CHS Blog

This past summer, a cohort of rising juniors and seniors set off to internships across the state as part of our summer internship program, “Summer Seminar”. This unique opportunity allowed students to gain valuable skills and experience through hands-on learning and career exploration. Accumulating over forty on-site experience hours, students worked alongside professionals in various fields while earning 0.5 credits toward their academic portfolio.

Summer internships provide numerous benefits, such as the opportunity to develop essential skills, expand networks, and gain firsthand knowledge of potential career paths. But we believe that, at Christian Heritage School, our students pursue career curiosity not just for these benefits but because they are responding to God’s call on their lives. They are testing, wrestling, and pressing into what our loving Father could call them to next.

To receive credit for Summer Seminar, students had to complete several assignments, the last of which was a reflection paper. Our students served and learned in science labs, hospitals, veterinary clinics, robotic engineering design labs, and educational settings (to name a few!). It is clear from their feedback that they made the most of the opportunity presented to them:

"The “mouse room” unexpectedly became an experience that bridged my personal values with my professional aspirations. It allowed me to develop the critical skills for dealing with these animals while simultaneously giving me a newfound appreciation for the lab rat."

"I was so used to being in school and having strict instructions that when I had a lot of freedom with my work, it was a challenge to do a good job. This project not only taught me marketing skills, but it also taught me perseverance and how to do a good job with lots of freedom."

"I was really grateful for this experience in a healthcare environment. I was able to gain first-hand exposure to this field where I otherwise would not have been able to. I was also able to network and connect with physicians and other employers to build valuable relationships. Lastly, I was fortunate enough to learn new skills such as learning how to work with others on a team and interacting with patients."

"This experience, though small, has contributed to my personal and professional growth in that it has given me more confidence to help struggling children by teaching them what I know in a way that is hopefully clear to understand. My success in teaching the little girl has also given me the motivation to pursue more knowledge and methods to be able to teach children more effectively. My goal is to find more methods and resources that will help me in my endeavor of teaching and explaining educational concepts. "

"In essence, this internship made my life more clear to me. It brought me so much clarity on what I want and what I don't want for my future, and I am very thankful for it. This experience contributed both to my personal and professional growth because it taught me so many things I did not know before and that could be useful for the future, like entrepreneurship and marketing. But it also gave me an idea of what I want my career to look like. Now that I know what I want and where I want to go, I can focus on everything I need to do to get there."

Summer Seminar is just one way we offer resources to our students as they face the big question of, “Now What!?”

One reassurance we give our students is that this is not something they need to figure out alone. We partner with them and their families, and we are privileged to have outstanding professionals in the CHS community share their wisdom and expertise with our students. This past summer, Mrs. Evelyn Hayes, Mr. Trevor Delmore, and Mr. Bruce Stempien presented to our Summer Seminar cohort over lunch meetings, and various professionals from our community attended our one-semester course, Life Calling to offer their guidance to our juniors.

In his lecture series Teaching for Tomorrow Today (1984), Nicholas Wolterstorff argues that “the Christian way of being in the world is a life of responsible, worshipful, and appreciative gratitude.” As our students walk through high school, our College and Career Program guides students through an intentional journey of discovering who God has created them to be and responding to it with praise and thanksgiving.

What a gift it is to see our students (some of whom have been with us since kindergarten!) continue to grow into the young men and women God has made them to be. Our prayer is that their ultimate vocation will be lived out as an act of gratitude and praise to the One who made them.

Beth Maree is our Upper School Academic and College Counselor.  Beth Maree received a Bachelors of Education at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She majored in English, History and Special Education. She began her career teaching 4th Grade and then discovered her love for teenagers when she transitioned to High School English teacher. Mrs. Maree is also experienced in school leadership, leading an English Department, overseeing Student Academic Services, and finally serving on the Senior Leadership Team of a busy, all-girls school in South Africa. She is now the Academic and College Counselor at Christian Heritage School and loving every minute of it!   
 

