We have a lot packed into this week’s update! Thanks for faithfully skimming it each week—it means a lot to us. With Homecoming just around the corner, we’re excited to create some great memories. It’s hard to beat fun dress-up days, special speakers, and other schoolwide activities!

If you're interested in learning more about Lydia's story and much, much more, click on the following link! We are excited to present the latest edition of our 2024 Annual Report, highlighting the remarkable blessings we’ve experienced over the past year. We'll print and distribute later this month, but wanted to give you a sneak peek. At Western Christian, we continue to focus on our mission of equipping young people to serve Christ in today’s world through excellent academic, spiritual, and co-curricular programs.

This year’s report reflects the dedication of our faculty, staff, students, and supportive community in building a strong and Christ-centered educational environment. Inside, you’ll find stories of faith in action, updates on important projects, and a breakdown of our financial health, anticipated enrollment, and more.

Mr. Brian Verwolf

Head Administrator

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The Wolfpack Edge serves as a weekly communication to our parent community. We'll send it to your inbox each Thursday during the school year. If you would like the newsletter to be sent to an additional account, let us know! Grandparents & supporters may request to receive the communication, too. Please email Mrs. Kathy Mouw with contact information: Kathy.Mouw@westernchristianhs.com

September 12 Chapel welcomes a new face: Pastor Chris Holck is a retired pastor who spends summers in Iowa, wintering in Florida. He recently delivered a message about The Greatest Commandment, and as I listened, I wanted the students at WCHS to hear it too! Thankfully, Pastor Chris made time in his schedule before leaving for warmer places and we're blessed to welcome him! Our faithpacks will meet after his message to share our reflection and takeaways.

ADVANCE NOTICE: In recognition of Homecoming, we will have two chapels: Monday at 9 AM with Ross Douma, Class of 1990, and Friday at 8:30 AM where senior student Sydney Feenstra will share a special number, along with a student choral group. On Friday, we will be trying a new Homecoming idea: Living Room conversations with Western Grads! Jason and Abby DeGroot (Class of 2001) will join us for that casual but insightful time together.

All of these events will be livestreamed. Please consider joining us for chapel by subscribing to Western Christian High School Livestreams on YouTube.

Mrs. Karen Christians

Director of Discipleship

If you’ve been connected to Western Christian in some capacity over the last decade plus, you’ve likely known me (Justin Negen) as a History Teacher, Coach, Dean of Students, or Assistant Principal. This year, I am excited to serve Western in a new role, that of CFO - Chief of Finance and Operations.

A word that has been on my mind lately is "Stewardship". How do we as Christian individuals and institutions act in a stewardly manner with the gifts God has given us? I am excited to partner with Western’s families, supporters, leadership team, finance committee and others as we seek to live out our mission in this sphere.

Continuing forward, Mrs. Connie Grevengoed continues to serve as our Business Manager; however, she will work remotely. Please feel free to stop in the front office and visit with me if you ever have any questions that you may have discussed with Connie in the past. As always, she can be reached via email at connie.grevengoed@westernchristianhs.com.

Mr. Justin Negen

Chief of Finance & Operations

For planning purposes, please note that we will be having 8:25 AM starts to our school days on the following dates:

- Wednesday, September 18: Stewardship Day (8:25 AM-2:30 PM)

- Wednesday, October 2: Last Day before Heartland Break (8:25 AM-12:00 PM)

Dance, Cheer, & Back to School Orders are in the Student Lounge. Look for the Pack Shack Tent at the Football Game on Friday, September 13 with all things Wolfpack available for purchase!

We are searching for several families to host 8 Dutch students ranging between ages 15 - 17 as part of our Netherlands Exchange Program. Families will host these students for 3 weeks this fall from October 25 - November 15 so we would like to have host families finalized in the next two weeks. Most of the students coming here will host Western Christian students next Spring. If you are interested in being part of this program or would just like more information, please contact Carey Van Donselaar at Carey.VanDonselaar@westernchristianhs.com, or 712-449-5923.

