Charles Gebhardt, July 17, 2008
The project is the preparation and planning for the celebration of the 25 years that God has blessed the Salt Lake Valley with the ministry of Lutheran High School. The goals of the project include: Growing and strengthening our “active” donor base; generating excitement for and connectedness with Lutheran High School in the larger Lutheran/Christian community; engaging alumni in becoming and staying; publicly celebrating the 25 years of service provided by principal, Ms. Sheila Dewey. Essentially, we want to integrate an advancement plan with the celebration events to grow “friends” and “funds” for the ministry of Lutheran High School and to propel the school into its next twenty-five years with significant momentum.
Joel Landskroener, July 18, 2009
Project summary: The need for a comprehensive advancement plan for a private high school is essential to sustaining the school’s mission into the future.
Goals of the project: Identify the key areas that need to be addressed in the school’s advancement plan, articulate a philosophy of fundraising and development, and publish a comprehensive plan to address the school’s need for strategic planning, fundraising, major gifts, communications, alumni relations, and public relations.
Carl Martinez, July 19, 2012
In the quest for excellence, my project addressed the importance of building a robust professional development program for faculty and staff. Both the beginning and continued professional development conversations on campus have been successful, fostering professional growth and allowing for employee feedback and input. Our school board, administration, faculty, staff, students, and parents have participated in meetings and surveys this past school year to create a viable plan. The initial stages of this implementation have taught me that a robust professional development program is a process that will require significant time and steadfast commitment.
Kevin Kaemingk, July 18, 2009
Since 2002 the school has declined from 1500 students to the present 1300. Without serious intervention, the school’s future is at risk of a long and slow demise! The Van Lunen Fellows program and applied project came at exactly the right time. In the last three years the board has begun the shift to a policy governance model akin to the Carver Model of governance. The Board of Directors created a series of strategic initiatives which were then rewritten and framed by the steering committee into five final initiatives.
Jay Ferguson, July 15, 2010
Intentional leadership development is not occurring in Christian schools as it should. It requires an expenditure of time and energy and an organized program to develop young leaders within the Christian school. The purpose of this project was to develop and implement a systematic leadership development curriculum. I wrote, revised, and taught through a leadership development curriculum with three staff members of our school, then modified and taught it to seniors as an elective class. The program was effective, but highlighted the need for continued modeling and coaching.
Jean Bashi, July 14, 2011
Until June 2008, Cross and Crown Lutheran School was Preschool-8th grade; economic conditions required us to scale back to Preschool-1st grade. Since then, we have added a Toddler program and a grade a year. Though our long-term goal was to rebuild, it became apparent we needed to take a deep look at ourselves and go back to our roots before further marketing of our grade expansion. Our website, brochures, and logo were outdated; our Mission, Vision and Philosophy Statements no longer expressed our current views. A complete renovation of our inner workings was needed to discover who we now were.
Mark Davis, July 17, 2008
The focus of the project was on implementing a merit-based compensation system that will allow the administration at Lexington Christian Academy to recruit and retain the faculty members who are most effective at advancing the mission of the school. The project involves a thorough examination of the current banding compensation system and improving upon it in a way which ties directly to the school’s professional development plan and faculty evaluation process.
Clark Gilbert, July 19, 2012
Proverbs 29:9 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.” At Tri-City Christian School, there has been plenty of vision, but there has not been a well-developed plan. Declining enrollment and lack of unity paralyzed the school during the economic downturn. The school needed to develop, implement, and execute a strategic plan. Much has been accomplished. A strategic plan was developed; our parent survey reflected increased satisfaction, happiness, and confidence; team-unity and renewed school spirit are evident in task forces working together to execute the plan.
Warren Castellani, July 19, 2012
The Lutheran School of Flushing & Bayside is located in Bayside, Queens, New York, serving 180 students from Nursery to Eighth grade from 13 different cultural backgrounds. Urban Christian education is struggling to remain viable, and our school is seeing and feeling the impact: shrinking enrollment, competition, changing demographics, etc. A team created of faculty, parents, alumni and community members studied growth models. A four-year transition plan was created to become a K-8th grade Gifted & Talented School. For the first time in ten years, we have a waiting list to enter Kindergarten.
Arn Boonstra, 2020
For my Van Lunen project, I decided to write an article that could be published in a Christian school association newsletter or magazine. My article focused on the school project that we launched a few years ago, but came together specifically in the last two years. I work as the principal at Calvin Christian School in Hamilton, Ontario, and for at least a decade the school has been experiencing tremendous growth, so much growth that we have had to create a waiting list for families seeking Christian education.
Melissa Dan, July 19, 2012
The Child First Team was a project undertaken by a core team of faculty members at Saint Clement School in response to the needs of our students, teachers, and parent community. We believe that all God’s children can learn, succeed, and be actively involved in their own education. Teachers here seek to meet students’ diverse academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs—from those who struggle to those who excel beyond their grade level. The Team works to meet our students’ learning needs by utilizing data and best practices that identify, monitor, and support achievement.
Walter Grubb, July 17, 2008
The project’s goal was developing a comprehensive strategic plan addressing the following four primary areas facilities, finances, faculty, and commitment to a Biblical worldview for the King’s Academy. The focus of the strategic planning process was to provide guidance and direction for the decision-making that needs to occur in the present and in the next ten years of academy life.
Sue Kerr, July 15, 2010
This advancement project was designed to meet immediate needs for tuition assistance; to market our school with an eye toward retaining current students and recruiting new students; and to build relationships with donors able to make substantial long-term gifts to Blessed Trinity Catholic. The project was carried out in cooperation with a newly hired development director. Working through these initiatives gave me a chance to see how our newly formed team best works together, hope for a great future and confidence in our ability to build a strong, long-range strategic plan for advancement.
Sarah Windlow, July 18, 2009
To help the Academy achieve its enrollment goals, I designed an Integrative Marketing Strategy with five key components. The Marketing Task Force, a branch of the school’s Educational Advisory Committee, was instrumental in the composition and implementation of the Integrative Marketing Strategy, as well as other components in their overall marketing plan for the 2008-2009 school year. Since the inception of this marketing plan (June of 2008) the Academy has increased its enrollment from 74 students to 109 students.
Phillip Peck, July 17, 2008
The goal of this project was to create a strategic plan for the spiritual life of Holderness School to insure we continued to live up to the school’s high calling expressed in the original motto, “Pro Deo et Genere Humano.” The project established a spiritual program with objectives: to provide that all aspects of school life are informed and united by our spirituality, to continue to embrace Holderness’ Episcopal heritage in worship, to enlarge and transform the chapel into a multi-purpose facility, to provide not just the opportunity, but the expectation, of student involvement in worship practices and spiritual life, and to ensure that faculty will support and honor the centrality of the spiritual life at Holderness.
Karl Graustein, July 14, 2011
Faithfully accomplishing our mission of providing an excellent, Christ centered education for families requires many components: excellent teachers, quality curriculum, faithfulness to our Christian values, and much more. But our school’s greatest need centers on improving our financial health. Advancement typically focuses on three areas within a school: financial development, marketing, and alumni relations. Successes: Over $105,000 in contributions through the tax credit program greatly enhanced our budget. Donations through the end-of-year mail solicitation more than doubled our projections. We gained a better understanding of how advancement unifies marketing, financial development, and alumni relations.
Cathy Lubbers, July 14, 2011
Alliston Community Christian School is a small interdenominational school situated in a beautiful rural setting in central Ontario, Canada. Declining enrolment over the past few years created some financial hardships. Increasing tuition, cutbacks and decreasing services only compounded the problem. The board sought aggressive positive methods of alternate funding. In September of 2010 we had a dream of starting a thrift store. An empty store building was leased and renovations began. Sales began March 18, 2011 and the grand opening was on April 30, 2011; within four months the store had grossed $32,000 in sales.