Our mission statement is:  Christian Heritage School exists to partner with parents and churches in fulfilling their God-given responsibilities to teach children that “In (Christ) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3, KJV)  and to provide its students with an education of spiritual and academic excellence with which to serve God.  

This mission of Christian Heritage School was established almost 50 years ago when Pastor Paul and Mrs. June Anderson heard a call from God to start a school dedicated to teaching and training young people in an environment where Christ would be at the center of all things. You can see by our mission statement that there was a recognition that this ministry was always called to be in partnership with parents and the local church. It is parents who are given the responsibility to teach and raise their children, therefore, when a family chooses to partner with us, we take that to heart. We see it as an incredible privilege and a significant responsibility to partner with families.  

The third leg of this incredibly powerful stool is our partnership with the local church. At Christian Heritage School, we believe that the local Christian church is the powerful vehicle God has chosen to impact this world for Him. The church is a place where broken lives are healed. It is a place where people are mentored and where they grow in knowledge and understanding of what God says. It is a place of fellowship, and often a place where people find a relationship with the Lord, a relationship that will change both their time on this earth and their eternity. We love the local church! 

There are many ways that we work to honor and support the local church. First, we want to help our local pastors, missionaries, and full-time ministers financially to have their children at CHS where their children are learning and growing in Christ. It is part of our mission to help keep the families of our pastors and missionaries healthy and strong, so they are released to minister in their callings. We love having relationships with our local church pastors and are blessed to invite them to be part of speaking into the lives of our students at chapel, retreats, and through special co-sponsored events.  For example, today we hosted a youth group fair at our chapel to inform our students about the local youth groups in our community.

Recently, we have added support for CHS students to get involved in their local church activities, leadership retreats, youth group conferences, and other ways our local churches are helping our students grow in Christ. We want to see our students involved, active, and engaged in what God is doing through the local church. Therefore, we have set aside some financial support that we are happy to provide for families in need of assistance to pay for those activities that help their children grow through local church activities. 

At CHS, we love our students and our families, and, therefore, we love and support the local church!  You can see an overview of the many ways we support and partner with local churches using this link. 

Helpful hint: to help us know what church you attend, you can add it to your renweb account by clicking on Religion on the side panel. 

Dr. Dube is a former Connecticut State Trooper, a Connecticut state certified administrator, and an adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University. He has served in education administration for over 25 years, entering his 5 th year at Christian Heritage School. Dr. Dube feels tremendously blessed to lead the CHS community, as he gets to work with the best people in the world, and gets to see the Lord move in the lives of students every day. Dr. Dube and his wife, Anne, love to spend time with their three children, Jack, Joel, and Elyse.

Is more always better? It depends, of course. More hot fudge and whipped cream? YES!  More traffic on the Merritt? No thanks. When it comes to learning, more is better. It just depends on what the “more” is.

Research identified various learning styles, or modalities, decades ago. You might identify as a visual learner, enjoying graphics and pictures, or you might feel you get more out of an audiobook than you do turning pages.

The truth is that we may have preferred learning methods, but science also shows that we shouldn’t learn everything in the same way. Depending on the content, we should experience all the different learning styles.

Yes, you might like learning through visualization, but is watching a soccer game more impactful than being on the field and playing? Will you get more from reading a script or from sitting in the front row listening to our performers belt out their lines? Do you get the same experience hearing about someone’s beach trip versus feeling the sand in your toes and smelling the fries from the boardwalk yourself?

Like muscles in our body, our brain needs to have all of the various modalities stretched, trained, and put to use.

At Christian Heritage School, we know and understand the importance of training the brain. Matthew 22:37 tells us we are to love the Lord with our hearts, souls, and minds. So, how do you train a brain? It's easy — with variation.

We design our elective programs to stimulate the contemplative student, the creative student, the competitive student, the engineer, and the musician. And here’s the secret- I just described one child. Our students aren’t simply right or left-brained, pigeonholed in one track or the other. In our development of the whole child, we provide opportunities to train in various modalities.

