Welcome, Tim Steen!

Tim Steen
Technology Teacher

Personal Profile
I have 3 kids and have been married for 21 years. Although both my parents, as well as my wife, graduated from EC, I didn’t even live in NJ until the late 90s when I was done with school. I worked in NYC in “Silicon Alley” through the dot-com craze, and took a technology teaching job at EC just weeks before 9/11. I worked at EC for 12 years in various teaching jobs involving writing and technology, before leaving 2 years ago for another adventure (see below)

I’ve been told that instead of “interests,” what I have is more like “obsessions”, so if you know me, you probably already know that I follow University of Missouri sports and have a large board game collection.

Professional Profile
Two years ago, my family and I decided that we felt God calling us to explore a new opportunity, teaching in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (East Africa). We have experienced a whole new way of life, and found out that God is bigger and greater than we could ever have imagined.

I had the opportunity to teach at a Christian international school. I taught technology classes for grades K-12. My main focus, however, was building a strong technology program for the secondary school classes using a curriculum from Cambridge. It’s been a great opportunity for me to develop a more robust understanding of computer science and find new tools for students to achieve success in the field.

In many ways, we were not ready to leave Tanzania yet (we had committed to two years, and were ready to stay for at least one more), but we knew that if EC offered a job (and a place for our kids) that it would be a sign that it was time to “come home.” We leave behind a wonderful community and school which continues to do amazing work.

Philosophical Profile
Two years in Tanzania was both exhilarating and tough. We were amazed at the beauty of our country and its people, and heart broken at the poverty, crime, and pollution. It is a broken place, but our school was a true haven of Christ’s redeeming power.

The thing is, I feel the same way about Eastern Christian and NJ. Our culture, too, is broken, and our students are learning too many of the wrong lessons in this very material and consumer-driven land. I am very excited to return to EC and to try to shepherd our students through the maze that American culture has become, so that they can be shapers of that maze rather than the runners.