Congratulations to the Class of 2021!

Esther Naomi Barr

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Hello! My name is Esther Barr. I am seventeen years old and live in Quebec, Canada. Congratulations graduates! Today is an exciting day to celebrate with our families and friends. We have been waiting for this day since we entered kindergarten 13 long years ago. I want to start out by saying thank you to all my friends, family, and most of all, God, for helping me every step of the way. As an elementary student, I remember enjoying school, but as soon as the first year of high school came along, that was no longer the case. These last two years were the most challenging for me. I live in Canada and don’t know my classmates, but I do know two things we have in common. First, the obvious, we are graduating from Wellspring Christian Family Schools. This leads to the second; we all made it through writing a 15-page research paper.

Thank you, Mr. Main, Mr. Fischer, and Mr. Cox, for all your help and wise words throughout the years. I also want to thank Dad and Mom for teaching me, for not giving up on me when times got tough, and for helping me not only with subjects but also with learning how to live Christ-like and depend on Him. To end, I would like to encourage my fellow graduates of 2021 to take our experiences with us. Let’s use what we learned academically and what we learned through our mistakes and victories. As we move on to the next

chapter of our lives, let’s remember to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths,” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Finally, as Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Christer Andrew Lindengren

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Hello everyone, I am Christer Lindengren. My thirteen years of homeschooling has been a long, bumpy road; especially this last year! With all the pressure that came with the academic demands of the senior year, there was also having to complete all requirements necessary for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout with Boy Scouts of America, at the same time. It was a little overwhelming!

Now that it is all behind me, I can say that I have learned a few important lessons that I will take with me as I proceed to the next stage of my life. The most important lesson is, procrastination causes more unnecessary stress than if you just do what is required on time. As I learned in Biblical Foundations of Self-Government this year, grace is abundant BUT can be limited if it is squandered!

I want to thank Mr. Joel Fischer and Mr. Gary Cox for showing Christ-like longsuffering toward me in their extension of grace time, and time, and time again. I will be careful not to squander the grace extended to me in the future and I repent for putting you through such frustration!

I also want to thank God, my parents, my family and my friends for helping me get through this long journey. I surely could not have done it by myself!! One of my favorite verses from the Bible that I will be trying to apply to my life daily is Proverbs 11:12 which says, “When Pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble, is wisdom.” This has been a humbling year for me and I hope it will produce some wisdom.

I am planning on getting a job this summer in order to purchase a car so that I can enroll in Community College in the fall. I am considering pursuing a career in law enforcement if that is part of God’s plan for me.

Thank you!

Luke Jospeh Peyton

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One of the things I am most grateful for in life is God’s orchestration of my high school journey and even my homeschool journey as a whole. The family and communities God has placed me in have been ones where I could continuously engage in fellowship and be reminded of Christ and the truth of the gospel.

I thank my parents for their constant guidance, support, and love throughout my childhood and especially for instilling in me a value and desire for wisdom based in biblical truth.

I also want to thank God for the close Christian friends I’ve gained through communities like my homeschool co-op, the Institute for Cultural Communicators, and other groups I’ve been a part of. Now, as I’m graduating, I’m moving from these close-knit communities to other areas where I can further grow both spiritually and academically, still with God’s direction and guidance.

Antoine Jeremiah Pio

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B efore enrolling in Wellspring Christian Family Schools, I felt really hopeless and insecure about going back to High School to finish what I left behind. However, by God’s grace, WCFS welcomed me into the program with open arms and they instantly made me feel like I am part of the family. I feel very blessed and grateful that I got to finish my high school in WCFS. Thank you, WCFS for helping me end one important chapter of my life. I will definitely bring with me the relationships I was able to build and the experiences I have encountered all throughout my life.

I would like to thank Mr. Cox for the wisdom and impartation of God’s word every time I attend his class. Thank you, sir, for reminding me of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.

Also please allow me to express my gratitude to Mr. Fischer for all the teachings while I was in WCFS even for just a short period. I will never forget all the lessons from the Bible classes I attended. His teaching method motivated me to learn beyond the books. Your life testimony, sir, inspired me to hold on to my dreams and persevere with strong faith to back me up. I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate him for patiently listening to my problems and always helping me stay hopeful, lifting my head up, keeping me focused on my goals when I was weak.

I also thank my parents and my sister for the support and motivation they have given me. Of course, I would like to thank our good Lord, Jesus Christ. All glory and honor belong to Him who graciously blessed me with this opportunity to complete my High School. Indeed, He is faithful in keeping His promises, in His perfect time.

Caleb Timothy Regan

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G ood afternoon. Thank you, everyone, for coming today. My name is Caleb Regan. Once upon a time, when my life consisted of memorizing phonics, solving subtraction problems, and longing for the next break from school, I thought this day would never come. Although I’ve spent many days looking forward to this particular day, in fact about 4,350 days, the days seem to have flown by very quickly.

