Temple has added an additional kindergarten class this year and they filled that role with Kierstin Kirkendall.

Kirkendall lives in Lima and also attended Temple Christian School her whole life. She graduated from Temple in 2017.

When Kirkendall was younger she said she thought about teaching but also wanted to be a speech pathologist. However, when it came to it, she pursued her teaching degree. Kirkendall went to Grace College in Indiana and majored in elementary education and special education.

Upon graduation, Kirkendall was excited to hear there was an open spot at Temple. “I love kindergarten. There is so much they are learning that excites me,” she said.

Kirkendall explained that the transition into teaching has gone well, and her coworkers have been very encouraging.

“The staff members have been a great help to me and have given me a lot of support this year," Kirkendall said.

Her favorite hobby is playing the piano. She attends Grace Community Church with her family. Her life verse is Ephesians 3:16-20: "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,"