School of Health

A Path to Speech Therapy

lbl3@calvin.edu — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:17:09 +0000

A Path to Speech Therapy lbl3@calvin.edu Wed, 04/30/2025 - 12:17

When Samantha Vasquez graduated from college, she had a degree in Philosophy and was planning on law school. However, serendipity landed her in the field of remedial literacy intervention, where she worked for five years, developing a passion for the language aspects of literacy. Working collaboratively with speech pathologists and observing their interdisciplinary practice helped her decide that speech pathology was the right career for her.

When COVID-19 hit, her path shifted. With a child in kindergarten, Samantha opted to stay home to facilitate her daughter's schooling. And soon after, she gave birth to a son, adding to her family.

Returning to School

As life got back to normal, Vasquez decided to return to school to pursue speech pathology, where she could grow her skills and increase her scope of practice.

Samantha discovered Calvin's Certificate in Speech and Hearing Foundations (CSHF) program, which provided the six undergraduate courses she needed to apply for a master's degree in speech pathology. With coursework online, the program fit into her busy life.

Transitioning to the Master's Program

After completing the CSHF, Samantha was accepted into Calvin's Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology.

As for the transition into the master's program, Samantha shared, "It has been seamless. The familiarity with the professors, knowing the rigor of the programs, and how well I was prepared for graduate coursework all contributed."

Samantha is thriving in master's program. "My experience has been amazing! The care and consideration poured into the courses to include up-to-date evidence-based practice, neurodiversity affirming and whole-person care, and the overall rigor of the programs has thoroughly prepared me to begin my externships. I feel confident in my clinical skills and have felt well-supported throughout the entire program. Every instructor truly wants us to succeed."

She is also benefiting from close mentorship through an assistantship with Dr. Brian Kreisman. "I have been working with Dr. Brian since I was in the certificate program when I was taking his courses in audiology and aural rehabilitation. I did a project for aural rehabilitation that we took to MSHA in 2024 as a poster presentation. After, I applied to be his graduate assistant when I was admitted to the master’s program. Now we are working together on a couple of research projects, he is my advisor for my master’s thesis, and I assist with grading and providing feedback to his students in the certificate courses."

Balancing School with Life Commitments

With a husband and two young children, Samantha has a lot to balance. How does she do it? "I treat school as my full-time job; I have set hours that I view myself as on the clock and off the clock. Working from home forces me to separate the two intentionally. My children are my number one priority, so I appreciate the flexibility that being a distance education student allows."

Inspiring the Next Generation

While it's not easy to manage school and family life, Samantha knows that her kids will benefit from watching her work. "I aim to set a good example as a role model for my children to balance work and life, but I also really enjoy the work I am doing. They see that I am passionate about learning and achieving my goals, and that I am in school to help people."

Study Speech Pathology at Calvin

While many undergraduate students start in a speech pathology program as freshmen, other adults come to the career later in life. Calvin's online Certificate in Speech and Hearing Foundations is designed to prepare those with a bachelor's degree in another field to be ready to apply for graduate programs in speech-language pathology.

Calvin offers our own Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology with two modes - on-campus and online. Students who successfully complete the CSHF program are guaranteed admittance to Calvin's distance education master's program.

Wed, 04/30/2025 - 12:00

Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this on Email Print this

Calvin pre-health grads in demand, acceptance rates significantly higher than national average

msk23@calvin.edu — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:38:36 +0000

Calvin pre-health grads in demand, acceptance rates significantly higher than national average msk23@calvin.edu Fri, 04/25/2025 - 16:38

Calvin pre-health graduates are in demand. The statistics don’t lie. In 2025, Calvin grads registered an impressive 88% acceptance rate into med school and 62% into PA school, both significantly higher than the national averages of 41% and 31% respectively. Grads heading to PT school saw similar success with an 87.5% acceptance rate, while 100% of applicants to dental, optometry, occupational therapy, and pharmacy schools were accepted.

“This is a phenomenal cohort of students,” said Tammy LaRue, director of pre-health advising at �鶹��. “These numbers are nearly unheard of.”

While this cohort’s acceptance rates are higher than most years, LaRue says Calvin consistently trends much higher than the national average across these categories.

Standing out with soft skills

And it’s clear to her why that’s the case. While she says grads score well on the MCAT and have the necessary clinical and research experience to compete in the application process, what puts them over the top are the soft skills.

