The Core 100 class ran for the first time in 2021 as a part of the new required curriculum for first-year and transfer students. Despite the class’ short history, it has undergone several syllabus changes, and teachers and students alike still have a variety of ideas on how the class can continue to improve.

Core 100 was formed from two classes required in the past. One was called Developing a Christian Mind (DCM) and the other was called First Year Seminar. DCM’s main goal was to introduce students to Calvinist theology. First Year Seminar was about creating a welcome environment that new students could become comfortable in. 

“The [new Core 100] class uses a Reformed Christian narrative about God’s love for creation (and the story of human beings within God’s creation) as its overarching theme, thinking about how different parts of that story intersect with the three tagged commitments,” Director of Core 100 Jane Zwart said. The course’s three tagged commitments are justice, cultural learning and sustainability. 

Jane Zwart, and her team —Stacy DeRuiter, Douglas Vander Griend and Kyle Heys — have received a great deal of feedback about the class and have not shied away from change. They made several changes, including shrinking the Core 100 class from three to two credits, requiring directors and staff to condense the material taught. 

Julia VanderMolen, who has not only taught the class herself in 2022 but has also taught the class with Kyle Heys in 2021, is another member of Zwart’s team. While the substance of the class has been tweaked, she told Chimes that the goals have remained the same. “After year one we realized some of the readings we had done and some of the ways the course [was] structured weren’t the most effective way to do it so there was a sort of redesign and shift [in] emphasis,” VanderMolen said.

Core 100 is meant to be a flexible and responsive project, according to Zwart and Joel Westra. The Directors of Core 100 believe that it is a course that will continue to grow and change. The main reading of the course was switched this year to be more accessible for the general student population. St. Augustine’s “City of God” was replaced with N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope,” in hopes of offering a more contemporary read to Calvin students. 

Zwart said this change was in response to “students’ concerns about the difficulty.” There is a possibility for more changes to the curriculum in the future. “We’ll also consider minor revisions to the ‘CORE 100 Reader,’ and hopefully, we’ll be able to make it more affordable for students,” Zwart said.

One aspect that makes Core 100 unlike any other course offered at Calvin is the large variety of professors teaching the course. They range from biology to art professors, as well as past directors of student activities, all teaching the same class. Each professor is welcome to organize and present the required curriculum to match their strengths. 

“We don’t want a cookiecutter curriculum because we want instructors who are, themselves, inspired by what they’re teaching. There’s a greater chance, then, of their inspiring the students in their classes,” Zwart said.

All students were required to read from the same course handbook and novel, but instructors had the freedom to explore topics that complimented their interests. 

VanderMolen told Chimes that the variety of professors is also beneficial for students. “On the student side you are getting introduced to professors that maybe you never would have had before. If you are in a particular major, you don’t have to take this class with your major. You are taking it with anyone across the university, so I think it’s a great advantage to get interdisciplinary glimpses at the topics and experience in other areas,” VanderMolen said. 

Cohorts, such as the Ministry Leadership, Arts Collective and Honors Scholars take the Core 100 class together, and offerings of the course are expected to continue to evolve as new cohorts come online next year.

“I think that [the cohorts have]   a lot of potential for future iterations of Core 100 as a model to have a central thing that you are gathering around,” VanderMolen said. “Maybe that’s something to explore, you know, or give some liberties for other faculty to shape their course around a particular idea or theme.” 

Program Director of Calvin’s Core Joel Westra told Chimes that the Core 100 class will continue to change and adapt to reach its full potential — specifically regarding the theme book (main reading for the class), the course reader and the pedagogy. Classroom community and appealing to students with a variety of backgrounds and interests are features that will continue to be finetuned, Westra said.

The consensus from Zwart, VanderMolen and Westra is that Core 100 is a class that is here to stay at Calvin University. 

“Core 100 functions as a gateway to the university’s core curriculum, so it seems likely to remain in place — though it will continue to evolve — for as long as this version of the core is in place,” Zwart said.