Special Classes Staff
Education:
Bachelor of Arts- K-12 Art Education - Calvin College
Experience:
Byron Center Christian School PK - 8th Grade Art
Dutton Christian School K - 8th Grade Art
Young Rembrandts Art Instructor
Forest Hills Schools K - Fifth Grade
Lowell Community Education K - Fifth Grade Summer Art Classes
Camp Geneva Art Counselor
Family:
Married to Matt
Daughters Hannah and Caitlin
Favorite Verse: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5 – 6
My Deep Hope is that you know that God is a creator and that He gifted you with the ability to be creative!
My Deep Hope is that I want students to NOTICE God’s beauty around us and RECOGNIZE the creative gifts He gave us and ENJOY creating art together.
I graduated Calvin College in 2017 with my BA in Music Education with a Vocal Emphasis. I spent the next two years in Orange City, Iowa at Unity Christian High School where I directed four choirs and one orchestra. After two years, I moved back to Michigan and worked an Accounts Payable position while looking for teaching jobs in the area. A Byron Center Christian and South Christian alumni, I am excited to be working back at my alma mater and creating choral experiences with my students that I enjoyed during my time in school. I love choral music and singing, and you will often find me at the Calvin College Alumni Choir in rehearsals or helping to lead worship at my church. In my free time, I love to wake surf with my family, spend time with friends, and go to concerts with my fiancé. I am so grateful that my job allows me to join students in worship of our Creator and look forward to sharing music and faith with my choirs.
Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
As I look back on my life so far, I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness and the way He has walked with me in each step of my life. Growing up in a Christian community, God provided countless men and women of faith to pour into me and teach me the truths of God. Being in a community also heavily surrounded by wonderful musicians, I developed a love for music that allowed me to express my faith in a personal way and worship through choral music. I truly saw a glimpse of God’s glory and His love through experiences in music and felt a desire to pursue music as a career. Through my first two years of teaching in another state, moving back to Michigan, and spending time in Accounts Payable for the last two years, God has walked with me in the mountains and valleys of life and has been actively writing and shaping my story for His purposes. I am known by God and loved by God, and I cannot express enough gratitude that He has been there through it all. My desire as a teacher is to encourage my students to remember God’s faithfulness in their own lives and recognize how real and tangible His love is for them.
I am so excited to be at BCCS. I love being able to tell my students that God gave them their bodies and He loves for us to take care of them through exercise. Each student makes up a different part of the body of Christ and it is so cool to see them each play their part in physical education.
Education: I graduated from Grand Valley State University with a major in K-12 Physical Education and a minor in School Health Education.
Hobbies: Running, playing sports, spending time with my husband and family (especially my niece and nephew).
Favorite Verse: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
My Deep Hope is that students would show the body of Christ through their actions and words and understand their body is a gift from God to take care of throughout their lives.
It is a privilege to teach Kindergarten through 5th grade Spanish here at BCCS! I have been teaching at BCCS since the '08-'09 school year. Prior to my first year of teaching, I received my Bachelors degree in Spanish and a minor in Elementary Education in the spring of 2008 from Calvin College. God blessed my development as a Spanish teacher by allowing me to participate in two fully-immersed language and cultural experiences abroad. I spent Calvin College's 2007 Interim in Mexico and the spring semester of 2006 in Spain, where I furthered my interest for both the Spanish and Mexican languages and culture.
I share a passion with my students to develop an appreciation for God's marvelous work creating different cultures and languages. We focus on what it means to build God's kingdom, not only in our own neighborhood, but also around the world. A child's natural curiosity for learning has been a strong factor for drawing me to teaching. Pairing that same curiosity with a child's genuine interest in people and languages different from his or her own, over and over again God has clearly revealed to me my path at Byron Center Christian School.
Favorite Verse: "Be strong and courageous...for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6
Our Deep Hope is we see God’s kindness and we share God’s kindness.
God led me to Byron Center Christian School in the summer of 2019, and I am beyond grateful to have my teaching career begin here with the creation of the BCCS orchestra program! I look forward to witnessing how these young musicians glorify the Lord through their joyful exploration of the perfect gift of music.
