By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Zeeland Public Schools have announced several major administrative changes, including the retirement of two longtime administrators and the naming of new principals at both of the district’s middle schools.
Creekside Middle School Principal Craig Greshaw and Zeeland West High School Assistant Principal John Holwerda have announced they will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
Allison Nelson will succeed Greshaw as principal at Creekside, while Jeff Roon has been named the new principal at Cityside Middle School. Current Cityside Principal Sarah Huizenga will take on a new administrative role as ZPS’ director of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS).
Greshaw has been the principal at Creekside since 2016 and is concluding a 28-year career at ZPS, while Holwerda is finishing up a 25-year run with the district and 31 years as an educator.
Greshaw began his career at ZPS in 1998 as a computer and physical education teacher at Cityside, serving seven years in that capacity. He moved over to Creekside in 2005 to become an assistant principal. In 2008, he was promoted to assistant principal at Zeeland East High School, and served eight years there before taking the principal’s job at Creekside.
The son of a Christian school teacher, Holwerda originally was a hydrogeologist after graduating from Calvin College. After two years in that field, he went back to school to get his degree in math and earth science as well as his teaching certificate.
Holwerda taught earth science and coached boys tennis at Grand Haven High School for six years before coming to Zeeland in 2001 as assistant principal at Creekside. When Zeeland West opened in 2003, he moved over to the high school as assistant principal and athletic director. He held those dual roles until 2005, when he dropped the athletic director role.
Holwerda spent six years in an assistant principal role at both East and West, and has been as West solely since 2011.
“After 31 years … I am starting to see former students’ children walking the halls now and I am realizing it’s time to retire,” Holwerda wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record. “I have one grandchild who was born in February and another one coming in June, so I will be spending my time with them and watching them grow and experience life. Being retired will allow me more time to do just that.”
“I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve the families and students here in Zeeland, something I will always cherish for the rest of my life,” Holwerda added.
A 16-year veteran of ZPS, Nelson is currently the director of ZQuest, a program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade that emphasizes project-based and multi-age learning. ZQuest also offers opportunities for outdoor education in a partnership with the Outdoor Discovery Center.
Before taking the ZQuest position last summer, Nelson spent three years as the ZPS trauma and resilience coach, providing professional development, staff coaching and student support across the district. Prior to that, she had 11 years of elementary teaching experience, teaching Young Fives, first grade and K-5 technology. She also held leadership positions as a department chair and active member of numerous district committees.
Nelson holds a bachelor’s degree from Hope College and a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Michigan. In addition to her work for Zeeland schools, she has served as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University, providing direct supervision and coaching to elementary teacher interns, and as an educational consultant for school districts across the state.
Roon has been the principal at Lincoln Elementary School for the last four years. He came to ZPS in 2021 from Hamilton Community Schools, where he served as principal at Blue Star and Sandyview elementary schools. He also taught middle school special education in Hamilton for seven years, and coached both football and baseball there.
“Those are the things that have led me to Cityside at the start of next year,” Roon wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record. “I am excited to be joining an already great staff and group of people in that building.”
Roon holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and history education from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., and a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Grand Valley State University.
Huizenga has been the principal at Cityside since November 2012, and has 34 years of experience as an educator. In her new role, she will work closely with the schools to strengthen the systems that support students academically and behaviorally. She has already begun digging into the district’s data systems and exploring ways to further support strong instructional and intervention practices across the district.
A native of North Carolina, Huizenga came to ZPS in 1998 as a seventh-grade English, social studies and computer teacher at Creekside, a position she held for five years. She served one year as dean of students at Creekside, then six years as sixth-and-seventh grade English teacher at Cityside before she was named that school’s assistant principal in 2010.
Huizenga holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. and a master’s in educational leadership from Grand Valley State University.
The recent changes create two administrative openings for ZPS for the 2026-27 school year: assistant principal at West and principal/director of Spanish immersion at Lincoln. ZPS plans to begin the posting and hiring process for those positions soon.
