To some, Samantha Ulstad is the substitute teacher who quietly fills in when needed. To others, she’s the voice on the soccer sidelines, or the warm smile behind the front office desk. But to a growing number of students at the high school, Ulstad is something more—a mentor, a confidante, and the heart behind the group Campus Life.
Ulstad has a lot of responsibilities at the high school. This includes all that were previously mentioned as well as more, such as a parapro for students. Ulstad was raised in Spring Arbor, Michigan and went to Jackson High School. After graduating high school as well as from Cornerstone University, she pursued Christian ministry opportunities from her church that connected her to an international organization called Youth for Christ (YFC), which is in charge of her biggest role at Northview called Campus Life.
YFC has had a large impact on many students at a variety of high schools across the nation. Ulstad explains the goal that her organization has with these students.
“YFC is an international nonprofit organization,” Ulstad said. “Our mission is to reach 11-19 year olds where they are at and empower them to be lifelong followers of Jesus. Campus Life is specifically in high school and middle school and is similar to what a Youth Group would look like, but it’s catered towards kids who don’t know Jesus.”
Ulstad recently brought this ministry back into the high school after 2 years with no leader to run it. A lot of her reasoning for promoting Campus Life this year is because she is very dedicated to the students at the high school and is passionate about reaching teenagers.
“I’m only there because I care about them [the students], even if they don’t know me or I don’t know them,” Ulstad said. “I still care about Northview, yes, but also just teenagers as a whole. Even though I’m just a little bit ahead of teenagers age-wise, I want students to know that I really care about them. I’m there because I want to be there and I love them.”
She has made intentional time to create moments of outreach to many individuals, whether that has been in groups at Campus Life events, or with scheduled one-on-one times where Ulstad can be a mentor for struggling students.
“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of transformation in students,” Ulstad said. “There have been a lot of students who have grown in confidence, in themselves and in their faith, and I can be a person in their life where they can feel like they can be themselves. That’s been really cool to see them grow in confidence this school year.”
Ryan Tschirhart, a college student at Calvin University and a leader of Campus Life, has gotten to know Ulstad through both working and being mentored by her. Tschirhart sees Ulstad has encouraged a variety of students to grow in their faith this year.
“She does a very good job of [impacting students],” said Tschirhart. “If it’s not her directly impacting a student’s life, she finds the right people to go out and pursue those people. I think you can also take a look at the girls in her small group, and I look at the way she’s able to give such wise advice. For her to just be so open and willing to be there for these kids is amazing as a leader.”
Junior Cameron Witgen has known Ulstad since the beginning of this year, but has seen her impact in his life as well.
“She has been kind and very welcoming when I first started going to Campus Life,” Witgen said. “She’s helped me grow in my faith a lot throughout the whole year and given me opportunities to be a leader.”
Ulstad is extremely passionate about reaching high schoolers because during high school, she never felt that she had a person like herself to look towards. Thus, Ulstad wants to be a role model for those kids. She also went through a lot of struggles in high school and she hopes to be a person that can help current students that are struggling to navigate their personal challenges.
“I would encourage–easier said than done–students to be who they know they are, and not try to be someone else,” Ulstad said. “If you know there’s people in your life that you can lean on, talk to them. Be with the people that you know that make you a better person and you make them a better person because your friends are so important. My biggest encouragement is to not do life alone but to do it with the right people.”
Ulstad puts a lot of thought into what happens at every event. Campus Life offers Club nights on Mondays, which are geared towards sharing the gospel to teenagers who don’t know Jesus, as well as Core on Friday mornings, an opportunity for discipleship for Christians who want to know more about their faith. Ulstad is in charge of both of these, and is very intentional about how they are organized each week.
“She’s very meticulous and thoughtful with everything she does,” Tschirhart said. “It might seem at times that she’s loose or it’s easy or she is just showing up. But there’s so much behind the scenes that she does that makes it look that way. She’s just truly someone that makes all the difficult things look easy. She is a very good servant, something that is important for a leader.”
Though Ulstad tends to fly under the radar at the high school, Tschirhart believes that the good qualities of a person who leads are all portrayed in her, worthy of recognition.
“She has been everything in a leader that I can ever ask for,” Tschirhart said. “She’s personable, she’s wise, and she’s also very relational, and she’s very able to teach and guide and correct me in a way that has benefitted my growth as a leader as well. She is a true servant and a leader.”
Leave a Reply