“There’s so much good stuff happening! It’s actually really fun to be at this phase because we’ve been fundraising for a year and a half, and—boom—things are suddenly happening!” Leanne Halma, HC’s Director of Advancement said. A quick tour of all that is going on:
- The HCHS north parking lot is completely revamped and redesigned, after being taken down to the dirt and rebuilt from the subground up. Since it was in
such bad shape, a simple retarring wouldn’t have worked, and this parking lot should now last the next 40-some years! For visibility and safety, car parking rows now run north/south instead of the previous east/west, and there is a new central walkway. Forest School parents have their own parking section separated from high school student drivers. We are incredibly grateful to so many local businesses—including Hoekstra Electric, Evergreen Sprinkling, Brewer’s City Dock, Connan, GDK Construction, Proline Concrete, and Integrity Landscaping—who all helped make this parking lot rebuild affordable through their reduced and even free labor! - One bonus of the HCHS parking lot renovation was our ability to recycle the asphalt: The crushed asphalt was repurposed into extra parking areas for the HCHS Transportation Department, affectionately known as “the Bus Barn.” Parking spaces for the buses almost doubled, so it’s much easier to back in and turn around!
- Pine Ridge’s parking lot is repaved so there are no more pot holes!
- It has been exciting to watch South Side Elementary’s deconstruction this summer, as part of its 1.5 year long renovation—with walls, ceilings, and
playgrounds all removed to open spaces and move rooms, sledding hills, and front entrances! We look forward to watching the construction crews put all the pieces back together over the next year+, hopefully by October 2027, if all goes as planned! - Major landscaping renovations and classroom improvements happened at Cedar Creek, Forest School’s new Young 5s classroom: Fencing was installed around the two acres of forest around the building, walls were removed to expand classroom space, bathrooms renovated, and the garage has become a comfortable mudroom and entrance. Major thanks to Integrity Landscaping and Plaggemars Construction for their talented work and time on this project!
- Last year, the office of the Forest School principal, Miska Rynsburger ’92, was basically her car. Which can complicate things a bit when parents want to talk to her—then they used a log outside! Plus Forest School staff have had to run to the Middle School office to make copies and printouts, while
Forest School ESS students met in a Middle School classroom, when HCMS is already overflowing with students! All that will be solved soon with the new building going up near the Forest School classrooms—it will be a principal office, ESS classroom, and teacher workroom all in one! We can all watch it get finalized over the next few months. - Holland Christian signs are popping up, labeling the tennis courts, admin office, front of the schools. Plus we’ve installed new flags throughout the high school campus celebrating our 125 year anniversary! We’re grateful to the donors who helped us freshen up our campus signage as well!
- Finally—we bought a house! We purchased a five bedroom home, 444 W. 32nd St., from Ottawa County, so HC now owns all of the property on the corner of Ottawa and 32nd, from HCMS to the HC Transportation Garage! Besides ensuring that HC will have room to expand as needed in the future, we hope to rent this spacious home to new staff at an affordable rate.
All of these campus improvements could not have happened without the incredible support to our Faithfully Forward Campaign—$15 million altogether. But we’re not finished yet! You can donate and read more about our Faithfully Forward Fundraising Campaign, and all that we anticipate renovating once we reach the full $22.5 million goal at hollandchristian.org/faithfully-forward/.