New school year ready to begin

Lakeside Lutheran High School will open its doors to incoming freshmen on Friday, August 16. Freshmen begin their school year a day early to orient and learn schedules, meet other incoming freshmen and explore co-curricular opportunities. Classes begin for students on Monday, August 19.

An opening service and installation of new faculty will take place as part of the first day’s events on August 19 at 10 a.m. in the west gymnasium. Pastor Kelly Huet from St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Middleton, will offer the devotion during this special chapel service. The community is invited to attend. The theme for the 2019-21 school years, “Witness,” is a reminder of Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” This theme will be a focus in devotions and other events throughout the next two school years.

Lakeside Lutheran faculty number 34 for the 2019-20 school year, including back row, from left: Pastor Don Schultz, Assistant Principal, Religion; Andrew Willems, Technology Director, STEM Academy, Computer Science; Todd Hackbarth, Math, Videography, Religion; Eric Dorn, Religion; Jim Buege, Director of Choirs, English; Phil Dretske, Math, Computing, STEM Academy. Second row from top, L-R: Andy Rosenau, Guidance Director, Computing; Nate Sievert, PhyEd, Math; Dorlene Schroeder, Counselor; Hannah Uher, Science; Ruth Hirschfeld, Director of Extended Learning; Tim Matthies, Math; Damon Tracy, Science. Middle row, L-R: Phyllis Huska, Librarian; Darice Brumm, Extended Learning Aide; Justin Vanderhoof, English, Social Studies; Glen Pufahl, Director of Bands, English; Jeff Meske, Career and Technical Education; Matt Doering, Social Studies.  2nd row up, L-R: Cameron Ausen, Social Studies, Religion; Pastor Mike Helwig, Religion; Jenny Krauklis, PhyEd, Math; Erin Koschnitzke, FACS, Health; Nathan Koerber, World Languages; Lori Tetzlaff, Art, Health; Steve Lauber, Director of Admissions, English. Front row, from left: Paul Bauer, Science, Math; Andy Asmus, Social Studies; James Grasby, Principal, Religion; Todd Jahns, Activities Director, PhyEd; Jodie Schommer, English. Missing are Dan Kuehl, Director of Instruction, English; Pastor Mark Toepel, World Languages; Gerry Walta, World Languages.

New full-time faculty to be installed include Mr. Todd Jahns, new Activities Director and varsity boys basketball coach. He previously taught at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee. Mr. Eric Dorn, who will teach sophomore religion and coach boys varsity soccer, returned to the U.S. after teaching for a year at St. John’s Lutheran School on the island of Antigua in the West Indies.

Part-time faculty include Mrs. Erin Koschnitzke, who stepped in last spring to teach the Family and Consumer Science classes after teacher Sandi Corlett took leave of absence, will continue these responsibilities for another year. She also coaches the JV2 girls basketball team. Mrs. Dorlene Schroeder is joining the staff as a part-time counselor. With a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from UW-Whitewater, she will be available to students for academic counseling, career counseling and personal counseling.

Two staff members will be joining Lakeside full-time. New Grounds Manager Dan Schultz, a 2004 Lakeside grad, has spent the past seven years serving as Parks Supervisor for Dodge County. He also has been an assistant football coach for Lakeside for the past five years. Now full-time in her role at Lakeside, Alumni Relations and Event Coordinator Jessica Meyer was the school secretary at Eastside Lutheran School in Madison, and had been working in the Lakeside development office part-time for the past year.

Along with several new faces this fall, Lakeside Lutheran is adding another course in its STEM Academy—Principles of Engineering. The Academy bases its curriculum on Project Lead the Way, a nationally-recognized pathway for students interested in engineering or biomedical sciences in post-secondary education.

Lakeside Lutheran High School is a four-year high school located in Lake Mills, operated and supported by a federation of 32 congregations affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. For additional information about Lakeside, go to llhs.org or call 920-648-2321 and ask for Principal James Grasby.

Principal’s Pen: Time to Shine

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens” [Daniel 12:2-3].

Among the final words in the book of Daniel is his statement of faith in the resurrection. His words are a comfort to all who believe in the One who gave his life to give life to all.

Daniel lived in a pagan society. The Babylonians and Persians believed the physical world was inferior. The concept of a physical resurrection was foreign to them.

Among the world’s religions, there is notable disagreement on what happens after death. Christians know and believe that Christ will literally raise us from the dead. We will be physical beings, not clouds or spirits. This makes Christianity distinct.

Our world fights against Christ’s teaching of a physical resurrection. Many non-Christians believe that resurrection from the dead is either ridiculous or unneeded. Recently, one state passed a law allowing “human composition” as a means for disposing of human remains. This method considers the lifeless body to be “soil” that is placed back into the ground. On the surface, this appears harmless. However, behind it is the belief that we are “accidents,” the product of evolution. As such, many see death as nothing more than a natural end. By dying, the human body eternally returns to nature.

Genesis 3 tells us that death is the unnatural consequence of sin. However, Christians also know and believe that Christ destroyed sin and death. Some day, he will raise our bodies without sin and its effects.

There is nothing wrong with traditional ways of handling human remains after death. What matters is what we believe. Even in death, we glorify God. The ground may temporarily hold our remains. But Jesus will return to call us once more to take on flesh and rise to eternal life.

God preserve us all in the one true faith so that one day we will “shine like the brightness of the heavens.”