Staff

I grew up on the east side of the state where I graduated from Oakland Christian School, but I have moved a whole lot since then!  I graduated from Western Michigan University in 2005 with a double major in Special Education and Elementary Education, and a minor in Integrated Creative Arts.  During my time there, I developed a deep love and passion for Special Education as I worked in Kalamazoo Public Schools, Bay Cliff Health Camp and Hope Network supporting children and adults with various disabilities.  This was also the time I became very interested involved in volunteering and missions, both locally and globally!  After completing my student teaching in Germany and Caledonia, I spent the following school year living in Mexico to volunteer in an orphanage and deepen my knowledge of Spanish.  From there, I spent 3 years teaching Special Education through Owosso Public Schools, and spending most of my spare time teaching, tutoring and fostering local refugee youth (some of the most amazing and inspiring people I have ever had the privilege of meeting).  In 2009, my husband and I moved to the Dominican Republic to start a special education program at an orphanage and for the surrounding community there.  We spent three years doing missions in the DR and were in the process of opening a children’s home for survivors of human trafficking when we had to leave unexpectedly due to medical trauma and complications when our oldest daughter Kenya was born.  Though it was a very scary time, God always had His hand on us through it all and Kenya is now thriving as she enters her 7th grade year.  After arriving back to Michigan, I started teaching 3rd grade Spanish Immersion for Jenison Public Schools, then changed positions in 2018 to Spanish Intervention Specialist when we adopted our youngest daughter Amara (another miracle story that I love to share).  After 9+ years in Jenison’s Spanish Immersion program, I took a leap of faith to work in an Extended Resource Room program through Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, working primarily with students with autism in a predominantly Spanish speaking neighborhood.  As God is full of surprises, a new door opened last year to move to the lakeshore to live at a camp and work for the West Michigan Christian Education Collaborative as Director of Educational Support Services.  It has been a crazy adventure with many ups and downs, but I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness through it all and that I get to serve amongst so many amazing staff who embrace inclusion while shining the light of Jesus!