April 1, 2010
2010 marks 30 years of educational ministry in the Bemidji area for Heartland Christian Academy. As a call to envision what the next decades might look like, our board chairman Dr. Mark Claussen recently challenged us board members and staff to consider targets of excellence this school should be aiming at in the years to come. Obviously, it is not possible to apply focused attention on absolutely everything that a school might do, nor is it helpful to aim at nothing in particular. As a goose-hunting friend of mine once taught me, even if the sky is full of birds, if you aim at nothing, that is what you will be sure to hit: nothing.
Dr. Claussen proposed four broad areas in which to pursue excellence that I would like to explore for the next several weeks on Heartland Focus. As principal, I believe that he is correct in his aim, for these are worthy goals for a Christian school.
The first area of potential excellence at Heartland is Christian discipleship. By that, I understand him to mean the deliberate incorporation of materials, methods and mission that will foster the development of Christian boys and girls into godly leaders. We will look at this area more carefully and specifically next week.
The second area that Dr. Claussen challenged us to pursue is in the field of fine arts, including music, art and drama. We are privileged this year to have as our music instructor Mrs. Sonya Connell, a musically talented member of the Bemidji Symphony who has the gifting of a teacher. She has helped us to see what excellence in the area of fine arts could look like. We will share more thoughts on fine arts in coming weeks.
The third area targeted for excellence in Heartland’s future is in the area of the sciences, including technology and math. Most Christian schools have excellent math programs, but many have viewed science as the arena for secular humanism and macro-evolution. As a man of science myself, I can appreciate that the concentrated study of earth, space, physics, chemistry and life science should not be abandoned as subjects outside of faith. We will explore this area of excellence this month, as well.
Finally, as a physician, Dr. Claussen has a strong desire that an area of excellence for Heartland should include health and physical fitness. It is remarkable, considering some facility limitations we face, especially on days that the outdoors is not available, how generally fit our student body is, under the direction of our physical education instructor, Mrs. Jane Gislason. Dr. Claussen’s vision goes beyond mere calisthenics in gym class, and we will be looking further at the area of health and wellness on this broadcast.
Why pursue excellence? Biblically, we believe that doing things in an outstanding way reflects the character and power of the God we serve. Academically, it is good for children to be challenged with goals that go beyond the norm. And for our school in this community, it means gaining a reputation for offering above and beyond what current and future school parents expect.
Our broadcast today is sponsored by Northern Safety and Security, who provide the Power to Protect Northland families.