NorthStar Youth Ministries - About Val Kikkert

Background on Val: Val brings an unusual combination of skills and experiences making her an ideal fit for this new position.

Soccer experience:
- High School – Member of the GSA ’87 Phoenix Red club team that finished second in Georgia in consecutive seasons (2003-2004). Captain of her club team. Member of the Georgia Olympic Development Program and attended region camp with ODP. Competed on North Springs High school soccer team for four years – started in every game of her high school career and was named team captain her Junior & Senior years. Awards included: Offensive Player of the year in 2005 and Coca-Cola Scholar Athlete in 2005.
- College – Played for Samford University and was a four-year letter winner on partial athletic scholarship. Awards include: Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Chi Alpha Theta: athletics honor society; Southern Conference Academic All-Conference Team; Voted team captain her senior year and named Miss Bulldog in 2009 by the athletic department in recognition of her team leadership, campus involvement and academic accomplishments.
Coaching Related Experience: Val has worked for three summers at Camp All-American (Duluth, GA – a program of Perimeter Church, PCA) and returns summer of 2009 for her fourth summer. Through Camp All-American Val has gained experience working with and coaching kids and valuable experience overseeing and encouraging a team of 60 camp counselors and their leaders.
Education and Media Experience: Val earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Samford University in May of 2009 with a Journalism and Mass Communications/Public Relations major and a Business minor. While at Samford she served for one year as Marketing Manager for Engage (a student-published magazine); sports editor and then editor-in-chief of the Samford yearbook; and sports staff writer and Sports Editor in her senior year of the Samford Crimson (weekly school newspaper). Val also completed an internship with World Reach Inc. developing original content and promotional material for website and a practicum with Children’s Hospital working with a team of three in branding and producing marketing materials for the Hope and Cope program for the Hematology/Oncology Clinic.

Val Will Be Much More Than A Soccer Coach
Reflections by Paul Neville on this big event for NorthStar

When I first learned that we were likely to get this grant I was uncertain how to use it. My thought was, if I go hire a soccer coach what happens when the money is all gone? Or, putting it differently, is this going to end up being another fund-raising burden on me? It’s funny that I would have these struggles because when I began presenting the possibility to Val her initial thought was that she loves soccer but coaching is not her long-term aspiration. From a career development standpoint, Val is delighted to be able to use soccer as a ministry tool but what she really wants is to be able to develop her communications and marketing skills in support of a ministry.

Talk about a perfect match! Seems that we were concerned about the same thing. When I realized that Val had the skills and desire to lead the program and develop the funding I realized that hiring her as our second full-time staff person could be sustainable financially and be a huge boost for the ministry.

Val’s commitment to missions is not new –

here she is on her annual Jamaica trip.