Nicole Zwiers ’16

As director of content for Bethany Christian Services, Nicole must respond to changing events quickly.

As director of content for Bethany Christian Services, Nicole Zwiers must respond to changing events quickly.

One of Bethany’s services involves resettling families displaced by war or political strife, and Zwiers has been with the agency through multiple crises since she joined them in 2018: unaccompanied children from Central and South America, Afghan refugees, and now, determining how best to help people affected by the war in Ukraine.

Zwiers graduated from Calvin in 2016 after studying strategic communication and literature. She went on to get a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication at Marist College.

“I give credit to Calvin in a lot of way ways,” she said. “The variety of classes it offers in communication definitely prepared me to navigate change.”

She said a PR class she took was especially helpful, teaching her the importance of getting a message out in a crisis and getting information online immediately, even if you don’t know all the answers yet.

Zwiers said she thinks a lot of the success she’s had—stepping into a leadership role so early in her career—is due to the strong communication program at Calvin and the well-rounded education she received.

“I attribute a lot of my growth to being able to say yes to things that are outside of what I learned in my classes,” she said. “It’s part of that liberal arts curriculum – you don’t need to be skilled at every single thing, you just need to be able to ask questions and say yes.”

Now that she’s a hiring manager herself, she likes to see grads from Calvin and other liberal arts college apply at Bethany.

“I know the quality of education they’re coming with,” she said.