Campus Expansion Update

Dear LuSo Community,

One of the best storylines at Lutheran South in the last few years is how God continues to bring more and more students to be transformed through an excellent, Christian high school experience. In fact, it is anticipated that next year’s freshman class will put our enrollment at the desired capacity of approximately 540 students. Every student is an opportunity for our school to fulfill its mission of preparing young people for leadership in service to the church, the home, and the world, delighting in their identity in Christ as they carry out their various vocations. Our community is thriving, and we are so grateful that you have invested in our mission. 

Along with a growing enrollment comes excellent teachers, increased programming, co-curricular excitement, and a sense of confidence and generosity from donors who invest their financial resources because they want to continue to see the mission at Lutheran South flourish. Likely, you have seen images and read some details describing our imminent facility expansion. We are so grateful for those who, over the last several months, have demonstrated collective financial generosity to the amount of over $12 million in support of the planned visual and performing arts center. 

The amount of money already given has surpassed the anticipated total investment when we began the visioning process for the new facility back in 2019. However, as is widely known and experienced, everything costs much more in recent years for various reasons. While we were sincerely hoping to break ground before the end of the calendar year, the new reality is that we are not able to do so. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to receive the most competitive bids possible for each aspect of the project. While we expect the final bids will bring our total cost back closer to the new increased estimate of $16 million, we need to know the final construction costs before we can schedule a groundbreaking event. Due to the timing of the bids and the winter months approaching, our current reality is to wait until springtime to begin construction.

While the timing can be discouraging, we will not lose sight of the fact that we have surpassed our original goal due to overwhelming generosity. Although we continue to seek additional funding to avoid financing a large portion of the project, we eagerly look forward to beginning the construction of Phase One in early 2023. To see images from Phase One and our vision for future phases, please click here. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.

Thankful for the past, thrilled about the present, and hopeful for the future,

Jonathan Butterfield, Head of School
Lutheran High School South