-night lighting on the ceiling. You can go to big concerts like Switchfoot, Ingrid Michaelson and Needtobreathe, as well as campus events like orchestra concerts and January Series lectures. During the school year you can also watch recent movies for just two dollars, thanks to the Student Activities Office. Dance Guild is Calvin's largest student organization and it puts on sold-out shows right here on this stage. And Rangeela, a celebration of international cultures at Calvin, is held here each February.
Hekman Library trail
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's Hekman Library is one of the largest private libraries in the state of Michigan. There are over two million items in the library's collection, including eBooks and research databases. There's also a large staff of friendly librarians, with some experts in research, to help you find the information that you're looking for. If you need help writing a paper or speech, student consultants at the Rhetoric Center can help. You'll probably spend a lot of time studying here, but watch for fun events that the library hosts each year, like the indoor Frisbee Golf tournament.
Hekman Library
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's Hekman Library is one of the largest private libraries in the state of Michigan. There are over two million items in the library's collection, including eBooks and research databases. There's also a large staff of friendly librarians, with some experts in research, to help you find the information that you're looking for. If you need help writing a paper or speech, student consultants at the Rhetoric Center can help. You'll probably spend a lot of time studying here, but watch for fun events that the library hosts each year, like the indoor Frisbee Golf tournament.
Johnny's Cafe trail
Johnny's Cafe
Tour stop audio transcript
Johnny's Café offers a great place to relax or grab a bite to eat outside of the dining hall. Right at the center of campus, it's the go-to place for many students in between classes. It's a great place to meet friends or a study group. If you need a cup of coffee to keep you going, the Fish House is located next to Johnny's. It offers lots of fair trade coffee options and delicious seasonal drinks. You can also hang out on the couches, and enjoy open mic events in the evenings.
Residence Halls
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin has seven residence halls where 97% of first and second year students live. Most have two wings, one for men and one for women. Rooms on each floor are designed like a suite, which means that two rooms share one bathroom. So don't worry, you won't have to share a shower with your whole floor! Every room also comes furnished with stackable furniture. All residence halls have access to cable television, WI-FI, free laundry, computer labs, quiet study rooms, music practice rooms and floor kitchens. There are also three communities where you can live with people who share your interest in topics like academic achievement, environmental issues or diversity.
Tour stop audio transcript
Knollcrest Dining Hall is one of two dining halls on campus. As a student, you can choose a meal plan for 10, 15, or 21 meals a week. Meals always have multiple hot food options, including vegetarian and gluten free selections. A full sandwich and salad bar, as well as cereal, fruits, and vegetables are always available during meals. Our dining halls work hard to get their food from local sources so it's fresh and healthy. Special food stations in the middle of the dining hall feature things like stir fries, omelets and other foods made right in front of you.
Knollcrest Dining Hall
Tour stop audio transcript
Knollcrest Dining Hall is one of two dining halls on campus. As a student, you can choose a meal plan for 10, 15, or 21 meals a week. Meals always have multiple hot food options, including vegetarian and gluten free selections. A full sandwich and salad bar, as well as cereal, fruits, and vegetables are always available during meals. Our dining halls work hard to get their food from local sources so it's fresh and healthy. Special food stations in the middle of the dining hall feature things like stir fries, omelets and other foods made right in front of you.
Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex trail
Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex
Tour stop audio transcript
The Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex was built in 2009. This is where you can work out, use the indoor track, climb our rock wall, play intramural sports and cheer on the Knights. The 10,000 square foot Morren Fitness Center has more than 60 cardio machines and an impressive weight lifting area. It's open 80 hours a week, so you can work out whenever it fits into your schedule. The facility also has four indoor tennis courts, an indoor track, an Olympic-sized pool, two dance studios and plenty of courts for pick-up basketball games and indoor soccer. If you get sick or are in need of vaccinations, visit Health Services here.
