Student Spotlight: Meet Kristi Miesen

Growing up, Kristi Miesen didn’t envision herself attending a school like Kuyper College.

“My family didn’t really go to church much beyond holidays or when we had extended family visiting,” she recalled, so attending a ministry-minded school wasn’t necessarily on her radar.

That began to shift as she grew older and became involved in children’s ministry leadership, though it still wasn’t until after graduating high school in 2019 that she began to picture such a career for herself.

The COVID-19 pandemic made her plans to study biology, then business, unsustainable and she had all but given up on attending college at all. However, after a recommendation by a family friend, she decided to consider Kuyper.

“Because working in youth ministry was really what got my relationship with God started, I decided I wanted to be able to do that for other kids,” Miesen said. “And, after meeting with President Harris and praying about it, I knew that Kuyper was the right place for me.”

Now entering her final year as a Ministry Leadership major, she said she couldn’t see herself anywhere else.

“Who else gets excited to wake up and go to class?” she added with a laugh. “Plus, there were so many things that just fell into place with finances. God has done nothing but provide and make this such an easy process.”

That provision has continued in her KuyperWorks role as leader of the Spiritual Life (SPIL) team, where she is already gaining valuable experience in her desired field.

“I immediately jumped into the leadership side of things, and I’ve been able to understand more of the planning side of ministry, which I love,” she said. “It’s been such a fun opportunity, and the list of things that I can take into a future job is insane.”

Miesen is looking forward to building up her practical knowledge even further through her upcoming practicum and internship, both important steps for ministry leadership students at Kuyper.

“It’ll be really nice to experience different sides of ministry, because there’s so much I can actually do with my degree. I want to explore those opportunities and pray on them to help me decide where to serve after graduation,” she said.

One of the things Miesen says she will miss most about her time at Kuyper is the community on campus, which has been an important part of her personal and professional formation.

“Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite thing about Kuyper is, I always say ‘the people’. They’ve pushed me to grow, not only in an academic sense, but also in a personal way, into the person God is creating me to be,” Miesen said.