Meet Naomi Sponable: A New Member of the Kuyper Board of Trustees
Naomi Sponable is a new member of the Kuyper Board of Trustees, a position that will see her provide governance and oversight of policies, programs and general functions of the College. She is one of 12 members of the Board, which typically meets annually in September, March and June, with Board members serving an initial first term of three years followed by two more possible three-year terms up to a total of nine years.
Kuyper president Dr. Patricia Harris said Board members come from a wide variety of walks of life, including ordained ministry, nonprofits, business, higher education, social work and more.
And, she added, she is grateful for the many ways in which the Board supports the College and her own work.
“Their professional experience, skills and unique backgrounds provide the College with a variety of perspectives as we seek to fulfill our mission of forming lifelong learners for purposeful lives of work and service,” she said. “It is their commitment to steward God’s call for the institution and serve our students well that continues to move the College forward.”
Sponable is the PK-12 principal for Ellsworth Community Schools and is a Kuyper graduate (then known as Reformed Bible College) who studied Educational Ministry as an undergraduate.
She came to Kuyper having grown up on the mission field in Guyana, South America, where she was homeschooled, before moving to Lowell, Mich., at the age of 16 and graduating from Lowell High School. Her parents continue to serve as church-planting missionaries in Guyana.
She recalled a Kuyper experience that shaped her for a lifetime of activity and opportunity, and said she is eager to give back to her alma mater as a Board member.
“I was very involved on campus (as a student) as a floor adviser, student activity committee member and spiritual life intern,” she said. “When I was first approached by President Harris about serving on the Board, I was honored to be asked.”
She is excited as a member of the Board, she added, to help the College attract the next generation of Christian leaders.
“The close-knit Kuyper community allows students to be academically, socially and spiritually engaged in daily life,” she said. “The opportunity to learn and grow in an academic setting that has a distinctly biblical worldview is one that so many students will appreciate.”
Sponable and her husband Steve have been married for 21 years and have three children: Nicholas, William and Ella Mae.
