We are pleased to introduce our newest 1st grade teacher, Ms. Suzanne Sears! She has spent the entirety of her career teaching in Christian schools in her home state of Iowa, in Illinois, and in Indiana. She has taught 2nd-4th grades. She is excited to embark on this new adventure of teaching 1st grade in a Classical school because of feeling better equipped by being Orton-Gillingham trained by the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana. She attends Church@Main, in Brownsburg
We caught up with Ms. Sears in order to help the community learn more about her. We hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit better though her answers.
1) Are you married? Kids?
I have never been married and have no children. The Lord puts the solitary in families (Ps. 68 v6). God graciously blessed me with godly parents and siblings with their families as well as amazing school and church families. God has used us to minister to each other in timely ways.
2) Where did you go to school?
I have a degree in Elementary Education and Bible from Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Ankeny, IA.
3) What is your favorite snack or treat?
I like fresh fruit, raw nuts/seeds, and popcorn. Anything with berries, I really enjoy. I also eat an apple a day. Things with coconut or cinnamon are my favorite flavors.
4) What gets you up in the morning?
I get up knowing that God has new personal tender mercies just for me for which I can be looking. I give Him all the praise for His timely, daily protection and provision. I love seeing His tender mercies over all His works. (Ps. 145:9) In giving me the blessings of His perfect love, perfect gifts, and perfect peace, I am always on the lookout as to how He want to use me to pass these blessings on to others in my path.
5) What are your favorite hobbies?
I am a vintage girl so I love finding treasures at thrift and antique shops or really anywhere. I love refurbishing some of these treasures I find or displaying them uniquely. I have loved reading since being in elementary. I enjoy walking/hiking. Attending any activities of my nieces, nephews, and my students are some of my favorite times. Trying new coffee or tea places with friends with the plethora of choices in Indy area has been fun since I moved back to IN.
6) What is your favorite book and why?
I will share that my favorite genre is biographies, why that is, and some of my favorites. I have taught my students that God bestows on all of us our talents, treasures, time in history, numbered days, how we look, and our experiences as children that have connection and correlation to what we do as an adult. More importantly that God wants to use us for His purpose and glory through these very things. He doesn’t waste any experience. In 3rd grade, my love of biographies began with slaves like Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver. From junior high until present, biographies of people in the Holocaust have impacted and shaped me. Corrie ten Boom and her book The Hiding Place has been the most impactful. As an adult, I also have read and have been impacted by missionary/ministry biographies. Some favorites are that of Gladys Aylward, Amy Carmichael, Elisabeth Elliot, Joni Eareckson Tada, George Muller from England, and Gracia Burnham.
7) How long have you lived in Indiana and why do you enjoy living here?
I lived in Indiana for 11 years, moved backed from Iowa, and have been back here for 3 years. I am an Iowa farm girl so I like the landscape with driving the winding back roads, fields nestled in groves of trees, the lush, green tunnels of trees in many areas of Indy, and the unique, weathered barns along the countryside. Ultimately, it’s the people that are my biggest support system are here. When I lived here for 11 years, my school family and especially my colleagues became my closest friends, now going on 30 years. When both my parents went to heaven within the last five years, these true friends are my family besides my sisters. I started a whole new season of my life back here in IN with their needed support.
8) Describe a meaningful event in your life and God’s role in that event.
Anything that gets you out of your comfort zone are meaningful times. I have been on mission trips to Mexico twice and England that have greatly affected my boldness in sharing what Christ has done for me. Sometimes God brings a mission field from a different part of the world to you. I had the opportunity to tutor a 14 year old Muslim boy who was a refugee from Tanzania last year. He and the other refugee children at Migros Aid Academy on Tuesday nights reminded me that the blessings God bestowed upon me were truly meant to be given and shared. I was also challenged and convicted of how much I need to pray for the salvation and have involvement with the many Muslims in the Indy area.
9) What historical figure would you like to spend a day with?
Corrie Ten Boom
10) What would we be surprised to learn about you?
I don’t know if it would be a surprise but an interesting tidbit perhaps. I knew that my ancestry included John and Priscilla Alden who were aboard the Mayflower. Through actually researching and finding pictures of gravestones, I traced through the gravestones the evidence that I am related by 15 generations back. I also have “walked beans”. Ask me what that means if you don’t know, but most farm families would know.
