Grace Christian Student Interns with Local Police Department

Shari Vanden Berg, daughter of Jim and Terri Vanden Berg of Door, MI started attending Grace Christian University as a Psychology major with the desire to work with children. Over time she changed her degree to Human Services with an emphasis in Criminal Justice and her focus on comunity service grew. "After meeting with and taking a class with Dr. David Greydanus I felt like God started opening doors for this path and they continue to open." Vanden Berg went on to share that her Criminal Justice elective classes entitled "Introduction to Legal Studies" and "Sex Crime: Investigation, Trauma and Psychosocial Implications" continued to foster a great interest in serving her community through police work. "One of the greatest things I have drawn from the classes offered at Grace are how God can use me to serve people," says Vanden Berg.

Through Grace Christian University's partnership with the Wyoming Police Department, Vanden Berg has secured an internship as a cadet. Her internship experiences have involved helping others with what they need at the local, county, state and federal levels. When asked if she felt prepared for this role, she pointed to the valuable learning experiences through mission trips that shaped her listening skills with her local church, First Byron Christian Reformed Church, located in the nearby community of Byron Center.

Vanden Berg lights up when speaking about her future in police work, "I love being part of people's lives as there will never not be someone to help. When people deal with police it's usually the worst day of their lives and I am excited to be a person to step into that space with them." While Vanden Berg will be graduating in May of 2023, she has goals of working in a local police department after graduation with visions of someday serving in an investigations unit of a state level police department. As Shari reflected on her path to this point she mentioned that "This is the calling where God has placed me and I will follow Him through it all."

Grace Christian University is thankful for Shari Vanden Berg and others like her working to graduate as a godly individual prepared to serve Christ in church and society.