Written by Febe Gomez
When we came to Holland 24 years ago from Mexico via Texas speaking only Spanish, and with plans to pastor a Hispanic church in Holland, our first two children were just starting preschool and first grade. We were looking for a school close to home where Sam and Betsy could receive their education, but also where we could feel safe and welcome. We visited a couple of schools around the area and finally Sam was enrolled in one of them. Betsy stayed with me at the Montessori school where I found a job.
However, every single day I passed right in front of Rose Park Elementary and I really wanted to learn more about it. My husband and I weren’t very satisfied with the school where Sam was attending— although they had Spanish speaking staff, which was the main reason we enrolled him there. My search for another school started by asking people about Rose Park Elementary and most of the people I talked with had very discouraging things to say like “It was too expensive,” “It’s for the rich people,” “It’s for the white and English speakers,” and so on.
Nevertheless, those words did not stop me from continuing my search. One day I dared to ask the pastor of my church to help me set up an appointment with someone at Rose Park. In a few days, Holland Christian found Brent Holleman, who worked in the main office then as the Director of Advancement, and whose wife, Karen, was the Spanish teacher at the High School. They were very willing to translate our conversation with the Rose Park principal, then Ms. Sally VanHemert. That conversation was a blessing because I was able to clarify that all the negative ideas of Holland Christian that I had heard from people were not based on reality. We decided that Holland Christian’s Rose Park Elementary was the place the Lord was opening for Sam and Betsy to grow up not only academically, but socially and spiritually—which is a very important aspect for us.
Sam and Betsy received scholarships to help pay the tuition, and we managed as a family to live with just one car in order for us to invest into our kids’ education at Holland Christian, because we firmly believed that HC was the place for our kids to receive a Christian education. We are grateful in particular to Ms. Melanie Scott for taking the time to teach English and all the rest of the subjects to Sam—and he can’t forget how much love he received from this teacher!