Meet the Director
Build a better future
If a student can articulate where he or she wants to go in life, VR Tech Director Deb Feenstra stands ready to help them chart a course to get there.
“Today everybody needs something more than high school to be successful,” Feenstra said. “Our most serious students dropped out for a while, and now realize how important a diploma is, not as an end but to progress to more training.”
The alternative school has computers lab where high school students less than 20 years old can work at their own pace to recover credits through modules with support from on-site, content-certified teachers.
Some students buckle down, catch up, and return to Holland High School to graduate with their class. However, most choose to remain at VR Tech, which offers a flexibility that better meshes with their learning style, Feenstra said.
How it works
Students earn 28 credits for a Holland High School diploma, or 18 credits for a VR Tech diploma that’s accepted by the military, technical schools and community colleges.
VR Tech, which convenes in the former Van Raalte School, also preps students planning to test for a General Education Development degree.
English As a Second Language classes for adults and the Boys & Girls Club's Gateway Preschool also convene at VR Tech.
Worldly woman
Feenstra moved with her family to Holland from New Orleans when she was in third grade. She attended Van Raalte School when it still had three stories.
Her first teaching job was kindergarten at Van Raalte. She’s held several administrative positions for Holland Public Schools.
Feenstra spends summers in San Cristobal, Mexico, where her husband, Jeff, works with a clean water mission. The couple has two adult daughters, Ashley and Leslie. Ashley and her husband, Domingo Hernandez-Gomez, have three young children, including twins. Leslie has special needs.
The extended family is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and Tzeltal, a Mayan dialect.
You can contact Deb Feenstra by phone at 494-2602, or by e-mail.
Others who help the school run smoothly are Zach Kapla and Maria Huerta.
