Julie Van Buiten: Giving the Glory to God

Throughout her time at EC, alumni Julie Van Buiten was impacted by the leadership and faith involved in her sports teams. As an avid athlete Julie, class of 2013, was involved in the soccer, basketball, and softball teams during her entire high school career.

Julie mentions, “While I was at EC as I was a captain on my sports teams and saw different examples of leadership with my teachers and coaches, I was able to see that Christ-like leadership is about wisdom, humility, and sacrifice and encouraged to lead in this way.”

As a lifetime student of Eastern Christian, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, Julie’s faith has stayed with her and grown since day one. Since athletics were such a big part of her life, Julie found that her faith grew as a result of implementing it into her sports experiences.

Some memories she cherished from her years at EC include, “I always cherished how my sports teams would pray with other teams after the game! At that point in my faith the thought of praying with someone who wasn’t a Christian was terrifying to me, but to do it as a team felt so natural and brought alive the family of Christ for me.”

Now, Julie has continued to grow in her faith and serves in local youth ministry as well as working as an Occupational Therapist at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. She is grateful for her experience at Eastern Christian and the way it has impacted her and her faith.

Her experiences at EC have played a major role in her development as a Christian and she was“ always reminded that win or lose, it is all about God's kingdom”.