Hi, I am Clinton Stockwell, the director of the Chicago Semester program. I am pleased to welcome you to the program's web site.

Chicago Semester works with undergraduate college students from 13 colleges in the Midwest. As a liberal arts program, we have students from almost every major field, including business, communications, education, social work, medicine, law, psychology, sports medicine, community development and religion or ministry. They get a taste of "real-life" with four-day, 32 hour-a-week internships provided by leading Chicago institutions such as the Mayor's office, corporation headquarters, hospitals, theaters and not-for-profit agencies. Practicum groups provide students support while thematic seminars challenge students to connect their everyday experiences to larger questions about our society.

Experience alone is not enough. Therefore, we provide perspectives informed by faith and sound philosophy so that students can develop a way of understanding and seeing the world. We offer an integrative learning experience that builds on community and group learning. We prepare students for a world that is increasingly urban, global and culturally diverse. By adding to the solid foundation that our participating colleges have provided, we combine the experience of living and working in the city with academic perspectives that help explain the significance of the choices that each of us make.

In short, the overall goal of Chicago Semester is to create a new generation of leaders who will transform the world. Our alumni graduate and move on to leadership positions where they apply their education, values and worldview to complex, real-life situations.

The Chicago Semester program is not just an internship program, and it is not just a place to earn credits towards the fulfillment of one's college degree.

* It is part of a life journey. Our aim is to help foster the ideals of citizenship and democratic participation in the marketplace of ideas. In a fragmented world, a worldview is a way to see the globe as a unified whole, as a comprehensive work of the Creator.

* Rooted in the Reformed Christian tradition, we believe that the world exists as God's great handiwork. The world is not therefore merely a commodity, but has ultimate and intrinsic value in and of itself. As God's creation, the world is a living, breathing organism. It is a world that manifests itself in diversity which reflects the "multifaceted wisdom of God," unfathomable and present everywhere.

* We believe in the concept of "common grace," that all people possess the image and likeness of the wisdom of God, and, regardless of one's faith perspective, each person has the capacity and obligation to contribute to the well-being of our society and the ecosystem.

* We believe in a cultural mandate: that it is our job and calling to penetrate all aspects of life, including human institutions, to bring hope to the hopeless, to include the excluded, and to do our part in working for the redemption of the whole of society. Just as it is our duty as adult learners and as Christians to develop our own personal faith and to cultivate a high character as individuals, it is also our obligation to pursue social justice and to seek ways to counter and alleviate the world's pain as our pain. As one of the prophets said, we are called to seek the peace of the city, because our peace, security and prosperity in the city are bound up with the peace of others. We are all interconnected and linked with each other.

I hope you enjoy surfing the Chicago Semester web site. But more than that, I hope you will consider joining the Chicago Semester program for a semester of study, reflection and work very soon. It could be one of the most important decisions you will ever make!

Chicago Semester was begun in 1974 by six colleges who also have representatives to the Chicago Semester’s Policy Board. The colleges that sponsor Chicago Semester include Calvin College, Central College (Iowa), Dordt College, Northwestern College (Iowa), Hope College, and Trinity Christian College, which is also the program’s administrative and fiscal agent. These colleges are joined by Aquinas College, Briar Cliff University, Cornerstone University, Elmhurst College, Judson University, Luther College and Spring Arbor University as partnering colleges.