Frederik Meijer Honors College
Current Students


Phone: 616-331-3219
Frederik Meijer Honors College
honors@gvsu.edu

Glenn A. Niemeyer Learning and Living Center
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401

Erika VanDyke Attends National Leadership Summit
Autumn Trombka Elected Student Senate President



Center: Debra spends time with with her Japanese roommates. 

Debra Curtis Spends 10 Months in Tokyo, Japan

Debra Curtis, a senior English major, is currently spending the school year in Tokyo, Japan. Before traveling to Japan, Debra had never lived outside the US for more than a week. Yet she opted to study at the International Christian University where 90% of the students are Japanese.  About her choice she says, “Many programs in Japan were at language schools where I would be surrounded by foreign students who spoke English. ICU, however, is an actual Japanese university . . . [at ICU] I'm able to take classes other than language courses (or even French if I want), join clubs, go to campus festivals, and live like an actual Japanese college student.” Certainly, living in Tokyo will prove a culturally dynamic experience. Debra explains that her first exams occurred on November 13 while she begins her classes again on December 3. Japanese schools run on a three-semester school year, the first semester starting in April. The major vacation occurs during the entire month of March during which Debra plans to explore continental Asia (South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, etc.).


Concerning her learning experiences at Grand Valley, Debra maintains that the junior seminar she took called Bioethics in Literature helped her to “further understand the huge difference in American and foreign culture. . .In Japan, many of the things that I ignored or scoffed at in America are thought of as the norm.” Debra’s experience highlights the Honors curriculum’s successful leap from the classroom to the outside world. After her 10-month stint in Japan, Debra hopes to pursue teaching English as second language and possibly a graduate degree in linguistics.
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From left to right: Erika VanDyke is pictured along with the Coca Colar polar bear and a fellow Coke Scholar at the Coca Cola Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia.

Erika VanDyke Attends National Leadership Summit

During the first weekend of October 2008, Erika VanDyke traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the first ever Coca Cola Alumni Leadership Summit.  As a high school senior, Erika had applied to receive the distinguished honor of Coke Scholar.  Over 80,000 students did the same.  Out of those thousands, 1,250 students were semi-finalists and, after a rigorous interview process, 250 students were the finalists. Erika was a finalist and was one of 200 students to receive a $10,000 college scholarship. The Coca−Cola Scholars Foundation chose the finalists based on academic success, leadership, and community service.  This month, a number of years later, Erika attended the Alumni Leadership Summit which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first Coke Scholars. At the Summit, Erika mingled with a diverse crowd that included top executives from Disney and Sony.  Ron Clark, the featured speaker, has accrued international fame for his unique and successful teaching style. Throughout the weekend, Erika experienced leadership seminars, graduate school sessions, a career symposium, and a grand tour of the Coca Cola headquarters. While she admits that mingling with so many distinguished alumni and students, as most of her fellow scholars hailed from Ivy League schools, Erika insists that Grand Valley’s Frederik Meijer Honors College prepared her for stepping outside her comfort zone. Inspired by experience at the Summit, Erika plans on involving herself as much as possible with the volunteer opportunities offered on campus in the future.
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Autumn Trombka Elected Student Senate President

Autumn Trombka, has been elected Student Senate President. After the student population elected her and others to the Senate’s general assembly, Autumn and two other newly elected Student Senate members presented their plans as president in a speech before the other general assembly members. Another vote in the Senate decided who would participate this year on the Senate’s cabinet as well as who would serve as president. Her duties as the leader of the student body include chairing all student senate meetings and attending various meetings throughout the week with other campus groups and offices. However, Autumn believes that the greatest and most important duty is to represent the Senate to the student body, staff, faculty, administration, and those outside of the University.  As President, Autumn’s main goal is to make the student body more aware of the Senate and how it functions. “There are many students at Grand Valley who don’t even know Senate exists.  It’s very hard to solve student issues if we don’t even know what they are since we aren’t informed about them. With 7 committees on our body, 5 working closely with students and student issues, we really would like to keep ourselves busy with the issues students care about right now.”

Autumn attributes much of her success to the Frederik Meijer Honors College. “I enjoy the environment it provides. The Honors College also offers some great programs that I’ve attended that just sometimes gave me the push to keep striving forward.” Yet while her position as Student Senate President takes most of her time, Autumn also enjoys other activities that one would expect of a junior in college.  She loves spending time with friends whenever she is able to, playing her favorite sports (soccer and basketball), going to the beach and traveling. Concerning her academic life, she studies Chemistry and Criminal Justice.  In the future, she plans to pursue a career in forensic science after attending graduate school. 

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  Last Modified Date: August 12, 2009
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