(Tuesday, August 20 ; Sioux Center, Iowa) Shanelle Soodsma, a graduate of Boyden Hull High School (Iowa), will be attending Dordt University and plans to join the Defender softball program.

Soodsma has played first and third base for the Boyden Hull Rock Valley.

"I chose Dordt because it's close to home and I could tell it is a very strong and faithful college," said Soodsma.

Shanelle is the daughter of Jack and Anita Soodsma of Doon, Iowa. She plans to study civil engineering.

Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, is a comprehensive Christian college rooted in the Reformed tradition. The Defender athletic program is a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA).    

U.S. News & World Report, Money Magazine, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review all list Dordt on their best colleges lists. Dordt is home to approximately 1,500 students.