2002
The Voice: Summer 2002
Notes from the alumni office
A living legacy
As I write this, 342 students are preparing for their final exams and anticipating graduation with excitement and perhaps a bit of anxiety. Eager to get on with life, many may be reluctant to leave behind the place and the persons who’ve shaped them these last two or four years.
Each of them leaves something of themselves behind. But they also leave with much more than they came—the knowledge and skills for their chosen career, a greater appreciation of how their gifts and Christian commitment can make a difference, and relationships with faculty and friends to support and sustain them in the years to come. These graduates may not recognize it now, but they are Dordt’s living legacy. They continue a tradition in which worldview determines the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. That, as Nancy Pearcey reminded the Dordt community earlier this semester, is a “precious heritage.” A heritage that will see these graduates through the challenges and opportunities the future holds.
Though Dordt’s tradition is relatively young, we are blessed to experience already a second generation of blessings. Henry Contant shares his thoughts as a father witnessing his son’s graduation twenty-five years after his own. Though some circumstances have changed, the legacy that Dordt passes on to our children is the same as the one we received—a foundation for life that prepared us for a lifetime of kingdom service.
Keeping the legacy alive
Alumni who value their Dordt heritage have a stake in seeing the tradition
continue. One way the alumni association does that is through our scholarship program.
We award three annual scholarships to junior students to help them complete their
Dordt education. It’s one small way we support the next generation of alumni.
The alumni scholarship has not kept pace with the cost of education, however,
and the Alumni Council has determined that increasing the alumni scholarship fund is
a priority. As the old SUB is demolished to make way for the
new Campus Center, we found an opportunity to preserve a piece of the
past to keep the legacy alive. The mail-
boxes from the SUB will be preserved as
“memory banks.” Proceeds from the sale of these mementos will go to the
alumni scholarship fund.
Individuals who are interested in buying their old mailbox should be prepared for
our on-line auction in September. Following that we will take orders on a
first come, first served basis. Watch your mail and the website for complete
details later this summer.
The welcome mat is out
Remember, if you’re traveling to or through Northwest Iowa this summer, the welcome
mat is always out and our “Bed & Breakfast” is back in operation.
Contact the alumni office to make arrangements for one night’s free lodging in
one of our air conditioned residence halls. We can also arrange a campus
tour so you can see what’s new since your student days.
And how about getting in touch with your circle of friends and planning
your own Dordt reunion here on campus? Let us know if you already
have plans in the works or would like some help arranging it. If
your Dordt reunion is scheduled for off-campus, let us know about it and
share your photos in the Voice.