“We strongly encourage students through advising, through their capstone courses, through all avenues to think deeply about what they are doing and how to articulate that well,” said LaRue. “These critical thinking and communication skills set them apart when they are side-by-side with students from other institutions who have met the checklist of admissions requirements as well.”

Proven value of the liberal arts

Students who are heading off to grad schools this fall credit their cross-disciplinary education as one of the keys to their preparation.

“Calvin’s liberal arts education has equipped me to engage in thoughtful conversations on a range of topics beyond medicine,” said Claire Cassiday, a senior studying biochemistry who is attending GVSU’s PA program this coming fall. “This academic challenge has given me the confidence I need as I enter into PA school and learn about other complex subjects.”

“My experience at Calvin not only prepared me to collaborate effectively with others within my own area of study, but it also equipped me with the skills to engage in meaningful collaboration with individuals from diverse academic backgrounds—which is an increasingly vital competency for working in any healthcare setting,” said Erin Cawley, a senior on the pre-physical therapy track studying psychology, who is heading to the University of Colorado this fall.

Personalized education leads to stronger network

Grads also clearly point to the individualized attention and mentorship they received as being crucial to both their character formation and to their acceptance into grad school.

“The small class sizes and approachable professors made it easy to ask questions, seek help, and build relationships. That kind of environment gave me confidence to be curious and ask questions when I was confused on a topic, a mindset I’ll carry into PA school,” said Cassiday. “Through one-on-one conversations, I received advice and mentorship that went beyond academics. Those personal connections also led to strong letters of recommendation from professors who truly knew me and my goals, something that I believe helped me get into PA school.”

“Calvin having small class sizes has enabled me to have close relationships with my professors and I still stay in touch with professors from my first year at Calvin,” said Daniel John, who’s graduating this May with degrees in biology, chemistry, and mechanical engineering and attending the University of Michigan Medical School in 2025. “As I applied to medical school, Dr. LaRue and Professor Sinniah were especially helpful in crafting my application and gave valuable feedback as I wrote my essays.”

“I was able to receive personal research mentorship from three different professors across three different departments and fields of study,” said Cawley. “Each of my professors I worked under invested in me—they got to know my life story, the unique experiences and perspectives that have come to shape my vocational pursuits. They intimately knew my story and actively shaped it as well.”

This fall, 56 students will be heading off to graduate schools in the health professions, from Boston University to Creighton, Case Western to University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison to Northwestern, to dozens of others.

Fri, 04/25/2025 - 12:00

Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this on Email Print this

One Department, Many Footprints

hp59@calvin.edu — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 18:04:09 +0000

One Department, Many Footprints hp59@calvin.edu Tue, 03/11/2025 - 14:04

Discovering a Professional Home

Matt Styf ’12 majored in math and education before discovering a passion for exercise science in Professor John Sparks’ Kinesiology 201 class. What he loved most was the connection he could make between his passion for exercise and service. He found himself asking, “Where can I go with this? What can I do with it?” After evaluating his options, Styf chose the pre-professional track—an undergraduate program that led him to complete a doctorate in physical therapy.

Professor Kerrie Berends, who co-chairs the department with Sparks, says Kinesiology 201 is a course that introduces students to all five majors the department offers. The course focuses on developing “a sense of camaraderie and belonging” among students who pursue various disciplines, all under one department.

Styf says once he decided to switch his major, faculty advisors helped him choose the right classes to graduate on time. Berends confirms that student advising is a key focus of the department’s faculty members. “We guide them through the whole process,” she says, “from course selection to professional exam preparation to identifying and applying to the right graduate schools.”

Continued Growth

In addition to pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy, students in the pre-professional track Styf followed also become physicians’ assistants, medical doctors, veterinarians, and dentists. “Kinesiology has so many science cognates that it can lead to any doctoral program in the medical field,” explains Berends. She notes that student interest in the department’s offerings is on the rise—this past fall, 77 first-year students indicated kinesiology as their desired area of study.

Calvin’s kinesiology department also offers four other majors: Pre-K–12 health and physical education, exercise science, therapeutic recreation, and sport management. Students can also select from two minors in recreation leadership or kinesiology. Four years ago, the department introduced an online graduate program in exercise science.

Laura Nicholson Lutz ’19, MS’23 completed her master’s degree with a concentration in health and exercise rehabilitation from her home in Ethiopia, where she serves as the athletic director and teaches anatomy and physiology at an international school. “The master’s degree program exceeded my expectations,” Lutz says. “Each of the professors demonstrated a depth of knowledge and passion for the content while incorporating their own real-world experiences into each of the lessons.” The program is taught almost entirely by full-time faculty.

