SFLS Celebrates Years of Service Milestones, Retirements + More
This spring, we praise and thank God for the following faculty and staff members who are celebrating milestones in their career and/or concluding their service at SFLS at the end of the 2019-20 school year. Please join us in lifting joyful prayers of thanksgiving for their dedicated service to our mission of developing capable, Christian servant-leaders in a complex world who are World Ready, Faith Secure!
Five Years of Faithful Service
Mr. Bob Berg has served SFLS for the past five years as one of our stellar kitchen managers. We don’t believe a year has gone by in which Mr. Berg and his team haven’t received a perfect score from the health department. Thank you, Bob, for your big heart and serving us all so well.
Mrs. Janelle Henry has served SFLS for the past five years in a couple roles. First, as one of our beloved educational assistants in preschool. She’s currently serving as an educational assistant in kindergarten and as one of our trusted childcare workers. Kind, loving, fun, dependable, and willing to do anything for anyone are just a few of the things we enjoy about her. Thank you, Mrs. Henry, for serving us with your whole heart.
Mrs. Katie Mlnarik has graced us for the past five years as our third grade teacher. Whole brain methods, Christ-like Peacemaker extraordinaire, flexible seating, 3rd grade auctions, Learn-Move-Grow, and raised gardens are just a few of Mrs. Mlnarik’s gifts to the SFLS family. As many know, Mrs. Mlnarik spent the last few months at home with her husband, Josh, as he went through cancer treatments. We’ve missed you and look forward to having you back with us in the fall!
Special thanks to Mrs. Liz Slavens who quickly answered the call to finish out the year with our 3rd grade class. Her quick spin-up and effortless transition, especially in the midst of the COVID-related switch to distance learning, were true blessings to Katie, the 3rd grade students, and their families!
Ten Years of Faithful Service
Mrs. Carol Bonine, also known as Grandma Carol, joined us ten years ago and has served in countless ways including kitchen manager, Box-tops for Education manager, SCRIP volunteer, transporting students, custodian, and many more. Grandma Carol does, and will do, anything for anyone at any time. Thank you for ALL you do!
Mrs. Sandy Jorgenson stepped out of retirement 10 years ago to serve as our part-time accountant and financial analyst. Under her watch, she’s transitioned all of our accounting and financial systems into highly professional tools from which to manage our growing ministry. Most of all, we appreciate her fun-loving approach, her beautiful photography, and her deep commitment to and love for every single person in our SFLS family. Thank you, Sandy, for the often unseen, but invaluable ways in which you serve us all.
Mrs. Tia Esser has formally served Sioux Falls Lutheran School as Administrator for the past 10 years. However, her long-standing relationship with SFLS extends back to her days as an SFLS parent, vision committee member, substitute teacher, school board member, co-creator of the Hearts on Fire auction, and recruitment director. During her time as administrator, Mrs. Esser has hired many of the wonderful teachers who now serve at SFLS, helped establish our Suzuki-based violin program, assisted Miss Ockander in starting the 7th grade Leadership and Earth Science Trip to the Black Hills, helped teachers implement the Young Peacemakers conflict resolution curriculum into the classroom, led faculty and staff through several rounds of reaccreditation (during the most recent round of which we were named a School of Distinction by NLSA), served on the Our Greatest Gifts Capital Campaign Committee that brought our beautiful new building to fruition, and contributed to a leadership group that will soon bring a Missionary-at-Large/Chaplain to the SFLS campus. We are grateful for her dedicated servant-leadership, which daily encourages faculty and staff to carry out our mission of developing capable, Christian servant-leaders in a complex world who are World Ready, Faith Secure.
Other Milestones
Congratulations to Mrs. Brenda Bernard on completing the Lutheran School Ministry program through Concordia University, Nebraska! SFLS has a tradition of providing a high-quality, Lutheran education. Mrs. Bernard came to SFLS wishing to carry on that tradition and has spent the last nine months researching and studying the distinctiveness, joys, and blessings of Lutheran education. The Lutheran School Ministry program has equipped Mrs. Bernard to understand her vocation as a Lutheran educator within a Lutheran school setting, how to effectively incorporate the Lutheran faith into classroom instruction, and given her the ability to clearly articulate God’s judgment on sin and His grace in Jesus Christ through the study of Scripture and Luther’s Small Catechism.
Those Concluding Service at SFLS
Mrs. Rachel Bult has served as part of our Early Childhood team for the past year by teaching both 3 and 4 year-olds. She led her classroom with a committed philosophy of “playing with purpose” and “process not product.” When you add in her natural love of science, the result is nothing short of spectacular, engaging, creative, and fun. Mrs. Bult, we thank you for serving SFLS with your passionate, faith-filled heart. May God richly bless you and your entire family as you relocate to Sheboygan Wisconsin—we will miss you!
Miss Sarah Cunningham served as an educational assistant in our full-time two year-old program this year. Our littlest ones gravitated to her natural kindness and warmth. Thank you for your service, and may God bless you as you pursue the next chapter of your life!
