WMC held its Warrior Fields dedication ceremony on Saturday, September 25. “We were excited to be able to celebrate this with our WMC Community and are beyond grateful to see how this campus has transformed over the past 2 years,” said WMC Director of Advancement Scott Liggett. “These completed track, soccer and baseball fields are the result of an 18 month campaign to raise more than $3 million. We named our capital campaign the Campus and Community Campaign because we are building community here on our campus.”
Former WMC principal and soccer coach who was instrumental in bringing soccer to west Michigan, David VerMerris, looked back at the history of our athletic fields, “In 1968 things started to change and WMC became the first high school in this area to have a soccer team. At that time it was a struggle to schedule games but we were able to do that with some of the other Christian schools in west Michigan. In 1992 my wife Merrie died following surgery for a brain aneurysm. It was a terrible time for our family but God, through his love, wrapped his arms around us and with the love and support of this community we made it through. Back in 1994 our field at Kingsley became the first soccer-field-only lighted field in west Michigan and the lights were a memorial to my wife. It was dedicated with a plaque and the inscription read, “She let her light shine for all to see, not of herself but of freely giving a reflection of the true light of the world.” Those who knew her know that fit. Twenty seven years later through the generosity of a donor family, the lights on this field are here in her honor. Merrie’s lights live on.”
Campaign chair Stu Kingma, who received a Service Leadership Award from the school for his effort with this campaign, reflected on the significance of the project, “Generational in scope is a term I have heard a number of times throughout this process. How long and how many people will a facility like this impact? There are great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, parents and children all celebrating with us and this will continue to build for many years, impacting generations to come. Final plans and lead donations were in hand in February of 2020 and we all know what happened after that. A worldwide pandemic. Our donors made it clear that we should keep moving forward and we were blessed to not only get the funds needed to complete the soccer and baseball fields but then to complete the track. All of this was made possible through the grace of God, our major donors, the WMC staff and board as well as our WMC community.”
Photos by Randy Riksen. Aerial shot by Trent Alphenaar.
Western Michigan Christian High School and Middle School is a 7-12 Christian school in Norton Shores Michigan and is a member of West Michigan Christian Schools that includes Fremont Christian School, Grand Haven Christian School, Muskegon Christian School and New Era Christian School.