Michael Williams, July 15, 2010
The goal of this project was to develop a more focused and deliberate marketing strategy for Redeemer Lutheran School. The school has not been immune to the acute challenge that is facing most faith-based education ministries today—declining enrollment. Before creating a new effective marketing strategy, Redeemer had to realize what it had to market. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the school, seven aspects were reviewed: Lutheran identity, facilities, community, governance, academic, finance, and marketing. The results of the self-study lead to the development of an Action Plan for the school.
Mr. Smith (a pseudonym), July 17, 2008
The project serves as an ex post facto study of the deterioration of a relationship between the head of Midwest Faith-Based School and its governing board, and the eventual resignation of the school head. The goal of the project is to explore necessary information the administrative could have gathered prior to coming to Midwest that could have helped avoid the mismatch, identify mistakes made by the administrator during his tenure that contributed to the problem, and list an appendix of potentially useful questions for prospective school heads.
Sharon Hammerschmidt, July 18, 2009
I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to attend a faith based school. There is a need to make Catholic education affordable. Being fiscally responsible is important especially in today’s economy. With the 85th anniversary of the parish, we had an “85 and Over Luncheon.” This was an opportunity for our students to interact with our seniors, the very ones who helped build our school. With a need to target donors outside of the parish community, Guardian Angels participated in Schools Rule Competition. A Review Committee has been formed to determine the amount and type of fundraisers allowed during the school year.
Aaron Winkle, 2017-2018
Frank Guerra, July 19, 2012
The project focus of Boston Trinity Academy’s has been a Campus Master Plan in order to address the functional and aesthetic needs of the school. In the process of pursuing this goal, the Board of Trustees empowered a facilities committee comprised of the headmaster and key trustees as well as a parent who has acted as the team’s project manager. The chair of the Facilities Committee is the long-time chief executive officer of a local, successful major construction company. His experience and wisdom has helped guide us through this process in a professional and efficient manner.
Tom Wrege, July 19, 2012
Trinity Lutheran School is known for its high standards, outstanding teachers, and excellent facilities. When Trinity’s first accreditation team visited, it left a list of recommendations that would not only allow us to become re-accredited but to improve our school. Many standards of improvement dealt with curriculum. The processes involved would demand our finished product be structured, standards-based, follow a progression within our grades, and tailor-designed to our mission: “sharing Christ’s story with love!” We have developed a process to move to the Common Core Curriculum—a standardized set of outcomes that is national in scope.
Ellen Bartel, July 14, 2011
Divine Savior Holy Angels High School finds itself in a strong position: full enrollment, diverse student body, talented and dedicated faculty and staff, strong academic outcomes, and philanthropic support to enable years of balanced budgets. However, our determination is to be a school seeking to realize our mission to provide an exemplary education for young women that makes known the goodness and kindness of Jesus. The goal of this project was to develop DSHA’s new strategic plan, build a passion that would lead our community to commit to a vision, and mobilize the leadership to mount a transformative capital campaign.
Brian Meek, July 18, 2009
Christian Schools the world over face a very real threat to sustained ministry…finances. Traditional funding, especially for independent schools, often fails to support quality facilities, programs and people. My project focuses on pursuing ways to make sure that others have the opportunity that three girls had as they hugged on the playground together in Kindergarten and walked down the graduation aisle as Seniors.
Results: Sustainable Revenue, Marketing, Program Growth, Outreach
Bob Pauly, July 15, 2010
A committee was convened to explore the potential connection between sustainable energy research and our top flight engineering curriculum, set in the context of reverence for God’s Good Earth. The committee began with a vision that included a wind turbine, a geothermal field, and an extensive solar panel array which would provide for much of the energy needs of the school. It became apparent that alternatives needed to be explored that required less funding. A short term interactive solution path for sustainability was specifically designed for the school.
Christine Hauge, July 17, 2008
The project focused on the carrying out of a major transition in the Leif Ericson Day School (LEDS), involving the turning over of property, finances and the ministry from the Bethany Lutheran Church, the congregation with which the school was affiliated, to the school. LEDS partners with the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in the project.
Brian Vander Haak, July 18, 2009
In response to difficulties in maintaining school improvement initiatives including: Staff and leadership turnover, repetition and overlapping of efforts, a ramp up and stop accreditation process, and problems maintaining adequate focus on the school improvement plans over time, Christian Academy in Japan has developed a unified system for planning. The final school improvement report, which is also submitted to our accrediting agency, is based on focus group input, drafted in the advisory council, and is approved by the governance bodies.
Sam Siple, July 14, 2011
A consortium of 24 schools is pooling its advertising dollars to saturate the Pittsburgh media market through radio commercials, print ads and event sponsorships, with a unified message that targets Christian parents to consider the benefits of Christian education for their children. They can logon to a website showing a regional map of participating schools; from that homepage, they click on the hyperlink to the website of the schools nearest them to discover more about each school’s specific features. The results are impressive, with measurable website traffic and member schools reporting heightened awareness and positive impact to their enrollments.
Joel Satterly, July 19, 2012
At its first strategic planning retreat following a change in both administration and board leadership, Harvester Christian Academy reaffirmed its commitment to Christian education grounded in Reformed philosophy and asserted that the school would “maintain and develop a faculty and curricular program reflecting a Biblical world and life view.” The Teacher Training Institute was designed to focus professional development around those particular distinctives to provide catalysis for school improvement. The project components have been successfully identified and developed. Implementation of training components began in January 2012, with the intent of initiating the full program for the 2012-2013 school year.
David Culpepper, July 19, 2012
The content we choose to teach is a crucial key to the training of future Kingdom leaders and is often overlooked or fails to be intentionally developed. The focus of this project was to provide a framework for developing a mission-based curriculum. We addressed the question of the learning outcomes of each course in the curriculum, especially how learning outcomes reflected and advanced the board-adopted mission. The intent was to define the roles of the board, administration, and instructional faculty in curriculum development, and focused on verifying that the students were indeed learning the curriculum.
Carol Bremer-Bennett, July 19, 2012
Is your school’s engine running smoothly? Driving down the road, you keep an eye on your dashboard to make sure your car's systems are operating efficiently and effectively. In a Christian school, we also need to monitor the fuel level in our tank and know if the engine of education is running smoothly. Rehoboth Christian School desired to set dashboard indicators to benchmark our progress. If our mission is to “challenge its students to know the Triune God and equips them to love, serve and transform the world in His name,” how will we know if we are headed in the right direction?
Byron List, July 19, 2012
Our school’s Christ-centered education is designed around the belief that healthy relationships are a doorway to learning and that students in relationally-connected classrooms experience an optimal environment for education. To sustain an excellence-driven academic program, it is essential to research, explore, and understand what a Relational Model of Education should look like, then practice and communicate the standards of the model. With the headmaster and Curriculum Committee, the board has advocated for development of a curricular component, which will provide teachers with direction, examples, and standards as they implement the Relational Model of Education.
Curt Tuininga, July 14, 2011
The goal of this project was to create a third stream of income for our school by starting an annual fund. Independent schools in British Columbia are blessed to receive government funding. To this we add tuition money and any donations. Centennial Christian School had no development plan; my goal was to begin development work with an annual fund. The first thing we learned was we should have started this process a long time ago. Relationships with prospective donors in a school community are built over time and a great deal of work and art goes into them.
Dana James, July 18, 2009
Excellence is defined as a process that is measured by individual and corporate improvement. Striving for excellence naturally leads to success. Through this approach, we believe that a Westminster student will be prepared spiritually, socially, and academically to succeed at the next level.
Defining Success: In keeping with our Mission Statement and our Core Values Statement related to student success, the teachers and administration have examined our total program and developed clearly defined criteria for determining student success at each level at our school.
