Tom Stubie, left, a science teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Bend, helps student
Ryan Kirk, 14, dissect a pig fetus Wednesday morning. Stubie has been instrumental
in helping make the planned Trinity Lutheran high school a reality.
Photo by: Anthony Dimaano, The Bulletin
Even though Josh Cheney is only in the seventh grade, he already knows where he wants to go to high school.
A veteran of public schools and home school, Josh, 12, said he wants to continue attending Trinity Lutheran School. The school, currently serving students through the eighth grade, will launch a ninth grade in September.
By launching a ninth grade in the fall and adding 10th, 11th and 12th grades over the subsequent three school years, the private, Christian school plans to join a handful of other schools in the area that offer an alternative to public high school.
Although Josh won't join the inaugural class of ninth-graders at Trinity Lutheran, he said he found plenty to like about Trinity's plans to add high school grades.
"It's going to be lots of fun, because I'll know people," he said. "You get to grow up with friends you know. You get the same teachers and get to know new ones."
Trinity offers the social opportunities that home school lacks, but avoids the impersonality that can exist at a much larger school, Josh said. Roughly 350 students attend Trinity.
Nine students are enrolled in the inaugural ninth grade class, according to Dave Carnahan, director of admissions for the high school and a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church.
The school is not pre-enrolling or accepting any students for grades other than ninth.
Carnahan said administrators plan to cap the ninth grade at 25 students, at least for the first year or two. He said he envisions no more than 400 in the ninth through 12th grades once the upper grades are established.
Josh said his current class, with 19 students, is the biggest he’s ever had.
Bob Fowls, the head of the school, said launching the high school grades is a leap of faith.
“The Lord’s saying, ‘Step out, Bob,’” Fowls said. “I can’t see (the future), but I trust him.”
Laying the groundwork
At present, Cascades Academy and Morning Star Christian School are the only private schools in Bend to offer classes through the 12th grade. The Three Sisters Seventh-day Adventist School in Bend goes up to 10th grade.
Central Christian Schools in Redmond and Crook County Christian School in Prineville also offer classes through 12th grade.
The creation of the ninth through 12th grades at Trinity, however, has been a long-awaited dream for many families, according to Bob Fowls, head of the school.
“We’ve heard, during the last six or seven years, ‘When are you going to start your high school?’” Fowls said. “(It) finally came down to, let’s set a date and just shoot for it.”
Last year, a committee of teachers, other school employees and parents put together a 300-page plan for the high school, according to Dave Carnahan, director of admissions for the high school and a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church.
School staff members are now working on getting permits from the city to bring in modular classrooms for the ninth grade and other logistical matters, Carnahan said.
Eventually, Trinity plans to build a permanent high school building on its 22-acre campus on Butler Market Road, he said.
Although there will be some physical separation between different grades and age groups, he said, there will also be some interaction through mentoring and other activities.
Two teachers currently at the school are certified to teach high school and will take on extra duties this fall. But the school will need to hire more staff — if not for the coming year, for the following years.
“It’s a busy time,” Carnahan said. “Will we be ready? Absolutely, without a doubt. Is there a lot of work to be accomplished yet? There certainly is.”
Another option
Both Carnahan and Fowls said they want Trinity Lutheran’s ninth through 12th grades to complement, not compete with, other high schools in the area.
“I see us working closely with the Bend-La Pine School District,” Carnahan, of Trinity, said. Credits earned in Trinity’s higher grades should be transferable to any public high school in the Bend-La Pine School District once the higher grades are accredited.
The accreditation process for the upper grades should be complete within the first two to three years, according to Fowls. The existing school is accredited by National Lutheran Schools, and accrediting the high school will be an extension of that.
In the initial years, Fowls said, Trinity will not be able to field many high school sports teams or offer the same array of classes or electives as a public school.
“I know there are naturally some parents may not choose us because they want opportunities offered at a larger high school,” he said.
In the absence of a team at Trinity, Oregon School Activities Association regulations allow students to play for the public school they would have normally attended, according to the OSAA Web site.
Many families also feel that the advantages of the high school will more than compensate for what it will lack.
Darin and Sherri Niemeyer, whose 4-year-old son, Cash, is in pre-kindergarten at Trinity, said they already know they want their son to graduate from the school.
“I think it’s really important that we have an educational opportunity in our community that’s going to combine rigorous and demanding academics that’s going to be combined with spiritual education,” Sherri said.
A Christian school
The Niemeyers aren’t Lutheran, but neither are roughly two-thirds of the current student body at Trinity, according to Fowls.
“I tell everybody up front, we share Jesus here, we’ll share it with your children, we’ll share it with you,” he said. “We’re not here to make you Lutheran, but we share our Lord and Savior. We don’t compromise on that.”
A regular class day includes Christian elements, including prayer in the morning, at lunchtime and at the end of the day along with grade-appropriate religion class.
In religion class, however, Fowls said, “we’re not there to say, (other denominations) got it wrong. What we do is open God’s word. We’re not going to get into splitting hairs.”
The Niemeyers said the proposed high school curriculum and religion instruction in the existing grades bear out that assertion.
“(Fowls is) not creating a Lutheran ministry,” Darin said. “He’s opening his arms to the community and offering a Christian-based school.”
In fact, the couple decided to move here after shopping around for Christian schools in the Portland area.
“For our son, for our family, this is the most important investment we can make,” Darin Niemeyer said. “If we have to sell everything and live in trailer so our son can be surrounded by the culture (Trinity) had created, we’ll do it.”
At the same time, Fowls and Carnahan said Trinity definitely isn’t in the business of sheltering students from the secular world.
“We do not want to put them into some ivory tower experience,” Carnahan said.
Community service will be required to graduate, he said, and most Trinity students already contribute to the community in order to emulate Christ.
Academic rigor
The Christian emphasis will be paired with rigorous academic standards, Fowls said.
The curriculum for the high school was developed with an eye toward standards set by universities, he said, including Stanford College and the Ivy League schools.
Proposed graduation requirements include four years each of English and religion, three years each of math, science and social studies and two years of a foreign language.
“It’s definitely going to be a college prep,” Fowls said.
Josh Cheney said that he was impressed by the way staff members developed the curriculum for the higher grades.
Carnahan said the school will equip students for their future endeavors, even if they decide not to attend college.
“They’re going to be educated to a level that will increase the odds they will succeed and succeed well in life,” he said.
Leslie Cheney said that when she home schooled Josh, she used Trinity’s coursework as a template.
With Trinity’s existing track record, she said she has utmost confidence in academics proposed for the high school.
“If I were a student at Trinity, I’d be proud to put it on any resume,” she said.
Faith in the future
Many people said their faith in God gives them faith in the success of a high school at Trinity.
“In my heart of hearts, I know the timing for this right now has been part of an overall plan, and our captain is God,” Sherri Niemeyer said. “The only obstacle I see is our limited thinking as people.”
Fowls said the amount of support Trinity receives from parents and families of students will be something the school can rely upon as they get the high school up and running.
“It’s a really neat family, a community of believers that say we want this for our children,” he said. “There’s tremendous ownership here.”
Carnahan said he intends the high school at Trinity to have a profound impact on students.
“I’ll feel our job is done when those high schoolers come back and say, ‘Thanks. It made a difference in my university years, made a difference in my career choice, made a difference in my life,’” he said.
Darin Niemeyer said that goal seems entirely within reach.
And in a school district where most high schools are bursting at the seams, he said it’s a perfect option for parents who want another option for their children.
“Bend needs it,” he said. “Public or Christian, the kids need it.”
For more information, call 382-1850.