Trevor Campbell, Art
"This summer, I worked as the Administrative Assistant for Franke Park Day Camp, supervising kids from ages 4-18, and educating them on camping skills, nature, and Native American Lore. During the week of the Fourth of July, a friend and I traveled to Northern Georgia and hiked 85 miles along the Appalachian Trail for 6 days."
Karen Johnson, Guidance Assistant
"I do work through the summer break. Some of my summer duties include closing out the previous school year reports to the Department of Education, gathering data on the graduating seniors, requesting records for freshmen and new transfer students and preparing their files for their school counselors. The summer reminds me of the cycle of all things: Seniors ending their high school years, but beginning a new season of life in college or career. Incoming freshman ending their grade school life to begin here at CLHS. One of my favorite things I did over the summer was to continue studying God's word with St. Paul's morning Bible study. Our study of Ephesians came to a close, but we are going to start studying Ecclesiastes and then Revelation. Again the cycle, everything begins and ends, except for God's love for his children, it began before we were and will go on forever."
Lizette Pierce, Spanish
"I spent a lot of time on the baseball and softball diamonds cheering on my kids' teams on! While my children were in camps and activities, I read scripture, spent time in prayer and meditation. My son and I went zip-lining together, my daughter and I baked a ton. My husband and I learned to play euchre and had fun bettering ourselves in the game of corn hole. As a family, we took our very first tent camping trip. We had a great time. We can't wait to camp again later this fall."
Adam Friedrich, Band
"Marching Band! There were parades, rehearsals, our awesome Junior Cadet summer camp, and many other exciting things going on in the instrumental music department here at CLHS in the summer. Even though the academic year may end in May, that's when the Marching Cadets get started! This summer was spent getting to know new students and developing an exciting new show that will spread the word of God to all who hear it! There was time also spent with relaxing with friends and family! It was also a joy to get to celebrate with close friends at weddings throughout the summer. It was a great summer, and I am ready to get back into the swing of things with the start of another new school year!"
Krista Koch, Math
"My summer mornings were filled with the 4 W's whenever possible. They are walk, water, weed, and most importantly, spend time in the Word. With children returning from college and one staying with us this year, I also spent lots of time cleaning and organizing. No sooner had we purged our house of many items when my mother-in-law decided it was time to move from the house in which she had resided for over 60 years! Needless to say, I will need to do some more organizing and purging next year again! We spent a week in Oveido, Florida (near Orlando) with my mother while Hannah (our daughter) participated in the National Volleyball Tournament. Our family has been blessed with good friends that own a camper and boat so we spent several days throughout the summer camping and boating. My husband, boys, and I purchased golf passports and spent some enjoyable hours playing various courses. Finally, in July, our entire family was able to drive to Fernandina Beach, Florida (north of Jacksonville) for a family reunion with my mom and siblings. Numerous hours were spent enjoying the beach, reading, and playing cards. We even saw a sea turtle come up out of the water to lay her eggs!"
Dawn Schuller, Admissions
"I started the summer with gallbladder surgery and bed rest so I binge watched Glee, The Crown, House of Cards and the 100 on Netflix. Then I flew down to Orlando with my daughters for Volleyball Nationals (my youngest played). A trip highlight was going to a mystery dinner theater for the first time. Back home we loved the hot air balloons at Angola’s Balloons Aloft Festival in June. In July, I got the opportunity to network and learn tons in Boston at the K-12 Blackbaud Conference. We were blessed to spend time with family too. My step-father, who was deathly ill back in January, just finished his final chemo treatment! We praise God for his healing and I thank everyone for their prayers. We ended the summer with the Allen County Fair where my son showed dairy and beef cattle for the first time."
Pat Frerking, Principal
"A summer highlight for my family occurred when our oldest daughter sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation concert sponsored by Concordia College New York. We also enjoyed spending time with our family in Canada on the shores of Georgian Bay and exploring Fort Wayne's rivers and surrounding lakes by kayak and bike. Also snuck in a U2 concert!"Lizzy Hoham, English
"I stayed home with my two kids, and the big success was potty-training our three-year-old. I devoted some time to course planning for this new school year, especially our new Life 101 elective that I am teaching with Mrs. Salisbury and Mrs. Pierce. I also continued work on colloquy classes in Christian Doctrine through Concordia University-Portland, and enjoyed some free time to work on our house, catch up on reading, and spend time at the lake. Definitely an uneventful but relaxing few months."
