Michele Sterk '91 Schoon Named the 2023 Recipient of H Club Hope for Humanity Award

The award is presented to Hope College alumni athletes that have demonstrated Christian commitment and service to others in their careers after Hope.

Pictured from left, MIchele Sterk '91 Schoon and Brian Morehouse

Michele Sterk '91 Schoon has embraced and supported those around her, whether as a child of missionaries, a two-sport athlete at Hope College, head resident, coach, teacher, counselor, registered nurse, wife, mother or grandmother.

Schoon also has displayed a strong Christian faith throughout her life, even the challenging times that included her current battle against breast cancer.

Hope College named Schoon as the 2023 Hope for Humanity Award recipient and honored her during a ceremony on campus on Monday. The guard on the Flying Dutch's 1990 women's basketball national championship team also was recognized during the HOPEYs Celebration of Hope College Athletics and Senior Student-Athletes that evening.

Recognizing the values learned in cheering gyms and stadiums as well as silent early-morning workouts, the Hope for Humanity award is presented to Hope College alumni athletes who have demonstrated Christian commitment and service to others in their careers after Hope.

The H-Club selects recipients for this award from nominations who meet the following criteria:

former Hope College athlete;
demonstrated Christian commitment and servanthood in their career;
nominees for this award are eligible to be nominated for other awards;
current members of the Alumni Board and the Hope College Board of Trustees are not eligible for this award.

Schoon is the third member of her family to be a recipient of the Hope for Humanity Award. She joins her father, Vern Sterk '64, in 2018 and her father-in-law, Jon Mark Schoon '63, in 2005.

"It's very humbling," she said. "My father-in-law and my dad, I've always looked up to them. They're great people with what they have done in their lives. It's such an honor to be in that group of people. You look at that group (of Hope for Humanity) honorees, they've been world changers."

Schoon has made a difference in countless lives herself.

As a child, she and her family were missionaries in Chiapas, Mexico. She returned to the United States for high school and college. After enrolling at Hope, she served as Resident Director at College East Apartments for five years.

Before graduating with a bachelor's degree in nursing, she played on the 1990 women's basketball team, led by head coach Sue Wise, that captured the first NCAA national title in school history with a dramatic come-from-behind victory against St. John Fisher (N.Y.) in the title game at the Holland Civic Center known as the "Miracle on Eighth Street."

She also was the first Hope female student to study nursing while being an athlete. She played basketball for four years and volleyball for two, choosing basketball when she began the nursing program as a junior.

Gallery: (4-18-2023) 2023 Hope for Humanity Award Ceremony

For the past 32 years, Schoon has worked as a nurse, including stints at Camp Geneva, in Evanston, Illinois, Grand Rapids, Holland and Ludington, Michigan.

Since 1998, she has served in the obstetric unit at Corewell Health (formerly Spectrum in Ludington, helping women with the delivery of babies. She initiated the RTS (Resolve Through Sharing) Program in the OB unit. She served as an educator for the unit in Ludington while also working as an OB nurse. She was the Critical Incident Stress Management counselor for Ludington Hospital.

Schoon also has been training future nurses since 2015 as an adjunct professor at West Shore Community College.

She and her husband served in their church while raising their family of four, Jacob, Zachary, Caleb '22 and Ellie.

Schoon has been given back to Hope as well. She has spoken with prospective students about the college and given tours. She has talked with nursing students at Hope about their career choices and paths.

"I had a top-notch education at Hope, then I had the bonus of being able to participate in sports. I still bleed orange and blue," she said. "I am proud of how Brian has taken the women's basketball program and run with it and as a whole to see where women's sports are now. Part of it is the culture and the other coaches have built. I love Division III because you can still be a student and an athlete. The coaches really foster that. They push you to be very good academically — that comes first — but they also push you in athletics."

Schoon still applies the skills and lessons she learned as a Hope student-athlete in her everyday life.

On February 11, 2022, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. She has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. She is currently participating in a clinical trial through Start Midwest in Grand Rapids.

"Being involved with sports and the nursing program, the mental toughness you have to have to get through it (is important)," she said. "Playing sports at a high level in Division III and a coach who pushed me beyond what I thought I could taught me not only mental toughness but endurance and that competitive edge. I'm just not going to quit.

"I have tried to inspire others through my journey. I hope that my story can give other people hope and joy to keep fighting whatever they may be facing in their lives."

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