Hope College

Although officially chartered in 1866, Hope College generally traces its history to the October, 1851, creation of the Holland colony's "Pioneer School." The Pioneer School eventually evolved into "The Holland Academy" and then the college as the community's educational needs progressed from elementary to secondary to higher. Hope went co-ed in 1878, graduating the first female students in 1882. The mission of Hope College is to educate students for lives of leadership and service in a global society through academic and co-curricular programs of recognized excellence in the liberal arts and in the context of the historic Christian faith.