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Dear Classmates, 

     Christmas greetings from Fort Wayne. 

     As we have been telling you, CLHS is now embarking on a building program called "A Bold Step" which hopes to renovate a structure now over 60 years old. The total to do everything is over $50 million, of which $22,000,000 has already been raised or pledged. The hope is that another $10 million can be raised soon so that greatly-needed repairs to the chapel auditorium can also be done, since that is one of the areas most in need of renovation. You can help through your prayers and financial contributions as you are able. The work of demo has now been completed, but early cold weather here is delaying some of the construcion work. 

     Music Programs - Sunday, December 14, is the date of this year's Christmas at the Embassy where all of CLHS's music groups, choral and instrumental will be featured. It is always a beautiful event, and if you live anywhere within striking distance, I would recommend you attend. Unfortunately, this fall was the first time in many years that our marching band did not make it to the state competition. We are competing against schools with much bigger bands which makes success more difficult even though our band has outstanding tone quality and a beautiful Christian message. Spring competitions through a group called ISSMA will give both programs a chance for further success. 

     Sports - Our cross country programs continure to excel. The girls finished second in state despite the fact  that our top runner and one of the country's top runners was unable to run because of an injury. The boys also made it to the state meet but did not finish in the top ten. Soccer has also been a successful program where they boys finished runnerup in the state meet last year and were very competitive again this year. Girls also usually have winning teams. Football continues to be problematic. We finally won a Summoit Conference game this year after a long drought, but that was our only win of the year. 

     Enrollment - Another year of the incoming freshman class replacing a smaller senior class has increased overall enrollment again. This year will be a repeat of that phenomenon, to a lesser extent, so some growth should be expected again next year. A number near 800 should not be out of reach which is a big climb from the low to mid-600's of a few years ago. 

     I hope all of you look back on our high school years with the fondness I do. At a time when a lot of families and individuals are rudderless and looking for security in all the wrong places, we can rely on the only real solution, our Savior Jesus Christ. Lutheran and other Christian schools have never been more needed than they are right now. I pray that all of you are still relying on the Rock that rolls every false hope away and will be celebrating that true hope this Christmas. Merry (Meaningful) Christmas!