Mrs. Sarah Maier served alongside Mrs. Vercruysse in our 1st grade class as an educational assistant and with Mrs. Larson in our 2 year-old program this year. Quiet patience and a willingness to serve are the things we will miss most about Mrs. Maier as she leaves SFLS to pursue her own education—thank you, and God bless you.
Mrs. Jennifer Noble has served SFLS for the past 11 years. Like so many great Christian servants, she answers God's call to serve wherever she is needed. Over the years she has served as a kindergarten teacher, student council advisor, assistant girls’ basketball coach, and, for the past few years, as part of our fabulous 4th grade teaching team and K-8 art teacher. A few short years ago, she served as part of the team that created the Zoned Recess and Integrated Movement initiatives that played a major role in our being designated a “School of Distinction” by our accreditation body. Along the way, she painted lines on the old parking lot, developed zone charts, commandeered the 4th grade recess rangers, and more. Last summer, she led the playground committee in designing and equipping our new 11,000 square foot K-8 grade play space—a true masterpiece and a place that will be forever etched in our students’ fondest childhood memories. Mrs. Noble is a tireless servant—serving in ways that are rarely visible to others, but that make big differences for everyone in her world. Thank you, Mrs. Noble for your dedicated service. We will miss you and pray that God blesses you as you write the next chapter of your life!
Retirements
Bhrett Baney has served SFLS for the past 23 years in a number of roles. First and foremost, he served alongside Sandy Tams’ as her right-hand man and preschool educational assistant—we rarely see one of them without the other. Mr. Baney also served as our part-time fundraising director. In that role, he organized multiple fundraising initiatives and campaigns—the most significant of which was the Our Greatest Gifts Capital Campaign that funded our beautiful new school. In 1999, he was a significant part of the launch team for the Hearts on Fire auction, and for 18 years he served as its director. Although he retired from that role a few years ago, he continues to serve as a dedicated volunteer on the committee. While we’ve tried to put an actual number to the funds he’s had a hand in raising over the last 23 years, we can’t seem to find a calculator with enough place holders! All kidding aside, the millions of dollars he’s helped solicit and track, his long-standing relationships with countless donors, and his unwavering commitment to the kingdom-building mission of SFLS have been blessed by God in ways that can only be described as immeasurable and beyond imagination. Thank you, Bhrett—you will be deeply missed.
Mrs. Tina Lenz has served SFLS for the past 26 years. Fresh out of college in 1979, she accepted the call to be our first kindergarten teacher. With true pioneer spirit, she taught students with deep love, innate creativity, and DIY innovativeness. She also spearheaded new initiatives—playing a significant role in a building project that moved our school from a church basement to a new facility in 1984.
In 1991, she followed her husband, Rod’s, career to southeast Iowa, pioneering a new path as a small-town candy shop owner. During those years, she honed skills in visioning, planning, and executing a successful business plan as she pursued her passions of cooking and hospitality. When she and Rod returned to Sioux Falls in 2003, she reignited her first passion—teaching. While serving as a full-time teacher in Fantastic Fives, she felt called to do more. In response to families looking for meaningful education for 2-year-olds, she researched successful programs across the country, developed a vision and a business plan, and launched a play-based educational program for 2-year-olds called Kids Day Out. The program, which opened with 11 students in 2015, now serves 40 children.
Last year, she took on two more projects--both of which utilized her eye for design. First in designing our new early childhood natural play area. She worked alongside the landscape architect to design an unforgettably fun and creative space for our littlest learners, organized volunteers, and sought out local talent to craft an imaginative play apparatus. Secondly, she worked alongside Mrs. Iverson to research and then design all of the interior furnishings for the new school. Her vision for function, beauty and quality became the reality that the SFLS community now enjoys. In addition to all of that, she chairs our Faculty & Staff Sunshine Committee, where she makes sure that we celebrate birthdays, babies, weddings, Christmas and comfort those who are ill or mourning. Thank you, Mrs. Lenz, for your tireless commitment to sharing Christ’s love and for making our world so beautiful! Mrs. Lenz looks forward to spending more time with her children and grandchildren, substitute teaching at SFLS, and volunteering wherever she can!
Mrs. Sandy Tams answered God’s call to start Sioux Falls Lutheran School’s preschool in the fall of 1977. Forty-three years and more than 5,000 children later, she continues to gently, lovingly teach her students in ways that perfectly reflect the love of her, and their, and our best friend, Jesus. Her time-tested, play-based philosophy resonates so well with families that many of her former students have returned to SFLS to enroll their own children in her class. She’s been described by coworkers as “a great mentor and friend” and by former students as the “rock and cornerstone” of SFLS. And, like her best friend Jesus, Mrs. Tams remembers every single one of her students’ names. I think it’s safe to say that we will never forget her name or the many hallmarks of her classroom, which include gerbils, stone soup, trains, elephant ears, and the climber (just to name a few). Mrs. Tams promises that she’ll be back next year to volunteer, and that promise makes this parting much less sorrowful. Fabulous job, good and faithful servant!
Retirement Celebration
A joint retirement celebration for Mr. Baney, Mrs. Lenz, and Mrs. Tams will be held as soon as we are able to do so safely. Please stay tuned for details and plan to help us celebrate the wonderful gift that these faithful servants have been to SFLS for so many years!