Pat Lofton, July 15, 2010
Over the course of the past year, the development of a Professional Learning Community at St. Thomas More Catholic School empowered faculty to be actively engaged in professional development that positively impacted teaching and learning. As a school that is committed to preparing young people to be prepared, productive, and prayerful in the 21st century, it is imperative that the faculty of St. Thomas More Catholic School be continually engaged in ongoing professional development through a Professional Learning Community so that students grow intellectually, interpersonally, and spiritually.
Denise Monroe, July 18, 2009
The purpose of this project was to create an aggressive marketing program that reflected our passion and zeal for Christian education and the vision and mission of Redeemer Christian School. Previous years’ shot-gun marketing efforts at Redeemer Christian School had been ineffective and yielded little result. Our school was in dire need of a comprehensive marketing program based upon best practices. Based upon best practices and the particular distinctive of RCS, a schedule of marketing activities during the school year was developed.
Mary Post, July 17, 2008
The goal of the project was to develop parent, staff and board manuals that reflect the school’s (Chicago West Side Christian School) mission and culture and are used regularly to guide the community’s efforts to shape and improve the school. The manuals include articles for thoughtful reflection, training and growth, explanations of annual goals (needs, opportunities and strategies), and guidelines and expectations for the various members of the school community. The resulting manuals explain and affirm the school’s mission and culture while inviting readers to think strategically about their role in school improvement.
Carol Wise, July 18, 2009
As Good Shepherd Lutheran School continues to grow, it is apparent that current funding will not cover the expenses this expansion requires. The goals for this project were to develop board members and staff working together to build successful fundraising efforts. The strategic planning process has guided us to establish a Development Office to manage and cultivate fundraising capabilities. To nurture the culture of giving and philanthropy we have established a public foundation as a vehicle to receive funding.
Angie Petersheim, July 14, 2011
As the new administer in an established school, it is important to develop my leadership skills so I can effectively guide the school in a changing culture. This project enabled me to utilize the existing strengths of our school as I evaluated and cultivated needed skill sets. Few tangible benchmarks will show I have “arrived” as the leader. However, in a rapidly changing culture, many situations require a fresh look. As a leader I must be continually learning so that I can lead the school to meet its mission of growing students who can be successful in their world.
Cheryl Arthur, July 15, 2010
Our ACSI accreditation was completed in February 2008; the recommendations for professional development were of utmost importance both to the staff and to the school’s future excellence. With that in mind, we began to implement some new ideas in our school that addressed the value and needs of the individuals on our staff. Over the course of the year, our staff strove to develop a great cooperative team through an in-service organized with a six fold emphasis for the week: learning styles, talents, love languages, stress levels, personality, and spiritual gifts. The best part is that they now know who they are, I know who they are, and we are able to work together on their giftedness and talents.
John Engelbrecht, July 15, 2010
Since its inception, Calvary Lutheran High School has depended on fundraisers to make up the difference between tuition income and expenses. Believing there had to be a better way to fill this financial gap, my goal was to develop a diverse plan for increasing Calvary’s third source funding. Six strategies were identified and implemented. These strategies include person to person solicitation, congregational support, foundation grants, events, a mailing appeal, and a re-sale store. The plan’s implementation increased third source funding and many minor fundraisers have been eliminated.
Bob Neu, July 19, 2012
Trinity Presbyterian School is dedicated to educate the whole child: intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical. Goals: enhance teaching and learning; promote student-centered learning; collaboration amongst both teachers and students; engage in new ways of teaching and learning. Results: we saw a dramatic change in faculty culture. We now have over 800 devices (MacBooks, MacAirs, iPads and iPod touches) deployed across campus. There is a renewed emphasis for our teachers in all areas of professional development, especially in the technological world. An overall change in how we do education at Trinity!
Henry Vanderveen, July 19, 2012
Langley Christian School is a well-established Pre-K to 12 school with 1000 students located in Langley, BC. Although each of the facilities is near-new, the school has significant debt. The board chose to address the debt issue within the context of a comprehensive strategic plan. The over-all goal of this project was to create a Dynamic Strategic Framework and begin the first phase of the project, which was to implement new initiatives to address current concerns and gather data to develop future goals. The first goal of the project was to create the blueprint for the entire project.
Donald Beebe, July 19, 2012
Our culture and community was characterized by tradition, policy, rules and discipline, focusing on external manifestations of faith rather than internal change driven by the gospel. The school’s reputation for academic achievement was strong, but enrollment had been declining and multiple regional campuses had consolidated into one. My desire was to apply the tools of excellence in academics for college and life preparation by godly teachers, contributing to one’s faith formation, spiritual growth, and an understanding of living in grace. Building on our self-study for Middle States accreditation, I developed a framework to reflect a culture of grace.
Scott Mayo, July 17, 2008
The goal for this project was to provide structure and direction in establishing a development office, with the ultimate goal of raising awareness and inviting actions on the part of the school’s existing and potential constituency for charitable giving to the school. The project focused on three components of keeping track, keeping in touch and keeping abreast.
Joel Bode, July 15, 2010
Concordia Lutheran High School has been in operation for over 25 years. During the course of this time there have been several efforts toward establishing a development program for the school. The school board made the decision to split the roles of Principal and Head of School to allow one person to focus on the day-to-day activities of running the school and another person to work on development. The ministry for the new principal of Concordia Lutheran High School will begin in July 2010. While there is much to be done, we have had significant results because of these changes.
Brett King, July 14, 2011
The aim of this project was to better understand the factors behind a 20% decline in enrollment over the past 3 years and initiate strategies that would stabilize enrollment in the short term by increasing retention rates and enrollment. To achieve these goals, a five person team was assembled to study the issue, then tasked with designing and implementing internal and external marketing strategies to reverse the downward trends. As a result, we gained a better understanding of our constituency, executed a comprehensive marketing plan, and realized increases in retention and enrollment rates.
DJ Schult, July 15, 2010
We created a vision for the total ministry and Trinity Lutheran School, approved by the governing board. The vision filters our decisions, staff development, and financial planning. The teaching staff and key community leaders are now involved in developing the strategic plan around our most critical four vision pillars: 21st century skills, technology leadership, community of grace, and life of worship. The engaging of others on the vision, auction, and retention teams has created ownership, support and ultimately the success of each area.
Jennifer Shoniker, July 14, 2011
The goal for this project was to prepare Belleville Christian School for a traditional strategic planning process by educating the community in societal and educational trends shaping the 21st century schoolhouse, increasing the likelihood of generating a viable, marketable, and progressive future for BCS. The school’s current strengths and markets were identified; subgroups were asked to engage in “sky’s the limit” thinking using the strengths as a foundation. As a result, four visions were researched, developed, and ultimately presented. As the ideas spread, the goal of educating the community at large in preparation for the strategic planning process is realized.
Dan Meester, July 14, 2011
San Jose Christian School spends roughly 25% of its yearly budget on rent; tuition rates climb steadily each year to afford its facilities and compensate its staff well. Owning a campus would alleviate the problem of ever-increasing rental rates. Although the scale of our efforts was smaller than would be needed for a capital campaign, the strategies employed made 2010-2011 the most successful per-capita fundraising year in the school’s history and the second most successful year in terms of gross dollars. Learning the ropes de-mystified the process and made the prospect of executing a successful capital campaign much less daunting.
Marvin Bierling, July 19, 2012
The goal of this project was move Chatham Christian Schools in the direction of being more faithful to its mission while responding to the demands of today’s parents and students. Results: The board, staff, and parents understand the need to be faithful to the mission of the school and that change is required in order to respond to the demands of a post-modern culture. To this end, the service element of the school’s mission statement is being enriched and a stronger emphasis is being placed on professional growth throughout the school to meet the needs of our students.