Tavis Schlicker, Choir
"Family, Driving, and Choir! Schlicker summers consist of family adventure road trips, choir conferences, and camps. We drove to Texas and Minnesota with stops in Mississippi and Wisconsin Dells to visit family, friends, and attend a Christian family camp. Additionally, I led a choir tour to New York & Washington D.C., attended choir conferences in Indianapolis & San Antonio, and participated in a weeklong choir camp while directing the Youth Chorale of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir. It’s a great way to broaden horizons and get new inspiration for the coming school year."
Leah Zink, Media Arts
"This summer I spent some time on the road, staying in Florida for a few weeks with one of my best friends. Canoeing, cliff jumping, fishing, and swimming in the gulf coast are a few of the fun things I did this summer. Video gaming, festivals, and relaxing took up the rest of my time."
Scott Storm, Computer Science
"Over the summer I attended the 3-day ISTE 2017 conference in San Antonio, TX. In addition to enjoying the history and sights of San Antonio I gained a wealth of knowledge and information in the continued development of our computer science program. Not only will we partner with the science department bringing Ozobots to the classroom but introducing new languages such as Swift and developing outreach CS programs with our partner schools are on the agenda. And this was all courtesy of how I spent my summer vacation."
Sean Gibson, Social Studies
"A good chunk of my summer is always coaching the Arlington Park Swim Team! So, lots of time at the pool. Beyond that the rest of the days filled up quick with leading the youth group at our church, some youth events, lots of projects around the house, working on our vehicles, time with family at the lake and spending as much time as possible playing with my kids! I'm looking forward to life calming down a bit now that school is starting."
Pam Rusher, P.E. & Health
"The 2017 Rusher Summer: Baseball, baseball, baseball. Two boys-two teams and lots of baseball! Driver’s Ed is always a summer project. And each boy found one day to go with a friend to Cedar Point this year. What a fun summer!"
Reese Breischaft, Computer Science TA
"This summer has been about two things for me: work and school. Since graduating from CLHS in 2016, I have been interning at Steel Dynamics as a programmer. This year I was transferred to OmniSource, a company owned by SDI. On July 21 I started working at Concordia, and am glad to be a part of the team! I've also enrolled in two summer classes at IPFW. The first was an online class and the second was a math class for credit towards my Computer Science degree."
Joe Gudel, Theology
"My wife and I spent part of our summer being chauffeured to Washington, D.C. via Amtrak. Besides visiting Ford's Theater, the Lincoln memorial and several really cool (free) Smithsonian museums we just relaxed and walked around our capitol - and even saw a cool motorcade with about six identical "decoy" vehicles leaving the White House, surrounded by lots of Capitol Security on motorcycles! Besides this I read through a lot of the NT and worked on a few writing projects."
Eric Kaschinske, Math
"This summer was a great mix of work and play. The "work" involved a few days of Google training, bus driving training, and many weeks in investigating and analyzing different resources for Honors Geometry and Honors Algebra 2, as well as investigating methods for instruction in longer class periods. Work at home meant such tasks as attic insulation and cleaning out files in the home office. "Play" time meant I spent quite a bit of time attending my children's soccer, baseball, and basketball games, but was also able to get off the bleachers and get some miles in by running and biking. I also spent four weeks coaching at various basketball camps and found a little time to read a handful of books. As a family, we enjoyed some TinCaps games, many backyard evenings by the fire, camping in Michigan and few weekend trips out of state for weddings. It was a wonderful summer, and I'm looking forward to the new school year!"
Stacey Salisbury, Family & Consumer Science
"I spent many fine days at our lake house. We have many different projects going on there as well as here in town. I was on the hunt through thrift stores from Northwest Ohio to Northwest Indiana for bargain fabric we can use in our new sewing service club, Sewing His Seeds Across the World, with mixed results but that's half the fun of poking around in those stores! I spent 2 delightful weeks with our grandsons, Reid, 10 & Drew, 7. A great place we discovered off State Road 120, west of SR 5 is called Dutch Creek Farm. It's an Amish animal feeding farm. You take a wagon ride through their fields where a variety of animals come over to the open wagon so you can feed and pet them. (Camels, Bison, Watusi cows, Brahman cows, Zebra, Donbra, Mulebra, Llamas, Donkeys, Mules, Goats, Emus, Deer & more!) Great fun & very educational. Open daily through October 1 except Sundays. The boys then spent a week in FW going to Franke Park Day Camp and along with Aaron & Hayley Buchholz and their son, Victor, took the grandsons to the Allen County Fair. Enjoyed collaborating with Lizzy Hoham & Lizette Pierce on our new course Lifeskills 101. Finally found a free day to sew pillowcases with Jayne Reff. I read several historical Christian stories by Janette Oke and discovered Vietnamese Pho at Banh Mi Barista.Yum!"
