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MISHAWAKA, IND. -- Nat Montiel is super friendly and open; he loves conversation; board games are the way to his heart -- his favorite game right now is Eclipse; he can hold his own in most sports; if he were a dog he would probably be a cocker spaniel; if he were a vegetable he would be a cucumber; and, he was named by his two older brothers Nathan and Daniel.
Beacon: Let’s start with your name? Nat: Nathaniel David Montiel Beacon: Age? Nat: 25 Beacon: Why are you at Bethel? Nat: I’m the new Resident Director here at Founder’s. I graduated here in 2015, actually, and then I found my way back, I guess. Beacon: So what brought you back? Or was it just a job and you were like, “Oh, cool!” Nat: So, I graduated with a Spanish education degree, I realized I didn’t want to be a teacher after I student taught. It’s not that I don’t like teaching, I love teaching, I just didn’t want to work for the government and I didn’t want to work for a private school either. So, I didn’t want to be a teacher. I was actually at Gull Lake Ministries for three years up in Michigan, between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. And when I graduated, Shawn Holtgren approached me -- like the day of, I had my gown on still -- and he was like, “Hey, Nat! In a couple years, two, three years, something opens up maybe consider coming back and becoming an RD.” And that was the first time I thought about becoming an RD. … Gull Lake goes around and recruits people, and when we were [at Bethel] in the DC, Julie Beam found me and she was like, “Hey, I need to talk to you in my office” and she let me know that something was opening up. I didn’t think I was going to come, I really didn’t. Even after I interviewed I thought, “I’m not the guy they’re looking for.” So I applied and I actually didn’t decide I wanted the job until May. They offered it to me and I spent a week thinking about it before accepting it. Beacon: What do you do as an RD? Nat: RDs are like building supervisors, so we just make sure the building is in good shape, and on top of that we also mentor the RAs. And then most of the RDs have a secondary job as well. My secondary job is to work with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, so I work with Billy Kirk Scholars. Beacon: What are three things you think everyone should know about you? Nat: I go by “Nat” not “Nate” or “Nathan,” but I will respond to those and you shouldn’t feel bad if you call me either of those. I love talking to people one on one and I love arguments and playing devil’s advocate. Something people should know about me is that football is my favorite sport, but I was never good at it -- but I understood it really well, so I always thought I would be a good coach ... and that showed, the last time that Manges won [the Oakwood Manges game] I coached the offense. Beacon: If you could be anything in the world what would you want to be? Nat: Oh, probably a dog. Dogs have the best lives. Their job is to play and have fun and people feed them, and exercise them, and they have fun.
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