Centennial Year

ECS is so special to me. The teachers and students here are like family—a true embodiment of what Christian communities are meant to emulate as part of the kingdom of God. It was here that I found my love for learning and set my heart on becoming a teacher. I remember during my eighth grade year, Mr. Alberts, my principal at the time, had each of us write down our goals for the future on a sheet of paper and place it in an envelope sealed with wax. I do not know where the letter went, but if you opened it, you would read, “I want to teach kindergarten at ECS.” And here I am, in my sophomore year of an elementary education program, with that same dream. I made so many special friends at ECS, many of whom I am still close to today. I have vivid memories of classroom activities that I plan to use with my own students someday — like my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Haveman’s Old Testament lessons, where we marched around the classroom to the “promised land” and collected “manna” (pieces of paper); or Mrs. Hays’ classroom bookworm and reading contests that sparked my love for reading; or the countless stories I was prompted to write and illustrate by my first through fourth grade teachers, which gave me a space to be fearlessly creative; or Mrs. VanKooten's fun math lessons, where we all learned, struggled, and grew together with each question we answered on our tiny whiteboards. It was here I learned to love writing, reading, science, art, English, and math — ECS is the reason that I couldn’t choose just one subject area to pursue in college. In my teaching program at Covenant College, I am learning to teach students as they are, imago Dei, in the image of God. I am blown away by how my teachers at ECS did this. They taught students as unique, collaborative, creative, rational, free, and loving — as they reflected Christ's attributes. I’m not saying ECS was perfect — the students and teachers had deep struggles and often made mistakes. But as easy as it would be to keep those mistakes hidden and move past them quickly to focus on the curriculum, ECS teachers took the time to model the forgiveness and repentance they taught, encouraging students to love like Christ. This is the kind of teacher I want to be. I can’t say that I would be where I am right now without this dear school. Thank you, ECS. I love you.