Elisa Carlson, July 14, 2011
Central Christian School currently functions in leased spaces in a business complex with students traveling off campus for many extracurricular activities. Now with a student body of over 200, acquiring a larger facility is imperative to move the vision forward. In order to conduct a capital campaign, it was determined that Central Christian School needed to move from an event-based fundraising model to fostering a culture of philanthropy. A comprehensive Annual Financial Development Plan was designed and implemented with the goal of establishing a sustainable financial foundation that would build momentum toward a successful capital campaign.
Ed Noot, July 14, 2011
Unity Christian School serves students on two campuses in British Columbia, Canada. A faltering economy, a plethora of local school choice and a declining provincial student demographic led to decreased enrolment. The UCS Board developed strategic initiatives in the areas of facilities, fund-raising and promotions, but lacked an overall strategic plan to ensure that all initiatives were connected to the school’s central vision and goals. The Board recognized the importance of developing a strategic plan to articulate a vision and core values, and to synthesize existing initiatives with new ones, ensuring convergence with our mission, vision and values.
David Robinson, July 14, 2011
With enrollment in decline and both Lutheran and Catholic schools being forced to close, Word of Life Lutheran School is working to be a “school of choice” amidst a competing educational environment. We must maintain a cost of education for families that is not so far out of their reach that we no longer are considered an option. Our Students, Parents, And Marketing Committee was developed to address areas to promote our school: Retention of students and families in the school, Recognizing achievements of students and faculty, Recruiting new students to the school, and Raising Funds for school ministry support.
Cindy Dodds, July 19, 2012
Penn Christian Academy currently serves 335 students in Preschool through 6th grades. There has been a 140% increase in enrollment since the fall of 2006 resulting in the need for more space. This project was designed to capture the concepts that caused the growth, facilitate continued growth, and provide a structure to raise the capital funds needed to build additional facilities to accommodate the growth. In addition, we will begin the process of adding middle school programming to the current school. Effective development growth concepts result in the desired outcome: growth and development.
Chip Jones, July 17, 2008
This project aims to put into writing thoughts as to how Presbyterian Christian School can take steps toward excellence to battle the danger of stagnation. The project deals with three key areas of the school: facilities growth and improvement, academic achievement, and spiritual formation.
Chip Jones, July 17, 2008
I learned a significant amount about relationships between a head of school and a school’s governing board. I explore six themes for governing boards to consider: clear outlines of roles and responsibilities, a diverse community, community members from the school have a different perspective on the school as a whole, board members must participate in board training sessions; begin each board meeting with an extended time of prayer; decisions need to reflect mission statement and values; and finally, board members are members of a team.
Tom Dykhouse, July 15, 2010
During the 2009–10 school year, Eastern Christian School examined numerous strategies designed to effect student enrollment and its long term sustainability by way of creating a more compelling educational value proposition. The Board of Directors has adopted numerous pricing, program and provision measures that it believes will have a positive impact on the current enrollment and long term sustainability of the school. Members of the community contributed the work of their minds, hands, time, treasure and talents to enable truly transformative work to take place in this challenging time.
Jane Schmidt, July 17, 2008
Highland Catholic School is a Christ-centered community that welcomes and challenges everyone to learn and grow. Our size is small enough for each child to be known yet large enough to offer a depth of programming. The Project Goal was to develop new revenue streams, create marketing strategies and study the long-range needs of the facility.These challenges were put before the HCS School Committee in Fall 2007.Subcommittees were formed around facilities, marketing, and development, and talented and generous parents were identified and recruited to offer expertise.
Patrick De Jong, July 15, 2010
Adequate financial resources and enrollment have been a continued focus and concern for Mount Vernon Christian School. These two perennial difficulties have caused the Board to take some bold steps. The Strategic Planning committee has come up with three focal points for the future: People, Program, and Plant. In addition, they created a new position: Superintendent / Director of Mission Advancement. The board also provided the empowerment for this person to become an effective manager.
Rod Fletcher, July 17, 2008
The focus of this project was to create a plan that incorporates practices and innovative ideas for identifying new donors, assessing their wealth, and effectively cultivating them so that they are ready to be asked for a donation. This plan provides practical strategies for an independent school development office to implement. The strategies for identifying donors and assessing their wealth are universal and should be consistently applied. The strategies for cultivating individual donors should be scrutinized and used if they fit a particular situation.
Lynn Henry, July 17, 2008
The purpose of this was to work with the executive council of the Concordia Academy Association of Schools (CAAS) to develop a strategic plan for the new-structured organization. The strategic plan was entitled Imagining God’s Vision: 2008-2013. The final product included a new mission statement for the work of the association, a statement of vision and values, and broad goal in six areas of strategic importance. These include Christian community, faith development, developing a culture of excellence, financial sustainability relationships with association congregations, and outreach and community impact.
Rebecca Schmidt, July 17, 2008
The applied school project consists of planning the infrastructure for a cohesive development plan with a specific emphasis on the use of third source funds in the funding model for Immanuel Lutheran School. The goal of the project was creating a development model that incorporated the financial goals of the school and coordinated with the initiatives of Immanuel Lutheran Church (ILC). A team was identified and tasked to solicit major gifts to address debt retirement in the church. The use of third source funding for the school was clarified.
William Haverkamp, July 18, 2009
Project End: To implement the Carver Board Governance Model in the Calvin Christian School Association.
Project Goals: For the Board: Focusing on “ends”, see “big picture” issues, reduce the tendency to micro-manage, increase contact with constituents, clearly delineate board and administrative roles, use “ends policies” for long range planning, and use the new system as a bridge to reducing board size.
Project Means: Educate the board about the Carver model through use of an expert consultant and with the assistance of a persuasive board president.
Rosemary Palisay, July 18, 2009
St. John’s is an amazing place. It springs out of the hearts of committed teachers, parents and administrators. It is open to all children who desire an opportunity to be offered a quality education within the context of the Christian community. It has been our privilege to partner with a school for Autistic children, Eden II. We offer their students an opportunity to be part of the general education community and they offer us lessons in determination, compassion, friendship, and hope. Their contributions far outweigh our meager offerings.
Carol Moxey and Julie VanDrunen, July 14, 2011
Crown Point Christian School met in churches for years until its own building was constructed. Since moving, enrollment has grown significantly; there is greater demand for the use of computers. A consultant educated key stakeholders about the role of technology in education. This created a shared vision for a one-to-one laptop program among board members, education committee members, technology committee members, and faculty. Implementation of the program has been incredibly successful and well received; it is one way that we strive to fulfill our mission statement to provide Biblically based, Christ-centered education to honor God in all aspects of life.
Mychal Thom, July 19, 2012
In today’s world there seems to be only one constant—change! This project is designed to embrace change and positively impact the student-learning environment. The goal was to implement a 1:1 iPad 2 program and impact student learning. The initial results look very promising. When the iPads were used effectively in the classroom, students were engaged in the subject matter and showed more organization. In addition, teachers that put forth the most effort discovered many ways to incorporate this device into their classrooms—improving communication and impacting student learning in a positive way.
Michael Moch, July 14, 2011
In an effort to further the mission of Holy Name of Jesus Parish, it is the wish of the school to develop a preschool to serve children ages 3-5 years old. We wish to provide academic excellence while proclaiming, celebrating and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe it is important to offer a program that teaches children to know the heart of Christ, see the face of Christ and be the hands of Christ. As a result of the project, approval for the preschool was obtained through the parish. The program will begin Fall 2011 with 20 preschool students.
Steven Meseke, July 17, 2008
The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive high school curriculum that will ensure the graduates from the four Lutheran High School Association (LHSA) schools will be able to make a successful transition into college. The project focuses on addressing the question of “what we want our students to know,” or the learning expectations of each course in the curriculum.