I've spent my entire life in West Michigan, and earned my Bachelor of Music Education with viola performance honors from Grand Valley State University.
I perform with the Shoreline Community Orchestra of Muskegon and the Vintage Parlor Orchestra based in Grand Rapids. I also serve as a summer stage manager for Shadblow Theatre in Jenison, and as a director/production manager for the theater department of my alma mater, Forest Hills Central.
When not in the classroom, I can be found walking in nature, drinking coffee, and hanging out with my beautiful mother and our dogs.
My favorite passage from the Bible is found in Psalm 46:10. "Be still, and know that I am God."
My Deep Hope is that you will grow in your love for The Lord and use the gift of music to spread joy and glorify Him.
God is so good! I am so thankful that He led me to Byron Center Christian. I'm especially excited to encourage my students to not just deepen their musicianship, but to explore how musicianship looks in the context of worship. I also wish to help them connect between the different aspects of being a musician - creating, performing, listening, evaluating, connecting - and the multifaceted character of the Creator.
Education: I graduated from Hope College with a major in Music Education and a minor in Jazz Studies.
Hobbies: hanging out with my husband, Adam; playing with my son, Elliott; spending time with family and friends; training/playing with my dogs, Strider and Captain; riding horses; reading; sketching; going on adventures.
One of my favorite verses: Phillipians 4:6-7 - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
My Deep Hope is that you will be students of ‘love,’ practicing being an image-bearer of YHWH.
My Deep Hope is that my students find their gifts to embrace their part in God’s story and to JUST DO IT with love, grace, curiosity, and to confidently build his kingdom together
I graduated from Cornerstone University in 2014 with a Bachelors of Music Education. I worked at Ada Christian for one year and at Valleywood Public School for one year before coming to Byron Center Christian. Music is my passion in life and I love working with students to help them become better musicians.
I believe that God has given us the gift of music to be used to worship him. I am grateful to be working in a school where I can share my faith and love of music. I firmly believe that God has called me to be a music teacher. I want my students to know the importance of sharing their music with the community and using it to glorify God.
I grew up in DeMotte, Indiana and attended DeMotte Christian School and then went on to a large public high school. I then studied at Calvin College, and after changing my mind on a major multiple times, went to live in Spain for a semester to buy myself some time to think about what I wanted to do. While there, I fell in love with the Spanish language and culture. I was so deeply blessed by having the ability to communicate and learn from brothers and sisters in Christ whom I never would have known without learning Spanish. My life is truly richer because of the new worlds the Spanish language has opened up to me. After that semester abroad, God gave me a clear vision and passion to teach Spanish. Before my first teaching job, I had the opportunity to live in Spain and do mission work. This prepared me well for my teaching career, which began with teaching high school. I went on to get my Master's degree in Spanish from Western Michigan University, and then taught full time in the Spanish department at Calvin College for three years before our first child was born. Before feeling called to teach at BCCS, I was a part-time adjunct professor at Calvin University for several years. During that time, I also coached track for BCCS and cross country for South Christian middle school. In addition to teaching at BCCS, I am also the varsity head coach for both cross country and track & field at South Christian High School. I love how it allows me to continue relationships with my students as they go on to high school. I am humbled and honored to serve the Lord through teaching and hope I can help my students to see the beauty and wonder of the vastness of Christ's Kingdom and how AMAZING it is when another language unlocks a whole new world to you.
I have been married for almost 28 years to my husband Glen VanderKooi. We have 4 children--a daughter Rebecca, who attends Ferris State University, and three sons--Micah, a student at Hillsdale College, Caleb, a student at Northern Michigan University, and Joseph, a junior at South Christian High School.
My favorite passage of the Bible is Psalm 145. It celebrates the goodness and faithfulness of God in all circumstances. He is a loving and compassionate God; He hears our cries from the depths of our sorrow, and our praises when all is well. This Psalm has been a source of great encouragement to me throughout my life.
My Deep Hope is that through learning the Spanish language and its cultures my students will be equipped, willing and ready to love and serve whomever God places in their path.
Mi deseo más profundo es que al aprender el español y su cultura, mis estudiantes estén capacitados, listos y dispuestos a amar y a servir a cualquiera persona que Dios ponga en su camino.