Walk our halls, and you will see a student working on 3D Engineering schematic and 2D drawing project.

Come to a sporting event, and you will see our athletes trade their uniforms in the fall for a prop and a costume in the winter.

Attend our art show and see our student's gifted eyes with their digital photography gallery and gifted ears with digital music playlists.

Listen to our students lead a class discussion on Wednesday, then lead our worship band on Thursday.

Peek into our science labs and see students testing a hypothesis, then follow those same students to Philosophy class as they discuss Heraclitus.

By the end of a school day, your student will have flexed various parts of their brain, exercised their socialization muscles, and possibly stretched past what they knew they excelled in into areas where they might feel as confident. Our job at CHS is to make sure our programming provides the well-rounded educational opportunities our students need to stimulate and grow their minds, as we have been called to do. 

This year our blog posts will be highlighting all of the various ways we do this, from community events to therapy dogs.  We will be hearing from our CHS experts on this subject in upcoming blog articles.  So stay tuned!
 

Mr. Karl Simon is beginning his 22nd year in Christian Educational Administration and his fourth year at CHS. He enjoys reading, woodworking, watching the Patriots and Red Sox, and arguing with students who think the Yankees are better. He also coaches at CHS, where he enjoys spending time with kids outside the classroom on windy sidelines and on long car rides to away games. Mr. Simon feels serving as principal of the CHS Upper School is a great privilege, and he enjoys his relationships with his colleagues, students, and families.

Luke’s Gospel tells us what Jesus came to do. “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).” But it also tells how He uniquely went about doing it. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking (Luke 7:34).”

Meals matter. Food sustains our bodies. And the people we eat with are usually the ones who sustain our soul. The word “companion” comes from the Latin words “bread” and “together”, because a friend is someone who breaks bread with us.

Jesus ate with everyone – the renegades and the religious; He ate with a few and with the masses, with His best friends and His betrayer.

Our theme this year is Come to the Table. While this is Jesus’ free invitation of grace to all, it is hard to RSVP “yes”.  Accepting this invitation comes with some stipulations. You have to acknowledge you are hungry for something that only God can satisfy. You also have to be okay being in the presence of your enemies at this table, because the grace of Jesus does not play favorites. And you have to eat what is served at the table.

We are going to journey through the book of Luke and stop each time Jesus sits down with someone for a meal. And we are going to learn about grace, humility, and the mission of God. And I pray that we will also live these out in greater measure. Come to the Table.

And we are going to practice this as a community right at the start of the year! On August 29th, we will kick off our first week of school with our annual Dedication Picnic. We share a meal and ask God to sustain us and empower us to learn and love in the year ahead. Then, on September 12-13, we’ll take the high school to HUME New England for our overnight retreat. Again, we will be sharing meals and marveling at the grace of Jesus offered to sinners like us. 

Mark Persson, aka “Chappy P,” is the Chaplain at CHS. He is married to Michelle, and they have three children: Karis (starting Kindergarten at CHS!), Micah, and Asher. Mark likes baking (read “eating”) bread, running, reading, and building forts with his kids. He is an elder at his church. And, he is blessed beyond belief to work alongside the incredible staff and faculty at CHS as they serve students and families!
 

Much has been made of the conflict between science and Christianity, but the reality is that many of the greatest scientists believed in a Creator and were Christians. As Paul Davies, an agnostic scientist, has noted, "The early scientists were all deeply religious, and they believe that in doing their science they were uncovering God's handiwork…." ¹ So in an authentic sense, by studying science, we grow in our understanding of the greatness, power, and love of our God because the universe He has made is spectacular and fills us with awe. As David writes in Psalm 19:1-2, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge." Moreover, when we consider the habitat God has crafted for human life here on Earth, God's love is made manifest in our lives. In my personal faith journey, as I have grown in my understanding of the laws of physics, the fine-tuning of the universe, and the mechanisms and processes of life, I have grown correspondingly in my love and reverence for God.
 