Roger Grose, July 15, 2010
The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive high school curriculum that will ensure the graduates from the four Lutheran High School Association (LHSA) schools will be able to make a successful transition into college. The project focuses on addressing the question of “what we want our students to know,” or the learning expectations of each course in the curriculum.
Andy Benscoter, July 15, 2010
Several key themes assisted the marketing team through the past 18 months as we strived to define and develop the marketing and branding of Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church and School. A collection of key congregation and school leaders worked together to develop a common purpose, approach and target for ministry growth. The results of this process have been seen directly, with a strong growth in enrollment and the congregation’s support of the purchase of a second campus for the Preschool Program’s expansion.
Michael Yurk, July 14, 2011
Marketing has been a part of the administrators’ responsibilities at St. Paul; however, there wasn’t a “wow” that would say to a prospective family that this is where they should send their child to school. We created a marketing team made up of stakeholders in our school that could bring marketing experience, graphic design talents, business ownership, and realtor knowledge. Completion goals by the end of the school year included development of Statement of Purpose and tag-line, Classroom Overview pages, website updates, new letterhead, business cards and tri-fold brochure, and a redesigned school logo. All these things were accomplished plus more.
Jean Zoet, July 15, 2010
Midwest Conservative Christian School embarked on a broad Strategic Planning journey during the 2008/2010 school years. Funds continued to be tight and enrollment continued to drop which suggested that there were others areas needing attention and strategic work. A decision to reduce the size of the administrative team was made in October. This study is a combination of the actual process completed to December, 2009, and a proposed completion of Strategic Planning using the Issue-Based Strategic Planning Model which was not completed in fact.
Ryan Groen, July 18, 2009
Project Goal: To provide for the ongoing financial health of Calvin Christian School by directly relating financial needs to the mission and strategic objectives of the school.
Project Strategy: Create a Summary of Ministry Needs and communicate these needs to all constituents.
Increasing Faith and Knowledge, One Child at a Time: A campaign to support the present and future ministry of Calvin Christian School.
Mike Ely, July 15, 2010
Whittier Christian Schools is dedicated to excellence in Christian education developing disciplined, motivated students who are academically strong, have a personal faith in Christ, and are equipped to affect the world for Him. For many years WCS was a leader in the Christian School community. Recent years reflect a period of diminished success and lack of direction. The goal for this project was to create a new strategic plan that would provide a vision and plan to bring Whittier Christian Schools back to a place of prominence and influence in the community.
Beth Behnke, July 17, 2008
The Organizational Leadership Design project worked with St. John the Baptist Catholic School to review job descriptions, build collaborative leadership and create a strategic marketing and development plan for the school. The results included better communication and role definition between the principal and pastor, better defined roles and responsibilities for the school development director and parish communications coordinator, and a marketing responsibility and action chart. The next step of the project is to include a strategic planning process with a consultant.
Laura Montgomery, July 19, 2012
The goal of this project was to breathe new life into Abiding Savior’s Parent Teacher Organization: Parent-Teacher Partnership, or PTP. The mission states: “Parents and teachers partnering to ensure our common goal of a quality Christian education for students of Abiding Savior Lutheran School, to know Christ and make Him known.” We redefined the purposes of the partnership, reorganized the leadership team, and revised its by-laws and constitution. Challenges in getting parents with strong leadership skills involved in the leadership team made re-launching the PTP difficult. However, many events under the umbrella of PTP carried on and were successful.
Shelly Matthews, July 19, 2012
Lutheran Academy of the Master is a preschool through fifth-grade school that started seventeen years ago at an Evangelical Lutheran Church Association church. In the past, the church and school have experienced growth in unison; in the last few years, there has been a shift in vision. With a strategic plan newly completed, the goal is to prepare for a capital campaign beginning fall of 2012. The goals include training for personal asks on a smaller level in preparation for larger amounts in the capital campaign, as well as shifting our fundraising from events-driven to a year-round culture of philanthropy.
Steve Onsorge, July 19, 2012
Vernon Christian School was experiencing a significant downturn in enrolment. We needed to understand the reasons for decline and respond appropriately. Our greatest responses were to actively promote the great school that we are and build support and affirmation within our school community. We examined all aspects of our brand, public presence, external and internal marketing and communication processes. God leads people to us…but we have a role and responsibility to celebrate and promote the good work HE is doing here and that is increasingly a drawing card for families who desire more for their children.
Barry Giller, July 17, 2008
The goal of this project was to examine and define regionalization in Connecticut as well as New England. This was accomplished by the board of directors of Christian Heritage School (CHS) surveying the landscape of Christian education in New England and exploring their role as a leading and larger Christian school. The project includes a discussion of CHS’s partnerships with other schools, as well as a document created as a filter when looking at regionalization options.
Vernell Renee Davis, July 17, 2008
The purpose of this project is to revise the existing school manual, which consists of the constitution and by-laws, parent’s procedures, policy booklets and the teacher’s manual, so that it provides the faculty and staff with clearly expressed guidelines for procedures and processes associated with the everyday operations of Trinity Lutheran School.
Gene Frost, July 17, 2008
The goal of this project was to help the head of school in running a large capital campaign for his or her school. The final product was to be a decision tree that would allow the school head to follow a step-by-step process in implementing the specific campaign. The decision tree was built by talking to professional fundraisers and Van Lunen consultants as well as discussion with other Van Lunen fellows who had been through the process.
Hank Vande Kraats, July 18, 2009
Having two campuses, and having them be 20 minutes apart, has impacted the connectedness between our two buildings with respect to teaching staff, parents, and students. As an administrator, one must be very intentional about organizing events that allow for interactions between the student body, the teaching staff, and the parent community of both campuses. What could be done to keep the two campuses connected, the parents feel more connected to their child’s campus, and how these interactions could be promoted and achieved?
John Reems, July 19, 2012
Nanaimo Christian School participated in an external school review as part of its ongoing pursuit of its vision and mission. This resulted in recommendations to move the school from a traditional Christian School model to a hierarchical system. This shift in school culture was to transition the principal and eight other key positions into redefined roles and responsibilities. The educational leadership team developed new job descriptions as well as basing new leadership roles on personal strengths of gifts and talents. The transition resulted in new direction, increases in measureable outcomes, greater accountability and efficiencies.
Jason W. Wood, 2015-2016
David Bangert, July 14, 2011
Dallas Lutheran School is located in a very competitive school market and has seen enrollment drop. The school was without a strategic plan and had been without an Executive Director. It has long been looked at as a high academic school, but the concentration on academics and loss of enrollment caused movement away from the mission of the school. The issues of creating a plan for the future while fortifying the present needed to be addressed in a way that provided a confident picture to the immediate school community as well as the community at large.
Julius Siebenga, July 14, 2011
In the fall of 2009, the board at Abbotsford Christian School approved a Strategic Plan that would provide a blue-print for its future, and was vehement upon making sure staff was implementing the plan and carrying it out. Staff put together an implementation plan for the goals, objectives and initiatives as laid out. This plan needed to be celebrated in the school community; it was driving wonderful things happening in the school. So while staff was busy implementing a plan, they were also communicating its progress to the various stakeholders, and in turn seeking to engage the community.
Tim Connor, July 15, 2010
Summit Christian Academy needed a strategic plan to survive and thrive. Since the school board was subservient to the church deacon board, the board expressed concern over the ability to determine the direction and future of the school. Quickly, the strategic plan became the survival of the school as an independent organization. The church leadership determined the church was not committed to a K4 – 12th grade school on two campuses; the school board began investigating potential independence. With the church body’s approval, the school was granted independence, finalized in early June 2010.
