A Message from the Principal
Yáʼátʼééh! Keshhi, hom a:kuwaye! Thank you for visiting the Rehoboth Christian School website! My name is Tara DeYoung and this will be my first year as Elementary and Middle School principal. My mother is Linda (Wigboldy), and my father is Bryan Kamps. I married JM DeYoung, son of Gail (Vander Ploeg) and Mike DeYoung. In my Biligaána tradition, we call this sort of introduction Dutch Bingo; but such introductions are so much more universal. They are conversation starters, they bind us together and help us make connections to one another. They build community.
This year our school theme comes from Revelation 21:5 “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” In a book written by Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New, he describes living in Christian community as a spiritual discipline where people celebrate together, work together, and play together. He says “when we come together from different geographical, historical, psychological, and religious directions, listening to the same word spoken by different people can create in us a common openness and vulnerability…[t]hus we can come to discover our true identity as a community” (p.85). One reason my husband and I chose to move back to New Mexico is the diverse Rehoboth Christian School community.
I am honored to be serving this beloved community as principal, and discovering together our true identity as a community of faith! I can not wait to reconnect with some, and meet many of you!
In Him,
Tara DeYoung
Principal, Elementary/Middle
Rehoboth Christian School
tdeyoung@rcsnm.org
505-726-9605
Rehoboth Christian Middle School
At Rehoboth Christian Middle School, we spend time “Unwrapping God’s Gifts.” We strive to help each student explore and develop the wide variety of gifts that God has given them. Mid schoolers spend time expanding their abilities in the gifts they’ve already recognized, but they also spend time exploring new things and developing gifts that they may not have even known they had before. It is this that makes Rehoboth Christian Middle School unique.
Academics
Rehoboth Christian Middle School is a supportive community that values knowledge and exploration of God’s Creation. As Rehoboth Christian Middle School works to fulfill its mission, we seek to develop the Christian mind. The teachers are called to ensure that children are equipped with foundational skills and knowledge, but are also challenged to make our program innovative and responsive to the developmental needs of the young adolescent and the parents of our community. At RCMS, students are held to high standards, are expected to perform, and must be responsible. These expectations are high, but so is the level of support from the teachers. Combined, this creates a learning environment where every child can be successful.
Diversity
Rehoboth Christian School is committed to learning lessons from our past and embracing a future of beautiful diversity. We approach this task with a heart of humility and reconciliation. RCMS desires to celebrate a life of beautiful diversity, where peoples from every tribe and nation, from a variety of family structures, rich or poor, female or male, can gather together to glorify the Triune God in a Christian learning environment. Teachers use a variety of teaching styles and themes to embrace diversity and to demonstrate how God intends His people to love one another. RCMS affirms the uniqueness of each child of God and offers opportunities for a variety of skills, interests, gifts, and talents to be developed. We know that every child is created by God for a special purpose and that He desires nothing more than for each person to use the talents given to him/her. At RCMS, the teachers delight in unwrapping those God-given gifts in each child.
Community
Part of our calling as Christians is to live in relationship with each other as we seek to live in relationship with God. In fact, Christ calls us to treat those we come into contact with as if we were meeting Christ himself. Love is a foundational element of Rehoboth Christian Middle School – we are the hands of God to one another. It is much more than a positive school environment, it is about living in a true community. RCMS teachers believe that children will take joy in learning when they are in an environment where they feel welcomed, safe, and supported. The RCMS community actively promotes healthy and positive relationships throughout the body. This includes parents, children, teachers, staff, neighbors, strangers, and administrators.
Rehoboth Christian Middle School’s Theme, Purpose, and Goals
Theme: Unwrapping God’s Gifts
Statement of Purpose: Rehoboth Christian Middle School (RCMS) helps students recognize God’s gifts in all of Creation.
RCMS Goals:
- RCMS students will become people who have learned to unwrap God’s gifts. Unwrapping these gifts means developing one’s own aptitudes and interests and discovering the wonderful diversity that makes each of us so unique.
- RCMS students will become people who have learned that living in a Christ-centered community means sharing each other’s joys and burdens.
- RCMS students will come to understand what it means to receive God’s grace and share it with others.
- RCMS students will have learned what it is to be committed to seeking God’s shalom -- His mercy, peace, and justice --in school and in society.
- RCMS students will have developed a Christian view of reality.
- RCMS students will have a better understanding of how to use their gifts to serve God and others.
- RCMS students will have a greater appreciation for and understanding of Native Americans.