One of the benefits of attending DMCS for budding musicians is the opportunity to lead worship in chapel.  As school leaders, we pray those leadership gifts will grow and bloom far beyond DMCS.  Three young men in Iowa City personify the answer to this prayer.  

Nathan Meyer graduated from DMCS in 1997, a year of firsts: he was a member of the first VICTORY singers and a starter on first DMCS basketball team to reach the State Tournament. He Co-Captained the soccer team. Reflecting on his high school experience, Nathan stated, "At DMCS I had the opportunity to begin leading worship at chapel and to start developing a passion for serving God through music and leading God's people into worship.  Since then, I've lead worship in three different churches and, most recently as the Worship Director at Grace Community Church."   After being employed for 2 ½ years at Grace, Nathan recently returned to his previous employer, Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, where he works as a Senior Systems Engineer.  He still joins the Grace worship team at services about once a month.  Nathan and Rachel Meyer are the parents of Elijah -7, Eleanor-5, Isaiah-4, and Silas-2.

Greg Mazunik, '01, was active in Jazz Band, Choir, Victory, and baseball. He now serves as the Director of Worship and Arts at Parkview Evangelical Free Church.  He fondly recalls the "cumulative effect" of DMCS, deep friendships that grew from kindergarten through high school, and teachers who poured truth in his life.  Although he enjoyed leading chapel worship at DMCS, he never really thought he would be a worship pastor, as it seemed "rather cliché for a church kid," but God had other plans for him.  About serving in Iowa City, Greg reflected, "When I compare life in Iowa City to Des Moines, sin is sin. Every place is dark and every place needs Jesus."  Greg encourages Christian educators to, "press into the gospel and help students apply it to real world situations, developing their faith."  Greg and his wife Kinsey (Gilbert) '01 have a two-year-old son, Garrison.  

The seeds of worship music were planted in James Laugerman, '07, at his family's church when he began writing songs in high school for fun.  He now serves as Worship Leader at Veritas Church.  James was in 8th grade at DMCS when math teacher Clint Luscombe's wife passed away. "Mr. Luscombe made such an impact on me," said James. "Just seeing him grieve through that - he still had joy.  I'll always remember that."  He learned best from teachers who didn't just give him knowledge, but modeled the fruit of their lives. "When teachers were authentic, it made such an impact on me.  The role of teachers should always be to point people to God... the river of life."   James and his wife Deanna welcomed their first daughter, Maely, who was born in April 2013.

DMCS' Early Education Department will be using Teaching Strategies GOLD for the 13-14 school year. TSG is an ongoing comprehensive assessment tool for birth through kindergarten. It covers all areas of development: social-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive, as well as content learning in literacy, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, and arts. TSG has a color-coded progression for each objective and allows parents and teachers to see a full range of development and learning. The tool recognizes that development and learning is interrelated. It is a seamless tool which allows information to be passed on from year-to-year and  provided to the student's kindergarten teacher. It is based on the latest research, proven valid and reliable, and is aligned with Iowa's early learning standards.  Teachers will use the assessment tool to determine and plan instruction for each individual child and the whole class.