If there’s anyone who knows what parents need to do to help create a successful school, it would be Angela and Mitch Jan.
Parents of a Providence Hall sophomore, the pair are all-around volunteers: providing refreshments or driving kids to and fro. Angela attends the Parent Council meetings, which take on various activities to support the 16-month-old school.
“I think it’s an opportunity to meet a need, to do things for the benefit of others, to just get stuff done that needs to be done,” said Mitch, a Santa Barbara police sergeant. Angela is a stay-at-home mother who works as a travel agent. Her schedule, said her husband, frees her up to help out the school.
The two are no strangers to pitching in. They helped start Coastline Christian Academy out of a need for their close-knit Christian community to have a school with strong academics and where Christian beliefs were present in the day-to-day lives of students. Barely two months after the parents identified such a need, their children were attending the school.
When their older son, TJ, graduated from Coastline, the Jans placed him in Providence Hall because they felt the school had the same philosophy.
“A lot of the foundational ideals that Providence is built on are similar to Coastline,” Mitch said, “but appropriate for a high school.”
Their experience with Coastline also gave them a perspective on the challenges of a startup school. Providence Hall is only in its second year.
“It helped me understand what Providence was going through before it started, during its inception, and some of the first-year lessons learned,” he said.
Besides just doing what needs to be done to keep things running smoothly, another reason volunteering is important to them is to show their appreciation for the staff.
“It also sends a message to the staff, in this case the principal or headmaster and teachers that you want to do your part to help and support and encourage them, and that you believe in what they’re doing,” Mitch said.
Without that kind of support, teachers and staff at the school may never know they were being appreciated, he said.
Also, volunteering sets an example for the kids as well as letting the couple stay involved in their lives, he said.
When they’re not volunteering with Providence, the Jans are, well, volunteering. They both still have strong contact with Coastline Christian Academy, where their younger daughter is in sixth grade. Angela helps out with P.E. and music at the school, where Mitch continues to stay on the board. Mitch also teaches karate at Calvary Chapel, and volunteers with the Red Cross-Santa Barbara County Chapter, teaching first aid and CPR.
And it runs in the family, too. Daughter Kristina volunteers with her mom at BUNS (Bunnies Urgently Needing Shelter), located at the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter, 5473 Overpass Road. TJ volunteers during at Calvary Chapel’s summer camp, as well as at Providence Hall’s chapel and snack store.
MVPs: Angela and Mitch Jan
School: Providence Hall, Protestant Christian, co-ed, grades nine-12
Location: 33 Micheltorena St., shares campus with Notre Dame School
Write to sfernandez@noozhawk.com