2020 Senior Awards

The Senior Awards are unique because we don’t just celebrate our top GPAs or students who took the most difficult classes or the MVPs of our athletic teams. Our mission is to prepare students to be effective servants of Christ in contemporary society. Our award recipients tonight are being celebrated with what one might call our “mission accomplished awards!”

Our Portrait of a Graduate is what “the product of our mission” could look like: students who are culturally competent, lifelong explorers, creative solution finders, thoughtful neighbors, communicators and collaborators, justice seekers, and, most importantly, disciples of Christ.

Senior Award recipients are chosen by faculty and staff for the way they have discovered their gifts and started to live them out. So we are excited to celebrate, and we are thankful to God for his faithfulness over the last four years.

Olivia Haverkamp Eagle Way Award

Presented by Eric Taylor and Elizabeth Hoving

Jack Long
Audrey Monahan

Jack Long

Audrey Monahan

Applied Technology

Presented by Gord DeKoekkoek

Outstanding Student in Applied Technology

Outstanding Student in Applied Technology

Art

Presented by Jonathan Quist and Krista Krygsman

Outstanding Student in Art

Outstanding Student in Art

Athletics

Presented by Jason Heerema

Eagle Athletes

Scholar Athletes

Baarman Award

Bible & Theology

Presented by Mark VanderWerf

Brother Lawrence Award

Brother Lawrence Award

Students who receive this award exemplify the qualities of Micah 6:8 — to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Brother Lawrence, a 17th century French Monk wrote: "Lord of all pots and pans and things, make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.”

As a Christian school community, we desire to encourage our students in their faith and are incredibly proud of them as they live their faith out in our school and in the wider community. The following students demonstrated Christ-like living that emulates these qualities.

Hannah Feng

Rachel Sepa

Quentin Henry

Case Dykstra

Student Support Services

Presented by Amy Crow and Missy Meekhof

Anna Stegink Memorial Scholarship
Eagle Links Inclusion Award

Anna Stegink Memorial Scholarship

Eagle Links Inclusion Award

English

Presented by Brian Karsten

Outstanding Students in English

Outstanding Students in English

Family & Consumer Sciences

Presented by Amy Petracek

Outstanding Student in Family & Consumer Sciences

Outstanding Student in Family & Consumer Sciences

Mathematics

Presented by Eve Ricketts

Outstanding Student in Mathematics

Outstanding Student in Mathematics

Music

Presented by Candice Sytsma, John Blakemore, and Cyndi Betts

Arion Music Award

John Philip Sousa Band Award

National School Orchestra Award

National School Choral Award

Physical Education

Presented by Harold Gee

Outstanding Students in Physical Education

Outstanding Students in Physical Education

Science

Presented by Stephanie Boven

Outstanding Student in Science

Outstanding Student in Science

Social Studies

Presented by Rebecca Polet

Outstanding Student in Social Studies

Outstanding Student in Social Studies

The Most Outstanding Student in Social Studies is awarded The Howard J. Wiarda Scholarship, initiated by Dr. Wiarda, a graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High School.

Beloved professor, accomplished author, and, over the course of his career, expert advisor to various think tanks, the State Department, and several US Presidents, Dr. Wiarda’s accomplishments are too many to list. Though Dr. Wiarda passed away in September of 2015, his endowed scholarship maintains his legacy of encouraging and supporting aspiring scholars.

The intent of the Wiarda Scholarship is to recognize a graduating senior who meets three criteria: The student must excel in courses related to the Social Sciences… They must illustrate leadership and community involvement… And they must express a sincere interest in pursuing a career in the field.

Miriam DeVries

Theater

Presented by Rick Hardenberg

Senior Theatre Drama/Spotlight Award
Senior Theatre Tech Award

Senior Theatre Drama/Spotlight Award

Senior Theatre Tech Award

World Languages

Presented by Robyn Potts, Donna Kamerman-Houskamp, Gezi Cox, Melissa Allen, and Diane Sytsma

French

German

Mandarin Chinese

Spanish

One of our goals here at GRCHS is for students to experience language as a way to communicate with more of God’s people, learn from them and enter into their stories. Each year our Spanish Department selects a student who has studied the language and has the desire to take it out of the classroom for fruitful interaction in God’s world. This year, we have chosen two outstanding students.

Delaney Sall

Elizabeth Williams

American Sign Language

National Merit Scholarship

Presented by Trisha Wallace

Commended Students
National Merit Finalists

Commended Students

There's only one way to become a competitor in the National Merit Scholarship Program and that is by scoring high enough on the PSAT. In October 2018, when these students were juniors, more than 1.5 million high school juniors worldwide took the PSAT. This group of students represents various levels of accomplishment in that competition.

Nine students at Grand Rapids Christian achieved the Commended status; their score was in the top 5% of the 1.5 million juniors who took the PSAT.

This year's National Merit Commended Scholars are:

Ava BooydeGraaff
Nicholas Christians
Matéa Diekema
Hannah Feng
Luc Hascall
Benjamin Hermen
Owen Tellinghuisen
Zoe Turner
Josiah Woltjer

Ava BooydeGraaf

Nick Christians

Matéa Diekema

Hannah Feng

Luc Hascall

Ben Hermen

Owen Tellinghuisen

Zoe Turner

Josiah Woltjer

National Merit Finalists

From the group of students who scored in the top few percent of test takers, approximately 16,000 students are chosen from the Semifinalist designation. To continue in the competition, these students took the SAT, submitted a lengthy application, an essay, and a counselor recommendation. Then both colleges and corporations choose scholarship winners from the Semifinalist pool in order to reduce the group. These students are then given the prestigious rank of National Merit Finalist.

This year's National Merit Certificate of Merit recipients are:

Miriam DeVries
Alexandra Fedrigo
Benjamin Peterson

Miriam DeVries

Alexandra Fedrigo

Ben Peterson

Scholarship and Awards

John Zoerhoff Memorial Scholarship

Mary Ann Gundy Foreign Language Scholarship

The Rainbow Foundation Scholarship

Congressional Medal of Merit

Lions Club Award

GRAND RAPIDS CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS HONOR & CELEBRATE ONE ANOTHER.

They are thoughtful, compassionate, and considerate towards the needs, values, traditions, and feelings of others; intentionally acting to make a positive difference in one’s own life, the lives of others and their surroundings. They understand and appreciate their own and other’s cultures, personal stories, and accomplishments.

As the year draws to a close we honor and celebrate students who achieved these honors.