Inside the Holland Christian Transportation Department
It’s one of HC Transportation Coordinator Rose Rodriguez’s favorite sights: Eight Holland Christian buses all lined up expertly along the curb of the HCHS stadium. 400 Rose Park pupils and their teachers, along with 165 tiny South Side students and their staff pour out of them, parading into the stadium for our all-school Fall Convocation, a time when all six Holland Christian campuses gather to worship and praise the Lord together.
It’s one of HC Transportation Coordinator Rose Rodriguez’s favorite sights: Eight Holland Christian buses all lined up expertly along the curb of the HCHS stadium. 400 Rose Park pupils and their teachers, along with 165 tiny South Side students and their staff pour out of them, parading into the stadium for our all-school Fall Convocation, a time when all six Holland Christian campuses gather to worship and praise the Lord together.
And this fall’s Convocation day was actually one of the busiest busing days of the year—because on the same day as the eight buses carted kids to and from Convocation, they also brought a busload of Forest School 2nd graders out to their learning space, and drove three regular field trips, four regular bus routes and four shuttle routes, besides eight athletic trips. Thirty-two bus trips in one day!
Plus the transportation department was down two out of our nine total buses, since they were out for maintenance! In case you can’t tell, busing has changed in this last generation. Yes, we’re still driving regular bus routes to and from school—four regular routes, four regular shuttles between the south side campuses and Rose Park’s north side campus, and serve almost 300 HC families getting to and from school.
But busing has become a much larger part of the actual school day and learning process, as learning has expanded outside the four walls of a classroom to the great outdoors, and to more on-site learning than ever before. In fact, it’s becoming a growing line item of our yearly budget; HC spent $48,248 just on fuel last school year, not to mention maintenance on our nine buses and six vans, as well as the crucial personnel to drive and organize the buses.
“One of the greatest barriers any school faces when developing an outdoor education program is, well, getting students offsite and outdoors!” commented Forest School principal Miska Rynsburger ’92. “Our West Michigan community is blessed with so many beautiful natural areas waiting to be enjoyed and studied by children! It is thanks to our dedicated bus drivers and supportive transportation team that we can get our children and teachers into these spaces for learning, playing and worshiping! Our students are able to experience safe and invigorating (and messy) learning experiences thanks to our servant hearted bus drivers and transportation team!”
“Having a bus and consistent driver has been crucial as we’ve integrated outdoor learning within 6th grade,” added HCMS science teacher Dave Nieuwsma. “Getting almost 120 students off campus at once has its challenges, but getting buses hasn’t ever been a barrier. Kim has been the driver for my weekly Creation Keeping adventures for years now. I’m grateful for her reliability in making these learning opportunities happen!”
So along with our terrific Transportation Coordinator Rose Rodriguez, who has been coordinating HC buses for the last four years, and our expert Transportation Director Bill Embil, who has been overseeing and maintaining the bus fleet and drivers for five years, our bus drivers have become ever more crucial in the daily education of our students. They are an additional layer of a caring professional adult who notices and loves and educates HC students. In addition to Rose Rodriguez and Bill Embil, our 18 bus drivers are an invaluable part of the Holland Christian educational team! And we are always looking for more! It’s easy to apply at hollandchristian.org/jobs, and HC covers the costs of training!
Greg Mulder
Greg Mulder is a parent of seven HC students (yes, that is currently the most students we have from one family!) and on top of his full time job at Mulder Brothers Brokerage has driven a bus for Holland Christian since December of 2023. Since he already has a full time job, Greg will drive anywhere from zero hours in a week to a max of 14—which he did one week when we desperately needed him to cover a route.
1. What made you decide to be an HC bus driver initially?
Being part of the HC community I could see the need for drivers and I already had my CDL for driving semi trucks. I knew I could pretty easily get my school bus endorsement, so I took the steps to take the test. My basic mindset with driving is to sign up when there are large groups needing to be moved…Tulip Time, Eastertide, etc. I also try to cover the routes when the route drivers are off. The routes are the most difficult to cover.