Todd Pehlke, July 19, 2012
The goal for this project is to create and sustain an outdoor education center for our children at St. John as well as the community. To accomplish this goal the committee needed to ensure the land is developed as a school forest and wildlife preserve, file all necessary paperwork with the city, county, and state to develop the land, and create short-term and long-term goals and strategic plans to ensure the sustainability of Krugler Conservation Center. The committee entered into this project understanding this has the potential to be a three-year process from beginning to end.
Ann Laird, July 18, 2009
St. Peter’s has traditionally relied on tuition, parish support, and the generosity of others to remain financially viable. Recently we decided to hire a Development Director to help us find other sources of revenue and develop our alumni outreach. This project focuses on creating a development plan to help give direction to our development initiatives.
Project goals: Create a Development Plan for alumni outreach initiatives and soliciting additional revenue.
Key results: This project was extremely helpful in moving a development plan forward.
Shawn Minks, July 19, 2012
Foundation Academy needed a plan to address a $9M debt load, depletion of reserves, and an annual budget designed to depend on significant fundraising. Our goals were to develop a comprehensive plan for raising annual contributions, develop and launch an annual fund, and establish a culture of giving where raised funds can be directed to development, not survival. While vision and direction for the overall school program has been strong, this has not been true in the area of finance and fundraising. The creation of an Annual Financial Development Plan provided the road map for stability and success in fundraising.
Matthew Stueber, July 18, 2009
Messiah Lutheran Church and School has developed a comprehensive strategic ministry plan. After two years as principal of the day school, it is prudent to press forward with a school specific strategic plan that reflects the general Mission, Vision, and Core Values of Messiah and positions the school for successful service to our community. Messiah has collected data in recent years in an effort to enter into strategic ministry planning. To date, the efforts have been at the macro-level, but the data collected is quite useful and can be used for more in-depth study.
Kristen Nelson, July 19, 2012
Over the last several years, Macomb Christian School has seen its enrollment decline to a point where the school almost closed. We have spent the last three years seeking to change the culture of the school and move forward with God guiding and directing us. The administration and board recognized the importance of having a strategic plan to clearly communicate the mission, vision, and goals of the school and to provide direction for the future of MCS. The end result is a plan that focuses on continuing to improve the culture of the school and also finding ways to improve our economic stability.
Charles Leslie, July 18, 2009
Believing that if you are not going forward, you will go backwards, Christian Unified Schools embarked on a strategic planning process to guide its school’s programs in coming years. Challenges ranging from a shrinking demographic of school-aged children, competition from charter and home schools, and the world-wide economic malaise have made the need to plan and think strategically more important than ever. Taking the time to think through the schools’ programs with an eye toward the future was a very rewarding task.
Lisa Vos, July 15, 2010
Hollandale Christian School has been providing Christian Education for the past 60 years. During that time our constituent base has shifted. To help us identify our areas of strength and weakness, a survey was created which became the foundation for our strategic plan. Twelve key school community members were responsible for analyzing the information into eight key goals under the four overarching themes of Personnel, Program, Facility and Finances. As part of the Strategic Planning process, new ideas were utilized in an attempt to increase our visibility and thereby increase our enrollment.
Erik Ritschard, July 18, 2009
Project Summary: Having recently completed a successful capital campaign and building project, the board and administration desired to seek the Lord together for the next priorities which school leadership should address. The administration and board began a prayerful strategic planning process in August 2008.
Project Results: We achieved the goal: A coherent, practical action plan for improving the school over the next three years, and a renewed framework and enthusiasm for strategic planning and thinking.
Gayle Renken, July 15, 2010
St. Timothy’s Lutheran School is in the process of rebuilding after a sudden and unexpected leadership change that caused a steep decline in enrollment; it has been working to repair its reputation and ultimately change the climate and culture of our school. St. Timothy’s needed to strategically plan for the future; but first, it needed to step back and reevaluate its core strengths and weaknesses. A core values document was developed and the first ever strategic plan was developed and adopted. The school board will annually review the strategic plan to continue rebuilding and reshaping.
Douglas Doty, July 14, 2011
Western Michigan boasts a strong tradition of Christian education. Many Christian schools in Michigan were founded before 1900; changing culture and demographics have impacted private schools throughout the state. While each of our schools has been relatively successful in recent years, our hope was to develop a model of collaboration to strengthen Christian education throughout the region. Together we have identified several key areas where our schools can act together: advancement, marketing, curriculum, and technology. Our four schools have agreed to a two-year time-line that will unite our schools in these key areas and evaluate our progress.
John Marshall, July 17, 2008
The goal of the project was to reinvigorate and elevate the worship component of the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School’s (RGNS) mission. The overarching project goal was to create a network of PC-USA churches across the Southeast familiar with the RGNS of today with the purpose of increasing boarding enrollment of mission-appropriate students and clarifying as well as strengthening the community’s spiritual ethos, programming and curriculum.
Xavria Schwarz, July 14, 2011
As research for the potential of starting of a summer program at Christ Lutheran School started, it became obvious that a traditional 9-week summer program/camp would not be a good fit for us. Instead of implementing a summer program/camp, we started three new summer time events. The first two bridging events were well attended and incredibly successful at “bridging” the time between the conclusion of one school year and the start of another. By using these bridging events Christ Lutheran School is hoping to retain every student that was enrolled in May through the start of the new school year.
Cecil Swetland, July 15, 2010
Many families are struggling financially to keep their children enrolled in Desert Christian Schools; others have already transferred their children to government funded schools. We developed and implemented a plan: effective marketing, precise budgeting, building community partnerships, and increasing financial aid. Due to the financial hardships our families are experiencing, we established a goal to raise $50,000 to provide partial scholarships to families. We raised $90,000 for this need and also received an additional $200,000 in undesignated gifts. As in the past, God has proven faithful and met our needs.
Marquita Moss, July 18, 2009
How can Brentwood Christian School sustain its mission beyond the tenure of the current long-standing leadership into succeeding generations? The school’s biggest challenge for the decade ahead is to create systems that will survive the transfer of leadership and will sustain the school’s commitments to doing and teaching everything in an excellent way within the Christian worldview and staying affordable for average church members. The primary means of attacking this project has been to initiate a strategic planning process.
Craig Bouvier, July 18, 2009
How does a school handle change? From that initial question, the project was filtered down to the point of change and how it is applied in a specific situation. The situation became the development of an all-encompassing employee handbook. Once the proofing process was completed, all faculty members were encouraged make comments and suggestions. Our goal was to make this manual was consistent with the Parent/Student Handbook as to create continuity and consistency in all policies and procedures of the school.
Wayne Dykstra, July 17, 2008
The goal of the Hmong Initiative is to invite the Sheboygan Hmong community to enroll their high school age children at Sheboygan County Christian High School, by strengthening relationships with the Hmong community, offering new marketing strategies and providing significant financial assistance.
Christine Metzger, July 17, 2008
The goal of the project was to provide a vision for creative urban Christian education, beyond the traditional models, and to help bring renewal to cities. The long-term vision was to create an “urban school-planting center.” The faculty and staff at Mustard Seed work to document and share the Mustard Seed program vision in order to assist others who wish to build similar schools. The project focuses on leveraging the strengths of the program by offering partnerships to share the model of urban Christ-centered education, professional development initiatives and web-based resources.
Lance Ebel, July 15, 2010
Lutheran High School has a strong tradition of impacting students’ lives through faith based education. Students learn to reflect their love for Jesus Christ in all aspects of their lives; this extends beyond campus boundaries. With changing demographics and economic stress placed on our churches, there has been a great impact on the financial support the school receives. While economic challenges have perpetuated a “hunker down” status, the purpose of the Strategic Plan remains to chart a well-planned course for the future to fully implement the school’s mission and vision to “Impact Lives.”
