HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-10-26 Stillwater Gazette ArticleSalem lauth r n turn
Nineties have been
time of growth for
Christian school
By MARK BROUWER
Staff Writer
STILLWATER • --- In 1919, the first
Christian school run by what is now
Sa €ern Lutheran Church, closed. 'The
school had a good run, operating for 37
years on a hill overlooking one of the
region's booming lumber towns.
When the lumber ran out, however, so
did the school's good fortune. Eight
sawmills, a shoe factory and other vital
businesses closed, and with there went
the families that populated the school.
Eighty years later, however, those hard
times are a distant memory.
According to Principal Bob Waedekin,
today's Salem Lutheran School is not
only celebrating the 25th anniversary of
its reopening, it is on good financial foot-
ing and growing fast.
In the years after re- opening in 1974,
the school operated out of a handful of
Sunday School rooms at Salem Lutheran
Church, with a small staff and usually no
more than a few dozen students.
However, as the Stillwater area grew,
so did student numbers. Enrollment has
quadrupled since 1990, when there were
45 in the school's eight grades. Now, the
school has 175 students.
"I think there are a number of reasons
The congregation grew, there was gen-
eral growth in the area, and a lot of peo-
ple heard about as by word of mouth,"
Waedekin said.
"There were also people looking for
Of iminr'4nr-P
Opinion
values education and alternatives to
main - stream schooling."
Growth spurred the church's congrega-
lion to approve building a $2 million
addition to the church for the school in
1996. It greatly expanded classroom
space, added a gymnasium and handi-
capped access, and provided room for a
kitchen and cafeteria — all of which
could he used by the congregation and
students alike.
Waedekin said the mortgage for the
addition should be paid for by the end of
this year. "'the people in the - congregation
have been quite generous," he said.
Even with the addition, the school is
again at capacity and the church 'nay
have to limit enrollment, add to tlic
. ^ .^'FAT`....,..
0-2.,- i79 q
From the Gazette files
On this date in 1896 the Gazette reported:
See Salem, page 12
Gram dealers concerned about Manitoba's wheat imports
, :li . .�...•�t.. r4'C. Y!i.'l- - ^x±!! ? +�n'rr.�l!
SISh- :1!rid photo
Pictured are students from the original Salem Church School during the late 1800s. The school closed in 1919
after the lumber boom ended, and reopened in 1974.
school or find some other solution.
"We're already Cull in the existing
building," Waedekin said. "'The congre-
gation is facing enrollment questions, and
deciding what it will he doing in the near
future."
This summer, the school made some
breathing morn by converting a house the
church owns next door into a preschool.
Also the school is again using the
church's Sunday School rooms.
Waedekin added that the school has
added staff over the past year and is about
to get its second full -time pastor. In total,
the school has nine teachers and teacher's
GaeeRe ph. by Ma+k Brouwer
Salem Lutheran School principal Bob Waedekin and sixth grade teacher
Set Zimmerman in front of the home the school recently converted into
a preschool.
A thought
"Of all the varieties
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has a
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By CHRIS BALM,
Managing Editor
STILLWATER --
has a communication
page. It publishes ari
that's 'nailed to distri
schedule to publish a
the Gazette each 'nor
Yet, the school disc
tion problem.
School Board ca
punctuated the issue
at Rutherford Eleuten
The problem he nc
between the School
stitoents.
"1 feel the hoard
cient parental input i
said. "The open forun
cornniunication nsech
ally seen parents leav
ings more frustrated 1
they arrived due to tl
not to respond to or di
the concerns presente
To improve paren
Buchanan
uncertain
By ROCHELLE OL
Associated Press Wr
ST, PAUL — Nr
Party presidential caw
just as controversial i
was with the GOP.
"I welcome Mr. B
the Reform Party, but
our presidential candi
Jesse Ventura told Na
Monday. Ventura d
Capitol reporters on
statement through his
Suchanan's move
some in the Reform P
now have to seriously
of breaking from th
t3uchanan's Repulrlicc
they will have to dce
Jury selec
By ASHLEY H. GILr
Associated Press Wr
MINNEAPOLIS -
about whether Donal
felon, possessed gun:
every prospective jut
about the man charg
Poirier.
"I understand the
charged with anducti
said juror No. 4, a I
been sitting in jail."
Blom, 50, sat quiet
ping his unshaven el
potential jurors were e
Half the potential j
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