All About Mr. C!

Dear Alward Families,

Hello! Welcome to Alward and my website. My name is Toby Custer, and I teach second grade here. To say that I come from a family of teachers would be an understatement! I truly believe that teaching is the best occupation in the world, and it's not even close. The 2025-26 school year will be my fifth year teaching, as I graduated from GVSU (Go Lakers!) in 2021. I had the amazing opportunity to student teach in HPS at Jamestown Lower Elementary in 2nd grade, and immediately fell in love with the age group and curriculum. After student teaching, I took a long-term sub job here at Alward in the Resource Room. Right away, I could tell that Alward was the place I was meant to teach. I have been lucky to start an amazing career here at Alward. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing group of students and families to collaborate with.

I live in Jenison with my daughter Roosevelt (Rosie) and the love of my life, Abby. Keeping with family tradition, Abby is also a teacher. She teaches special education at Alward, and she truly is amazing! Rosie is currently a little over two years old and has been keeping us on the move this summer! :) We have LOVED our time as parents so far! We enjoy playing pickleball, board games, hiking, and Disney World! In fact, we were able to go on our first Disney World family vacation in June. It was a blast!

I also am a massive sports fan, so your child might have a tough year in my class if they are a Michigan State fan (just kidding, Go Blue!). Hopefully the Tigers are able to make a deep playoff run this fall!

All in all, I couldn't be more excited to get this school year started. If you have any questions/concerns/comments, PLEASE DO NOT hesitate to reach out. Email will work best as I will be checking that many times a day. Let's have a great year!

Sincerely,

Mr. Toby Custer