Being a freshman starting on a varsity lacrosse team that would eventually win the state championship is not a small accomplishment. For senior Joey VanderVeen, the season didn’t come without its challenges. Even though he had been playing lacrosse for 4 years and was playing club lacrosse at the time, the lessons of his high school freshman year stuck with Joey for the next 3 years.
“Never feel like you’re the smallest person in the room,” Joey said. “My freshman year was the year we won the state championship [for lacrosse], and I found a way to start on that team. And there were definitely times, whether it was my own teammates or people we were playing against, where I definitely felt like I was a ‘little freshman’ and [that] I didn’t really deserve to be there, but it was definitely a good lesson to learn.”
As a two-sport athlete, football and lacrosse dominated Joey’s time—both during their respective seasons and over the summer and offseason. Especially his junior and senior seasons, where he was on both varsity teams, varsity summer work led him to stop club lacrosse to focus on school sports. Despite experiencing a broken collarbone that resulted in Joey missing eight of nine football games his senior season, hard work has been a valuable lesson that varsity sports have taught him.
“[I learned to] just work hard; it doesn’t go unnoticed, even if it feels like it does,” Joey said. “Your coaches see it, and when it’s your time, you’ll know you’ve got to seize that opportunity.”
Taking the lessons and time he has spent with lacrosse and football, Joey has found a way to apply them to a passion for helping others. As a member of the National Honor Society (NHS), Joey connects with his community by volunteering as a lacrosse coach for the FHC kindergarten team. He loves working with younger lacrosse players, and could even see himself continuing to coach later in life, potentially for his own kids.
“I think especially because lacrosse is still so small that [it’s important to be] able to help… I wish I had a role model like that when I was in kindergarten trying to pick up the sport,” Joey said. “Now, being able to do that for these young kids, and watching them light up when they catch their first pass, it’s [just] really special.”
Aside from volunteering through the NHS, Joey also works two jobs to get more work experience, raise money for college, and connect with his community. He works at Thornapple Pointe Golf Club and Clean Eats, a restaurant owned by his parents. Working two jobs, on top of volunteering, varsity athletics, schoolwork, and college applications, means Joey’s day-to-day is never dull.
“[By holding two jobs I’ve learned] time management,” Joey said. “It’s definitely not easy, balancing two jobs and two sports and then also going to school, taking AP classes. So probably the most valuable thing I’ve [learned from working] is just being able to manage my schedule.”
In his senior year, Joey is taking Advanced Placement (AP) Pre-Calculus, AP Biology, AP Government, and AP Literature. He applies himself just as much to his schoolwork as he does to his volunteer role as a lacrosse coach, as he thinks about preparing for college.
“[AP classes] are hard, [but] they’re manageable,” Joey said. “I mean, it’s all about who you are as a person. I think it’s definitely good to push yourself.”
Part of the reason Joey dedicates time to challenging himself through AP classes is for his post-high school plan. He wants to study pre-law to become a lawyer, and major in Economics and Political Science. Although he isn’t fully sure what college will look like for him, Joey knows that he wants to spend his career doing one thing for certain: helping others. For him, that looks like a career in law.
“Growing up, [I] always [wanted to study] business [and] I wanted to go into finance, and then my cousin became a lawyer, and she had a lot of success in that,” Joey said. “When my dad was starting his business, a lot of it came down to getting certain permits, and he struggled a lot with that. I saw how my cousin was able to help them. I just want to help other people [by becoming a lawyer].”