2. What do you like about driving a bus for HC? What are some perks of the job?
I have 7 kids that go to HC, so I am going to be around for a while. It also gives me the opportunity sometimes to drive them to events that I might not already attend. For example the choir festival in Hastings for Middle School. I wouldn’t have taken the day off of work to drive out there, but I saw a need for a driver and signed up. I was able to fill the need and watch my daughter at the same time. It has also been great getting to know more students and teachers through driving buses.
3. What is the hardest part of bus driving?
Balancing a full time job with trying to also be available to help out.
Mike Rotman is in his 5th year driving buses for HC. Mike worked much of his professional career at Trendway, and retired from Central Wesleyan a few years ago. Mike is HC’s regular shuttle driver bringing the northside students every morning from Rose Park to HCHS and HCMS; after dropping those students off at their buildings, he picks up a group of south side Spanish Immersion students from the HCHS parking lot, and drives them to Rose Park. It’s a big loop he drives every morning, and then does the same thing backwards at the end of the day, along with a shuttling Zeeland area high school students back to ZCS, and a few field trips in between as needed.
1. What made you decide to be an HC bus driver initially?
I was retired and enjoying life, when my granddaughter said “Hey, Grandpa, do you want to be my shuttle driver?!” And it just kinda went from there! I didn’t really have a clue what she actually meant until after I talked to Dan Vos, the head of transportation at the time—[and learned] that it involved driving a bus and getting my CDL and all that!
2. What do you like about driving a bus for HC? What are some perks of the job?
I’ve invested a lot of myself into these kids, and have gotten to know them from kindergarten through 5th grade, and they know me as “Mr. Mike.” Hopefully I’ve been a blessing to them, but they certainly have been a blessing to me! I just enjoy getting to talk with the kids, and they talk to me.
During the summer, the favorite part of my summer is when I see them on the street or in stores, and they are just as excited to see me as I am to see them! That’s the best part of my summer!
3. What is the hardest part of bus driving?
The hardest part is when the 5th graders go into Middle School, because quite often I don’t see them anymore. Same thing with the High School. Sometimes they come up to me and say “This is my last day on the bus,” and I say, “Oh! You got your license!” But they promise to come see me, and they always stop in and say hi to me. That’s the hardest part: I get to know them and develop a relationship with them from the youngest to high school and then I don’t see them again—I miss that aspect.
I love driving for HC, I’m committed to HC, and I’m committed to the kids. I guess my granddaughter did me a favor when she asked me to drive the shuttle—but I would never tell her that! I also do field trips for Forest School four out of five days of the week. Getting to know those kids and those teachers as well has been a fun job!
Mike Rotman
Kim Walters
Kim Walters ’78 has driven HC buses the longest of all our drivers, since she began driving an afternoon bus route in the fall of 1996, making this fall year number 29! As a driver of both a daily route and field trips, Kim averages 30 hours a week during the school year. She has seven grandchildren who attend Holland Christian, all as 5th generation students, and her favorite Bible verse is Nehemiah 8:10, “The Joy of the Lord is my strength.”
1. What made you decide to be an HC bus driver initially?
The current driver of the local HC bus route wanted to retire, so she picked me as a possible replacement. My husband said, “No way,” but I thought about it and decided to take up the challenge!
2. What do you like about driving a bus for HC? What are some perks of the job?
I am a strong believer in the importance of Christian education. I feel like I am helping promote Christian education in my community and helping Holland Christian out by serving in this way. My perks would be the joy I experience taking my grandchildren, not only to/from school everyday, but also taking them on field trips.
For some of us, it is not easy to get up in the morning before 6am to drive a bus route, but the perk would be to become a witness of the most awesome sunrises on a regular basis! The song that fills my heart when I see those sunrises is, “When morning guilds the sky, my heart awaking cries, may Jesus Christ be praised!!” It’s an old hymn that pops up in my heart—some of those songs will stick with me forever!
3. What is the hardest part of bus driving?
The hardest part of my job would be the occasional lack of visibility due to a blinding snow storm or heavy fog. But I am very appreciative of the support I feel from my boss, Mr. Bill, and from the parents who have entrusted me to direct and encourage their children while in my care.
Have Questions?
We look forward to meeting you and your family and introducing you to the fresh, creative, personalized education at Holland Christian! We are here to help! Get in touch using the contact form linked below or call us at 616.820.2805.