Confidence

This is what I shared this afternoon at a professional luncheon for Cornerstone Christian School. I was a speaker for the alumni.


Good afternoon. My name is Kristin Barb. I am the mother of two, a preschool teacher, a consultant with The Pampered Chef, and a graduate of Cornerstone Christian School. When Rick asked me to share today, he asked if I had one word to describe what I gained from my CCS experience. I quickly responded: Confidence. Cornerstone believes that a quality education is a partnership between families, the school, and the churches. That education encompasses a child’s character and opportunities for ministry as well as academic excellence. For me, CCS provided a safe, nurturing environment to test my wings while preparing me for the academic and emotional challenges of high school.

I attended CCS for 4 years, 5th through 8th grade. Like all preteens, it was a time of major adjustment and change. I started 5th grade as an incredibly shy little girl, literally hiding behind my dad during the Open House event. I didn’t have much to be confident about back then. My family had just moved to Virginia 3 weeks before and I wasn’t thrilled about leaving my friends and starting over in a new place filled with corn fields and smelly cows. I was a decent student, mostly As and Bs with a few Cs in math. I stuttered when I was nervous. I was used to being in the background where it was safe and comfortable. But Cornerstone changed that because of good friends and amazing teachers, specifically Cynthia Brunk.

One of my education assignments when I attended JMU was to write a paper about my most influential teacher. That teacher was Mrs. Brunk. I was fortunate to have Mrs. Brunk all four years, for 5th and 6th grade math and science and 7th & 8th grade English. I give her credit for the legibility of my cursive, my ability to parse a complex sentence, and my love of taking learning outdoors and into the unexpected. She took my Cs in math and worked with me until I was an A student, which is a great accomplishment when one is learning algebra. I learned to pay attention to details and discovered the benefit of reading ALL the directions before beginning an assignment. She, and my other teachers at CCS, taught me that my perspective was not only welcome, but wanted. And I thrived. In 6th grade I had my first experience on stage when I filled in for a sick classmate the day of the Spring Program. With just hours to learn my lines, I accepted the role because I knew Mrs. Brunk and Mrs. Hostetter believed in me. In 8th grade I sang a solo and was part of a quintet in the ACSI Music Festival, both coached by our music teacher Michele Morgan. Not only was the shy little girl from South Jersey speaking into a mic, she was singing into one as well as part of the middle school worship team. That same year, I and some schoolmates helped Mrs. Morgan with background vocals for a Vacation Bible School curriculum. Then in the spring I boarded my very first airplane with eight other students and three staff and flew over the border to Mexico City.

It’s impossible to put a monetary value on those middle school experiences. I was never just “one in the crowd”. My teachers had the opportunity to get to know who I was—quirks, stutter and all—and lend a helping hand and encouraging word when needed. We were taught to do our best in everything, to ask questions and think critically, not just soak up information like sponges, and most importantly to live our faith, not simply defend it.

After graduation I prepared to attend public school for the first time in my life. While I was quite terrified—Harrisonburg High School is and was a huge school for a girl whose entire middle school wasn’t too much bigger than her freshman English class—I knew I was prepared. I had been trained well, because of the collaboration between home and school and the emphasis on excellence. Three musicals, another speaking part in a church play, District choir, a trip with the Honors choir to sing in Carnegie Hall, a Yearbook award, two advanced placement courses, a trip to the Supreme Court, participation in a mock trial, and two years of drama and marketing classes later, I graduated with honors. As I walked across the stage I knew I looked as confident as I felt inside.

Four years later I returned to my high school gym, now owned by James Madison University. Wearing my black cap and gown I clutched a paper in my hands and willed them to stop shaking. Standing in front of hundreds of fellow College of Education graduates, I did something that the 5th grade me, and even the 8th grade me, would not have thought possible: I spoke…out loud…into a microphone…WITHOUT A STUTTER. In that speech I quoted one of my professors who said “We do not teach math, science, or social studies. We teach children.” I can say the same about Cornerstone Christian School. The teachers there do not just teach academics, they teach the whole child…Academic excellence, strong Godly character, and a heart for ministering to the needs of others above their own. My close connection with the school has enabled me to watch other students graduate and continue to excel in school (academically, socially, in music, theater, and sports), and in the workplace after graduation. I’ve met a future governor as well as teachers, business leaders, inventors, engineers, lawyers, doctors, artists, and writers. We—the students and alumni of Cornerstone Christian School—have been given a great gift: the confidence to go out into the world and fulfill our God-given dreams.


Authors Note: Check out CCS at www.ccsconnection.org.

You Know You're a Geek When...

10. The cover of a book can cause righteous indignation or absolute adoration. (Character representation! I should have a pretty good sense of the content from the cover.)
Good cover: Aslan in all his golden glory on the cover of The Chronicles of Narnia (complete collection). Epic.
Bad cover: The blonde on the cover of Anne of Green Gables. Seriously?!
Also: The Hobbit cover with the creepy Gollum and the fat, stupid looking Bilbo. Bad. The awesome drawing on The Silmarillion cover...So good I used it as the background of my wedding program.

9. Using A BOOK ILLUSTRATION as the background of your wedding program. Moving on...

8. Referencing either the Lord of the Rings book appendices or Extended Edition movie appendices, or both, in conversation.

7. The Star Wars Wiki page pops up automatically when you type SW in your internet search.

6. You have a Pinterest board that has been taken over by Doctor Who, Star Wars, LOTR, and/or Firefly references and/or products.

5. You take your 2 year old by the hand and your first conscious thought is "Come along Pond!"

4. Your daughter is named for a former Imperial assassin turned Jedi Master and also shares a middle name with the Queen of Great Britain.

3. You actually understand a majority of Josh Barb's Facebook statuses.

2. "I know" is the expected response to "I love you".

1. "Hello Sweetie" has replaced almost all other greetings in your vocabulary.