Growing up at NMC, little did I know that I would come back to teach here and that it would continue to be such an important part of my life story.

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I look back and see how God has led me to where I am now. My fondest memories of NMC are of the relationships I have formed here. I remember my 3rd grade teacher teaching, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. I have a fond memory of a high school teacher coming to my going away party as I left the state to start my first teaching job. It’s teachers like these that made me realize that I wanted to be a relational kind of teacher. I want my ‘kids’, as I call them when they are with me, to know that I care about them even after they leave my classroom. I enjoy knowing everyone at NMC by name. I enjoy watching students I have taught grow and change as they leave NMC and move on to the next step of life.

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It is very important for me to be able to share my faith with my students at NMC. I always share my sorrow of losing a child, but not without also sharing the hope that I have of seeing her again because of what Christ has done for us.

I feel very blessed to be able to say that my school career began and will hopefully end at NMC. The school song still brings tears to my eyes when I sing, “Dear Northern Christian, you're part of me now”.  -2nd Grade Teacher, Tammy Koetje

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“As I think of NMCS and the history of how it’s impacted me and my family, it’s overwhelming! I am blessed to be the 3rd generation in my family to attend NMCS and my children are the 4th! God is faithful through all generations and I can attest to this as I think about that & the privilege I had growing up in the NMCS community! It truly is a special place!  My experience there has positively impacted my life in many ways!  Not only did I get a solid education while attending but my faith was strengthened as well! The values NMC instills are ones of integrity and love, respect and hard work!  My husband Mike and I have the greatest opportunity now to send our 5 children to NMCS! To see the growth in them, both academically and spiritually, has been such a gift!  An investment into Gods kingdom. They’re surrounded by solid teachers and staff and amazing friends! The culture at NMCS is one we are super thankful our kids are a part of! NMCS has been & will always be an important part of our lives”! -Alumna and NMCS Parent, Sue Yount,

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In recent years, I have felt incredibly blessed to have God in my life. During times of need, I cling to God and remember that He is always there for me. Oftentimes, I am overly judgmental of myself and feel unworthy, however, I know that through the blood of Jesus I am cleansed of all my impurities. One of the many things that I am called to do is live a life that glorifies God. In every action that I make, I want it to glorify Him and be a light to others in order to exemplify what it means to live for Jesus. While I would like to end here, I couldn’t help but include my life verse.  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  - Joshua 1:9 -12th Grade Student

 

 

NMC has meant so much to me both personally and professionally.  As a teacher, I get to be part of a learning community that loves Jesus and teaches the importance of Biblical standards into every area of life. I get to know my students, their strengths and weaknesses, and the families they come from.  I get to celebrate their accomplishments and help them work through their struggles.   As a father of 4 students, I see the academic, social, and Biblical growth that comes from being educated by excellent teachers and being submersed in a Christian community.  I can’t wait to see how God is going to use NMC to help shape my kids into kingdom workers.  -Middle and High School Teacher and NMC Parent, Jeff VanNoord

 

 

For many recent high school graduates, the move to college is scary and uncertain. Not only are you forced to live with a complete stranger, make new friends and start a brand new life away from your parents, but the academic challenge also significantly increases. While I felt all of these changes, one that I did not as much as other students was the academic challenge. I attribute much of my academic success in college to my four years at NMCS. However, I don’t think I quite realized and appreciated how much NMCS helped me until I actually made the transition to Calvin College.

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I want to outline a few things that I believe NMCS did especially well to help prepare me for college. First, the opportunity to play multi-sports forced me to learn the skill of time management. Like many other students at NMCS, I played a sport every single season (& sometimes 2!). This meant that I was often getting home from a basketball or soccer game at 10:30PM and then completing my homework after that. I would prioritize what work needed to be done and work ahead on days when I did not have games. I had a planner from a young age and would keep track of all of my assignments regularly. This ability to time manage quickly transferred over to my college life. I found that I performed better in my classes when I was busy and was forced to time manage just like in high school. Learning how to time manage allowed me to work a job and make money while in college.

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Second, teachers at NMCS encouraged and created a community that allowed me not only to grow in my book knowledge, but actually learn how to learn. I was forced to problem solve and discuss in small groups with other students rather than spend all of my time doing busy work. Teachers allowed me and my classmates to think and talk about things from many different perspectives. In college, this is how most of the classes are and this preparation by NMCS allowed for a seamless transition to college. I was able to join conversations and knew how to learn. NMCS taught me to find in joy in learning and this was an asset in college as I looked forward to new classes and became excited about my major.

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Third, the amount and challenge of the work given at NMCS, may have felt difficult at the time, but it made it significantly easier to transition to college classes. The long nights of doing homework and having to think critically about hard problems only prepared for me college even more. Teachers at NMCS expect the best out of their students and hold them to the highest standards. They encourage and cultivate hard working students who want to succeed. This helped me in college, because no longer did you have professors holding your hand and helping you succeed at every step, but rather it was up to you to succeed for yourself. NMCS showed me how to have high standards for myself because of teachers that cared while also encouraging hard work and my best performance on every single assignment.

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Every single student that walks through the doors of NMCS has the opportunity to have the same experience I did and be prepared for college. However, it requires the buy in of each student and the desire to do their best. The personal determination to succeed matched with the skills provided by NMCS results in a well-rounded, Christ-like student who is prepared for whatever college throws at them. -Alumna Class of 2016, Kylie Lanser

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