Teaching art to young people, to me, is a marvelous way to fill a day. Students enrich my life incredibly! How amazing is it that God placed me on this path in the late months of my sophomore year at Calvin College. There, an exceptional art professor instilled in us a love for creating with a spirit of grace and vigor. Because of the influence of this dynamic person, I graduated from Calvin College with a degree in Art Education in 1987. After teaching in Pennsylvania for three years, getting married, and moving back to Michigan, I was offered a position to teach at South Christian in 1991. In those early years, I earned my Master’s degree in Curriculum Studies, and since then I have taken various art classes including a handful at Ox-Bow, an extension of the Art Institute of Chicago. Every experience of learning has been an opportunity to grow in my knowledge of how to take the best care of my students. My dearest hope is to teach art in such a way that they can visualize how they have personally been endowed with God-given creativity. That creativity is a gift to cultivate, whether it is to make beautiful pieces of art or to solve problems in a complex world. May we bring glory to God in that endeavor!
Roberta VanHaitsma
Biography
Faith Statement
My faith journey has been about learning to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and I am led to challenge my students to do the same. This begins with coming to an understanding of who we are as children of God by asking essential questions about our relationship with Him and our individual Christian walk as His disciples. I like to challenge my students to consider these concepts in relation to the visual arts and specifically, creating arts.