Outward Facing

Lutz notes that even though her degree was online, she had the freedom to pursue service and research opportunities from within her community. “The master’s degree provided me with invaluable information that I have been able to implement during volunteer opportunities at medical facilities in Ethiopia, including CURE, a surgical pediatric hospital; Droga Physiotherapy Clinic; and the Hamlin Fistula Hospital,” Lutz says.

Berends echoes Lutz’s emphasis: “Both concentrations in the master’s program require students to be out there. Whether they are serving the community or putting in their internship or observation hours, they’re engaging outside of Calvin.”

That hands-on approach extends beyond classroom requirements, too, as kinesiology students find many opportunities to serve their wider communities.

Three years ago, the department joined the School of Health to participate in its annual HEALTH camp for Grand Rapids area students ages 9–17. The camp reaches youth from diverse socio-economic and racial backgrounds, introducing them to the health professions and healthy lifestyles. Kinesiology faculty and students help lead camp participants in exercise sessions and hands-on lessons in nutrition and exercise science.

For the last few years, kinesiology students have also led the Calvin Classic Youth Fun Run.

Supporting Grand Rapids' First Responders

Graduate students find exciting opportunities to serve, too. Sparks developed a partnership with the Grand Rapids Fire Department to offer a lower back and shoulder injury prevention clinic. “A group of exercise science graduate students and I do one-hour sessions with usually 8 to 14 firefighters at a time and take them through an injury-prevention protocol,” Sparks says. The protocol includes stabilization exercises to prevent lower back injury and improve overall shoulder health. “In the last calendar year, we did 17 sessions and were able to see just about every employee of the department.”

The firefighters typically attend clinics on campus, but last year Sparks and his graduate students visited the Grand Rapids Fire Department Training Center to introduce the injury prevention protocol to 24 new recruits.

Always Innovating

The kinesiology department’s commitment to innovation is evidenced in both its grow- ing partnerships and its physical facilities.

The Western Michigan University Occupational Therapy Clinic moved into Calvin’s fieldhouse in 2023, and that gives kinesiology students the chance to intern right on campus and to get connected to WMU’s graduate program.

In November 2024, Calvin signed an agreement with Baylor University’s doctor of physical therapy program. The agreement reserves two early admission spots each year for Calvin students. “It gives students a little bit of an advantage as they start to go through the application process,” Sparks says, explaining that Calvin scholars consistently compete with students coming out of the nation’s top pre-professional programs.

“Over the last 13 years, we’ve had an 87% graduate school placement rate with our pre-PT students. We’ve placed a number of students in the top five ranked programs in the U.S.,” Sparks says.

Berends and Sparks believe one reason Calvin kinesiology students perform so well is because they have access to state-of-the-art technology on par with large universities. For example, the Exercise Science Lab recently gained an Anatomage Table (virtual dissection table), and a nutrition lab with a fully equipped kitchen is planned for fall 2025.

But they emphasize that innovations aside, the kinesiology department thrives because its students are excited about and committed to their fields of study. “We’ve had some really high-achieving, top-notch students,” Berends says.

Faith-Focused

Calvin faculty have a long history of studying and teaching the compatibility between faith and science. That the world is both ordered and intricate points to the intention and artistry of a creator God. And although the kinesiology department serves a wide variety of majors, Sparks likes to remind students of the “common thread” their interests share.

“God created our bodies with wonderful intricacies. There’s beauty contained within those intricacies and how they work to- gether as a whole. We try to point that out throughout all our classes,” Sparks says.

“We may put someone on the treadmill and look at their max VO2, their running pattern, their economy of movement. When you start to exercise, how does the body adapt and adjust? And there’s that awe that our bodies can adapt, adjust, and handle the overload while getting stronger and faster. And that’s just fascinating,” Berends marvels.

She adds, “When you actually look at the human body and the muscles, you know, it’s artwork.”

Wed, 04/16/2025 - 12:00

Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this on Email Print this

School of Health

ld39@calvin.edu — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:27:41 +0000

School of Health

ld39@calvin.edu Tue, 07/16/2024 - 16:27

School of Health

Make a direct, tangible difference in the world, starting at the �鶹�� School of Health.

As a Calvin student, you'll gain full access to the School of Health, a new family of undergraduate and graduate programs for anyone who plans to lead in a health-related field.

