News and College Life

A new grad is tossed in the air while celebrating after his commencement ceremony.

Graduates from the Class of 2023, Emily Ernst, Hannah Brown, Ashley Price and Maddie Mumford celebrates the fountain outside of Freedom Hall after the Bellarmine University’s undergraduate commencement at in Louisville, Kentucky on May 13, 2023.

The children of staff and faculty member Sara Alsum-Wassenaar, help each other with a camera as part of a community-based visual studies project. This project has helped broaden the past and present view along Lake Macatawa in Holland as city leaders consider future waterfront development. The idea stemmed from Sara Alsum-Wassenaar, communications resource specialist for Production Support Resources in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a part-time visual studies faculty member for the Visual and Media Arts Department. One aspect of visual studies is that students are actively engaged with the community. The effort, named Macatawa Strata, has had a goal of using research and different forms of artistic media for a site-based exploration, Alsum-Wassenaar said. She said she was also able to obtain funding to work with undergraduate students on the project.