Tim Schoonveld, assistant professor of kinesiology and co-director of athletics at Hope College, will present “BLESSED: A Life Shaped by Others” on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium through the “Last Lecture Series” organized by the college’s Alcor chapter of the national Mortar Board honorary society.

The public is invited.  Admission is free.

Schoonveld has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2009.  As co-director of athletics, he administers the college’s 20 sports for men and women with co-director of athletics Eva Dean Folkert, who is also an assistant professor of kinesiology.

Schoonveld is a 1996 Hope graduate who majored in kinesiology with a minor in political science.  Prior to attending Hope, he attended Calvin College, where he played basketball until his career as a collegiate player was ended by a series of knee injuries.

He received the M.A. in sports administration from Western Michigan University in 2005.

From 1997 until 2000 he was the men’s junior varsity basketball coach at Hope while teaching in the Zeeland public schools system.  He was employed with the Holland Christian schools from 2000 until joining the Hope faculty, serving as the girls’ varsity basketball coach at Holland Christian High School from 2000 to 2009, and as assistant principal and athletic director of Holland Christian High School from 2006 to 2009.

He was named the Class B coach of the year by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan in 2008 after his team advanced to the state tournament semi-finals.  The 2009 team made it to the quarterfinals with a school-record 21 wins.

Schoonveld and his wife, Lisa, who is a 1997 Hope graduate, both grew up in the Holland/Zeeland area. They have four children:  Elijah, Erika. Kenedy and Teagan.

The title of the lecture series, which the chapter initiated during the 2008-09 school year to feature members of the college’s faculty and staff, is rhetorical.  The lectures are not literally presented as the last that the speakers will deliver at Hope, but are meant to highlight the advice that they would most want to share if the event was indeed the final opportunity for them to address the college’s students.  The speakers are asked to reflect on their careers and lives, and to think deeply about what matters to them and about what wisdom they would like to impart.

The concept was inspired by the “Last Lecture” delivered at Carnegie Mellon University by Dr. Randy Pausch on Sept. 18, 2007.  Pausch, a member of the Carnegie Mellon faculty who had terminal pancreatic cancer--a fact known at the time that he spoke--presented “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”  He died on July 25, 2008, at age 47.

Mortar Board is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership and service, and provides opportunities for continued leadership development, promotes service to college and universities, and encourages lifelong contributions to the global community.  Since its founding in 1918, the organization has grown from the four founding chapters to 229 collegiate chapters with nearly 250,000 initiated members across the nation.

The Alcor chapter has existed at Hope since the 1936-37 academic year, although it did not become part of the national Mortar Board organization until 1961.  The chapter has received multiple awards at the Mortar Board National Conference during each of the past several years, including being named the top chapter during the national conference in July 2010.  During the conference this past summer, the chapter received a “Golden Torch Award” and 17 “Project Excellence” awards.

The chapter also sponsored a “last chance talk” during the 1960s.  The idea back then was to invite a faculty member to express his/her ideas under the hypothetical assumption that this would be the last opportunity to address the student body.  The late Dr. D. Ivan Dykstra, professor of philosophy, delivered the first “last chance talk” in the spring of 1962.

The chapter will give away copies of the book “The Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore to the first 100 in attendance, as well as copies of the “Last Lecture” to audience members following the address.

There will also be a freewill donation box, with all gifts supporting Mortar Board’s many service projects.

The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.