Dr. Kathy Koch Calls Hillcrest Parents and Teachers to See Differently

There was a quiet shift in the room as Dr. Kathy Koch looked out at teachers, parents, and grandparents gathered at Hillcrest Academy and posed a simple, but disruptive, question.

Not “Is this child smart?”
Not “How smart is this child?”

But “How is this child smart?”

That question changes everything.

It changes how teachers teach.
It changes how parents respond.
It changes how children see themselves.

And ultimately, it changes how a school partners with families to form hearts, minds, and lives for Christ.

Dr. Kathy’s message was clear and freeing: every child is smart because God designed them that way; intentionally, creatively, and with purpose.

“The answer to the question *‘Am I smart?’ is always yes,” she told the audience. “God only creates smart people.”

The problem, she explained, is not intelligence; it’s comparison. When children measure themselves against siblings, classmates, or narrow definitions of success, confidence erodes, and calling becomes clouded. But when children learn how they are smart, gratitude replaces insecurity, and purpose begins to take shape.

This conviction sits at the heart of Hillcrest’s approach to education. Students are not problems to fix or products to standardize. They are image-bearers to be known and called forward.

Throughout the day, Dr. Kathy returned to a hopeful truth: intelligence is not fixed.

“The brain is a muscle,” she explained. “And muscles grow when they are used well.”

Intelligence can be strengthened. It can be awakened. And even when it has been wounded or shut down, it can be reawakened.

For parents and teachers, this reframes both success and struggle. Academic challenges are no longer verdicts; they are invitations. Behavioral struggles are no longer labels; they are signals pointing to unmet needs or misunderstood strengths.

“If intelligence were fixed at birth,” Dr. Kathy said, “we wouldn’t need school.”

Hillcrest exists precisely because growth is possible, because learning is formative, not merely informational.

One of the most sobering moments of the day came as Dr. Kathy spoke about how easily a child’s confidence can be damaged, and how powerfully it can be restored.

“Your brain can be paralyzed,” she said plainly.

Not by failure, but by shame.

She shared story after story of children whose gifts went quiet after a sharp tone, when curiosity was met with criticism instead of care.

Then she offered hope.

“Do you know what reawakens a child’s brain?” she asked. “An apology.”

Simple and humble. It’s Transformational.

One child had once told her, “I know I’m loved because my name is safe in my mommy’s mouth.” That image lingered in the room. Names matter. Tone matters. Words matter because words either give courage or steal it.

Dr. Kathy challenged parents to lift their eyes beyond grades, test scores, and short-term wins.

“I want kids to live long and be strong,” she said, “so they can discover why they are the who they are.”

Strength, she explained, is not just physical or academic. It is emotional resilience. Moral clarity. Spiritual grounding. It is the ability to use one’s gifts for good rather than harm.

“Much of the harm in the world,” she noted, “is done by very smart people who choose to use their smarts the wrong way.”

That is why formation matters. Hillcrest’s mission is not merely to educate capable students, but to cultivate wise, grounded, Christ-centered young adults who know both what they can do—and why they should do it.

Dr. Kathy’s time at Hillcrest underscored a truth the school holds deeply: education works best when parents and schools walk together.

Parents are not observers. Teachers are not replacements. Both are partners in the formation of the kids in our lives.

During these critical years, Hillcrest comes alongside families to reinforce identity, build confidence, and ground learning in Christ. What begins at home is strengthened in the classroom, chapel, dorms, athletics, arts, and daily rhythms of school life.

When children are truly known by their parents, their teachers, and their school, they don’t just learn more effectively. They live more faithfully.

And as Dr. Kathy reminded the Hillcrest community, that is not an accident. It is the beautiful result of seeing children the way God does: created on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose.