Undergraduate Admissions E-Newsletter - Fall 2011

The Aquinas College Board of Trustees officially accepted, on behalf of the College, a generous gift from Sam and Janene Cummings. The Cummings have given a large portion of the nearby Brookby Estate to Aquinas College to be used to enhance the academics, fundraising and visibility of the College.

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By: Sarah Parlette ‘12

Opportunities to improve oneself while bettering the community are a specialty of the Aquinas College Service-Learning Programs. This semester, 44 Aquinas students will travel across the United States as well as to the Dominican Republic to engage in service in various communities while creating connections, sharing memories, and make life-long friends. >Read More

By: Bridget Salisz

I experienced my freshman year of college with the utmost success to say the very least. The day I got dropped off by my parents was the start of a year that was full of many challenges, but with the support I got from my new Aquinas family, I will always remember it as one of the best years of my nineteen years of life thus far.

 It definitely took some adjusting to learn how to claim responsibility and to live more independently, but it did not take very long to make those adjustments. I became a different person when I moved to Aquinas as I grew up and started calling the shots for myself with input and directions from the people that I love, but without just sitting back and letting them make the difficult decisions for me. >Read More

Aquinas College’s Contemporary Writers Series kicked off its 15th season on September 21, 2011 with Series co-founder Linda Nemec Foster, poet, writer and Aquinas alumna and will culminate with a special anniversary fundraiser on March 14, 2012 with noted author Scott Turow.

Founded in 1997, the Series has brought writers from around the world to West Michigan.

With the exception of the March 14 event with Scott Turow, series readings are free and open to the public. Each event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Wege Center Ballroom on the Aquinas College Campus.
>More Information about the 2011-2012 Contemporary Writers Series

2011-2012 Features Writers:

• Linda Nemec Foster - September 21, 2011
• Patricia Gussin - September 21, 2011
• John Otterbacher - September 21, 2011
• Luis Rodriquez - October 27, 2012
• Thylias Moss - February 9, 2012
• Scott Turow - March 14, 2012

Aquinas College has been recognized as one of the nation's top 100 "coolest" colleges by Sierra Club. The organization recently issued their 5th annual ranking of the coolest colleges in the United States and Aquinas placed 94th. The "Coolest Schools" ranking benchmarks colleges and universities based on the incorporation of climate change mitigation strategies and other sustainability programming into campus operations. called "other initiatives." >More

Some of the accomplishments that helped land Aquinas College on the top 100 list include:

• 3 LEED Certified Buildings, and 1 LEED Registered building awaiting final certification.
• Campus policy requiring that all new construction and major renovations project achieve LEED certification.

• Energy Star purchasing policy for all new equipment
• Campus Community Garden
• All campus copy paper contains at least 30% post-consumer recycled content.
• The promotion of alternative transportation through designated carpool parking, ample bike parking, and subsidies for the Rapid bus and vanpool programs.
• Campus recycling and composting programs
• Full-Time campus sustainability coordinator on staff
• Excessive Campus Idling Policy

Donation from Secchia family serves as lead gift to kick off scholarship fund Aquinas College is off to a great start with its 125th anniversary goal to establish 125 new endowed scholarships by June 30, 2012 thanks to a $2 million donation from the family of Peter Secchia. The donation was announced to faculty and staff recently by outgoing president C. Edward Balog, Ph.D.

In recognition of the private Catholic Dominican college’s quasquicentennial year, it hopes to engage families with multiple members who have attended Aquinas or families who have a special interest in Aquinas by establishing 125 Family Legacy Scholarships to help reach this goal. >Read More

(Pictured at left: Joan and Peter Secchia)

What makes AQ great? We have nearly 2,300 students that attend Aquinas on its beautiful 107 acre campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the videos you'll hear from our sixth president, Dr. Ed Balog, as well as some of our students, parents and faculty on why they think "AQ makes all the difference in the world."

>Watch the Videos

In the 2010-11 academic year, we gave select AQ students who traveled abroad a HD flip cam to record their experiences. Watch and you'll understand why so many of them come back saying "This was the best experience of my life!"

>More on AQ International Programs

>Watch Videos from AQ Study Abroad Programs

We welcome all prospective students interested in Aquinas College to join us for AQDays. Come and discover what Aquinas is all about! Get the scoop on everything from scholarships to study abroad. Meet with faculty in your career interest, tour our beautiful 107-acre campus, eat lunch with potential classmates and learn about various aspects of college life!