Q&A with Entrada grad Landon Dykema

In 2025, Landon Dykema will begin studying pre-med and playing volleyball at 鶹.
Landon Dykema ’29 is from Hudsonville, Michigan. His dad went to Calvin. His mom went to Hope. Making his college decision process even more complicated is that in his words “both schools have fantastic pre-med programs.” So, he had a tough decision. So, he visited both schools.
And the visit made all the difference. “When I visited Hope, the scenery was nice, but I didn’t feel that family aspect that I did at Calvin.”
This summer, Dykema jumped into the college experience through the Entrada Scholars Program—earning college credits and a renewable $4,000 scholarship in the process.
What is your greatest takeaway from this experience?
I came into this just looking forward to money [scholarship] and class credit, but I made friendships and relationships that I’ll have for the rest of my life. And I know going into this school year I don’t have to be worried about who I’m going to meet. Yes, I’ll meet new people, but I’ll have friends to go to in my first week of school as a rock, and I also grew a lot in my faith throughout Entrada and I’m reading my Bible a lot more, because there’s a drive, everyone here cares so deeply that it makes you want to feel that same feeling. God has really spoken to me through everyone here.
Because of Entrada, I feel more confident in …
My ability to spread joy. I think through both meeting new people and learning more about Jesus Christ I saw that there’s a lot of love that goes around and especially in different cultures. Learning about different cultures allows you to grow and kind of express your willingness to learn new things, and I think that joy comes with that because it brings joy spending time with people. Humans like to communicate, we like to spend time with others, and I’ve done a lot of that during my time in Entrada and that’s brought me a lot of joy and I’m better capable of spreading joy to other people now.
How would you have felt had you not had this experience before college?
I would have been terrified because I was already nervous going into Entrada and that’s just a month, so I can’t imagine thinking about a whole year where I’d be jumping right into the deep end. But now I’ve gotten this gradual increase into college where I know what the campus looks like, I know a lot of people, I know kind of how the coursework lines up and different tests, exams, so I feel much more prepared and ready for college now and I’m not anxious or stressed because I’ve learned God will provide and He will straighten my paths even if I’m worried. I’m definitely more confident now.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I think definitely a lot of people, including myself, were kind of wanting it just to be over early on, and as time went by it started moving too quickly. Hold on, hold on, I don’t want to leave yet. It was kind of switch over. I was open to meeting new people, open to new activities. In beginning, I wanted to get home to my family, to my girlfriend, now it’s like ‘wow, this is already over?’ Just take advantage of all the opportunities you get for whole group activities, individual with other people study times, those are times where you grow with people. And if you are just secluding yourself, you won’t get that sense of family that Entrada is.