The Dirksen and Keefer Faithpacks are sponsoring a combined Bake Sale and Rummage Sale on Stewardship Day Wednesday September 18 at Western Christian HS from 8:00-1:00 at the West Parking Lot and/or Cafeteria. All proceeds will go to provide services for families, women and children in our area through Guiding Star of Orange City and Alpha Center in Sioux Falls. Donations of items to be sold can be delivered to Bargain Alley in advance. If dropping off at the Bargain Alley, please designate that the items are for the Western Christian Rummage Sale. Items and Baked Goods can also be delivered on the day of the sale by 8:00am.

A tailgate sponsored by American State Bank and Perspective Insurance at the Wolfpack's First Home Football Game vs. Pocahontas Indians:

WHERE: Hesla Field

WHEN: Friday, September 12 - 5:30 PM-7:00 PM

COST: Free-Will Donation

Here is the link to download Season Activity Passes along with tickets for away games throughout the season. Click here for TICKETS. To stay up to date on athletic schedules, school events, cancellations or changes, we encourage students and fans to download the BOUND app. The icon for this app is located on the right.

Click the link below to visit our activity & athletic calendar to see more!

At Western Christian High School, we strive to enhance and maintain a safe educational environment for all of our students, faculty and staff. To effectively implement this, preparedness is necessary. One of the things that we can do each year to elevate our readiness is complete necessary drills.

Drills as mandated by the State of Iowa are as follows: two tornado drills and two fire drills each semester. Additionally, at least once per school year, an emergency operations drill will need to be completed which may include but is not limited to a tabletop exercise or training, walk-through, partial drill, or full drill.

On Tuesday, September 10, we held our first fire drill of the year. At times, it can be difficult to take each mandated drill seriously to do them strictly for documentation purposes. We did not see that environment at Western Christian on Tuesday and will do anything we can to prevent this mindset from falling on our students and staff. Something as simple as a fire drill is preparation. Our prayer is that we will never have to use the training and knowledge that e gain from these drills in a real event.

We are going to refer to this statement in closing as we continue to pursue our safety endeavor: "When the time to perform comes, the time to prepare has passed."

Mr. Waylon Pollema

Director of Campus Safety & Student Support

The next ACT date is October 26. The Registration deadline for this ACT testing date is September 20; late registration is October 7 with fees applied.

Seniors who are attending a four-year college should consider taking the ACT by December. It is recommended that Juniors wait until their second semester before they take the ACT.

Visit ACT's website to register or view the fees.

On Tuesday, October 15, Western will be administering the PSAT, a preliminary SAT, also known as the Nation Merit Qualifying Test. Students will be tested in the areas of Reading, Writing, Language, and Math. The PSAT allows Juniors to receive experience in taking college entrance exams, and it opens the door for them to potentially compete for a select group of national academic scholarships. Qualifying students should be enrolled in Algebra 2 classes or above. The Parents' Guide to the PSAT gives an excellent overview of the test. All interested students or parents with questions should contact Sarah Wilson, our Director of Learning.

Next Steps:

1. Sign up with Mrs. Wilson. The cost is $20; checks can be payable to Western Christian High School.
2. Download required software by seeing Mrs. Wilson or Mr. Fenchel after registration.
3. The completion of small portions of a sample test to allow for adequate preparations, linked here.
4. Implementing healthy habits prior to the test in order for them to be able to fully engage.
5. Taking #2 pencils, a calculator, and healthy snacks/drinks during the breaks on test day.

At Western Christian High School, we recognize our students’ unique creation and the variety of God-given talents and skills. We know that each student presents a unique combination of such strengths. We believe it is our responsibility to meet students where they are at in their journey and equip them with the tools and resources required to exceed their potential. To meet the need, we have a Student Support Team with a variety of resources. Go here to learn more about who to connect with!

Western Christian High School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs (if any exist), and athletic or other school administered programs.