Social Studies Faculty and Program
Scott Roelofs (1979 )
M.A. History
Northern Illinois University
B.A. History
Calvin College
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Erin Hamstra (2006)
B.A. History
Calvin College
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Melanie Lumkes (2010)
B.A. History and P.E.
Dordt College
Social Studies Program
What happens in the world around us affects us, whether we are aware of it or not. As historian David McCullough puts it, “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”
God placed each human being here with a purpose. We are writing history each day with our lives. Social Studies helps us in our service of God’s Kingdom by teaching us what those before us did and by recording what we do for those who will come after us. By doing this we can build on our successes and avoid repeating our failures.
Our social studies program is focused on promoting civic competence for our students and greater understanding of the world and its people. Understanding brings empathy, empathy promotes compassion, and civic competence puts compassion to use. Through our classes we help our young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for not only the public good, but to further God’s Kingdom here on earth. For we recognize that it is God who is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and we are in awe of how He works out His providence.