Terra Ceia Christian School will face some changes this coming school year when a new principal arrives for the first time in 24 years.

Jon Postma will replace Ken Leys as the school’s principal. Leys retired this spring.

Postma described his work background and his current administrative position.

“After college, I went to Lafayette Christian School in Lafayette, Ind. I’ve been there for about 12 years. I started there as a teacher. There was a point in time where the school needed to be a little bit creative in its scheduling of teachers,” Postma said. “I took on some development work for the school in terms of connecting with alumni and keeping the community informed of what was happening at the school. This was in the form of a quarterly newsletter that went out. It got me thinking more along the lines of some of the larger questions of a school existence in life, rather than just what was happening in my individual classroom. I was the technology director at my school, but that role enveloped assistant principal as well.”

TCCS will face many challenges in the upcoming year, according to Postma. A main concern is helping students meet their educational needs in the 21st century.

Postma explained some tools the school will introduce to help meet students’ academic needs.

“One thing we are moving forward is updating the school’s website. We are also using the online resource Rosetta Stone to teach Spanish. This will give students a lot of flexibility whether they are coming in at a basic introductory level of Spanish or whether they have picked up some things already,” Postma said. “The school also in the last year has installed three interactive whiteboards. It is really exciting to see how the staff is going to be doing some training this summer.

It will not only be a teacher tool, but it will also help students have a more participatory role in the classroom.”

Postma mentioned that outside of work he enjoys sports. He especially enjoys basketball, and he has some coaching experience. He said it could be some time before he gets involved with TCCS athletics.

“This first year, I am really trying to make sure that I don’t get too overcommitted. I need to make sure that I don’t try to put on my Superman cape and do 20 different things poorly. I am strategic in what I get involved with, but possibly down the road it might happen,” he said.

Postma and his wife Lora, who will teach at TCCS, live in Pantego.