Hope At The Crossroads Chapter Summary

When it comes to wartimes at colleges, reflections from alumni often help one understand how real the changes that took place at universities actually were for those involved. In their book, “Hope at the crossroads: The War Years”, Nordstrom and Zuidema go into the depth of personal experiences to understand what it was like to live, work, worship, and study at Hope College during and immediately after World War II (WWII). When it came to life on campus, many things changed. Sororities became places for the girls to knit and sew for the Red Cross, programs were made to allow students to graduate a year quicker, and intercollegiate sports, including The Pull, were ended during these times in the 1942-1943 school year. Working on campus, at least

In “A Century of Hope”, it is Wichers’ goal to help others understand how Hope College grew between the 1860s and 1960s. Wichers does this through the usage of letters, books, newspapers, and minutes from different meetings during this time, along with some of his own memories.He begins his work by discussing the foundation of Hope as a pioneer school, before changing into the Holland Academy, before the school finally became Hope College. Throughout his book, Wichers discusses how Hope’s campus changed and grew: from the changes in presidents, to the additions of buildings like Vorhees and the memorial chapel, as well as buildings like the Grammar School which was erected for Hope College’s preparatory school. He concludes that Hope College will continue to grow as the college begins to add to its campus with a new Student Cultural Center, and the completion of Dykstra Hall. While Wichers discusses the years that Hope College was taking part in World War II, his book is more focused toward the history of Hope College and less focused on the causation behind the