Kristina Thom
Kristina Thom grew up in Oregon and
is a graduate of Gresham High School. During
her Middle School and High School years she played for a highly competitive
club by the name of Nike NW Juniors. Her Junior year of high school her team
earned a spot in the championship match of a National tournament and Kristina
found herself across the net from future Gold Medalist April Ross. With the notoriety of her
club and the exposure of competing in the top of big tournaments, Kristina
began to be heavily recruited by Division I colleges all over the United
States. During her
Junior year she committed to play on a full athletic scholarship at Portland
State University where her favorite all- time coach had been hired as an
assistant. As a collegiate player she started all four years and as a student
she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Music/Vocal
Performance in 2003.
Just before attending college, at PSU, Kristina accepted an invitation to join
a friend at a Young Life Camp up in Malibu, BC. It was at this camp that the
trajectory of Kristina’s life changed forever with a decision to be a Christ
Follower. She began
engaging at the church her family went to and it was there she met her husband
Jeremy. They married
Kristina’s Sophomore year of college and it was only a few months after her
Senior year of college that their first child, a recent WCHS graduate, was
born.
Right after her Senior season of
college volleyball Kristina coached at Nike NW Juniors for three years. She
then coached at Mt. Hood Volleyball Club for 1 year before hanging up the towel
to focus on raising the family after having their second child. 10 years later, when this
second oldest child decided she really wanted to try the game of volleyball,
Kristina found herself back in the gym. She
spent a few years hiding, observing and studying how this ever changing game
had evolved. But in
2018, Kristina would hide no more and was asked to coach at Southridge HS as
well as join the coaching team at Athena Volleyball Academy. She still continues to
coach for Athena and has spent the last two high school seasons as the
assistant coach for WCHS.
The Thom family has been an ever
changing number of members as the past 8 years were spent fostering children
through both long term and emergency care in Washington County. However, currently the
Thom family finds themselves to have landed on a solid team of 8 with three
children that came to them biologically and three children that came to them
through adoption. Even
though they are no longer actively fostering children, the family is still huge
advocates for the many vulnerable children that live within our community. Kristina continues to be
passionate about raising awareness on their behalf through volunteering with
organizations like Every Child.
Through the years Kristina has loved
putting her music degree to use as a worship leader. She leads for local
retreats as well as at their home church, Hope City, where her husband Jeremy
is the Campus Pastor. It has also been a tremendous joy to put her volleyball
experience to use through all of the years of coaching and mentoring young
women. Kristina is excited for this next adventure of Head Coaching the Varsity
Volleyball Team at WCHS and overseeing the program. She hopes to continue to
grow the program, to develop high level players, but most importantly, to speak
life and worth into the depths of young women’s hearts and point them to the
One who loves them perfectly.
