ShawneeDispatch.com

Jereme Brueggemann remembers the first year that Hope Lutheran School opened in 1983.

There were 21 students and two teachers. He was in third grade.

“There were times during construction where we moved to different parts of the building,” he said. “There was a time where our classroom was in a house on a different part of the property.”

Brueggemann was part of the school’s first graduating eighth-grade class in 1988.

This year, Hope Lutheran School is celebrating its 25th anniversary and now boasts an enrollment of 161 students and eight full-time staff members.

Kindergarten teacher Kris Alsin, who has been at the school for most of its 25 years, worked with teachers, students and alumni to develop an event each month to celebrate the school’s silver anniversary. Most of the events were scheduled on or near the 25th day of the month. Friday the school planned a 2.5-mile walk, but because of threatening weather the walk was canceled. Saturday, a birthday carnival took place with face painting and inflatables. The Christian rock group the Shawn Buxton Band also performed.

After Hope Lutheran School opened on Aug. 29, 1983, it became a big part of the Shawnee community, Alsin said.

“The best thing about Hope School is its people, and it has such a big, big family feel,” she said.

It really was a family atmosphere for Brueggemann, who is now 33 and principal of Argentine Middle School in Kansas City, Kan. His father, Milt Brueggemann, was Hope Lutheran School’s first principal and worked there until he died in 2004.

“I remember when he was called to serve,” Brueggemann said of his father. “We were living in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the time.”

Although it was difficult to transition from “Mr. B” at school and “Dad” at home, Brueggemann said attending a school that his father led had its benefits.

“Not only did I get to spend a day with my father, but we spent many evenings together,” he said. “He would have to stay late and I would stay with him.”

Brueggemann now serves on the board of education for the school and is a member of Hope Lutheran Church. He said he attended Saturday’s carnival and still visits with his former classmates.

“It was a very small school, but we were a family because we stayed together for so long,” Brueggemann said. “We see each other semifrequently. One of the people that was in my class was over at my house just a few days ago.”

Brueggemann said his experience at Hope Lutheran influenced him to go into education.

“It was such an enriching experience and a big part of my life that I wanted to continue to be a part of that in helping other kids and being involved with youth for my career,” he said. “I think certainly that my education experiences at the private school have definitely translated into what I am doing now as far as how I treat people — saying that we are a family and we are all here together trying to do the best we can in our community.”

Students will celebrate Hope Lutheran’s birthday again in May with an ice cream social and 25 toppings. In June, the school will have a worship service and dinner and dance for alumni and their parents.

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