Woodbridge Elementary School student Janeth Arviz shovels in dirt during a tree planting ceremony as part of the school’s 30th anniversary celebration on Sept. 30, as Principal Chris Mack holds the tree steady.
By Brandy Navetta
Zeeland Public Schools
Zeeland Public Schools celebrated 30 years of Woodbridge Elementary with a celebratory event Sept. 30 honoring the school’s history and traditions.
Numerous retirees and former ZPS Superintendent Gary Feenstra were in attendance, along with several current members of the Board of Education and current Superintendent Rod Hetherton.
The celebration brought together past and present. All three of Woodbridge’s principals, past and current, attended along with retirees, staff members, and students.
Former principals Bob VanderZwaag and Mike Dalman helped plant a ceremonial tree alongside current Woodbridge students. Guests enjoyed a look back at the school’s rich history through memorabilia on display, including every Woodbridge yearbook, the original ceremonial shovel used at the groundbreaking, and the ceremonial key presented at the school’s opening.
“Woodbridge has always been more than a school building. It’s a place where generations of families have found community, support, and a commitment to learning,” current Woodbridge Principal Chris Mack said. “This celebration was a wonderful way to honor that legacy.”
The event highlighted the strong connections built over the decades, reflecting Zeeland Public Schools’ mission of ensuring every student feels safe, valued, loved, and learning. Woodbridge has been a treasured part of Zeeland Public Schools since its doors opened in 1995 and continues to be so today.
By Brandy Navetta
Zeeland Public Schools
Zeeland Public Schools celebrated 30 years of Woodbridge Elementary with a celebratory event Sept. 30 honoring the school’s history and traditions.
Numerous retirees and former ZPS Superintendent Gary Feenstra were in attendance, along with several current members of the Board of Education and current Superintendent Rod Hetherton.
The celebration brought together past and present. All three of Woodbridge’s principals, past and current, attended along with retirees, staff members, and students.
Former principals Bob VanderZwaag and Mike Dalman helped plant a ceremonial tree alongside current Woodbridge students. Guests enjoyed a look back at the school’s rich history through memorabilia on display, including every Woodbridge yearbook, the original ceremonial shovel used at the groundbreaking, and the ceremonial key presented at the school’s opening.
“Woodbridge has always been more than a school building. It’s a place where generations of families have found community, support, and a commitment to learning,” current Woodbridge Principal Chris Mack said. “This celebration was a wonderful way to honor that legacy.”
The event highlighted the strong connections built over the decades, reflecting Zeeland Public Schools’ mission of ensuring every student feels safe, valued, loved, and learning. Woodbridge has been a treasured part of Zeeland Public Schools since its doors opened in 1995 and continues to be so today.
Woodbridge Principal Chris Mack and former Zeeland Public Schools Superintendent Gary Feenstra celebrate the school’s 30th anniversary. Feenstra was ZPS superintendent when Woodbridge was built in 1995.
Renaissance Vocal Ensemble to Perform at Second Recital Series
The Second Recital Series at Second Reformed Church will present a performance by DuFay’s Guys Vocal Ensemble at 4 p.m. Sunday in the church sanctuary.
This program, the second in the Second Recital Series for the 2025-26 season, features singers who will share medieval and Renaissance liturgical music. They are named after the great 15th Century Burgundian composer Guillaume DuFay (1397–1474), whose music will be performed for this recital.
The group, in its second season of performing, consists of Adrian Pool, countertenor, Jonathan Bading, tenor, and Joel Bading, baritone. The group serves as Artist-in-Residence at Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Grand Rapids.
The Second Recital Series offers free performances during the program year, with each followed by a reception in the Gathering Place of the church. This serves as an opportunity to meet the artists and to enjoy a social time with delicious refreshments provided. Everyone is cordially invited to share this time together.
Second Reformed Church is located at 225 E. Central Ave.
This program, the second in the Second Recital Series for the 2025-26 season, features singers who will share medieval and Renaissance liturgical music. They are named after the great 15th Century Burgundian composer Guillaume DuFay (1397–1474), whose music will be performed for this recital.
The group, in its second season of performing, consists of Adrian Pool, countertenor, Jonathan Bading, tenor, and Joel Bading, baritone. The group serves as Artist-in-Residence at Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Grand Rapids.
The Second Recital Series offers free performances during the program year, with each followed by a reception in the Gathering Place of the church. This serves as an opportunity to meet the artists and to enjoy a social time with delicious refreshments provided. Everyone is cordially invited to share this time together.
Second Reformed Church is located at 225 E. Central Ave.
High School Band Concert Tonight
The season-opening concert for the Zeeland high school band program will take place tonight at the DeWitt Center for the Arts inside Zeeland East High School.
The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
“Each of our high school bands will be performing a piece they have been working on since school started,” high school performing arts assistant Cathy Lugten wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record.
The 9th Grade Band will perform Tyler Grant’s “One Common Journey,” followed by the Concert Band performing Robert W. Smith’s piece “Into The Storm.” The Symphony Band will present Andrew Perkins’ “From Ould Inishowen,” and the Wind Ensemble will play “Illumination” by David Maslanka.
