Although Jamie (VanDyke) Dannenberg ’01 and Dave Dannenberg ’01 were friends all through Holland Christian High School, they didn’t start dating until the very end of their senior year, but then dated all through college. They married in the summer of 2006, and always knew from the start that they wanted to send their children to a Christian school. They chose Holland Christian because it is close—only a mile away, “and feels like home since both of us went there,” they said.
With four kids in three different Holland Christian Schools, and both parents working almost full time, it could be easy to get stretched too thin. But the Dannenbergs intentionally got involved at Holland Christian as much as possible, even volunteering in their kids’ classrooms, which helped them connect with other HC families.
“Being at the school also contributed to feeling like we’re a part of the school system,” Jamie added, as she teaches 6th grade language arts at Holland Christian Middle School. “In addition, coaching [middle school cross country] and teaching helped us get to know different families and be ‘in the know’ about events.”
Over the years, the Dannenbergs have watched their four children grow and develop their faith as a result of learning at Holland Christian: “From an early age at South Side Elementary, it was clear that [then principal] Mrs. Rynsburger loved our children and knew how to get at their level,” Jamie noted. “She was a huge contributor and positive example to our kids of a Christian role-model. They’d often talk at home about what Mrs. Rynsburger said in terms of how we live out our faith.”
Both Jamie and Dave have appreciated not just the staff at Holland Christian, but the greater community with other families and students as well: “The friendships our kids have formed have been positive and [from] families that have the same core religious beliefs,” Dave said. “Their friends pray for each other and truly look out for each other. They’re people our kids can confide in.”
All three of the Dannenberg boys are on both the cross country and track teams in middle school and high school, and both Jamie and Dave have helped out with the teams in a variety of ways, including even coaching. They greatly appreciate the community as well as the Christian perspective of coaching from the middle school and high school coaches. But they also value how a Christian perspective is integrated throughout various school subjects, even classes like health: “In high school, health class contributed to our son’s understanding about how God calls us to take care of our bodies as they are a temple of the Holy Spirit,” Dave noted.
Jamie added how much they also valued the different perspectives that HCHS staff brought to their oldest two students’ learning in the high school in particular, never pushy but more along the lines of “‘Have you thought of it this way?’ Even if you don’t agree with them, but ‘This is what others might think about this,’ to give our high school kids a different side of what we might have taught them [at home].”
The Dannenbergs have especially appreciated the level of caring they have felt as a family and couple from Holland Christian employees through a variety of recent challenges. “The people [at Holland Christian] truly do care about your child and family,” Dave said. “They work to integrate Christ in all that they do in an authentic way. This comes through teaching, relationships, and so much more!”
