Eric Vander Heyden

Anticipated graduation year: 2010

Major: History

Hometown: Renton, Wash.

Whitworth activities/clubs: Whitworth Ultimate Club, ASWU, Campus Ministry, Ballroom Dance Club, Intramurals, The Booty Club

Favorite food: Chipotle Steak Burrito with Guac

Favorite quote: "It is my belief that we were made to praise and that the original intentions for it might have been bigger and sweeter than most of us have dreamed or than a scheduled moment could properly contain. We find ourselves in a dynamic, fluid relationship with the divine where there is such a perpetual movement and flow that a static, formulaic approach undermines and lessens that which would exist." - David Crowder, Praise Habit

Favorite guilty pleasure: Getting in my gorilla, chicken, hot dog, or bull rider suit and terrorizing/bringing joy to campus. Also, paintin' up for football and basketball games.

Favorite off-campus study program experience: Interning at the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site, in Atlanta. Oh, I can't even begin to relay how much I learned and experienced by being immersed for a summer in a completely different culture and neighborhood living down the block from where Dr. King grew up. It was an amazing time, where I got to teach kids and learn about a man whose actions spoke louder than his many words –  a man who was a normal child like everyone but had the drive and faith to change a nation –  and to learn from a foundational man of God.

Best class: Intro to Sociology, with Jenny Holsinger. I learned from that class about just how much all the classes at Whitworth overlap with one another. I was able to apply concepts from that class in Macroeconomics, History of Latin America, American History Before 1877, American History Since 1877, and just about every other class, and in so many situations outside of the classroom. I have written countless papers and have had just as many discussions applying the concepts of social norms, urbanization, the ideas of race, globalization, and the list goes on and on.

Favorite place or hangout on campus: The HUB. I frequently walk into the coffee shop, Sodexo, the multipurpose room, ASWU chambers, or Lied Square not knowing if anyone I know is in there, and then finding someone, distracting them from whatever they are doing, and talking with them. Honestly, I have found no other place in the world where I can take a break between classes or go to study and it can turn into a four-hour discussion with someone I barely knew, praying for them, talking about their family, joys in their life, struggles in their faith, or anything. It makes sense to call it the hub of Whitworth, because that is where relationships, friendships, brotherhood and true community begin, are lived out, and will never die.

Best Whitworth moment or experience: I have to go with two. Jan Term of my junior year I took 1 Corinthians and was looking for a place to study in the library and found a study room that a person from my class was in and we didn't know each other at all. As we were studying we started talking about how we felt about the class and what we were learning, and it turned into a five-hour conversation pouring out into the other person our fears, hopes, history, and on and on. Now I consider that person to be one of my closest friends. It is an example of how so many of my relationships have formed at Whitworth. The second one is when I was McMillan Hall's senator. The other SchMac Man traditiators and I were so blessed to have an amazing group of freshmen and transfer students who brought some of the beautiful women of Whitworth to their knees in their impeccable wooing abilities. It was as if they were born to be SchMac Men. From Brother Canary being airlifted from the back row during "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" to the crisp cobra strike of their teapots, these men made it my pleasure to live in that community. Thanks, brothers. PUT THE SCHU WITH THE MAC, IT WILL SCHMAC YOU IN THE FACE!

Advice for incoming students: Remember that a true education is not just your grades. If you are focused solely on academics, you are missing the core of Whitworth. You have an amazing opportunity to learn from the most concentrated, Christ-led, intentional people in the world. You must learn outside of the classroom with these people. You are surrounded by wisdom every day, and in four years you may not be, so take time to talk with your professors, fellow students, administrators, staff, guest lecturers – whoever you think has wisdom, talk to them (you won't regret it).

What I plan to do after graduation: I plan to submit my kingdom wholeheartedly to God's Kingdom, because that is the only Kingdom that will be. I have seen open doors in education and mentoring ministry. I am headed in the direction of getting a master's in teaching so that I can teach history, math or English in Latin America or in the inner cities of the United States. Lately I have also felt drawn to formal ministry at some time in my life. I have seen that I will never stop learning and will never be comfortable, but I'll always be assured, pursuing God's will. He has come that we may have life and have it to the fullest; for that I give HIM praise.