Get to Know Trinity’s VP of Enrollment: Rick Riddering

Trinity Christian College is known for its tight community and their family feel. This feeling is true, too, when you step in Trinity’s Admissions Office. Whether it is the student workers in the back room or the Admissions Representatives meeting with prospective students, everyone in the Admissions Office wears a smile. This all stems from Rick Riddering, Trinity’s Vice President of Enrollment.

Rick is known for having a welcoming demeanor, and highly contagious laugh. He makes everyone feel like family as soon as they step onto Trinity’s campus, but there’s a part of Rick that not many in Trinity’s family knows.

Rick’s Childhood

Rick grew up in Calumet City, Illinois. This was an up and coming multicultural neighborhood with mostly young, blue collar families. All of the families were very close and the parents even gave each other permission to correct their children if they did something wrong, they raised each other’s children as if they were just a big family.

Every week Rick’s immediate and extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) would get together to spend the day together. They would attend church on Sundays and then go to Rick’s grandmother’s house where they would have Sunday dinner.

After dinner, the family would gather around their grandmother at the piano. Rick says that his grandmother could play any song by ear and she could also read music. Rick’s family would sing and play instruments while his grandmother played piano. This, Rick believes, is where he believes his love of music came from.

Rick’s house would also always have music playing. His dad played guitar and piano and they would have jam sessions together. Rick’s dad was also part of a band. His band would practice at their house and they would let seven-year-old Rick play the drums during them.

Rick’s mom, on the other hand, is more rhythmic than musical. This was also passed down to Rick. Not only does this mean Rick has sweet dance moves, but it also means that he is able to play percussion really well.

Present Day

Rick currently plays percussion in his church’s band. This is something that he has been doing for almost 12 years. Ten of those years was at one church and for the past two years he has been with his new church where he is currently the auxiliary percussionist, meaning he fills in the gaps in the music with instruments such as congas, bongos, and even the harmonica, which he had a few elementary lessons in before teaching himself how to play.

At Rick’s previous church, they had a Christmas concert called “Come to the Stable.” This started as something small and then turned into a huge production with people from all over the area coming to celebrate Jesus’ birth with Rick’s church. Rick played auxiliary percussion and harmonica during these concerts and even provided some comedy after the intermission.

Although Rick has been playing percussion for just about his entire life, he just started playing the harmonica about 15 years ago, but he loves it.

Rick never would have imagined that his life would be the way that it is right now. He went to school and graduated with a degree in Public Relations. He then started working for the Chicago White Sox in their Public Relations department.

After a few years, he realized that wasn’t what he wanted to do. He changed his job a few times, two of those times he was laid off because his position had been gotten rid of.

It was hard finding jobs each time that he was laid off, but music was a constant in his life. It was a hobby that he could enjoy anywhere, no matter what was going on.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.