Featured Alumna - March 2022

It is a fitting time to reflect on how Chicago Christian High School opened up so many opportunities for me now that it has been a decade since my graduation. I greatly enjoyed my time as a student at CCHS. I made lasting friendships with my peers and bonded with several teachers. I recall with fondness class with Dr. Kuipers who made Honors Chemistry both challenging and fun. Though I did not always receive high marks in his class, I felt encouraged to keep pursuing a career in the sciences when I went off to college. I felt similarly stretched in AP Spanish with Profe Hills, and I may not have studied abroad in Costa Rica during college (which is where – through God’s providence – I met my husband) had I not taken his class. I also have to thank Mr. Siemer for helping me improve my writing skills; it was in his class that grammar really clicked for me. Thanks to these and many other teachers at CCHS who invested in me and fueled my love for learning, I graduated with a GPA that helped me get a good scholarship to Seattle Pacific University (SPU).

When I arrived at SPU, I was well prepared to excel academically. There I received my Bachelor of Science in Physiology, and I decided to pursue a career in public health. Right after graduation, I moved to California and worked for the American Red Cross in emergency preparedness and management. I subsequently held a job as a nutrition counselor at Women, Infants and Children (WIC) where I educated parents in providing age-appropriate nutrition for their children. Around this time, I was ready to go back to school, and my husband and I moved back to Chicago for me to get my master’s in public health at the University of Illinois Chicago. My degree concentrated in maternal and child health epidemiology. In this degree, I gained skills in data analysis, and I worked with the Illinois Department of Public Health to create a report analyzing the top causes of fetal and infant mortality in the state and proposing areas for intervention to prevent these tragic deaths.

Since graduating, I have continued working as a researcher part-time, and in my free time, I have been actively advocating for the lives of pre-born children. Stemming from my fascination with fetal development which I studied during my graduate degree, and my husband’s skills as a professional designer, we have started a project we call ProLife Brand. We recognized that the pro-life movement lacks a universal symbol, and with our personal pregnancy journey and our Biblical convictions that God creates life within the womb, we felt compelled to put our skills to use to create and promote a simple and scalable pro-life symbol. We believe investing in visual communication and design is crucial to improving the impact of the pro-life message in today’s culture. You can find out more about this venture at prolifebrand.com.

I am very grateful for the Christian education I received at Christian High. In addition to helping me strengthen my Christian worldview in Biblical studies classes, chapels, and in a community of supportive Christian teachers and friends, CCHS pushed me academically. I am thankful for this strong foundation that helped me navigate the challenges of rigorous science programs at my undergraduate and graduate schools and which has brought me to where I am today. I pray God continues to use CCHS to produce graduates ready to do his kingdom work.
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