The ZHS band program, under the direction of Pujan Bhattarai and Lucas Keur, features several concert and jazz ensembles in addition to the all-volunteer marching band. The ZHS Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2025 Michigan Music Conference as one of four high school bands from throughout the state. All of the ZHS bands have received excellent and superior ratings at MSBOA festivals throughout the years. This fall, the band program will be performing at Disney World.
The Zeeland High Marching Band will play at the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Marching Band Festival next Tuesday at West Ottawa Stadium. Admission for the festival is $5.
The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
“Each of our high school bands will be performing a piece they have been working on since school started,” high school performing arts assistant Cathy Lugten wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record.
The 9th Grade Band will perform Tyler Grant’s “One Common Journey,” followed by the Concert Band performing Robert W. Smith’s piece “Into The Storm.” The Symphony Band will present Andrew Perkins’ “From Ould Inishowen,” and the Wind Ensemble will play “Illumination” by David Maslanka.
The ZHS band program, under the direction of Pujan Bhattarai and Lucas Keur, features several concert and jazz ensembles in addition to the all-volunteer marching band. The ZHS Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2025 Michigan Music Conference as one of four high school bands from throughout the state. All of the ZHS bands have received excellent and superior ratings at MSBOA festivals throughout the years. This fall, the band program will be performing at Disney World.
The Zeeland High Marching Band will play at the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Marching Band Festival next Tuesday at West Ottawa Stadium. Admission for the festival is $5.
West Homecoming Royalty
\\Zeeland West High School seniors Addysen Miller and Ethan Dalman were crowned the school’s homecoming queen and king at last Friday’s homecoming ceremony at Zeeland Stadium.
Photo by Jossalyn Wolters, Zeeland West senior
Photo by Jossalyn Wolters, Zeeland West senior
Klynstra Honored at Retirement Celebration
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
If there’s one thing Zeeland Mayor Kevin Klynstra is known for in the community, it’s that he likes to go for long walks.
Nearly every day for the last 14 years he has served as the city’s mayor, Klynstra has walked about four miles around the city. It’s a routine he developed as a longtime mail carrier for the Zeeland Post Office.
In keeping with Klynstra’s daily footsteps, the city’s marketing department created a surprise “thank you” video that was shared during last Friday’s retirement celebration in the Pumpkinfest entertainment tent just outside the Howard Miller Library and Community Center.
Residents, City Hall employees, business owners and schoolchildren all expressed their gratitude with the words “thank you, Mayor Klynstra” in the video.
“Our city staff had asked him to walk through the neighborhoods,” Councilman Phung Lam said. “What he was thinking was we were just filming the neighborhoods … We got to see him walk the streets and meet the people he has affected.”
Klynstra is retiring as mayor Dec. 1, ending a 30-year career in public service to the city that included 16 years as a councilman before he was elected mayor in November 2011.
Among the dignitaries that came to honor the mayor was U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland Twp., whose father, Gerald, served with Klynstra for six years on City Council from 1995 to 2001.
“Dad saw something in you,” Huizenga said to Klynstra after presenting the mayor with a framed copy of a resolution that the representative read into the Congressional Record. “That was a generation that was looking for the next generation (of city leaders). You were the next generation at that point.”
Klynstra spoke of Gerald Huizenga’s impact on him in his early years on council.
“He kind of took me under his wing, which I appreciated,” he said. “I enjoyed my time serving with him.”
Huizenga further praised Klynstra for his efforts “to advance Zeeland’s growth and development.”
“He worked diligently to revitalize downtown Zeeland through several projects, such as helping to bring in several new restaurants, while maintaining the local staples, including the splash pad park and creating a new social district,” Huizenga said. “Mayor Klynstra also oversaw major updates to Park and Hoogland Park as part of (the city’s) parks master plan.”
Klynstra was later invited to sit on a plush chair with a footstool while other speakers came onto the stage to share their thoughts on the mayor’s service. Some brought fun gifts that included a Santa hat, in reference to the mayor taking on the role of Santa Claus during the city’s annual Christmas celebration.
“Some things you are not allowed to retire from,” City Events Coordinator Kerri Van Dorp said as she presented Klynstra with the Santa hat.
Cemetery Parks Supervisor Mike Bronkhorst presented Klynstra with a swimsuit in recognition of his work to develop the splash pad. Board of Public Works General Manager Andrew Boatright gave the mayor a giant light bulb for being “a bright shining light on our city that has never burned out.”
Council members Sally Gruppen and Mary Beth Timmer presented coffee mugs for Klynstra and his wife, Sheryl, thanking him “for having the coffee ready for us every City Council meeting,” Gruppen said.
City Manager Tim Klunder spoke of Klynstra’s many attributes, including his self-deprecating sense of humor as well as his vision for the city. He particularly spoke of the mayor’s caring nature.
“He’s always asking how you’re doing, what can he do for you … he’s just an incredible caring person that we’re going to miss. We thank you for all the years of service that you’ve done,” Klunder said.
