Good Shepherd students excel in classroom, community
BY BETTY ARCHER ALLEN Gulf Breeze News betty@gulfbreezenews.com

Submitted Photo Members of Good Shepherd Lutheran School recently donated buckets of pop tops to the Ronald McDonald House.

The Good Shepherd Lutheran School is one secret that shouldn't be kept and immediately following the holiday season is a good time to reveal its presence.

The school is owned and operated by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. It is located at 4257 Gulf Breeze, Parkway behind the church. Final authority of the school rests with the Voters' Assembly, which is represented by the c h u r c h council and the school board of G o o d S h e p h e r d L u t h e r a n Church.

T h e school board at Good Shepherd consists of eight members. The chairman of the board is Arnie Egli. Egli has established an endowment fund for the school. Donations to that fund have been received in the form of time and talent as well as money.

Good Shepherd is a part of a nationwide system of more than 2,300 early childhood centers, elementary and middle schools operated by Lutheran Churches. The school boasts of providing quality Christian education, achieving a high standard of academic excellence, and meeting and/or exceeding the educational standards set by the State of Florida.

Egli

The faculty of the school includes seven teachers who meet or exceed the educational and certification requirements of the state as well.

The school was organized in 1996 as a Christian school to meet the spiritual and educational needs of the children it serves. The school consists of pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.

Seventy students are currently enrolled at Good Shepherd School; 30 in preschool and 40 in elementary. Eighty-five percent of Good Shepherd's kindergarten students learn to read by Christmas of that year.

All students take computer key boarding, perform library reference and research and have access to the Internet each week. For the fifth consecutive year, the students have scored in the 90 percentile nationally in the Iowa Test of Basic skills.

The school can support an enrollment of 90 students. They are hoping to increase the enrollment nearer to that number.

The children at Good Shepherd are not only involved in a progressive curriculum they make a great contribution community-wide and more.

Omelian

Their Kid 2 Kid program contributed over $3,000 for St. Jude's Hospital and the American Heart Association. They delivered aluminum can tops to the Ronald McDonald House by the buckets.

They also filled shoeboxes for "Operation S h o e b o x " during the holidays for needy kids and took ghost favors to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital.

The principal/director of the school is Connie Omelian. Omelian earned two bachelor's degrees from Gannon University in Erie, Penn., one in elementary education and one in early childhood education with an area of concentration in psychology. She has a background in Montessori education as well.

Connie began her teaching career in 1975 at Our Lady's Christian School in Erie and gained most of her teaching experience in all grade levels.

She came to Good Shepherd in 1995 as principal/director. As principal/director, Omelian is the administrative leader of the school. She is the primary contact person for faculty, parents and the general public in all areas of school operation.

With the help of the faculty, she proposes policies and procedures for the operation of the school and the welfare of the students. The adoption of the course of study, textbooks and all major changes in the school are the responsibility of the staff with the approval of the school board.

Hermann

The stated mission of Good Shepherd Lutheran School is to prepare a child for a responsible role in the community through intellectual, moral, physical and spiritual development in a caring, ethical, Christ-centered environment, which is supportive of both the child and their family.

Priority enrollment into the school is allocated on the following basis: Children who are members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and those currently enrolled in our school; siblings of t h o s e enrolled at G o o d S h e p h e r d L u t h e r a n School; children from s i s t e r L u t h e r a n C h u r c h e s and children of those non-members seeking enrollment on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Rory M. Hermann is the Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. He earned B. S. in elementary education at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a Masters of Divinity in 1979 at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Most of Rory's experience has been as a Navy chaplain. He served a total of 22 years on active duty and earned a second masters degree in human resources management from Salve Regina University while attending the Navy's Chaplain Advanced Course.

During his 22 years he saw duty around the world. He retired with the grade of Commander and received a number of honors including the Navy Meritorious Service Medal and the Martin of Tours Medal from the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

After Hermann retired from the Navy, he and his wife, Marilyn, lived in St. Augustine, until they moved to Gulf Breeze. Hermann served a small preaching station in Starke, Fla. until he accepted the call to serve as pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Gulf Breeze.

The couple are the proud parents of three children: Beth Bruer, Emily Hermann, and Rory Michael, Jr. and two grandchildren: Ella and Henry Bruer.

Hermann has an active role with the School. He greets the children each day, opens the school with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance and holds formal chapel each Wednesday. He is the children's choir/chorus leader. The groups hopes to be visiting local hospitals and nursing homes with their singing performances.

The school is just beginning the new semester with an exciting curriculum theme. Omelian writes in the "Principal News" letter that January is Dinosaur Month and that most of the their subjects will have that theme.

The first, second and third grade will have a raceway track in language arts. The children have their own racecar and as they accomplish a "lap" on the track the car moves forward. There are 36 areas of study in the language program.

When all these steps have been completed with satisfactory scores the students will have achieved the third grade level.

When asked, "What they feel they have to offer the student that they couldn't get at any other school?" Their answer was, "A sound Christian education, a good basic curriculum as well as computer competence and individual attention. Each teacher knows every child."