History of Olivet College and the Garfield Lake Review Olivet College, the home of the Garfield Lake Review, has an incredibly storied history. Its story begins even before the founding of this great nation. Pilgrims that traveled across the ocean seeking religious freedom were the first Congregationalists, the founders of the earliest universities in the United States. These same Congregationalists also funded the defense in the court case of the Amistad, a slave trading ship, in which the slaves won their freedom. These revolutionary efforts would trace their way to Olivet, Michigan. Naming Olivet College after the biblical Mount of Olives, Rev. John Shipherd founded the school in 1844 in a small area of south-central Michigan. Because of the unorthodox views of offering anyone an education, the state of Michigan refused to grant Olivet a charter, so it opened as a private institute. One of Olivet College’s proudest accomplishments is the the Garfield Lake Review. The Garfield Lake Review is a production of Olivet College students interested in creative writing, art work, and music that began in 1971 as a project in a creative writing class. The people who originally started the program were Professor James Coleman, Brent Danielson, James Hudson, Andrew Johnson, Amy Leithauser, George Palmenter, and Norm Wheeler. From its inception, the policy for the the Garfield Lake Review has been to accept submissions from students, staff, and alumni, with creative writing students serving as an editorial board. They would make the final selections for the magazine from the material submitted. Abbie M. Copps Poetry Contest Each year, the winner of the Abbie M. Copps Poetry Contest is featured in the Garfield Lake Review. For contest guidelines, please contact Kirk Hendershott-Kraetzer, Ph. D., Department of Humanities Chair. There is an entry fee. Submissions will be accepted until August 31, 2009. Please send all submissions to the following address: Abbie M. Copps Poetry Contest c/o Department of Humanities Olivet College 320 S. Main St. Olivet, MI 49076 For more information about the story of Abbie Copps, click here. Readers interested in donating financial support for future issues of the Garfield Lake Review should contact the Olivet College controller at (269) 749-7000.