Interim 2003
By Lee Wiltjer

This was the first interim in which I have ever participated, and I found it quite interesting. I suppose it helps when the topic is something that I know I will need later in life. I know that I can apply this knowledge to what I want to do in the future, which is working as an employer and owning my own business, the Lord willing.

Aside from saying that these sessions were quite outstanding, not to mention very interesting, they apply to our future lives and came from adults who taught us not only from a Christian perspective, but from experience. They taught us to use our money for God’s glory. We must value what money we have. The speakers also made some good points on how to stretch a dollar and how to plan ahead, rather than failing to plan, which is what 90% of Americans do. For instance, Mr. Eric Ophoff taught us about social security and told us that we should start saving and discipline ourselves to save a fixed amount every month, so that when we turn 45 we don’t wonder what happened to it all.

Because I love cars and trucks, a favorite of mine was Mr. Ed Ophoff, Jr.’s sectional on cars. He taught us what to look for in a car before we buy, what type of questions to ask, and whether or not we should finance or lease a car when it’s time to buy one.

I could go on and on because this is just a taste of what our interim was like. I would like to thank all those who participated for giving us a better understanding of what it will be like when we get out into the “real world.”

Recently, President Bush said that the U.S. had a good possibility of going to war with Iraq. Inspectors from the United Nations are searching Iraq for weapons. Both the U.S. and Iraq have started training and preparing for war in case the other country cracks and finally attacks the other one.

Many questions arise in my mind, such as “Will we go to war? And if we go to war, how will we go about planning it? Will we have a draft? How much will economy be affected?” I can’t answer these questions.

However, we must remember that this is God’s will. We must read our Bibles, pray, and put our trust in God, knowing that this is a sign of Christ’s second coming. “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled; for such things must needs be…”

Wise Consumers
By Brandon Huisenga

During this past week at Heritage Christian High, we learned how to be wise consumers. We had a few guest speakers come in and talk to us about subjects that we will use in everyday life, such as: how to balance a checkbook, how to deal with banks, how to handle cars, taxes, stocks, insurance, investing, government, real estate, bankruptcy, the environment, and more.

As Christians, we must be wise consumers. To be wise consumers, we must be well informed. We are commanded to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us, including our money.

On behalf of all the students and staff at Heritage Christian High School, I would like to make a special thank you to the following people: Mr. Steve Van Drunen (South Holland Bank), Mrs. Sue Looyenga (HCHS), Mr. Peter Vander Schaaf (Stifel, Nicholaus, and Co.), Mr. Edward Ophoff, Jr. (Ophoff Motors), Rev. Carl Haak (Bethel PRC), Mr. Jim Decker (Tattjes, Termaat, and Tol, Inc.), Rev. Steven Houck (Peace PRC), Mr. Dan Van Uffelen (HCHS), Mr. Bob Vermeer (HCHS), and Mr. Ralph Medema (HCHS).

All of these people and many others deserve a special thank you for taking time to teach a portion of our consumer economics course. We would especially like to thank Mr. Eric Ophoff, Sr. (Abitibi Consolidated), who gave much time and effort to design this course, provide a lot of material for this course, and to teach and lecture us throughout this course on many interesting topics. We’ll remember to read our daily newspapers! Thanks again.