EVERETT — Trinity Lutheran College is moving its campus from a former nunnery in Issaquah to a former department store in downtown Everett.

By August, faculty with the small liberal arts Christian college will start occupying offices in the five-story Port Gardner Building at the corner of Wetmore Avenue and California Street.

Classes begin Sept. 10.

“I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with the hospitality (of Everett),” said Harvey Stalwick, a professor and chairman of Trinity’s social work program. “The welcome mat is certainly out.”

Stalwick said the college’s new campus in the heart of downtown Everett will allow students to better connect learning with the real world.

The college’s 125 students in Everett will be encouraged to volunteer with numerous charities that serve the community.

Earlier this month, about 40 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores, spent a weekend in Everett as part of a core religion class called Altar and Street.

They played an urban scavenger hunt to get to know the downtown area and they meet operators of several nonprofit groups, including a homeless shelter, food bank, soup kitchen and a resource group for Hispanic immigrants.

They also got to visit student housing near Everett Public Library.

While the college’s wooded 40-acre campus near Issaquah is set in a protective and meditative environment, Stalwick said it is in many ways isolated from societal challenges that students will be expected to help solve.

“It could be anywhere,” he said. “It could be 300 miles from Seattle.”

Everett is different, he said.

The college, regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in 10 majors including biblical studies, early childhood education, psychology and social work.

Trinity Lutheran College by the numbers

125: Approximate number of students

$18,925: Annual student tuition

$6,300: Cost of housing for single occupancy for a year

1944: Year founded as an arm of the Minneapolis-based Lutheran Bible Institute

More info: www.tlc.edu

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.