Many days seemed to drag out forever, though, as I sat on the sofa with my legs over the back of the couch and my head hanging over the edge of the seat (if you can call that sitting), with math book in hand, trying desperately to wrap my mind around such things as long division, and trying to keep my head from exploding from the difficulty of not being able to understand it. After stating my great disgust toward math, my mom would stop in the middle of one of her many things she was doing and come sit down next to me. She would tell me to sit down properly, and then she would patiently help me to understand it in words that made more sense to me than the math book. She would calm down my frustration, and sooner or later she would have successfully got me to understand. I couldn’t help laughing as my frustration turned into a wave of comprehension as the dots of the concept connected. How she so tirelessly and patiently does this for each of her children is a thing I have yet to understand. And later, when I desperately needed her help again with yet another aspect of this concept of long division, she never complained or said, “You really need help again!?”

I’m glad for this opportunity to publicly thank my mom for the millions of ways she has helped me, from learning the ABCs to the advanced concepts of Algebra II, from the beginning of school until now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you as well, siblings, for the big help you were to me, barging into my place of study and making a big racket, forcing me to vacate the premises, or for confiscating the paper on which was a half-finished test of mine, turning it into a paper airplane and maybe at other times a piece of modern art. Thank you to all eight of you. You mean a whole lot to me, and you are the best friends I could ever have.

When our family was called to the ministry about a decade ago, music became a big part of my life. When we were on deputation, we went from church to church singing and sharing. We visited hundreds of churches, and probably sang thousands of hours of songs. It all started in our living room gathered around the piano. It took quite a while to teach us all, one by one, to sing. How my dad taught us so well, from notation, pitch, rhythm, intonation and the many other important aspects of music, I am amazed by. When we practiced, we’d spend hours at a time trying to get it right. Without those many hours of teaching, I would never have the musical knowledge I have now, and I wouldn’t be able to do things such as play in orchestras or win music competitions. I’m grateful for my education in music. I am thankful also for how my dad has taught me to witness for Christ, pointing those we meet to God. Being the son of an evangelist, I have the opportunity to share the gospel with many people. To my dad, a big thank you.

A thank you as well, to the staff at WCFS. I appreciate all the hard work you do for us, making it possible for us to complete school and graduate. Although I’ve only been a part of the program for the last school year, it has been a great experience. So, thank you.

Finally, and ultimately, thank you to God. Without Him I wouldn’t be here graduating. He is the One who gave me the strength and courage to press on both academically and spiritually through my high school years, especially in the times when I felt like giving up. He is my strength and my shield, my rock and my strong tower. I am thankful for the many blessings God has given me. I am thankful for His payment on the cross for me so that I can be His child and have a relationship with Him. Jesus is all the world to me, as the hymn says, and I want to praise God in everything I do. A hymn which praises the name of Jesus as the one which is far above every name, is the hymn that is called “Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know” which I will be playing in a moment.

First, though, I’ll share what everyone is so interested to know, at least what everyone asks about, and that is my future plans. I think things have worked out pretty well, as I’m graduating from high school a year early. I will be taking a year to catch my breath and figure out what God has in store for my life. I will be considering college, hopefully studying film, video and photographic arts, as well as clarinet performance.

Although I don’t know what God has in mind for me, I do know this: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. And whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you’re donating blood.

Kiersten Emma Don Schrawyer

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H i, my name is Kiersten Schrawyer. I am thrilled to have finished highschool. It seems like just yesterday I was making mud pies in my backyard with my brothers, but now here I stand, graduated.

High school was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, but I can not be more blessed than to have had a wonderful school administration and special connections made through student council that helped me persevere. Specifically, I want to thank Mr. Joel for always being positive, but also stern when I needed that push.

As I pass this milestone today, I want to give credit and thanks to those who really supported me along the way.

My mother, for being the strong hold of my childhood, never ceasing in loving me at my worst. I’m aware that I was not the easiest child, but I thank you for being less stubborn, otherwise we would still be standing in the living room staring at each other. And I also thank you for never closing your arms to me or denying a hug, because God made me the perfect height for that reason-- your hugs. I love you.

My father, I know having an amazing daughter like me was hard on your ego and pride, but I thank you for having this special bond with me. I will always be your baby girl, even when I’m old and wrinkly like you. I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but your love and dedication to me is what I value the most in life. You’ve supported me through school and soccer, all while giving me advice about the romances of boys-- or the encouraged lack thereof. I can’t express how much I love you.

My brothers, without them, I’d probably be the favorite child. But, I’d also probably be a wimp. I am blessed to have such deep unique connections with them both, even if we do fight about whether Zane drove on that specific road the other day or I just waved to a strange man that looked similar to him in the same exact car. They have been a part of my life since the beginning and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lastly, I want to mention some important people in my life. The Colvins, for giving me the most wonderful opportunity to watch your daughters. My god daughter grows cuter everyday. The Hesters, for being an amazing family to work for. My days would be dull without Cullen and Silas. Finally, the delightful friendships I’ve made this year, I hope they last a lifetime.

My plans for the future include attending Converse College in the fall on a soccer scholarship to study biology. I hope to attain my Bachelor of Science degree, continuing my education on to chiropractic school to become a fully licensed chiropractor. I pray that God uses me in this field for His will.

High school had its challenges, especially junior year. God put me through a trial at the beginning of the school year that really shaped who I am today, and how I perceive others. Through the pain, He brought me closer to Him which taught me to love people more than I had the previous years. Through this love, I have learned to appreciate the amazing support system He has given me; also to not take advantage of the love that is given to me. I am surrounded by wonderful people who influence me everyday, helping me grow and learn, not only in school, but in life as well.