Online Photo Essay

Our photos-of-the-year essay

A behind the scenes photo essay at The International Quilt Museum. The museum maintains and prepares more than 9,000 quilts—the world’s largest public quilt collection for exhibition, research and enjoyment by local and international visitors. 

Months of travel restrictions due to COVID-19 temporarily grounded Grand Valley’s Study Abroad program keeping students in the United States. But as governments eased their travel requirements, Lakers responded with enthusiasm, ready to see the world again.

 “It’s been great to finally be able to travel,” said senior Alayna Peterson, a social work major who spent nine weeks living and working in Dublin. “Seeing that this opportunity was something that I could do after COVID restrictions eased, it just seemed perfect.”

Researchers from Grand Valley and John Ball Zoo have collaborated on a project to help boost a small, aging Eastern box turtle population at a Barry County nature preserve. The goal, the researchers said, is to speed up the maturation process for young turtles, who are highly susceptible to a disproportionate number of predators, particularly raccoons. Once the turtles have a mature shell, they are nearly impenetrable.

Inspiration for creating an original dance number can come from many places. In this case, student choreographer Nawal Assougdam created a dance and musical score based on the popular game "Bop It!" for the upcoming dance department production.

Birds just passing through can reveal much about the health or decline of the local landscape. Migratory avian ecologists gather, hanging giant nets in a wooded grove to capture and tag migrating birds to see just who finds the area attractive in the bird world.

We highlighted our US News ranking by making a Top 10 list, playing off the fact that the university made it in the top 10 of its region again. 

We highlighted our first-ever fall homecoming with a visual photo gallery page, allowing for almost all of the busy weekend's events to be featured.

Exposure story on the views of TCU's scenic campus from above, and includes a 60-second video.