So, for our students, the study of science is the opportunity to engage in their own self-discovery of the greatness of our God revealed in all that he has made. But the study of science has many other benefits. It is a powerful tool for developing intellect and reasoning skills, and it is an engine of human advancement that has provided technology and many benefits, comfort, and longevity to our lives. At CHS, students study three main scientific disciplines: biology, chemistry, and physics. Many students take advantage of our dual enrollment college-level courses in physics and biology. Electives, including anatomy and physiology, astronomy, and engineering design with 3D printing, round out our offerings.
 

Our annual science and engineering fair has proven to be an excellent vehicle for allowing our students to engage in guided scientific exploration of their own. Students begin by finding an area of interest and formulating a hypothesis or design goal. They then proceed to complete their project over ten weeks. Along the way, students must meet milestones and produce experimental results, scientific conclusions, and a final report, culminating in a presentation to knowledgeable judges. Thus, our science fair is one of the best ways for our students to learn how science and engineering are conducted in the real world, how to explain their work, and how to make presentations. With the science fair, opportunities for developing essential life skills abound.
 

Since 2012, CHS has competed for cash, prizes, and scholarships at the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair hosted each year in March by Quinnipiac University, where about 500 of the best projects statewide are judged by highly qualified judges with backgrounds in science, engineering, research, and academics. The results our students have achieved are awe-inspiring. Each year, our students have garnered significant cash awards ranging from $25 gift cards to $500 cash awards, numerous plaques, trophies, and medallions, and several large college scholarships. The University of New Haven awarded one scholarship to Taryn Marshall for $80,000 over four years. Students who entered their CHS science projects into other state and national competitions have also achieved notable results. Rachel Brooks entered her CHS junior science fair project into the Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and was awarded first place. Amazing as it sounds, Rachel submitted her work to the prestigious medical journal Rheumatology (the official journal of the British Society for Rheumatology published by Oxford University Press), which published it on January 7, 2021!  Rachel went on to study at Princeton University. The following year, Benjamin Li, one of our brilliant Chinese exchange students, submitted his work to the Regeneron Science Talent Search and was named a Regeneron STS Scholar for 2022, an award given to only 300 students nationwide. Benjamin now studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 

Our CHS Science Fair engages students in the hands-on study of God's glorious creation. It cultivates taking initiative, reasoning skills, and perseverance, all things that can be used to bring glory to our God. Moreover, it encourages our students to pursue careers in science and science-related fields, medicine, and the many engineering disciplines, all with the enthusiastic encouragement of their CHS science teachers along the way. To God be the glory!
 

1 "Faith and Reason," program transcript, PBS, accessed December 1, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/transcript/margaret-frame.html.

Daniel Cote is the Science Department Chair at CHS. He teaches science, philosophy, and apologetics. He has a passion for encouraging students to consider science as a career and has been doing so at CHS since 2009. He is also a pastor and the founder of Multimedia Apologetics, an apologetics website ministry explaining and defending Christianity whose primary goal is evangelism. He greatly appreciates the opportunity to teach apologetics to CHS seniors. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bridgeport, a Master of Ministry in Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Theology and Apologetics from Liberty University. Dan is the author of Jesus Is God and Savior: How Prophecy, Science, and History Affirm the Truth of Christianity.

While I was on a mission trip with our students in a small village in Mexico, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of community.  They didn’t talk about it, they didn’t strategize how to facilitate it, they simply lived it.  At midnight the night before we were leaving, about 30 young people showed up at the family's house that I was staying in, a 10’ x 20’ concrete block home, with music, a cake and joyful hearts to sing Happy Birthday to the girl who was just turning 16.  I found out later, it was a village tradition.  Coming together to “share life,” it was great!

CHS has enjoyed a vibrant community of families coming together to “share life.”  During my 40 plus years of working here at CHS, the common bond of seeking to raise children with a heart for the Lord, and preparing them well to do what the Lord has created them to do, has been strong.

