One of the core responsibilities of a leader is to provide a vision, an idea about where an organization is headed and how it can get there. But to see that path through the forest, one has to get out of the trees.

At Hillcrest Academy, Nate Miller is that leader, the one tasked with coming up with those plans. Previously a math teacher, then interim principal, this school year he returns as Head of School, ready to forge ahead.

To do that, his daily time needs to be freed up.

Two new administrative positions have been created to support that: Dean of Students and Dean of Academics. Filled by Emma Brenneman and Beth Swantz, respectively, they will tackle the day-to-day business of keeping students on track while Miller considers the big picture.

“When Dwight [Gingerich] left, it kind of opened the dialog up again about how to best fill administrative needs, and so we had a discussion,” Miller explains. “I think it boiled down to, one person could continue if we’re going to just kind of keep the status quo and try to hold things together. But if there’s a vision for developing our school, running a campaign, working on a strategic plan. . . Just grow everything, then there needs to be a change in that role somehow to free that person up to work on those things.”

The school board chose growth.

What that means exactly remains to be decided, but Miller and Jeremy Ours, Director of Advancement, have some ideas. They know the school can do things better.

What are we really talking about? Well, Hillcrest Academy is no longer the dwindling school of 59 students whose voices echoed off the walls of a half-empty building. In the seven years that have passed since rebranding Iowa Mennonite School away from its Anabaptist-only identity, the school has added three middle school grades to accompany the high school and gotten a boost from Students First legislation that provides students with ESA funds to pay for tuition.

The result is enrollment of nearly 200 students this fall, a robust population that has the building not quite bursting at the seams, “but we’re pretty close,” Ours says.

For those who attended high school here with a similar number of students decades ago, that might seem odd. But “It takes more space to have 195 or 200 kids spread across seven grades than it does if they’re spread across four grades,” Miller points out.

So there is a question of how to stay in the black, financially, because that had been a struggle. Then there is a question of what more the school might offer students. And further out, there is a question of whether they should expand the campus.

“As we add more students, we can add more to our programming and develop,” Miller says. “This year we’re adding some STEM coursework and some personal finance stuff for our middle school that we haven’t had the option of the last couple years. I feel like we could grow our agriculture program. As we get more demand, we’ll need to keep working at that.”

More students and more programming require more space.

“It’s been 20 years now since we’ve had any sort of major, multi-million-dollar campaign to fund big capital projects,” Ours points out. “Along with facilities growth, thinking about our campus and future needs, comes, how do we fund those things? So a big area of growth that Chris will be a part of is growing our donor network.”

Chris is Chris Ward, Hillcrest’s new Director of Stewardship – another new position created at the school. He’ll join Ours in fundraising efforts going forward, engaging with supporters and developing legacy giving.

How did the school choose these new folks?

In every case, it didn’t hurt to be alumnae – or at least married to one, a trait common to most Hillcrest faculty and staff.

Beth Swantz joined Hillcrest as the school’s first sixth grade teacher in 2023; she was then named Middle School Director. Her 35 years of teaching experience made her an ideal fit for the new position.

“She has a long, experienced history working in professional development -- using technology to support education, doing curriculum standards work, training teachers -- so that Dean of Academics was a natural fit for her,” Miller says. “She’ll continue to be our librarian and our PowerSchool person.”

Emma Brenneman’s background includes experience teaching middle school science and serving as an induction coach with Grant Wood AEA. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Trauma-Awareness and Resilience in Educational Environments from EMU and is currently in UNI’s Principalship program.

“She’s really good at clear expectations, but also with support in a way that is warm toward students,” Miller says. “I think she’ll be really good at all those day-to-day student interactions and supporting teachers with having a good classroom culture and classroom environment.”

And Chris Ward brings organizational and management skills from his previous role at Grand Appliance, as well as experience and expertise in building relationships with a wide variety of people.

“[He has an] ability to talk with anyone and get along with anybody, just easy to get to know and socialize,” Miller says.

“All three of them really want to be part of Hillcrest and Christian education in general and align well with our mission and our vision and what we’re trying to do,” he continues. “They’ve got kids that are either here or they want to have here in the future, so our success and continued growth matter a lot to them.”

When students return to school this fall, they may notice differences. Instead of landing in the principal’s office, they’ll find themselves in conversation with Mrs. Swantz or Mrs. Brenneman. And that’s a good thing – a positive step made possible by a supportive school board and the courage to make changes.

“We’re super thankful for the pieces that we were able to put in place several years ago that have gotten us to this point and built this momentum for us,” Ours says. “That allows us to add these new pieces, not only to address the current growth, but also to think further about growth in different areas.”

It might take a cherry tree seven years to bear fruit. But when it does, it’s especially sweet.