Meet Mr. Boyce!

What's your new ICS title and position? High School History Teacher

Where are you from? If you're not originally from UT, how did you end up here? Spartanburg, South Carolina. I came to Utah to help with church planting in downtown Salt Lake City.

Where do you go to Church? Gospel Grace Church at Liberty Park

Tell us about your family! I have two parents and two siblings (I'm the youngest of 3). All of them still live in the Carolinas. I have two nephews and one niece! My parents worked extra jobs to get all of us through our local Christian school.

What is something most people don't know about you? OR What are you most passionate about? Aside from Clemson football, I'm pretty passionate about subject verb agreements, theological frameworks, delicious beverages, Cafe Rio, and finding good deals on stuff.

What are you looking forward to most in your new role at ICS? I’m looking forward to doing a deeper dive into teaching history than I've been able to during my first six years of teaching.

What else would you like the ICS community to know about you? I love Salt Lake City. I also love having meaningful, constructive conversations with people whose viewpoints differ from mine!

The Nerdrum Family's Lion Story

Our experience with ICS has definitely been a God-thing!

We moved from California to Utah last year and had our two boys in a highly recommended public school. Shortly after they started, our oldest was having a hard time, he wasn't feeling challenged and was missing learning about God and Jesus. His demeanor went from a boy full of spunk to his light quickly fading. This moved my husband to jump online in search for a Christian School, he came across ICS and set up a tour within days. We visited and knew right away that ICS was the place for us. About a month after we transferred them over, my husband was pursued and offered a job with a company in the Bay Area CA and after much negotiating (to stay) and praying we felt we needed to move there and take the job. We were so sad to leave ICS and we didn't want to start the boys at another new school mid way so we proposed to ICS to allow us to do long distance learning (this was a couple weeks before the lockdown and that being the new norm). To our surprise they agreed! The staff and teachers were super helpful, supportive and encouraging to set the boys up for success. We know it wasn't easy so we were beyond grateful. Then the lockdown happened and it turned out that our boys didn't miss a beat, they were now doing what the rest of the school was doing. God had it all planned out this way for us. Shortly after arriving in the Bay Area, and given all the uncertainty with Covid, my husband never had to go into the office and the company offered remote work to all their employees. Giving us the opportunity to move back to Utah. After much praying and research we decided to come back and continue with ICS. A total God thing! And we are super grateful that ICS worked with us through all the transitions and uncertainties of this past season. Couldn't be happier! The way they handle our unique situation with such grace showed us the school's heart to serve, willingness to do hard things and flexibility to accommodate challenges. I believe God honored that kind gesture towards our family by preparing the school for what was to come with the lockdown. It spoke to us that they are truly following God's guidance and adapting to the needs of their students and family. True ministry work. We are so grateful! It made our transitions smoother and took away the burden of having our boys go to different schools and all the emotional and mental struggles that come with that. In these times that was a huge blessing! 

Aside from our God thing with ICS, we love that ICS is not just a faith based school but that they value academics. One thing that stood out to us and definitely our deciding factor, is that it is important to them to offer excellent, competitive education partnered with a biblical worldview. Not one or the other but both. Huge for our family. What can I say about the teachers? The teachers are more than teachers, they quickly become family friends. They are thoughtful and care greatly about each of their students. They know how to encourage but also challenge them to grow. We appreciate how they get to know their students' strengths and areas of improvement. This helps us create goals for our boys to work on at home knowing they are being encouraged at school to achieve them too. Tackling areas of improvement together with their teachers is a huge support. We love ICS and believe you will too! We are excited to see how God grows our boys there and for the opportunity to connect more with the ICS community!

Written by Janet Nerdrum, ICS mom

Isaiah Menning's Lion Story

Community. I don’t think it's a secret that the past twelve months’ intense social isolation and political polarization have challenged our personal experience with this word, and maybe even our faith in various communities’ usefulness at all.