Several of you have mentioned, “Hey, we saw you choked up as you closed the Veterans Day Program last week.”  The power of the moment was overwhelming in all the right ways.  As I looked out from the podium, sitting on the floor directly in front of me were some of our youngest students. Just 25 feet further back sat our guest, Navy veteran Mr. Carl Massaro, 98 yrs young.  As a 19 yr old, he landed on Okinawa in heavy fighting to preserve the freedom that allowed the men who were assembled just to my left (made of students, alumni, parents and staff) to sing the most beautiful rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”  What a special glimpse of community!

When my youngest daughter Abby was a senior at CHS, early that September, she asked to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts on the way to school for an iced coffee. Excited for the new year and wanting to do something fun for her, I of course, said yes. The same request came the following week.  Thinking I would like to do something special for her again, I said yes. The third week rolled around and as we were approaching Dunkin’ Donuts Abby looked over and said, “Dad, you know ‘it’s tradition.’ We really need to stop again.”  As I quickly did the math in my head (36 weeks left of school + 1 iced coffee a week = $$) and being the easy target that I am, I pulled into Dunkin’ Donuts… and you know the rest.  I share this because in Abby’s senior reflections on what was most special to her during her final year, she included, “…waking up super early every Tuesday for my father-daughter coffee date!”  I’ve always recognized that special moments and events were important, but as I read her reflection for the first time I was so struck by that obvious reality that the foundation of what we do at CHS is critical.  The academic preparation and the Biblical foundation are the reason we exist but we can help better achieve both those goals and objectives by supplementing with a rich community and times of coming together as we “share life.”  The moments and the experiences matter and will often be what is remembered.

As the Director of Student Life and Operations, I have seen that community is often most richly built through common challenges and goals.  I am so grateful that CHS has always worked to embrace the lifestyle of service to others for the glory of our Lord.  Scripture is clear that we are built to serve.  I have been on many service projects and mission trips and, in these situations, I have often wished that the parents could get a glimpse of this experience.  For example, on a recent senior class trip we had the opportunity to do a service project in Florida. The Lord brought this family to our attention. They were young parents in their forties with two teenage children. The dad was quite ill and, as a result, was blind.  The family was facing many difficulties and we couldn’t address them all.  However, we could address the physical needs of yard work, building a wheelchair ramp and painting their house.  At the end of a very long day, close to dusk as the sun was setting, we completed the work and the family was brought back home for the reveal.  As the mom stood crying on the newly added front porch saying thank you to the kids, the husband grabbed my arm while sitting in his wheelchair.  He pulled me over to speak into my ear, saying, “I can’t see the work that the kids have done but I can feel the joy that it brings my wife.  Please bring the students over to me one at a time so I can thank each one individually.”  You can only imagine the scene as this gentleman reached out and grabbed the hand of each student to say thank you!!!  This was a very powerful moment!  I’m quite certain that the class was never so unified and never felt such a stronger sense of community with each other as they did at that moment with our newly adopted family.  

CHS intentionally works to create opportunities and special moments, such as Fall Festival, Veterans Day, Grandparents Day, School Spirit Week, service projects, special events and a number of social opportunities for the express purpose of building a stronger community to help us achieve our core goals. It is our desire to help our students become the person that God created and built them to be - one lesson, one class, one special event, one service project and one moment at a time!

We are so thankful that YOU are part of our community!

John Naeher is the Director of Student Life & Operations.  He started at CHS in the fall of 1981 and began his 43rd yr in the fall of 2023.  His daughters, Amanda 06', Alyssa 06' and Abigail 10' attended CHS from K-12.  John has had the privilege of coaching several teams, sponsoring many Senior Classes and been a part of building community at CHS throughout his career.  “CHS has been a rich part of my family for which I will always be grateful.”

Sixteen high school students, two faculty members, and I went to the Dominican Republic for a week in June to serve with Kids Alive International (please checkout this awesome organization!). Trips like this are always a mixed bag. They come with all the normal challenges that you’d expect trying to get so many people on buses and planes, through airports, and settled into a cross cultural context. But they also provide unique opportunities for personal and communal spiritual development. This trip began with the former.

