Featured Alumna - March 2020

High school is an extremely valuable and yet fragile time in a young adult’s life. I remember having no clue who I was or what my life would look like in the future, but I also remember the impact of those who saw my potential and spoke the life-giving words of a bright future into my soul. My time at CCHS taught me to seek the Lord and His desires before my own comfort while abiding with Him so that His desires would become my own. I was challenged to burst out of my own bubble in order to share in the lives of others.

 

After graduating from Chicago Christian High School, I attended Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI. I graduated in 2016 with a degree in Early Childhood Elementary Education and a certification in Early Childhood Special Education. My first job post-grad was at Hamilton Early Childhood Center where I was both assisting in a special education classroom and working as a personal assistant for a student with high needs. These opportunities opened my heart to serving and loving in new ways with the gifts and passions that the Lord created in me. I was inspired by the sacrificial love that I saw in the teachers around me to empower these children, speak life into their lives, and prepare them for the bright futures that they deserved. I responded to a job offer and moved to Shanghai, China four months later.

 

Saint Augustine once said, “The world is a book and those who don’t travel read only one page”. I have been in China for almost three years now, and I can honestly say that I have been forever changed. Although the uncertainty and transitions were terrifying, I have never felt such a closeness in abiding in the Lord throughout my life. In the middle of all of the challenges, He was consistent. My Lord is not just an American God, but I was able to connect with believers from all over the world. It was moving to witness God move in ways that I had no cultural or mental framework for processing. I was welcomed into a country and a culture that was not my own. I was welcomed into friendships and families who taught me the beauty of their ancient history. I have had the honor of teaching second grade at Transformation Academy Shanghai, but I am sure that I have in turn learned just as much or more than I have taught. I have learned that no country has everything right or wrong; no one is perfect. Still, I have been given the opportunity to press into the lives of my students and inspire them to be global thinkers and movers.

 

These lives are not ours to waste. We live in a world filled with much beauty and much pain. One of the most impactful moments that reminded me of this was while I was leading on the CCHS Student Senate during the 30-Hour Famine activities. I knew that on hour 31 I would be able to open a refrigerator and be welcomed by the sight of virtually any food that I could desire, but that was not the reality for the 143 million children under the age of 5 in the developing world who were underweight because of poor nutrition (World Vision USA). My heart was broken, but I couldn’t just remain in the brokenness. During university, I ran for Student Council again. I remember the heartbreak of seeing unmet needs, and I needed to be a part of the solution, however small, and I wanted to inspire others to do the same. My calling in China is not to be the Caucasian American to save the day with all the answers, but rather to learn, invest, honor, challenge, and inspire health and growth in the communities around me.

 

The teachers of Chicago Christian High School did not simply teach me the knowledge that later led to my Education degree and my job in China, although they did that well. They did not simply exemplify passion in the field that I would later serve in myself, although they did do that. My cross-country coach did not simply train me to strive without fear and seek health for my body, mind, and soul, although she did do that. My English teacher did not simply teach me how to communicate my thoughts in an expressive and clear way so that I could now share my testimony, though she did do that. My Spanish teacher did not simply instill the love for the beauty of communication and language learning, which I now teach, though he did do that. My history teacher did not only teach me how to dig into history and find relevancy for today, although he did do that. Every teacher and every lesson was an opportunity for them to teach me to work hard and to serve with hands and words beyond my comfort zone, and they did that so well.