Pam Womack, July 19, 2012
I believed that I would be a “stayer” in my position as president of a large Christian school in Memphis, TN. I met with the chairman of the board of our school. I found out that morning that I was going to be a “mover” instead of a “stayer”. I have learned many valuable lessons in the last year. Most important lessons: accept negative feelings but don’t let them rule you; avoid isolation and seek support; quiet your mind and remember that God is in charge; keep the Rolaids handy!
Jon Holley, July 15, 2010
This project focused on the transformation of the culture of The Master’s School to better ensure its continued growth and enhanced execution in all seasons. Several project possibilities emerged: A thorough development plan, capital campaign, revising mission and vision, exploring merger possibilities with another school, and creating a strategic plan. However, our greatest need was for a broad revision of school culture that would bring growth in many areas simultaneously. The culmination is a collection of smaller projects with the end goal of sweeping cultural transformation.
Jeff Pinnow, July 15, 2010
Yongsan International School of Seoul had a very traditional step-based scale that resulted in the very best teachers being compensated at the same base rate as a poor or inexperienced teacher. This was a very egalitarian system, but it was not a system that rewarded deserving teachers. In an attempt to align compensation with accomplishment of the school’s mission and to allow excellent teachers to be compensated at a higher level, a performance pay system was developed, along with a new evaluation system and an expanded professional development program for the faculty.
Greg Scheck, July 18, 2009
For too long the School Committee had focused on running the school and not on growing the school. The committee realized that they needed to make a transition to the Policy Governance paradigm. The results of this process are a School Supervisory Committee that concentrates their efforts on the governing and not the administration of the school. We are optimistic about our future as a ministry that devotes itself to the development and nurturing of the generations to come.
Thomas Kamp, July 18, 2009
Goals for the Project: Analyze and evaluate current fundraising practices, develop sustainable plans for raising additional revenue, and work toward closing the tuition-expense gap.
Results: MCS made a commitment to growing as a community of grace. We redesigned our annual drive scheduled kickoff event, created a new organization that brings all the support organizations to the same table, and convened a task force to investigate the viability of opening a thrift store. It is also our goal to significantly increase our tuition assistance program and market its availability.
Peter Vande Brake, July 18, 2009
The goal of this project was to begin the accreditation process for North Hills Classical Academy through Christian Schools International. I felt that accreditation would be a good exercise to help our school move forward and improve our processes, policies, and systems and to make sure that we were doing all that we could to provide an excellent education. Going through the process of accreditation would help us to find the areas in which we needed to improve and reinforce our strengths.
Steven Winkelman, 2014-2015
Nicole Williams, 2017-2018
Doug Wiebe, 2012-2013
Joel Westa, 2014-2015
Brian Verwolf, 2017-2018
Jacquelyn Verhulst, 2013-2014
Raymond Verburg, 2017-2018
John VanderWindt, 2016-2017
Mike Van Slingerland, 2015-2016
Kenneth Van Meter, 2013-2014
Henry Utter, 2013-2014
Melissa Trepte, 2014-2015
Andrew, Tomashewsky, 2014-2015
Jeremy Tinsley, 2015-2016
Jason Tindol, 2016-2017
Jennifer Thompson, 2016-2017
Chris Steinmann, 2013-2014
Dan Steinfield, 2015-2016
Chris Steenhof, 2016-2017
Teresa Staley, 2014-2015
Stephen Sprague, 2015-2016
Todd Slabaugh, 2014-2015
Mike Skaggs, 2017-2018
Wayne Sit, 2015-2016
James Sijpheer, 2015-2016
Nadean Sheppard, 2014-2015
Angela, Schiller, 2017-2018
Valarie Sawka, 2012-2013
Timothy Russell, 2013-2014
Kenneth Russel, 2013-2014
Alan Runge, 2017-2018
Jonathan Rugenstein, 2017-2018
John Roberts 2014-2015
Jim Riske, 2015-2016
Jared Ramos, 2014-2015
Sheila, Psencik, 2015-2016
Jason Powell, 2013-2014
Ralph Pot, 2015-2016
Tom Postema, 2012-2013
Jon Pickelmann, 2014-2015
Jennifer Petry, 2015-2016
John Petrey, 2013-2014
Jim Peterson, 2016-2017
Jacob Pennekamp, 2013-2014
David O'Dell, 2017-2018
Lisa O'Brien, 2014-2015
Denise Norman, 2013-2014
Chris Nelson, 2015-2016
Gayle Monsma, 2017-2018
Randy Moes, 2017-2018
Katherine Minster, 2015-2016
Barbara Mertens, 2016-2017
Mitch Menning, 2015-2016
Kimberly Medendorp, 2012-2013
Ann McLean, 2017-2018
Jim McKenzie, 2013-2014
Caleb McFerran, 2016-2017
Matthew Mann, 2014-2015
Kyle Maestri, 2012-2013
Patrick Macy, 2016-2017
Dallas Lusk, 2015-2016
Scott Lisea, 2016-2017
Darren Lewis, 2016-2017
Kevin Armstrong, 2017-2018
Valerie Barclay, 2012-2013
John Barkel, 2016-2017
Jake Becker, 2012-2013
Caroline Bedroske, 2015-2016
Matthew Beimers, 2017-2018
Tim Berner, 2012-2013
Ed Boelens, 2016-2017
Jane Bona, 2012-2013
Kevin Bouwers, 2016-2017
Mel Brandsma, 2014-2015
Cole Braun, 2017-2018
Scott Browning, 2016-2017
Peter Buisman, 2014-2015
Josh Bullard, 2012-2013
David Burgess, 2013-2014
Rick Burslem, 2014-2015
Luke Butler, 2016-2017
Jonathan Butterfield, 2016-2017
Mike Campbell, 2014-2015
John Christman, 2017-2018
Joseph Cottrell, 2014-2015
Kevin Creutz, 2012-2013
John Davis, 2015-2016
Nate Davis, 2012-2013
Jerry DeGroot, 2017-2018
Mary Ann Deschaine, 2012-2013
Mandy Diaz, 2015-2016
Stephen Eggold, 2012-2013
Scott Ernstmeyer, 2012-2013
Michele Evans, 2014-2015
Tony Fajardo, 2012-2013
Amber Fiala, 2012-2013
Mary Fink, 2012-2013
Joy Fisk, 2014-2015
Alan Freeman, 2013-2014
Sharon Fuchs, 2014-2015
Carlo Giannotta, 2016-2017
Brenda Giroux, 2013-2014
Bill Glotzbach, 2014-2015
Michael Gregory, 2013-2014
William Groot, 2013-2014
George Guichelaar, 2013-2014
Steve Hall, 2015-2016
Chris Harmon, 2012-2013
David Harris, 2012-2013
Royce Hartmann, 2013-2014
David Hawes, 2014-2015
Scott Hickling, 2012-2013
Stan Hielema, 2017-2018
Brenda Hillman, 2016-2017
Stacy Hoeft, 2012-2013
Wendy Hofman, 2014-2015
Shade Holmes, 2015-2016
David Hook, 2016-2017
Kevin Huinink, 2017-2018
Robyn Jacks-DeBose, 2016-2017
Rodney Jackson, 2017-2018
Jeffrey Johnson, 2013-2014
Jonathan Kamin, 2014-2015
Julie Kangas, 2012-2013
Jean Kim, 2015-2016
Brian Koetje, 2015-2016
Thomas Konjoyan, 2013-2014
Joyce Koornneef, 2012-2013
Nathan Kretzmann, 2013-2014
Lisa Kuzma, 2015-2016
James Landskroener, 2013-2014
Timothy Lehman, 2016-2017
Danae LeMoine, 2015-2016
Philip Lundquist, 2020
Brent Johnson, 2020
The purpose of this Van Lunen Project was initially to develop a Strategic Operating Plan for Concordia Preparatory School (CPS) in Towson, Maryland. As the process developed, the scope widened to redefine some of the school’s foundational documents to provide additional missional clarity
Matt Driedeger, 2020
Jeanne Zimmerly Jantzi, July 6, 2020
My article, addressed to other Heads of Schools, tells about my school’s comprehensive capital campaign and shares five ideas of things I have found to be true in this experience
Justin DeMoor, 2020
Bryan Young, 2020
Entering into my third year as Principal of Delta Christian School, I along with the Board of Trustees determined that this would be an optimal time to engage in the development of a strategic plan (Appendix 1). The process was well-supported by the Society of Christian Schools British Columbia, specifically Executive Director, Ed Noot, and Director of Development, Cathy Kits. In reviewing the school’s last strategic plan from 2013, it is evident that the main goal for the school community at that time was to ensure school survival due to low enrollment. The focus of the new plan is to build on the past four years of sustained growth towards being a thriving school community with renewed purpose and vision. The plan supports the direction that school has already been on, which is to grow enrolment to become a fully dual-tracked school by 2024-2025 and to determine a clear pathway for continuation in Christian education for our grade 7 graduates by 2024-2025.