The next week was marked by surprising elation and expected frustration. There were moments when students were phenomenal - sharing testimonies, working together, enjoying God, His people, and creation. There were other moments that were not. But here is what I’m learning from taking high school students out of the country.

I am just like them. I crave love, significance, and comfort more than God.

“But, but!” I say to myself, “my cravings are justified.”  How can it be wrong to miss the love of my wife and kids, long to make an impact, and to give myself permission to take it easy?

But their cravings are vices! Phones, momentary impact, and flirting. Oh they are bad. I’m good.

Here is the reality, I missed my phone too, I’m just a little more experienced in behavior management. I wanted the feels of momentary success and significance of this trip too. If I am really honest, I want people to think I’m attractive, impressive, and desirable too. Idolatry is not pursuing bad things but craving anything more than the presence and favor of God. And I’m still fashioning idols at 32.

And I need the same thing as them. The highlight of the trip was team worship each night. Something profound and mysterious happens when you sing with others. Singing changes the way you look at others and yourself. When you see others singing, it humanizes them. You realize they aren’t the caricature you’ve made them out to be. They are living and breathing; made in the image of God and sustained by His grace. And when you sing, you realize you aren’t so great. Singing about God’s glory reminds you that you have been living very much for your own, and it humbles you. Singing to the LORD confronts us with the message of Jesus. But, the good news that Jesus came to share (and be!) starts with bad news. We are more sinful and selfish than we thought, but we are more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope.

‘23-24 School Theme

Our school theme this year is Sing to the LORD from 2 Chronicles 20 and Psalm 100. Singing is risky and makes us vulnerable. Not surprisingly, it can be hard for everyone (and especially students and young adults) to belt it out. But we all listen to music, we are shaped by melodies and lyrics, and there is a strange power in music that moves us, removes us from worries, soothes our spirit. So, God commands us to sing and praise Him so that we can tangibly and communally experience the benefits of being loved and saved by God. We are going to explore and experience the power of singing together this year through corporate worship and special concerts!

Spiritual Life at CHS - Partnership, Participation, and Process

Spiritual life at Christian Heritage is a partnership with parents and churches to help students understand that “In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Learning to be captivated by Jesus Christ and His Kingdom means participation. It happens everywhere from student clubs to the science lab and from the sports field to chapel. Learning to love Jesus is a process. At CHS we want our students to live in the hopeful tension expressed in the Gospel of Mark, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Pursuing Jesus and His Kingdom is not an easy road, but it is the path to life (Psalm 16:11).

The flight home…
Our trip home looked like it might be just as nightmarish as the start. We were on the runway and ready to take off when the pilot announced, “The main engine didn’t start right. A heat sensor is not working.  We are going to get the engineers to take a look.” Then he added, “It might be a different story if we were in the air.” The ambiguity of that last sentence was not what the passengers were looking for. What followed was no small amount of hysteria and grumbling. Some passengers immediately went to the door and demanded to be let off. They wanted no part in this flight. Finally everyone was asked to deboard. The mood in the terminal was the same on the flight. It was packed. Nowhere to sit. Long lines for food. Spotty WIFI. And no clarity on if we’d have a flight out. Meanwhile, I had no idea what I would do with 19 people in Santiago if our flight was canceled and rescheduled for another day. We waited for three hours with no clear message from the airline (I won’t tell you the airline - this isn’t about them). Then, the gate agent said that the flight was on and we needed to board immediately. I ran back to the students and delivered the message - and their jaws dropped. It was more shock and awe than the joy and relief I was expecting from them. “Chappy,” they said, “we literally just finished praying that God would sort this out.”

Mark Persson, aka “Chappy P,” is the Chaplain at CHS. He is married to Michelle, and they have three children: Karis (starting Kindergarten at CHS!), Micah, and Asher. Mark likes baking (read “eating”) bread, running, reading, and building forts with his kids. He is an elder at his church. And, he is blessed beyond belief to work alongside the incredible staff and faculty at CHS as they serve students and families!