But I should probably just speak for myself. From age five to eighteen, ICS was my primary community. Across elementary capture-the-flag games to Jazz Band in middle school to high school’s Speech and Debate, I found many common goals with so many peers and mentors, but the defining experience and glue amidst and through it all was a dedication to each other and God. There were definitely times when that wasn’t felt, but whether through Ms. Potter’s teaching us to respect each other on the elementary playground, a God-delighting attitude in playing music with Mr. Hope, or Mrs. Croswhite guiding us to use Debate as a powerful tool to serve Jesus, it is very easy to see the throughlines. The palpable and utterly consistent chapel throughout my ICS experience easily comes to mind too. In a new way, I miss my specialized and broad ICS communities that could get rowdy at basketball games, equip me well, and love me powerfully. And I also miss chapel.

Both the pandemic and graduation have changed that. In a healthy and exciting way, the past term in college has offered bounties of opportunities for new growth and stretching. I would be lying if I said there was no personal struggle, especially under pandemic conditions where real community seems far off. But by total Providence, and definitely working through my experience in valuing community at ICS, in a real way, I have found it at Dartmouth. Yes, in freshmen rashness, I signed up for far too many extracurriculars, but whether in publishing for The Dartmouth Political Times on my passion of wolf politics, contributing to the college’s science journal, or competing against other Ivy League debate teams, I feel I have meaningfully contributed to the broader Dartmouth community. But, in large part through a freshman, Zoom-powered student bible study we started prior to arriving on campus, I have found deep community built on eternal goals beyond what I could ask for. Outside of our study, but with many of the same people, I have stayed up all night exploring the nature of sacraments in Church history, had the privilege to see a fellow student come to faith, and in a mutual dedication to following King Jesus, felt free to openly explore the deep and even doubt-ridden parts of what I believe. 

In many ways, the past few months have been genuinely trying in what was a  term like no other. But from my formation as a dedicated community-member at Intermountain Christian, I’ve been provided with an inspiration to continue similar pursuits in college. And ultimately in greater appreciation for my Creator’s nature as a unified Trinity of community through sermons at my Hanover church, I have seen God’s gifts of provision and learning. And as I write this a few hours after my first second term class, I can’t wait to see how I and my communities further progress.

Written by Isaiah Menning, Class of 2020 alumnus

Mrs. Stoddard's Lion Story

How did you decide you wanted to work at ICS?

I was still homeschooling our younger 4 while our oldest was enrolled here at ICS. It became a community I desired to be a bigger part of. I decided to apply for a substitute position to get my toes in the water. The Lord had other plans and I began working full time immersed in the office shortly after that!

How long have you been working at ICS?

I am currently in my 5th year!

What is your role at ICS?

I've recently stepped into the Operations Administrative Assistant role which has me wearing many hats.

What do you look forward to the most about coming to work everyday?

The students! The best part of my job is my small groups. It feeds my soul to connect with the students and to do life with them.

What do you like to do when you're not hard at work?

Anything to do with water from swimming and boating to just seeing a view of the water! I also love watching my kids play sports! I hope to travel one day with my husband.

What is one thing your students and/or coworkers may not know about you?

My food aversions are based on texture. Furry, Slimy, Poppable, Chewy are the categories I filter through.  I like carbs.

Mrs. Lin's Lion Story

How did you decide you wanted to work at ICS?

The community at ICS won me over right away. The staff is welcoming and chummy and students are engaged and witty. I am glad to work in such a great community.

How long have you been working at ICS?

This is my second year.

What is your role at ICS?

I teach high school world history and geography.

What do you look forward to the most about coming to work everyday?

I have the best students! It is a joy to discuss social sciences with my classes and get to know each other more each day.

What do you like to do when you're not hard at work?

I like to hike, bake, read, and make our baby girl smile.

What is one thing your students and/or coworkers may not know about you?

I make amazing challah bread!