An Interview with Mr. Alden
An Interview with Mr. Alden
By Zachary Koontz
As most of you know, Mr. Alden is retiring after the end of this semester. I was recently given the chance to sit down with him and discuss his feelings and his story here at NICS. Mr. Alden joined the staff in 1996, where he began his 21 year career. However, before he became a North Idaho Christian School teacher and athletics director, he spent many years as a business owner. In 1999, NICS lost their previous athletics director and so the principle at the time, Mr. Kay, needed to find a new one. Mr. Alden told him it was something he’d like to do, and that was that — Mr. Alden was the new athletic director. “At that time,” he told me, “Our current sports league, Mountain Christian League, was an infant in its first years.”
Some of his favorite memories of his time spent at NICS have been the yearly History class trips to the courthouse, to see the judicial system work. Another favorite is the school’s sports League Championships, to which, Mr. Alden said, “We’re not just here to win, we’re here first to witness and spread the word of God with our sportsmanship. However, it can be nice to win a couple times on the side.”
I got the opportunity to ask him about his hopes for the future of his retirement as well. He admitted he wasn’t entirely sure where he was going to go, but he knew one thing for sure, “I feel like helping in a thrift store or food bank could be a good use of my volunteer work; to give back to my community, so to speak,” Mr. Alden commented. He wishes his mark on the school to be one of guidance, that his students will grow up with the resolve to serve God with their lives beyond just a Christian education. He says there were two people who most inspired him in his life. The first, his father, a man who came to know Christ, and was a role model for his son. The second, the man he co-owned Baskin-Robbins with in Alaska, who even though he wasn’t a Christian at first, was a man of pure moral values.
As Mr. Alden moves forward with his life, he shared with me how hard it will be to leave, but he is excited to see what someone else will do with his classes. He gave a reminder for all of us here: “Don’t forget, I’ll stop by now and again to make sure you guys aren’t getting into any trouble.”
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12: 1-2