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's Climbing Center, also known as "the rock wall," is in the lobby of the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. It's modeled after the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and has over 50 routes that change weekly. You don't need to have rock climbing experience to use the Climbing Center! There are paths that range from beginner to advanced-level. Calvin provides harnesses and climbing shoes, and you have the opportunity to become belay certified. You can use the wall during regular open hours, or take a rock climbing class for a PE credit.
Climbing Center
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's Climbing Center, also known as "the rock wall," is in the lobby of the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. It's modeled after the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and has over 50 routes that change weekly. You don't need to have rock climbing experience to use the Climbing Center! There are paths that range from beginner to advanced-level. Calvin provides harnesses and climbing shoes, and you have the opportunity to become belay certified. You can use the wall during regular open hours, or take a rock climbing class for a PE credit.
Van Noord Arena
Tour stop audio transcript
The Van Noord Arena has nearly 5,000 seats, which makes it the largest Division III arena in the NCAA. Calvin offers 21 varsity sports teams and the college has won 10 National Championship titles since 1992. As a member of the varsity basketball team, this serves as our home court, as well as home court for the women's volleyball team. As a student, you get free tickets to all athletic events, so you can support your fellow Knights. Don't miss the Rivalry, another great Calvin tradition, as the basketball teams face off each winter against nearby Hope College. ESPN has called it one of the best college basketball rivalries in the nation.
Engineering Building trail
Engineering Building
Tour stop audio transcript
The Engineering Building offers plenty of space to do research, design models and build prototypes. Features include cranes to handle large items, a wet lab for hydraulic systems, a design yard and machine and wood shops. If you choose to study engineering, you will also have access to a 3D printer and high-tech design software. Recent student design projects include a portable Wi-Fi transmitter, a wastewater treatment system, and a disaster relief shelter. Calvin's accredited engineering program offers concentrations in chemical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer and mechanical engineering.
DeVries Hall
Tour stop audio transcript
DeVries Hall and the Science Building are the homes for Calvin's biology, chemistry, nursing, computer science, physics and psychology programs. In the last five years Calvin has earned more than $30 million in grants for research, so you will have lots of opportunities to do intensive research as an undergraduate student. There are also grant-funded labs and research equipment here that are usually only found at large research universities. You don't even have to be a research assistant to use these labs. In classes, you'll get lots of hands-on experience which will prepare you for graduate school or your career.
ISRx Reseach Lab
Tour stop audio transcript
Calvin's $1 million Integrated Scientific Research Experimental Laboratory—or ISRx for short—was funded by a National Science Foundation grant. It provides space for research teams in chemistry, biology, physics and computer science to collaborate on projects using state-of-the-art equipment. The 4,500 square-foot space includes a nuclear magnetic spectrometer, a single-cell DNA sequencer, a fluorescence microscope and several common work spaces. Over 100 students in the sciences work with professors on research projects each summer and a lot of the research gets published in academic journals. That means that if you do research at Calvin, you might actually be a published author by the time you graduate!
Spoelhof College Center trail
Spoelhof College Center
Tour stop audio transcript
The Spoelhof College Center is the home of Calvin's administrative offices. As a student, you'll probably visit this building a lot because of all the student services found here. In the Registrar's office you can change your class schedule or declare a major. You can find an on-campus job in the JobShop, or change your meal plan in the Student Life office. This building is also home to the Broene Counseling Center, where students can get help with managing stress or other common life challenges. The Spoelhof Center is also where you may take classes in art, education, sociology or social work.
Ecosystem Preserve trail
Ecosystem Preserve
Tour stop audio transcript
If you need a break from studying and want to enjoy God's beautiful creation, check out Calvin's Ecosystem Preserve, which occupies half of our east campus. Forty acres are open to the public—that includes several trails and a LEED-certified building called the Bunker Interpretive Center. Students have been known to see wildlife on these trails, including grey foxes, deer, minks, turtles, owls, and of course, Calvin's famous squirrels. Some academic programs even offer classes or research opportunities here. If you love the outdoors, you can look for regular student job postings to do things like lead elementary school groups through the trails or track tree growth in the forest.
