Mr. Everse, teacher of history and environmental science at Eastern, grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a child, he attended Forest Hills High School, back when Forest Hills was the only school in the district. His junior year, he transferred to the new Forest Hills Northern. After high school, Mr. Everse studied geology at Michigan State University.
Mr. Everse began his professional career working for the “evil oil companies” in Houston, Texas. He started with a large corporation, AMCO and then went to a small independent Canadian based company. After returning to Grand Rapids, be began working in the environmental geology field. As a senior hydrogeologist, he traveled around Michigan doing environmental cleanups.
Mr. Everse and his wife had two young children and were both traveling often for their jobs. They made the decision that one of them had to change professions. Mr. Everse had always thought that he might be a teacher, but his mother discouraging him from pursuing teaching because there weren’t jobs at the time. Mr. Everse said, “I had always wanted to teach, so I decided to go do that.” Mr. Everse was able to pursue his passion for teaching while having a schedule that matches his children’s. As a history and environmental science teacher, he was able to turn 
his interest in history and the environment into a career.
His interest in history also transferred to one of his hobbies—theatre. Mr. Everse began his theatrical career 15 years ago and has especially enjoyed partaking in historical plays. Some of his favorite roles were his parts as Franklin Roosevelt in Annie and a pirate in Peter Pan. In his next production, he is playing Theodore Roosevelt in Newsies. Opening night is May 31st.
While Mr. Everse didn’t participate in theatre in school, he was always acting. As the winner of the class clown in high school, he had a talent for entertaining. He uses that talent to engage his students in the class. Jaeda Jonker exclaimed that “Mr. Everse isn’t just a teacher; he is a friend.” Ellie Korest agreed, saying, “he never fails to put a smile on my face.”
When asked about retirement, Mr. Everse said, “I’m on the 5 year or 15-minute plan, meaning that if my students are making me angry I might retire in 15 minutes.” He laughed and admitted that he will most likely retire in 5 years. He plans to stay in Grand Rapids with his wife and find ways to keep busy, like taking up a small job or participating in some of his hobbies. Other than acting, his hobbies include reading spy and historical fiction novels, traveling, and gardening.