Final Arts at Noon

The final Grand Valley State University Arts at Noon session featured violinist Todd Reynolds on Wednesday, April 1.

In addition to being a violinist, Reynolds is also an educator and technologist responsible for the string quartet Ethel as well as the hybrid-musician movement. His performance style is classified as a mixture of new and old technology which incorporates multiple genres and use of improvisation.

Reynolds has played alongside composer Steve Reich and Meredith Monk as well as the classical New York musical organization Bang on a Can. 

For more information about Arts at Noon, contact the Music and Dance Department at (616) 331-3484.

Historians honored by Kutsche Office of Local History

Three historians were honored for their contributions to the community from the Kutsche Office of Local History on Thursday, March 26 during the annual Local History Roundtable.

H. Sook Wilkinson, one of three finalists, was awarded the second Gordon Olson Lifetime Contributions to Local History award.

Wilkinson is known for chronicling the experiences of adoptees in her novels such as “Birth is More than Once: The Inner World of Adopted Korean Children” and “After the Morning Calm: Reflections of Korean Adoptees.”

Cindy Laug, administrative assistant for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Grand Valley State University, and Lori Shusta from the Grand Valley American Indian Lodge were also finalists for the award.

For more information, go to www.gvsu.edu/kutsche.

Meijer campus to host classes during K-12 spring break

Student up through the fifth grade along with their families have to chance to attend free educational classes on topics such as international cultures and nursing during the K-12 spring break.

Grand Valley State University nursing students will lead kids through activities involving stethoscopes and glow-in-the-dark germs. “Scrubs Camp” will take place from 10 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7.

International students from GVSU will help with the second class “Kids Around the World.” At the class, international students will be teaching lessons with the help of stories, games and foods from their home country. “Kids Around the World” will take place from 10-11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 9.

Both events will be hosted by the Meijer Campus in Holland at 515 S. Waverly Road. Families are encouraged to RSVP by April 5 by calling (616) 331-3910 or by going to gvsu.edu/Holland.

IDEA group to host West Michigan Design Week

The InterDisciplinary Entrepreneurship Alliance (IDEA) group will help celebrate West Michigan Design Week with a presentation by Deb Tolsma on how to better prepare students for the business world.

Tolsma was the former manager of global learning and development at Steelcase. In her presentation, Tolsma will focus on how to teach design thinking, collaboration and new problem solving strategies to young students before they go off into the business world.

Titled “IDEA presents Deb Tolsma,” the event will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 in the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences in room 123.

For more information about IDEA, go to www.fluitioninnovations.com/community-outreach.

Research shows Muskegon water quality continues to improve

Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resource Institute (AWRI) recently released a report that shows the improvement in Muskegon’s water quality. The water meets three of the four key requirements.

AWRI researchers have been examining Muskegon Lake since 2003 and has collected long-term data that students and GVSU community members can easily access online.

The U.S. EPA provided a grant that allowed AWRI to install Muskegon Lake Monitoring Observatory, a buoy that generates real-time data on the lake when there is no ice.

For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/wri/director/dashboard. To learn more about the buoy, visit www.gvsu.edu/wri/buoy/.