FPF Spotlight: On Mission in Vancouver, WA — Kaylah Alicea
Christmastime is one of my favorite times of the year! I love the opportunity it gives to slow down and reflect on all that God has done for us this past year and remember what an amazing gift salvation is to us. This year I’ve been extra sentimental and thankful because I stepped into a new role at the Homeschool Resource Center – Faculty Director. The faculty director has the opportunity to oversee all the department heads that manage our different departments at the center.
Since Covid, our center has seen a huge influx of families leaving the public school system and searching for a new way to do schooling at home. Because of this we’ve had to re-think how our departments are meeting the needs of these students and find ways to level up the quality of education we are providing. Our heartbeat at the center is that everything we do points our students back to Christ, but we also want to make sure our education is top of the line and prepares our students for all God is calling them to in life. That’s where I stepped in – at the precipice of change, renewed vision, and growth.
With this renewed vision set before us, I have had the opportunity to help critique and sharpen our departments. We are currently vetting and bringing in new math curriculum, expanding our Bible and Theology department to make sure every age group has a class that allows them to grow in Biblical wisdom (we even lowered our admin fees for these classes to make sure families could enroll without causing hardships!), brought in a new English Language Arts department head that has been teaching middle and high school English for twenty plus years, and also brought on a new special needs coordinator to make sure our students with special needs receive the care and education they deserve.
All these changes in the past few months are only the beginning of things we want to continue to improve at the Center. I truly am honored to have stepped into this new role and daily ask the Lord to give me wisdom and discernment as we plan and lead the team forward.
I wanted to share a little bit about how the Lord led me to the Center and this position. Since college, I’ve always had the desire to be on the mission field. Once I graduated, I moved to Puerto Rico as a full-time missionary. What I didn’t know was God saw that as only a piece of my story. I served there for 3.5 years where I met my husband and we had our first two kids. At that point, we felt the Lord calling us back to the states.
Once we moved back, I simply drove past FPHRC one day and felt urged to call and find out what it was all about. Within a few weeks I was attending Seedlings (our Thursday morning co-op), and by the end of the term was applying to teach ballet and Spanish. A few years later, I had the opportunity to become the English Language Arts Department Head which grew my passion for developing people and finally leading me into the role as Faculty Director.
I say all of this to leave you with a reminder this holiday season: we don’t always know the plans God has for us, especially as we stand at the dawn of a new year; but we can trust that His ways and timing is always perfect. He knew the mission field was just as great here in Vancouver, Washington, and that all those years of sharing the gospel would only prepare my heart for sharing the gospel with kids and parents here at Firmly Planted Family.
If this holiday season finds you in any point of uncertainty, I hope to encourage you to simply pray and rest in the arms of our Savior. Know that He is preparing things for you beyond your greatest imagination and by simply trusting Him, you put yourself in the best position of surrender for His service.
Kaylah Alicea
FPHRC Faculty Director