Gruppen, speaking on behalf of the City Council, spoke of how connected Klynstra was to the community, the result of his frequent walks.
“We’d be sitting in a meeting and talking about something that needed to be done on such-and-such a street, and he’d pipe up quickly and say ‘that’s a street where so-and-so lives.’ … He had everything in his head. It was simply amazing,” Gruppen said.
“He would know everything that was going on in this community.”
Klynstra thanked everyone for their kind words.
“I always say, it’s not me, it’s the City Council, it’s city staff,” Klynstra said. “I look around and see all the people from City Hall here … I consider each one of them a friend, as well as City Council. We get along so well together. We don’t always agree on everything, but we get along. That’s why things happen in Zeeland.”
“It really hasn’t sunk into me yet, that this is it. End of November, I’ll be done as mayor. This 14 years went by fast,” he added.
Zeeland Record
If there’s one thing Zeeland Mayor Kevin Klynstra is known for in the community, it’s that he likes to go for long walks.
Nearly every day for the last 14 years he has served as the city’s mayor, Klynstra has walked about four miles around the city. It’s a routine he developed as a longtime mail carrier for the Zeeland Post Office.
In keeping with Klynstra’s daily footsteps, the city’s marketing department created a surprise “thank you” video that was shared during last Friday’s retirement celebration in the Pumpkinfest entertainment tent just outside the Howard Miller Library and Community Center.
Residents, City Hall employees, business owners and schoolchildren all expressed their gratitude with the words “thank you, Mayor Klynstra” in the video.
“Our city staff had asked him to walk through the neighborhoods,” Councilman Phung Lam said. “What he was thinking was we were just filming the neighborhoods … We got to see him walk the streets and meet the people he has affected.”
Klynstra is retiring as mayor Dec. 1, ending a 30-year career in public service to the city that included 16 years as a councilman before he was elected mayor in November 2011.
Among the dignitaries that came to honor the mayor was U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland Twp., whose father, Gerald, served with Klynstra for six years on City Council from 1995 to 2001.
“Dad saw something in you,” Huizenga said to Klynstra after presenting the mayor with a framed copy of a resolution that the representative read into the Congressional Record. “That was a generation that was looking for the next generation (of city leaders). You were the next generation at that point.”
Klynstra spoke of Gerald Huizenga’s impact on him in his early years on council.
“He kind of took me under his wing, which I appreciated,” he said. “I enjoyed my time serving with him.”
Huizenga further praised Klynstra for his efforts “to advance Zeeland’s growth and development.”
“He worked diligently to revitalize downtown Zeeland through several projects, such as helping to bring in several new restaurants, while maintaining the local staples, including the splash pad park and creating a new social district,” Huizenga said. “Mayor Klynstra also oversaw major updates to Park and Hoogland Park as part of (the city’s) parks master plan.”
Klynstra was later invited to sit on a plush chair with a footstool while other speakers came onto the stage to share their thoughts on the mayor’s service. Some brought fun gifts that included a Santa hat, in reference to the mayor taking on the role of Santa Claus during the city’s annual Christmas celebration.
“Some things you are not allowed to retire from,” City Events Coordinator Kerri Van Dorp said as she presented Klynstra with the Santa hat.
Cemetery Parks Supervisor Mike Bronkhorst presented Klynstra with a swimsuit in recognition of his work to develop the splash pad. Board of Public Works General Manager Andrew Boatright gave the mayor a giant light bulb for being “a bright shining light on our city that has never burned out.”
Council members Sally Gruppen and Mary Beth Timmer presented coffee mugs for Klynstra and his wife, Sheryl, thanking him “for having the coffee ready for us every City Council meeting,” Gruppen said.
City Manager Tim Klunder spoke of Klynstra’s many attributes, including his self-deprecating sense of humor as well as his vision for the city. He particularly spoke of the mayor’s caring nature.
“He’s always asking how you’re doing, what can he do for you … he’s just an incredible caring person that we’re going to miss. We thank you for all the years of service that you’ve done,” Klunder said.
Gruppen, speaking on behalf of the City Council, spoke of how connected Klynstra was to the community, the result of his frequent walks.
“We’d be sitting in a meeting and talking about something that needed to be done on such-and-such a street, and he’d pipe up quickly and say ‘that’s a street where so-and-so lives.’ … He had everything in his head. It was simply amazing,” Gruppen said.
“He would know everything that was going on in this community.”
Klynstra thanked everyone for their kind words.
“I always say, it’s not me, it’s the City Council, it’s city staff,” Klynstra said. “I look around and see all the people from City Hall here … I consider each one of them a friend, as well as City Council. We get along so well together. We don’t always agree on everything, but we get along. That’s why things happen in Zeeland.”
“It really hasn’t sunk into me yet, that this is it. End of November, I’ll be done as mayor. This 14 years went by fast,” he added.
Zeeland City Manager Tim Klunder (right) offers his reflections on Kevin Klynstra’s tenure as mayor during last Friday’s retirement celebration.
Photo by Greg Chandler
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