Immanuel Lutheran church
began in Sheridan in 1903 as “Evangelische Lutherisch Immanuels Gemeinde” and
held services in German. Voters’ meeting minutes of the congregation were in
German until 1926. Pastor Cain still has occasional shut-in visits in German.
In the 1920’s under
Pastor Her, Immanuel Lutheran had a German-language school in the second floor
of the Park Street parsonage. A request for a mission grant to build a school
was declined by the District at the time
Wyoming became a center
for classical Lutheran education when William Heine, one of the original
pioneers, became Education Executive for the Wyoming District of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod[1]
with the support of the Rev. Dr. Ron Garwood, Wyoming District President and
former pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan. Pastor Heine’s wife, Melinda Heine, had
researched classical education and shared its promise with her husband. Pastor
Heine served Immanuel Lutheran Church (ILC) from 1997 until 2008. He is a
permanent member of the Board of CCLE and served as Dean of Chapel of Saint
Paul Lutheran High School, Concordia, Missouri before being installed in 2012 as
Headmaster of Memorial Lutheran School, Houston, Texas. He was awarded the CCLE
Magister Magnus in 2015 and entered his heavenly reward in December 2016.
On the occasion of the
Centennial of Immanuel, MLGS was founded in 2003 as a ministry of ILC, under
his direction and the support of the congregation and parents. CCLE V, a
Conference on Classical and Lutheran Education, was held on the campus of the
University of Wyoming and St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Laramie. This
conference served to inform the congregation and inspire Pastor Cain to become
a Headmaster.
Our first teacher, Mrs.
Alicia Russell, spent a year in training as an apprentice teacher at the
classical Lutheran school (Mount Hope Lutheran School) in Casper, Wyoming,
under the tutelage of Mrs. Betty Garwood.
Mrs. Russell opened the
school in 2003 with 7 students in kindergarten through 2nd grade. In 2004, Mrs.
Mary Heine was added to the faculty, and the student body grew to 28.
During the 2006-07 school
year, Mrs. Amy Johnson served as full-time aide to Mrs. Russell. During the
2007-08 school year, Mrs. Johnson taught grades 3-6 with Ms. Atwell serving as
a her full-time aide. Mrs. Russell taught K-2 with Mrs. Pendergraft as her
full-time aide. Mrs. Erica Cote worked as a part time aide from 2008-2010.
Beginning with the
2008-2009 school year, Mrs. Pendergraft was named Teacher’s Assistant. She has
announced her retirement from MLGS/IA at the end of the 2016-17 school year. A
nationwide search for her successor led to the congregation calling an
Assistant Pastor, The Rev. René Gonzalo Castillero, Ordained and Installed on
18 June 2017. He will be our Lead Teacher. Mrs. Russell will be our Mentor
Teaacher.
The Rev. Paul J Cain was
installed as Pastor of ILC and MLGS Headmaster in April of 2009. He was elected
to the Board of Directors of CCLE as a term member in the summer of 2010 and
was reelected in 2011 and 2012. On May 17, 2013 he was selected to be a
permanent CCLE Board Member.
In 2010, we were blessed
with the gift of the former library of Red Grade Christian Academy. In 2012, we
were honored to receive a gift of the remaining funds of Three Peaks Christian
School. We are not claiming the mantle of these schools, but we are encouraged
and humbled by their supporters’ confidence in us.
MLGS hosted the annual
CCLE Conference on the campus of Sheridan College in the summer of 2011.
Mrs. Nancy Huckfeldt
began serving as MLGS School Monitor early in 2011 and served us for the whole
2011-2012 school year. Mr. Larry Roberts worked as MLGS School Monitor from
2012-2015. Mrs. Beth Manthei has been our School Monitor since fall 2015 and will
be our School Monitor again for this school year.
We were blessed to have
Mrs. Elizabeth Carlson as our first called LCMS Rostered Teacher for
Kindergarten for the 2015-2016 school year.
Rev. Castillero (Lead Teacher and Classroom Teacher) and Mrs.
Russell (Mentor Teacher and Classroom Teacher) are our Faculty/Staff for
2017-18 Pastor Cain and others will serve as substitute teachers.
The MLGS Board has had a
goal of building from the bottom up, with full classes of 12 Kindergarteners each
year. Our plan was to continue expanding our school by adding grades when possible. Sixth Grade was initially
added on a year-by-year basis by special permission of the Board as pilot
projects. Fall 2014 marked the official addition of 6th Grade, Fall 2015
our very first class of 7th Graders and the new name of Immanuel
Academy for secondary school, and Fall 2016 marks the beginning of 8th
Grade instruction and Immanuel Academy as our 6th-8th
secondary school. The 2015 Convention of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod called for a task force to explore the possibility of a
classical Lutheran High School for the District. It is projected to begin in
Fall 2018.
Our school is funded by
tuition, significant mission support from Immanuel Lutheran Church, as well as
foundation grants and passionately dedicated individual donors.
The school is a member of
ACCS, the Association of Classical and Christian Schools and is accredited by
CCLE, The Consortium for Classical Christian and Lutheran Education (http://www.ccle.org/) as well as National Lutheran School
Accreditation (NLSA).