World-Class Academics

Join a top-ranked suite of programs and learn directly from faculty with vast experience across many health-related fields. Master the fundamentals in a flexible set of core classes, then pursue your unique career goals in advanced courses and high-tech facilities.

Faithful Scholarship

Engage with the latest ideas, technology, and scholarship—and the moral and ethical questions that surround them. Every learning experience you have at Calvin is shaped by deep Christian faith, and a passion for justice and renewal.

Unmatched Opportunities

Take part in real-world research with your professors. Find an internship in Grand Rapids' world-renowned medical community. Study abroad to gain fresh perspectives. Those experiences will propel you into med school, grad school, and your career.

Request Info

Visit

Apply

Explore Health Programs

Chart your course to the career you want.

Undecided? You don’t have to start your major with your whole career path figured out.
The design of the Calvin Core lets you change your study path even two or three years into your university experience.

BA in Speech Pathology and Audiology

On Campus

Major

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

On Campus

Major

Certificate in Speech and Hearing Foundations

Online

Undergraduate Certificate

Health and PE Education (Pre-K to 12th Grade) Major

On Campus

Major

Health Communication Major

On Campus

Major

Kinesiology Major—Exercise Science Emphasis

On Campus

Major

Minor

Kinesiology Major—Pre-Professional Emphasis

On Campus

Emphasis

Major

Minor

Kinesiology Major—Sport Management Emphasis

On Campus

Major

Minor

Kinesiology Minor

On Campus

Minor

MA in Speech-Language Pathology (online)

Online

2025 Acceptance and Pass Rates

100%

Dental School

88%

Medical School

National average 41%

100%

Occupational Therapy School

100%

Optometry School

100%

Pharmacy School

87.5%

Physical Therapy School

62%

Physician Assistant School

National average 31%

100%

Speech Language Pathology PRAXIS Exam

Opportunities for Success

Superior Facilities

Take advantage of technology that rivals the big universities, like a nursing simulation lab, EEG machine, and more.

Early Assurance Program

Apply for assured admission to post-graduate programs at MSU College of Human Medicine and Wayne State University, learn more about scholarship opportunities with the University of Michigan, and explore tuition assistance through our partnership with Pine Rest Mental Services.

Internships and Research

Learn by doing with an internship at a local hospital, health center, research organization, or business. Grand Rapids is a fantastic place to gain clinical experience. And you'll enjoy many opportunities for summer research alongside faculty right here on campus.

Some on-campus research opportunities include rare disease research and support, phage research, and the roles of endothelial cells on HIV infection.

Off-Campus Study

Study abroad and explore real-world health issues in places like Nepal, Ecuador, and China.

Forward-thinking Vision

Want to know more about our values, and about the vision that the School of Health is working towards? Learn more about our mission and vision.

Areas of Study

Kinesiology

Nursing

Public Health

Pre-Health

Speech Pathology and Audiology

Meet Our Dean

Adejoke Bolanle Ayoola

PhD, Dean for the School of Health

526-6059

adejoke.ayoola@calvin.edu

Meet our advisory board

Yaw Bediako, PHD Executive Officer, Yemaachi Biotech Ltd. Accra, Ghana

Bethany Cambell Skillen, MPA, BSN, RN Manager, Trinity Health Geriatrics/Advanced Care Coordination Program

Kevin den Dulk, PHD Associate Provost, �鶹��

Douglas Diekema, MD, PHD Attending physician and director of education for the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, University of Washington

Christohper Holstege, PHD Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics Chief at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology; Executive Director, Elson Student Health Center; Executive Director, Blue Ridge Poison Center

Chikwe Ihekweazu, PHD Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization, and formerly Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

L. Nneka Mobisson, MD, MBA, MPH Co-Founder and CEO of mDoc, a social enterprise that integrates proven methodologies in quality improvement and behavioral science with web and mobile-based technology to optimize the end-to-end care experience for people living with chronic health needs such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer

David C. Musch, PHD, MPH Professor, Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences; Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology, University of Michigan

Khan Nedd, MD, CEO of Answer Health; President, Infusion Specialists

Jon Tilburt, MD, MPH Internal medicine and Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic; bioethics

Steve Triezenberg, PHD retired President and Dean of Van Andel Institute Graduate School

Jeremy Wingard, MD Glaucoma Surgeon, Vice President, Wheaton Eye Clinic