Welcome back to the South Christian Podcast! In this episode, the first of 2026, we interview Jess Hollenbach, our new choir director. Jess talks about how she knew she wanted to be a music teacher, how Covid changed the way she thought about faith, and how excited she is to be joining the SCHS Community.

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Now that we've got the seals out of the way, allow us to introduce you to Anna Van Elderen, who joins the South Christian staff this year as a first-year science teacher. She shares her story of transferring to South for her senior (Covid) year of high school, and how, after college, she has found her way back to SCHS, first as a student teacher and now as a full teacher in our science department.

On this edition of the South Christian Podcast, we talk with new Math teacher Anna Alkema, who was a long-term sub last year at South Christian and this year takes on the position full-time. Anna shares how she ended up at SCHS, her top three board/card games for family entertainment, and, of course, sends a shout-out to her mom, who is a phenomenal woman.

Welcome back to the SC Podcast Season 2, where we're in the process of introducing you to our new staff members for the 2025-26 school year. In this episode we meet Amanda Van Holland, who joins the counseling office this year after a move from Texas. Amanda shares a bit about her journey from being a Navy kid who moved around a lot, how she ended up at Dordt College, and how she and her young family have now ended up setting down some roots in West Michigan.

On this edition of the SC podcast, we introduce you to Esther Jun, who joins the South Christian staff this year as an English teacher. Esther shares her story of growing up in a missionary family, learning three languages simultaneously, how she ended up becoming an English teacher, why her favorite emoji is 😏 (editor's note: I don't know if that's actually the emoji she was talking about), and there's also a strangely extended tangent on the joys of grocery shopping, specifically at Costco.

Gabby Miller joins the South Christian Staff this year as PE and Health teacher. She's a SCHS Alum, played basketball for 5 seasons at Calvin University, recently married, and is now adjusting to calling her former teachers by their first names! Well, mostly.

We've made it to the final episode of Season 1, with our guest Marissa McCauley. Mrs. McCauley teaches science and shares a bit about her journey to SCHS and what makes her tick as a teacher.

We're back, and we continue to introduce new teachers to the SCHS community. This week, we talk with our new science teacher, Mr. Robert Hooker, who comes to South after teaching for many years in Florida and... China!