New Faces in the Service-Learning Center

June 2009 marks a new milestone in the life of the Service-Learning Center at Calvin College. We, Megan and Noah Kruis, are serving together as the new Associate Directors of the Service-Learning Center. Together we will assist Jeff in the operations of the office, focusing on the Student Based Service-Learning activities (like Streetfest, Residence Hall Community Partnerships, and Spring Break Trips), while Jeff focuses on Academic Based Service-Learning. We’ll also help the office to remain better connected to our community partners and to assess the success of the S-LC.

We are excited to begin this new endeavor serving and learning alongside Calvin students in the community of Grand Rapids. Story is an important part of each person’s life, and we’d like to share a bit of ours.

Since graduating from Calvin College in 2003 and 2004 respectively, Megan and I have sought justice and pursued civic engagement in particular ways. These passions drew us to the work of the Service-Learning Center to share in this unique work.

Megan’s college experience did not really involve Service-Learning beyond Streetfest, but soon after graduating, she became enrolled as an Americorps Vista serving as an education organizer in the Creston Neighborhood of Grand Rapids. Her work there cultivated a passion for community, engagement, and urban renewal. In the subsequent years she has worked with many local non-profit agencies, working towards parent involvement in education, home ownership for low-income households, and home foreclosure prevention.

My own Calvin experience was deeply rooted in the Service-Learning Center, where I worked as a part of the student staff for two years. My career path has kept me here at Calvin, working in the Admissions Office in a variety of roles. One theme that I pursued during my time there was developing institutional partnerships with schools and organizations that help to promote college access for under-represented minority students.

Together, as members of Creston Christian Reformed Church, we worked together with partners in the church, at Calvin, and at the Inner City Christian Federation, to found Calvin’s fourth Project Neighborhood House, Nizhoni. We’ve served for the past two years there as mentors, ushering Calvin students into the Creston neighborhood for new and exciting ways to serve and learn.

In the Service-Learning Center, we hope to combine our networking within the non-profit community in Grand Rapids and institutional knowledge of Calvin College with our shared passion for community development and engaging students in the life of the city.