Dordt University issued the following announcement on August 4.
Defender Days 2021 registration is now open. To register, please visit https://defenderdays21.eventbrite.com.
Defender Days is the biggest event at Dordt University, as students, alumni, parents, and friends celebrate Dordt and reunite on campus for home athletic events, concerts, the fall theatre production, and more.
Highlights of Defender Days 2021 include:
- Defender Nation Dinner
- Fall Music Festival
- 25th class reunion
- Late Night with the Defenders
- President's Brunch
Dr. Chris Boomsma ('03) has been named the 2020 Horizon Award recipient by the Dordt University Alumni Association. Boomsma serves as the director of education at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
One nominator shared, "The key characteristics of his accomplishments are innovation and sustainability promotion. Wherever he worked, he was entrepreneurial. He developed novel tools in crop phenotyping, he consulted with agriculture startup companies, and his current coordination of live webinars for crop consultants, organic farmers, ag retailers, and soil professionals, trains thousands every month."
Boomsma understands how faith and agriculture can be intertwined and can see it in his daily work.
“Agriculture, in my opinion, is a field of work that can deeply challenge and grow a person's faith,” he says. “I routinely see that with farmers who operate their businesses among many unknowns, chief among them being the weather. Despite remarkable scientific advances, cutting-edge technologies, and government support, farming in North America remains a difficult, complex, and often underappreciated profession.”
Dordt not only helped Boomsma in developing academic skills and knowledge for graduate school and the workplace, but also improved his communication skills and pushed him toward philosophical and theological growth.
“Dordt prepared me to move forward with conviction, purpose, and faith, and that has had a profound impact on my life. Whatever contributions come from my work, I remember the motto of my alma mater—'Soli Deo Gloria.’”
Paul TenHaken ('00), the mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has been named the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient by the Dordt University Alumni Association.
His nominator shared, "Paul has pushed for excellence while maintaining integrity in all the various roles and fields he has entered since graduation from Dordt in 2000."
In May 2018, TenHaken was elected the 32nd mayor of Sioux Falls. Leading with a focus on public entrepreneurship, employee culture, and fiscal responsibility, TenHaken has taken an innovative approach to problems he encounters, like working to rethink the Sioux Falls public transportation system and launching a bold mentorship vision for the community. He and his team have also encountered numerous crises over the past two years, including tornadoes, floods, and the Covid-19 epidemic.
“God calls us to go into this world and use our talents to reflect him in our work through the different mission fields in which we have been placed,” says TenHaken. “My hope in being recognized with this honor is to inspire the next generation of leaders from Dordt University to be bold in whatever that mission field entails and to be assured in the sometimes uncomfortable calling God places on our lives.”
As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Dordt, located in Sioux Center, Iowa, is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by U.S. News and World Report, Forbes.com, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review. To learn more, visit dordt.edu.
Original source can be found here.
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