We’re back for another Alumni Service Team member introduction, Maret Haab! Here are some quick facts to help you get to know Maret:
Where she’s from: Jenison, MI
Age: 18
NBB Participation: I competed from 2013-2024 and qualified for Nationals from 2015-2024!
Fun facts:
- I love doing anything with my family, especially playing board games (I’m a board game buff!) and hiking
- My favorite place in the world is the Leelanau peninsula in northern MI – I love swimming in the lake and hiking up there
- I love studying and reading Latin
- I really enjoy studying natural health and learning about how God designed our bodies, and I love working out
- Memorizing God’s word is one of my favorite hobbies – I’m working through the book of Proverbs right now
What she’s doing now: I sell handmade products weekly at a couple local farmers markets, and I love the interactions and experience that come with that! I’m also in the beginning stages of studying for my Nutritional Therapy Practitioner certification, and am in the process of launching a small business offering my Latin tutoring services locally.
Hi Maret! Welcome to the National Bible Bee Blog, we’re excited to hear about your NBB journey! How did you first start participating in the National Bible Bee?
My mom found out about NBB from WORLD magazine and also from a homeschool mom in our area. She signed up me and my two older sisters when I was going on 7. We didn’t really know what we were doing that first year but in our third year participating, my oldest sister and I qualified for the national competition. We’ve been to Nationals every year since then!
What do you wish you had known as a first-time NBB participant or competitor?
When I started Bible Bee, I was 6, almost 7, so I kind of grew up with it! I think when I was little I didn’t really appreciate or realize how amazing it was to be studying God’s word. The value of knowing and memorizing these things is something I really learned and came to appreciate as I got older, but I think that I took a lot of it for granted at the beginning, something I would go back and change if I could!
What’s a lesson you learned from your time in the National Bible Bee that has practically influenced your life?
One of the biggest practical lessons I learned from competing in NBB was time management and diligence with the time that I had. Especially my last year, I really learned how to use my time in the most efficient way possible. For example, if I knew I only had an hour to study before I had to leave or do something else, I learned to focus and work hard on my studying, zoning out all distractions and getting solid work done. Along those lines, learning how to put every single moment to good use, even while standing in line somewhere or doing my daily chores, was a gamechanger! Plus learning how to zone out distractions helped me to be able to study and get good work done even if I was somewhere loud or crowded. Learning these skills for studying for NBB has been so valuable to have now as I move on to studying and working on other things!
From the time you’ve spent in Scripture over the years, do you have a favorite verse or chapter of the Bible?
Hmmmm…it’s so hard to pick just one! Ephesians 3:20-21 and Colossians 3:17 have been really special verses to me recently (my favorite Bible verse is always changing :), especially how they talk about glorifying God in everything we do, and how God works in His people. A couple of my favorite chapters are Psalms 37 and 84 – I love to pray and praise God with these Psalms! I don’t think I could pick just one!
If you could only have a copy of one book of the Bible for the rest of your life, which book would you choose?
That’s a hard one!! I would probably pick John, because the words of Jesus are so precious. It would be a hard choice between that and Psalms, though, because of all the wonderful prayers and praises in it!
What’s one of your favorite memories from the National Bible Bee, either from studying, a local meeting, or nationals?
My favorite memories from NBB are probably from the competition. It’s so special to be able to fellowship with friends who really love and prioritize God’s word, and also to have friendly competition! Praying backstage together before events started would have to be one of my favorite memories.
If you could be described like any person in the Bible (besides Jesus), who would it be and why? My favorite Bible character (besides Jesus) is Nehemiah. I love his emphasis on prayer and his godly prayers, his true dependence on God, his boldness and humility, and his wisdom. It’s very inspiring to me, and I would love to have those same character qualities!
Before you go, is there one thing you’ve taken away/learned from competing in the National Bible Bee Competition that you would like to share with everyone?
I think the biggest thing God taught me, especially through my last year competing, was that this is all for His glory. There are so many wonderful parts to NBB – the motivation of the competition, learning to study and memorize God’s word, plus the preciousness of the opportunity to spend each day steeped in God’s word and growing closer to Him – but the ultimate goal of competing in NBB – just like the ultimate goal of all of life! – is to bring glory to our Savior. Realizing this as I studied was literally life-changing for me. It is so wonderful to have our focus on this – that all of life is for bringing glory to God, and what a wonderful opportunity NBB is for doing this and witnessing for Jesus! Ephesians 3:20-21 was a really special verse to me as God taught me about this. Also, this is one thing that we will never stop growing in – it is wonderful to have this be our focus in all parts of our life. I want to encourage you to think about glorifying God first and foremost in your studying and memorizing, reciting and sharing God’s word with others. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think with our efforts for Him, and to Him goes all the glory for this!
Interview by NBB Alumna: Julia Cagasan
