Katie Meredith
During her years at BCS, alumna Kyrie Anderson (maiden name Olsen, ’13) developed strong relationships with her teachers and coaches. Through these relationships, she learned important lessons that shaped her in school and beyond.
Following her older sister, Hanne Sandison (’06), Anderson transferred to BCS starting in high school. She was encouraged by her sister’s positive experience at Bellevue Christian. For both sisters, friends from church who also attended BCS, making the transition to a new school a natural one.
“At the time, I think I was worried about slipping through the cracks at a bigger school. In hindsight, that was part of the reason why BCS was appealing – because I knew that teachers would know my name and that I would have a smaller community.” Anderson said.
One teacher with whom she developed a deep relationship was Ms. Steffen, who taught Bible and coached softball at the time. As of this writing, in 2021, Ms. Steffen remains on staff and coaching at Bellevue Christian. Anderson fondly recalls the weekly debriefs Coach Steffen would have with their softball team.
“I don’t know if that made us better at softball, but it definitely made us enjoy it more. It was a community that we wanted to be a part of; we cared for each other as people. I think it made me trust them more even as we were playing,” she recalled.
Within the tight-knit BCS community, Anderson grew both intellectually and spiritually. She went on to attend Boston College, where she majored in Linguistics and minored Biology. As a college student, she enjoyed STEM courses but never saw them as part of her career.
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 2017, Anderson was hired to conduct basic research at Memorial Sloane-Kettering, a cancer center in New York City. Through her work experience and strong mentors, Anderson’s fascination with medicine grew and she started applying to medical schools. In 2019, she started her medical training at Weill Cornell Medicine and plans to graduate in 2023.
While her passion for science didn’t emerge until later, Anderson’s experience at BCS shaped her perspective of STEM. While many teachers and curriculums some consider concepts of science and faith to be mutually exclusive, Anderson remembers her teachers showing consistently how the two concepts were integrated.
“I think my favorite classes at BCS were my science classes, and it’s not necessarily because I liked the subject matter. There are a lot of times where people of faith think that science is trying to undermine God or scientists think that God is trying to explain away science. To have teachers that were good scientists and were also Christians and didn’t see that as a conflict of interest made me feel like I could believe that as well,” Anderson said.
Beyond lessons of science and faith, BCS engrained in her that Christianity can take many valid forms and expressions. This lesson, which began at BCS, was fully realized while she was at Boston College and joined the Voices of Imani gospel choir.
“I think the most spiritually edifying thing that I did was join the gospel choir. It expanded my view of what faith looked like, including people from a variety of faith backgrounds. I found peace, joy, and truth through the gospel choir,” Anderson recalled.
Today, she continues to express her love for God in a variety of ways, from studying His creation of human bodies to celebrating His goodness through worship in song. This past summer, she married Isaiah Anderson, who she met while they were studying at Boston College. She eagerly anticipates what God has in store for her in the medical profession and beyond.