Kenneth Bergsma, 2020
Nicole Levy, 2020
The focus of this project was to create and adopt a functional governance manual for the Board of Education of Luther Memorial School.
Anne Lucasse, 2020
My initial proposal to Van Lunen Fellowship focused on the process of succession at Hillcrest; what could be put in place so that administrative turnover could happen seamlessly. Beginning with discussions in 2000, Hillcrest moved from receiving the majority of professional staff and administrators seconded through mission agencies to directly hiring for open positions. This change in how people came to Hillcrest, coupled with outdated mission and vision statements, resulted in mission drift and administrators doing good work and with good plans for the school but with little continuity. In January 2019, after an almost 10 year process, Hillcrest adopted new statements of mission, vision and core values. I found myself consistently using the language of our new mission, vision and core values statements. Processes for administrative succession are important, but without alignment to these new statements succession can lose its grounding. The implementation of our new mission vision and core values laid the groundwork for a change to my project from looking at administrative succession to Board of Governors, Staff, Alumni and Hillcrest Foundation development.
Lucas Bickel, 2020
After six years of being an intentional catalyst for change in my position as principal of Immanuel Lutheran School in Hamilton, Ohio, it had now become time to explore the option of adding a 9th grade to our ministry extensions of church, K-8 school, preschool, and childcare. To identify and order my steps, I sought out the unique perspectives and concerns of three influential groups; stakeholders, the market, and legal.
Marc Verkaik, 2020
In the Fall of 2019 it was identified that our current Strategic Plan was 90% accomplished. It was also during this time that I began my role as the Lead Administrator of Kalamazoo Christian School. The School Board and I felt that it was time to start the process of establishing goals that would guide us over the next few years.
Chris Nellermoe, 2020
Bryan Alvaré, 2020
Nearly all Christian schools lay claim to the idea that their education consists of “academic excellence with a biblical worldview.” If that holds true at Faith Christian Academy, what’s the evidence? Our mission statement uses the letters in the word FAITH: Fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, Academic Excellence, Integrity of Heart, Transformation of Self and Hope for the Nations. While many metrics are in place about intentionally measuring academic growth, no intentional measurement of spiritual formation existed at our school. The purpose of this project is to examine what our school does related to spiritual formation, examine its effectiveness, and make necessary course corrections to help students grow in their faith in God. The further our staff moved on these initiatives, the more opportunities to define, refine and develop our spiritual formation efforts emerged.
Tim Bentum, 2020
On March 12, 2020 all Ontarians received word from our Provincial Premier that schools would remain closed following March Break for two additional weeks due to the outbreak of Covid-19. At the time, this seemed like a smart decision although most people believed that we would take a few weeks away and then return to school. As it turned out, our lives have been completely and permanently altered and no schools in Ontario re-opened at all for the remainder of the school year.
Heidi Blokland, 2020
Kenneth Krueger, 2020
Corey Moss, 2020
For my Van Lunen Project, the focus is on the long-term direction and success of our school program. The best way to accomplish this is through a five-year strategic plan, however, Our Redeemer Lutheran School of Dallas needed some preparation before we moved forward with creating that plan. My project was to launch the strategic planning process for Our Redeemer. The project had four parts. Each of the four parts will be explored below by using the questions: What did I do? What did I learn? What difference is it making in my school?
Michael Humphries, 2020
I began a collaborative process that included some of our staff, our board and our finance committee. We did research to find were we fit in within our market in regard to our fees. I consulted colleagues about the financial aid program at each of their schools. Dave Anger, a Van Lunen Fellow, was very generous and helpful in sharing the program that Bearspaw Christian School had just revised and implemented.
Cynthia Wellman, 2020
We’ve all had this student in our classroom. You know, the one daydreaming as they sit near the back of the room, bright, but completely unmotivated. The one who cares far more about friends and fun than academics. That natural leader who feels no sense of responsibility to accompany their gifts. The student who's developed flexibility and problem-solving skills (mostly due to the fact that they often find themselves in a crisis of their own making), and somehow always manage to land on their feet. From where you are sitting, you realize the lack of ambition, vision, and direction in the life of this student. Exasperated you might wonder aloud, what will become of this kiddo? The answer might surprise you, but not nearly as much as it surprised me. The student who was never interested in school, who couldn't wait for the end of each class, school day, and academic year, woke up 25 years later to find herself the Head of School at Veritas Christian Academy. That student was, and in many ways, still is, me. While could have just written about a number of “projects” that our school has completed over the last 12 months, by far the most remarkable transformation the Van Lunen Fellowship program has helped to facilitate within Veritas has taken place in my own heart, soul, and mind.
Jeremy Marsh, 2020
My Van Lunen project was to review and revamp the development strategy and operation of Stillwater Christian School. Coming into the 2019-20 school year, my second as head of school, I knew that the most impactful project I could work on would be in the development realm. In particular, my project involved the following elements: 1) begin serving as the Chief Development Officer for the school; 2) Rewrite our development message (case for support); 3) Initiate “Step 3, Building for Growth” a new capital campaign with a primary goal of building a four classroom expansion; 4) update our prospect list and divide it by retain, regain, recruit; 5) Decide on strategy and specific goals for face-to-face cultivation and small group events; 6) Work with the Stillwater Board to get their assistance, buy-in, and support.
Quentin Flokstra, 2020
Did your strategic plan account for a pandemic? If you answered “yes,” then there is no need to read on and we will all look for your next bestselling book. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that plans must be held loosely, and strategic plans must be a living document for heads of schools and boards of directors. Indeed, if a school has an effective strategic plan to move forward, as Alan Pue (2016) notes, they will be positioned to: set the course for their school, stay the course when things get tough, be financially sustainable, serve the church as full partners in fulfilling the Great Commission, and show God’s glory to a watching world.
Dan Vande Pol, 2020
Two decades ago, Bradenton Christian School penned an aggressive long-range plan full of faith and vision. She wanted a Fine Arts Facility, a middle school building and then a new gym for her campus consisting of an elementary building, a sixth grade building, a secondary building and a gym, all with dirt parking lots. Fifteen years ago, the Fine Arts Building was built with the help of a few key donors and the generosity of school parents and grandparents. Six years ago, I took the position of superintendent of Bradenton Christian School, the school I started teaching at in 1988, before moving away.
Michael Waugh, 2020
The Cleveland Lutheran High School Association (CLHSA), consisting of both Lutheran High School West and Lutheran High School East, has proudly supported its churches since 1958. The Association’s founders set forth and accomplished a vision to provide an educationally rich, Christian education to thousands of graduates since its inception. Today, the CLHSA is proposing to intentionally invest in and support its middle schools with various types of educational programming.