5th Grade Teacher Email Phone: 712-476-2615 My name is Bethany Van Dam and I am the 7th-grade homeroom teacher at RVCS. I currently teach 6th-8th-grade language arts. I grew up in the small town of Sedro Woolley, Washington. I attended Mt. Vernon Christian School (k-12) and graduated from Dordt College. As a language arts teacher, I love to see my students find a love for reading. I also enjoy the discussions that we have about the texts that we are reading. It is so cool when we can take a novel and find themes that we can relate to our Christian lives or see how some of these novels remind us of teachings from the Bible. My husband, Nick, and I live just north of Orange City, Iowa with our 2 children Klayton and Haley.
Dordt College- BA in elementary education; Coaching Endorsement
My first teaching job was teaching first grade at Ontario Christian in Ontario, California. After teaching at Ontario for a year, I took a job at RVCS. I have taught 3rd, 5th, and a variety of 6th-grade classes and for the last 6 years have taught middle school language arts.
The 2019-2020 school year will be my 13th year at RVCS and 14th year total.
I chose to serve at RVCS because I always knew that I wanted to teach at a Christian school. Christian education played an important role in my education, and I wanted to be able to impact students in their faith the way that many of my former teachers impacted me. After graduating college, I took a job in southern California but was engaged by Christmas of that year. God was faithful, and I was offered a contract to teach 3rd grade at RVCS in 2007. I am truly thankful that God opened this door for me. It has been a blessing to be a part of RVCS.