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Dear Classmates, 

     CLHS is off to another good start.  The enrollment is about the same as last year at a little over 700 students, a little bit higher than our days.  The freshman class is rather small which accounts for the lack of growth.  Two teachers, Chris Gieschen and Joe Gudel, retired last year, while while several others took different jobs, including one staff member who became the principal of St. Peter Lutheran School in Fort Wayne.  Four new staff members were installed at the opening chapel service.  One of those staff members is a new band director since the former director has returned to school to earn his master's degree.  Big shoes to fill since the band has been state-ranked for many years.  

     Sports Programs - People have a lot of good teams to choose from this fall.  Both girls' and boys' cross country are ranked in the top ten in state with the boys' team ranked #1 in the state without a class system.  Girls' volleyball is outstanding again, once again ranked in state. The football team has the difficulty of playing against some of the top-ranked teams in state: Snider, Dwenger, Homestead, and Carroll.  However, after those big four, we should be able to beat any of the other teams  Friday night will give a good indication when they play at Luers.  Boys' tennis and soccer and girls' golf round out the sports roster.  

     Music/Drama - There are usually two major drama presentations during the year, a fall play which is fairly ambitious and a spring play which is usually very ambitious as well as very famous.  This spring's presentation will be "Fiddler on the Roof."  As we mentioned earlier, the marching band season which ends in November usually sees our band participating in the state finals in Indianapolis.  The choir will be outstanding again, and I will remind you that if you are anywhere near FW in December, you will love attending Christmas at the Embassy which features all aspects of the CLHS music program, choir, band, and orchestra.  

     Koinonia - As we have mentioned before, CLHS has a great program called koinonia in which three students from each grade level meet once a week for 45 minutes with an adult mentor.  Student leaders are given materials to help them lead the weekly sessions.  As part of the program, there is an annual service day which this year will be held in early October.  

     Personal Note - We mentioned to you last year that ten students from a sister school in China were attending CLHS for the year.  Three of them were juniors and are back at CLHS this year.  Three went back to China to stay, and four are now attending college in the USA.  We kept a girl named Nancy, and our daughter and son-in-law kept a girl named Jessica who is back at CLHS for another year.  Our Nancy was accepted at Purdue and is attending there now.  On the Tuesday before Labor Day, she informed us that she wanted to come "home"(she will stay with us during school breaks and vacations), and that she wanted to be baptized!  We were very excited as was she, and the pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church graciously rearranged the service that weekend so she could be baptized.  Our entire family was present that day, and we set an LC-MS record with 19 sponsors.  Nancy asked me for my phone and immediately put a picture on my screen saver  from that day.  Nancy knew nothing about Jesus or Christianity when she came last year, and she is attending church every Sunday at the university Lutheran church at Purdue.  Lots of praise and thanksgiving for that one.

     Mini-Reunion - We have been trying to get guys in the FW area together on an informal basis for the past few months.  Some of our girls have already been doing this.  We have met twice and had a great time.  We plan to meet again on the Friday of homecoming weekend.  The date is September 27 at noon at the Acme.  If any out-of-towners happen to be here that day, please join us.  We had planned to participate in the CLHS golf outing the day before, but several people we thought could play will not be able to play.  Therefore, the Friday gathering at the Acme will be the only activity that weekend.  The Class of '64 already does this and have had as many as 15 people in attendance.  They have been bragging so I think we need to step up to the plate.