Back in 1972 a young Student Council President and honorary member of the Short Student Club helped HDCH celebrate its 15th anniversary. Today, Harry Meester remains an integral member of the HDCH family. In fact, nobody knows HDCH better than he does. As a student, parent, teacher and director, Harry has seen some changes around here and this year we happily celebrate his 35th year on staff at HD.
CELEBRATING
35 YEARS
THE TIMELESS
HARRY
MEESTER By: Adrianne Sprogis
When the Meester family emigrated from the Netherlands to the Kingston area, they heard about a new Christian school and soon moved to the Hamilton area to be a part of HDCH. Harry’s high school class was the first to enjoy having an actual gymnasium. “We had a lot of great school parties in that gym, and watched many basketball and volleyball games from the gym balcony,” says Harry. The social landscape was changing rapidly during those years and Harry speaks about some of the teachers that particularly impacted him. “I remember several who helped us navigate the events of the time (Vietnam, race riots, protests) and helped us to understand how our faith was timeless. Teachers like Veldhuis, Hoytema, Nienhuis, DeVries and others allowed us to have risky discussions when we needed them. They shaped my thinking.” After HDCH, Harry had no plans on becoming a teacher and originally wanted to go into law. After taking an aptitude test during his undergrad degree at McMaster University, he found he had the personal profile of a teacher. Embracing his profile results, Harry attended teachers college at McArthur College, Queens University. At that time, the baby boomers were all finishing high school and for the first time boards of education were laying off teachers. Hiring had stopped but Harry was able to secure a teaching position at Toronto District Christian High School. Wanting to move closer to Hamilton, Harry applied to a new Smithville Christian School that was just being built, but the only position that opened up was at HDCH. Harry moved back to Hamilton and taught geography full time from 1980 – 2006. He remembers fondly
10
hdch.org | Fall 2015