Christ Lutheran School in La Mesa began the new academic year Wednesday much the same as the previous 52—in the chapel.

The occasion was marked by candles, piano solo, parents sitting in the back as children checked into their classrooms and got reacquainted with school. Soon the students filed in, the auditorium was packed, cameras flashed and children sang.

“It’s always good to have parents here,” Pastor Richard Burkey told the parents.  “Welcome to chapel, the greatest day of the year.”

On Wednesday, Burkey employed a high-energy teaching style to open the school year. Kid-friendly teaching highlights:

• “When you’re on the playground, the Holy Spirit will help you share the ball.”
• To illustrate the power of the Holy Spirit, Burkey made reference to a favorite “theologian,” then displayed an image of Robin, saying, “Holy Unseen Force, Batman.”

Burkey has put his own children through school at Christ Lutheran, which features preschool through eighth grade and prepares students well for advanced placement in high school.

Principal Xavria Schwarz is on the other end of the cycle; her daughter began kindergarten Wednesday.

“We have really amazing graduates from Christ Lutheran,” said Schwarz in her 11^th year as principal. “And ultimately that’s what we’re all about. Not producing the first day of school, what kind of people we produced.

“We prepare them for higher education. They have habits that will serve them well in high school, college, graduate school, medical school. We work them hard and prepare them for academic challenges they will face in school and beyond. And prepare them to be good citizens someday. We’re hoping to raise up citizens who will serve.”

Nate and Jennifer Regimbal of La Mesa were among the parents attending chapel. They dropped off their daughter for kindergarten.

 ”We loved the preschool,” said Jennifer Regimbal. “I had taken my daughter to a lot of programs and she just felt comfortable here. She really loved it. It was really good for her.

“I think if you do enough research you can always find a school that is a good fit for your kid. But this school, especially, I feel like the kids are really loved when they are here. As a parent when you’re letting your kid go some place for many hours a day, that feels really good.

“Academically, it definitely was on par with a lot of the other schools we were looking at for being known for academics. We felt really confident, and felt like being a Christian-based school, it’s full of morals and ethics. It’s a good foundation for sure.”

The moral foundation is fostered during daily spiritual lessons in class, and the Wednesday chapel services.

During chapel, students are paired off in mentor relationships, with upper classmen mentoring the younger students each week.

“That fosters a great sense of community and responsibility,” said Burkey, pastor at the church for 14 years.

Schwarz said that about a third of the students attend Christ Lutheran Church. Of the others, roughly a fifth do not attend weekly worship services at any church.

“If you’re raising Christian children, the reason you would want to send them here is they will be really well-discipled,” said Schwarz. “And if you aren’t raising Christian children, the reason you’d send them here is because we have an excellent academic track record, and 53 years of it, and we don’t have to depend on crazy government funding to make sure we do what we say we’ll do.

“At Christ Lutheran School, we really believe we have a better opportunity to impact change in kids, and to transform them to be characters of quality—to be honest and trustworthy and kind, and all those things that are personality traits. The world doesn’t want to call them Christians, but the best way to do that, to raise character, is in a Christian environment, to be kind and disciplined, and be able to cast vision on their own futures. When we do that in a context of Christ we’re so much more effective.

“For my kids, we’re all trying to stack as many cards in our favor as we can,” she said. “And I think one card in my deck is choosing Christian education. Either they will be educated for Christ or they will be educated against him.

“Because the world is sinful, they will experience yucky stuff. And since that, I want them to be around a group of people who will direct them and encourage them.

“Two years ago, a mom in our school unexpectedly died, and it rocked our community. It was a great loss to us. By choosing Christ Lutheran, her kids were in a good place in her absence. The church and school community were around her husband and children in that process.”

Tuition rates and financial aid information are available on the school’s enrollment page.