Like his father, Bill Myler Jr. values his faith.
He is proud
to profess the faith that has been handed down to him and he takes pride in passing that faith on to his own children.
“My
dad frequently says that the best thing his parents gave him was his faith,” he said. “That stays with me.”
In fact, passing
on the faith was a major reason Bill’s family moved halfway across the state of Michigan when he was in the fi fth grade
– from West Branch to Mt. Pleasant – so that his sister could attend a Catholic high school.
Bill graduated from the city’s
Sacred Heart Academy (SHA) in 1976 and went on to get earn a degree from the University of Notre Dame. His oldest daughter,
Sara, graduated from SHA last year and the rest of his three children still attend SHA. All of his brothers and sisters send
their children to Catholic schools.
It’s obvious that Catholic education is an important tradition for the Myler
family. And Bill doesn’t have a hard time explaining why.
“Catholic schools reinforce the faith that is taught at
home,” he said.
In addition to the sacrifices of treasure their family makes in paying tuition, Bill and his
wife, Pam, spend a great deal of time and talent volunteering at SHA. They have been active in many of the school’s
fundraisers and Pam is president of the school board.
For the past 15 years, Bill has been an active member of the Sacred Heart Academy
Foundation, which was created in 1976 to ensure the school’s financial health. Today, he serves as the foundation’s
president.
The details and challenges of running a large enterprise is nothing new to Bill. In his professional career, he is
the president of Muskegon Development, an oil and gas company founded by his grandfather in 1926.
At different times, Bill
has used his business knowledge by serving on the school board finance committee, as well as the parish finance committee.
He admits that budgeting for the church is a little different than budgeting for a business.
“Running a parish is
part business and part faith,” he said. “Sometimes you have to buy the new computers when the money is not there
and have faith that the money will come in.”
Teaching of the Catholic faith by example is the first of three reasons Bill and
Pam sacrifice to send their children to Sacred Heart Academy.
Speaking of
God, praying to God and learning about God are important parts of daily life that just are not part of the public school system.
“Catholic
schools reinforced everything my parents were teaching me at home,” Bill said. “We are constantly reminded that
God is in our life, from the prayer to start the day to praying before a game, weekly Mass and daily religion class. All those
things remind you that there is something bigger than you are out there.”
The second reason Bill is supportive of SHA is its academic excellence.
Students generally score high on the MEAP test and it is common for 100 percent of the graduating seniors to continue on to
college. Bill credits the teachers for this success.
“The teachers are truly committed. We know they don’t get paid as much
(as much as they could earn in public schools). It’s a vocation to them,” he said.
In addition to excellent
teachers, Bill said positive parental support is key to the school’s success.
“We have had parent-teacher
conferences with 100 percent turnout of parents,” he said. “That speaks to the parents’ involvement in their
students’ education.”
That commitment helps create a “family feel” to SHA that Bill loves.
At SHA, children from pre-school through 12th grade are on the same campus. This unique arrangement allows the younger students
to interact with the older ones and get to know them. Older students become familiar with the younger ones by tutoring them.
As a result, when families cheer for the football team, they all know the faces underneath the helmets.
The third reason SHA has
earned Bill’s time and talents is its extracurricular activities. The after-school project in which he finds himself
most involved is sports.
“My kids have had an opportunity to play in a good quality, competitive environment in
sports,” he said. “And we’ve succeeded very well.”
Bill has spent much of his volunteering time in this arena. The
first place he became involved at the school was in the athletic association.
“When you go to give back to something, you give back in
an area you know,” he said. “One of those areas is sports. It’s a passion of mine.”
He coached his daughters’
basketball teams in sixth, seventh and eighth grade and helped his sons’ teams from third through sixth grade. Five
years ago, he volunteered to be the junior varsity basketball coach at the high school. This is the fi rst year he has had
the opportunity to coach one of his sons at the high school level.
“It takes a lot of time, but it is very rewarding to see
the students develop as players and as good people,” he said.
At the end of the day, it’s easy for Bill to see his family’s
commitment to their local parish school is not just a single aspect of their day-to-day lives, but a daily life style.
He said that
dedication is intrinsic to his whole makeup. And supporting Catholic education is one way to ensure his children can say the
same thing.
In Proverbs, we are commanded: “Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart
from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
Bill’s parents made sure he was trained in the Catholic faith so that he would not
depart from it when he grew old. Just like they did, Bill and his wife have worked to see their children are given that same
opportunity; that same reinforcement; that same faith.
“I am who I am because of good upbringing at home and good reinforcement from
Catholic schools,” Bill said. “It is ingrained in me.”
