A News Publication for Cedarville College Alumni
lir
SUMMER 1994
Monica Coleman Shares Christ With
Tomorrow's Adults
A
Ithough a young woman
herself, Monica
Coleman'90 is following
a ministry/career path
which allows her to
encourage and support troubled and
underprivileged children. Monica sees
Christ as the hope for their future and
delights in sharing God with a wide range
ofchildren and youth.
Monica entered Cedarville College the
first year that criminaljustice was offered
as a major."The offering ofcriminal
justice is why I chose to attend Cedarville.
Although I am not employed byjuvenile
court or as a probation officer,I use the
knowledge of my Christian liberal arts
education each day in the classroom."
Monica is currently employed by Fairfax
County Alternative Schools in Virginia
teaching biology,algebra I&II,and
geometry to youths in a drug treatment
program.
"God worked out all the details for this
job and the interview," recalls Monica.
After graduation,Coleman served as a
counselor at Residential Youth Services in
Alexandria, Virginia—a residential
treatment program for abused,neglected,
and needy children—for two and a half
years. A friend at the children's agency told
Monica about the teaching position,and
God worked out the details, including
placing Monica in a teaching situation.
In the six months that Monica has
worked at Vista Day School,she hasfound
herjob challenging and rewarding. All
eight high school students,ages 15 to 17,
who attend the alternative school, are
drug-addicted,and drug testing is a weekly
occurrence. Several of the students
distribute drugs as well."Vista is a last
effort for a semi-traditional high school
education for these troubled teens. Ifa
student comes to school on drugs or with
drugs,our policy is three strikes and they
are out," states Monica.Students attend
classes from 8a.m.to 1 p.m.each day and
attend rehabilitation sessions in the
afternoon. Classes are held fall through
summer,with many ofthe students
attending summer school. Monica states,
"Parents are typically uninvolved in their
youth's life or are in need of rehabilitation
themselves. That's very hard for me.But
rewards come in the small steps,like when
a student is really concentrating on the
concept being taught and the
understanding light goes on. Those are
some ofthe best experiences I have had
teaching these teens. I co-teach with a
Christian woman,and we pray together
weekly for our students. Although
witnessing in the classroom is not allowed,
we know praying for these teens is an
effective ministry to them."
Monica attends Charity Baptist Church
in McLean,Virginia with several other
Cedarville alumni and carries over her
puppet experience from Cedarville to work
with teenagers in her church. Monica
co-trains and co-leads a group of six 12-
and 13-year-olds in a puppet team which
performs for community nursing homes
and other churches.She is thankful for
the MIS experience at Cedarville and the
opportunity to travel to South Africa for
two summers with a puppet team.Monica
states,"I love working with this group
and am surprised how much God used my
Cedarville opportunity to prepare me for
this. We started by making our own stage
and hand-sewn puppets. Now the church
has established a puppetfund that we can
use to purchase what is needed to carry
on this ministry." Besides traveling to
South Africa,Monica was also involved
with the Dayton Gospel
Mission while attending
Cedarville.
Monica's
challenge for
herself and
for others is
"Get
involved!"
She sees
today's
children as
tomorrow's
future and
builds into
young lives
through her
example
and
witness
for the
Lord.
