Lori Bonnema is a friendly face on campus that has been working behind the scenes in the maintenance department for 14 years and heading up maintenance work in dorms and in the Learning Commons. Before coming to Northwestern College, Lori worked at Ireton Christian School in Ireton, Iowa. In her current job here at Northwestern, Lori and her family greatly appreciate the loving Christian atmosphere on campus as well as the relationships that God has provided in her line of work.
Since coming to Northwestern, Lori has made an impact not only within the maintenance department of the college, but also on the students, faculty, and staff that she works with to keep the campus clean. Lori considers these relationships and the relationships that she has made with students in the Learning Commons to be the best part of her job. She considers every relationship that she has built with the students, both current and alumni, to be a wonderful gift and blessing from God. Lori knows that the relationships that she has built in her time here at Northwestern will last a lifetime and cares for each individual she comes across as a human being made in the image of God.
In talks about graduating students with President Greg Christy, Lori has joked about an uncontracted bittersweet truth that comes with working around students on campus. At graduation time each year, Lori’s tender heart is turned to her work study students graduating in the spring. Though she has been able to keep in touch with many alumni that she has worked with in the past, like many members of the Northwestern comcommunity, Lori finds graduation to be a beautiful yet somewhat sad thing as students move away from campus to go and live their lives elsewhere.
Lori Bonnema does her job here on campus with a loving and friendly attitude and a humble and hardworking spirit. Through her work on campus, bathrooms remain cleaned, hallways are vacuumed, stairwells are swept, and lobbies are left nearly spotless. Though many work studies are employed under her, the behind the scenes work of keeping our spaces clean is a luxury all of Northwestern owes to Lori Bonnema and her efforts to show love and humility to all those around her and to exemplify what it means to have a servant’s heart.
Bonnema has done so much to serve the Lord and NW’s students, staff and faculty in her time on the maintainance staff. In her 14 years on campus, Bonnema has become a role model to students whether they be her work-studies orthe students who have seen her in action throughout the semester at events or just during the work day.
Bonnema is yet another irreplaceable employee and unsung hero of NW, and there is no doubt that her time working here has and will continue to empower and inspire others to glorify God and serve others with humility and joy. She has made waves in the NW community that will not be forgotten.