Lisa O'Dell, Science
"This summer I took my two daughters to a couple volleyball camps, and my oldest daughter has decided she now loves band, volleyball, swimming, and reading! My youngest daughter tried cheer camp again, and really enjoys cheering for Concordia along with her love for gymnastics. Go Cadets! My favorite events were an enormouse family reunion on my parents' farm, a trip to see each of my 95-year-old grandparents, and a day hiking in waterfalls near Salamonie reservoir with my best friend and her daughter. My family and I also enjoyed a trip to Indiana beach and the book 'A girl who drank the moon.' It has been wonderful to rest, reconnect with my family and friends, and enjoy God's beautiful creation."
Luanne Erdos, Practical Arts
"My summer involved travels to Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina....connecting with friends and family. I enjoyed time on the beach and tasted many yummy foods in Charleston, SC. I played a lot of tennis and intently watched both the French Open and Wimbledon. We officially have a daughter in our family as our oldest son was married in Charlottesville, Virginia on July 21. Professionally, I attended a fabulous DECA Conference, planned my classes for the new 2017-2018 schedule, and moved into my new office space in Room 101."
Aaron Buchholz, Theology
"This summer went by very quickly for the Buchholz family. June was spent moving, with the aid of family and friends, into the house my wife and I just bought. July was spent traveling up to Wisconsin, over to Nebraska, down to Kansas, and finally back home. I also got to spend time with my 1 year old son who enjoyed going on bike rides around our new neighborhood with my wife and I."
Michelle Converset, English
"Amidst teaching lots of young drivers how to drive as safely as possible, part of my family and I traveled to Nebraska this summer. My ex-husband, one of my sons and I trekked through the Midwest via Amtrak to visit lots of my extended family members in Cornhusker land. My son and his dad also enjoyed the final games of the College World Series held in Omaha. Too much food was consumed but much fun was had. During a few, small, occasional breaks during the rest of summer, I enjoyed doing some reading, walking, baking, painting, antiquing and just puttering around my home."
Crystal Castleman, Science
"I spent two weeks of my summer trying to solve the mystery around the fictitious death of Anna Garcia. Anna was found dead in her home. She suffers from diabetes, sickle cell anemia and heart disease. Could one of these ailments or possibly an infection resulted in her death or was it foul play? This scenario is the central theme of a new class being offered at CLHS, Principles of Biomedical Science (PBS). The goal of the class is to solve the mystery of Anna’s death while reinforcing biology concepts and engaging students in hands-on investigations centered around medicine. This freshman-level science elective course is the first in a series of classes that will be offered at Concordia in the Project Lead the Way (PTLW) Biomedical Science Series. Each year, a new class in the series will be offered as an elective option for students to be taken along side a core science class such as biology, chemistry or physics. Human Body Systems (HBS), Medical Innovations (MI), and Biomedical Innovations (BI) are the other classes in the series. During my two-week training for PBS, I alternated between the role of student and teacher and ultimately determined her cause of death. I’m keeping that answer to myself for now! I’m excited to be the first teacher at CLHS to be trained in the course and look forward to engaging students with this mystery during the upcoming school year. To learn more about this class and the others in the series visit https://www.pltw.org/."
Tyler Hoyle, Science
"This past summer I did what I usually do during the summer including working at some basketball camps and going to the lake with friends. This year though my wife and I had our first child, our son Liam, who was born in early May! Needless to say, most of my summer was spent with him attached to my arms, changing diapers, bath time, feedings and washing clothes from all the spit up. I loved every minute of it! It was difficult to leave him to come back to work but it is good to be back!"
Mark Dolde, Math
"Apart from a week in Orlando with Concordia Church's youth, I enjoyed a summer filled with family time, running, reading, and the installation of a walk-in shower."