2025 Year in Review: Schools

Reaching students can take many different forms and include partnership with the

church, positive reinforcement and making learning fun.

Lisa Jackson, principal of Bella Vista Academy, launched a Disney-themed Positive Office

Referral Program where students earn “tickets to Disneyland” for positive behavior and personal

goal-setting. When nominated, students are celebrated in front of their peers and taken to her

“Disneyland” office for a special recognition experience that builds motivation, confidence, and

strong relationships.

Trinity Lutheran School in Paso Robles hosted a week-long “Bounce into Books” readathon

filled with daily activities that encouraged and celebrated students’ love for reading. One favorite

event, The Book Bistro, invited classes to “taste” different genres through a fun, café-style

experience where students sampled books, recorded their impressions, and discovered new

favorites.

Students from St. Paul, Merced led worship with confidence and joy, offering prayers, reading

Scripture, singing praise songs, and performing a dramatic interpretation of the Good Samaritan

as families and congregation members looked on. By giving children active leadership roles, St.

Paul celebrated their growing faith and showed that they are a vital part of the church today, not

just its future.

Giving bibles to students at the beginning of the school year is a practice done at many

of our schools.

St. John's Lutheran School and Preschool in Napa, California has a tradition of presenting

Bibles to their new preschoolers and their second grade students at the start of the year. The

congregation is asked to sponsor a preschool student by donating the money to purchase a

Children's Bible, in which the sponsor can write a short message to the student. Then, when

students start second grade, the pastor, DCE, and school administrator sign a new Bible for

each of the students.

For two Sundays in July, St. John’s in Bakersfield turned its church courtyard into a joyful hub of

generosity as worshipers stepped up to purchase children’s Bibles for preschoolers and

kindergarteners in the school and Children’s Center. Each donor added a personalized sticker

with their name and a prayer or favorite verse—a meaningful idea born from the schools’ recent

accreditation process. The bibles were handed out on August 27.

Our schools are growing as plans years in the making have come to fruition.

Sierra Lutheran High School in Carson City, Nevada held a Grand Opening for its new building

additions on May 21. With over 22,000 square feet of space, these new additions double the

size of the school allowing for growth in enrollment, programming, and meeting space. There is

now space for six new classrooms, a multi-media (igloo) room, collaboration areas, offices,

bathrooms, and an event center which seats over 400.

Through monetary donations, Burgers for Babies Night, Congregational Baby Shower, Grace,

Modesto Child Care Center was able to expand their program to include infants. A blessing was

completed by Pastor Grant Knepper on Sunday, June 29th , Licensing final approval was

completed July 18th and babies started on July 21st!

A sign of the impact of our Lutheran schools is the alumni who come back to serve the

next generation at their schools.

In January, we highlighted four alumni who have returned to their schools to serve on the staff.

They were Jennifer Lee at Zion, San Francisco; Dale Munsch at St. Peter, Lodi; Joy Dahl at St.

John’s, Napa; and Lihau Lewis at Emmanuel, Maui.

Christ Lutheran Church and Preschool are in the remote community of Battle Mountain,

Nevada. The Church and preschool have been a part of that community for over 25 years. Two

of the staff are alumnae of Christ Preschool.