Milestones
& Highlights
How many pivotal moments have you had in your life: marriages, the birth of children, moves that took you out of state, job changes or even completely new career paths? As you reflect on your life and those moments you have had, it may be easy to see how God provided and now sustains you in your new way of life.
During the past 70 years at Fox Valley Lutheran High School, much of the same can be said. Whether in the humble beginning of only 8 students (in the first class during the fall of 1953), or the school’s largest class on record with 223 this school year, the Holy Spirit has had the opportunity to work in each of the 8,200+ students’ lives while they attended and graduated from FVL. Imagine the impact these alumni have had on others not only here in the Valley, but throughout the entire world.
From the Jefferson School building those first few years to FVL’s first permanent home on Oneida Street, memories continued to be made, and the Lord continued to provide. Not only did enrollment grow, but FVL’s first computer lab was added in 1980. With an enrollment of 630 students in 1982, the school reached its first million-dollar operating budget. Then, in the early 1990s, with the help of a group of volunteers, which has now grown to nearly 100 people (tens of thousands of hours donated annually), FVL started the Bargain Garden Thrift Store to support both operational and wish list needs for the FVL ministry. The concept of using our time and talents was put to use in a practical and supportive way!
Knowing the school was aging and additional ministry-specific space was needed to move the mission forward, a long-range planning committee was developed in the early to mid-1990s. It didn’t take long for the Rahmlow Farm to be purchased on the corner of JJ and Meade Streets. The “New FVL” opened in the fall of 2000 and serves as home to FVL today.
Since the fall of 2000, we have seen many new milestones and highlights. These include, but are not limited to, athletic and activity State Championships, a highly successful STEM program, a welding shop, and most recently a Biomedical Program. FVL continues to pursue excellence in all it does to serve our students. A 2018 addition has helped support these ongoing advancements in education and ministry, and we continue to see the Lord blessing the FVL family throughout the process.
As we reflect on the many milestones from the past 70 years at FVL, one thing has remained constant - FVL’s commitment to partnering with congregations and families to train teens for lives of service and for eternity. To God be all the glory yesterday, today, and forevermore.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
President Jeffrey J. Loberger
president@fvlhs.org
Legacy Magazine is an official publication of Fox Valley Lutheran High School.
EDITOR - Matthew Foxen, LAYOUT EDITOR - Sharon Ragner
Fox Valley Lutheran HS,
5300 N. Meade Street, Appleton, WI 54913-8383
Phone:
920-739-4441 Send Email to FVL