Zeeland Record
Zeeland Public Schools have announced several major administrative changes, including the retirement of two longtime administrators and the naming of new principals at both of the district’s middle schools.
Creekside Middle School Principal Craig Greshaw and Zeeland West High School Assistant Principal John Holwerda have announced they will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
Allison Nelson will succeed Greshaw as principal at Creekside, while Jeff Roon has been named the new principal at Cityside Middle School. Current Cityside Principal Sarah Huizenga will take on a new administrative role as ZPS’ director of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS).
Greshaw has been the principal at Creekside since 2016 and is concluding a 28-year career at ZPS, while Holwerda is finishing up a 25-year run with the district and 31 years as an educator.
Greshaw began his career at ZPS in 1998 as a computer and physical education teacher at Cityside, serving seven years in that capacity. He moved over to Creekside in 2005 to become an assistant principal. In 2008, he was promoted to assistant principal at Zeeland East High School, and served eight years there before taking the principal’s job at Creekside.
The son of a Christian school teacher, Holwerda originally was a hydrogeologist after graduating from Calvin College. After two years in that field, he went back to school to get his degree in math and earth science as well as his teaching certificate.
Holwerda taught earth science and coached boys tennis at Grand Haven High School for six years before coming to Zeeland in 2001 as assistant principal at Creekside. When Zeeland West opened in 2003, he moved over to the high school as assistant principal and athletic director. He held those dual roles until 2005, when he dropped the athletic director role.
Holwerda spent six years in an assistant principal role at both East and West, and has been as West solely since 2011.
“After 31 years … I am starting to see former students’ children walking the halls now and I am realizing it’s time to retire,” Holwerda wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record. “I have one grandchild who was born in February and another one coming in June, so I will be spending my time with them and watching them grow and experience life. Being retired will allow me more time to do just that.”
“I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve the families and students here in Zeeland, something I will always cherish for the rest of my life,” Holwerda added.
A 16-year veteran of ZPS, Nelson is currently the director of ZQuest, a program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade that emphasizes project-based and multi-age learning. ZQuest also offers opportunities for outdoor education in a partnership with the Outdoor Discovery Center.
Before taking the ZQuest position last summer, Nelson spent three years as the ZPS trauma and resilience coach, providing professional development, staff coaching and student support across the district. Prior to that, she had 11 years of elementary teaching experience, teaching Young Fives, first grade and K-5 technology. She also held leadership positions as a department chair and active member of numerous district committees.
Nelson holds a bachelor’s degree from Hope College and a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Michigan. In addition to her work for Zeeland schools, she has served as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University, providing direct supervision and coaching to elementary teacher interns, and as an educational consultant for school districts across the state.
Roon has been the principal at Lincoln Elementary School for the last four years. He came to ZPS in 2021 from Hamilton Community Schools, where he served as principal at Blue Star and Sandyview elementary schools. He also taught middle school special education in Hamilton for seven years, and coached both football and baseball there.
“Those are the things that have led me to Cityside at the start of next year,” Roon wrote in an email to the Zeeland Record. “I am excited to be joining an already great staff and group of people in that building.”
Roon holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and history education from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., and a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Grand Valley State University.
Huizenga has been the principal at Cityside since November 2012, and has 34 years of experience as an educator. In her new role, she will work closely with the schools to strengthen the systems that support students academically and behaviorally. She has already begun digging into the district’s data systems and exploring ways to further support strong instructional and intervention practices across the district.
A native of North Carolina, Huizenga came to ZPS in 1998 as a seventh-grade English, social studies and computer teacher at Creekside, a position she held for five years. She served one year as dean of students at Creekside, then six years as sixth-and-seventh grade English teacher at Cityside before she was named that school’s assistant principal in 2010.
Huizenga holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. and a master’s in educational leadership from Grand Valley State University.
The recent changes create two administrative openings for ZPS for the 2026-27 school year: assistant principal at West and principal/director of Spanish immersion at Lincoln. ZPS plans to begin the posting and hiring process for those positions soon.
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