Mrs. Whitney Beukema

Professional Biography

I attended Shepherd Public Schools and participated in sports, science club, NHS, Student Congress, Natural Helpers, and Mentoring. After High School, I chose to attend Hope College where I received a degree in Elementary Education – Special Education Learning Disabilities. I student taught at Hudsonville Christian in a fourth-grade classroom, and in a middle school resource room at Baldwin Street Middle School. I absolutely love teaching 1st grade at HCS.  The students, staff and community challenge and encourage me everyday.

Personal Biography

I was born and raised on a farm in Shepherd MI, which is about 15 minutes from Mt. Pleasant. As part of a small close-knit community. I have three siblings, an older sister who lives in Chicago, an older brother who has taken over the family farm and a younger brother who lives in Colorado. My husband, Nick Beukema, works as a web developer at Bulb Digital. We enjoy traveling, cooking, and dancing. We attend Engedi Church, where I have been attending since 2012. I have been blessed to be apart of two mission trips; one to Guatemala and another to Zambia. Some of my favorite hobbies include exercising, playing board games, listening to music, and cooking.

Philosophical

Ever since I was younger I have always had a passion for working with children. When I was in high school, I realized I wanted to become a school teacher, and after attending Hope College I saw there is so much value in incorporating faith into education. When deciding between colleges, my mom told me “If you are going to pay for an education, why not go to a school where you can be immersed in something that you can’t put a dollar value to.” These words have stayed with me for years. I can now see that education is important, but a relationship with Christ is worth so much more. This is what I have found to be true about teaching as well. I love teaching students new information and watching them improve, but this is nothing compared to being able to teach them about the Bible, share with them my story about Christ changing my life, and pointing them to the LORD. In my classroom, we are actively looking for ways God is working in everything that we are learning and finding how God calls us to treat ourselves and others inside and outside of class.