Falcons at Sierra Lutheran school soar to new heights

Just because Sierra Lutheran High School has a new campus doesn't mean the work is done. Building a city on the hill - both literally and figuratively - takes time, visionary leadership and a dedicated following.

"We always aspire to a higher standard," said the school's new executive director, Brian Underwood. "This is the time to really get going."

Sitting in his new office, looking south on the green sweep of Carson Valley and the snow-capped Sierra beyond, Underwood said the new campus, which sits on 38 acres off North Sunridge Drive, is the starting point for Sierra Lutheran, not the end point.

"This is a great takeoff point to reach even greater heights," he said.

In July, after an 18-month search, Sierra Lutheran's board of directors selected Underwood to replace retiring director Norm Brauer.

It was Brauer who had championed the school's decade-long transformation from a drafty Minden warehouse to the stately structure now visible from Highway 395.

"Kudos to the people who developed this school," Underwood said. "A core group of people believed in the school and got others to believe in that vision as well."

Underwood, 47, has experience with educational transformations. During the last five years, he served as vice principal for external affairs at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, Calif. He directed a marketing and development campaign that made Crean the fastest-growing Lutheran high school in the U.S. and in the history of the Lutheran Church.

And his experience isn't limited to high school. He spent 17 years in the collegiate arena, coaching basketball at Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine, and serving as associate athletic director at Cal Poly Pomona.

In the early 2000s, Underwood felt the need to reconnect with students in the classroom. A teaching and administrative position at Orange Lutheran High School soon led to the founding of Crean. When the opportunity at Sierra Lutheran arose five years later, he again felt a spiritual calling "to utilize something I had used before to expand this ministry."

Underwood, who now lives in Genoa with his wife and two young daughters, is familiar with the region - he and his wife honeymooned at Lake Tahoe. He also has a great-aunt and -uncle who used to run a general store across from the state Capitol building in Carson City.

Underwood said his family made an immediate connection with the Eastern Sierra and its inhabitants.

"From a family standpoint and a quality-of-life standpoint, we've really grown, in a short period of time, to appreciate this community," he said.

As for Sierra Lutheran, Underwood has three objectives to help the school flourish into the future:

- The first is to expand its academic and extracurricular offerings, to poll parents and determine priorities. That may mean more college counseling, partnerships with other institutions, Advanced Placement courses and SAT prepping. It may also mean more performing arts, choir and athletics.

- The second objective is to develop the campus via the school's master plan. Completed last year, the existing building was designed to be easily expanded. Vacant acreage near the building provides the ideal site for athletic fields. The school has 92 ninth-through 12th-graders from Carson Valley to Dayton. The master plan projects upwards of 600 pupils. "We sit on 38 acres, and we're only using a fraction of that," Underwood said.

- The third objective is to increase awareness of the school. "We want to build strong inroads and relationships, strengthening the ones we have and creating new ones we don't have," Underwood said.

To that effect, the school is hosting a campus dedication and consecration ceremony 3 p.m. Oct. 16. School officials will recognize Sierra Lutheran's 10th year of operation and officially bless the new campus, including the recently completed 10,000-square-foot gym.

At a time when public education is facing many challenges, Underwood characterized Sierra Lutheran as a great constant.

"Our initiative never changes," he said. "Faith-based, we proclaim Jesus Christ in all that we do and focus on providing the best service."

Underwood believes the function of secondary education is to nurture every student. "Everyone of us is gifted in a unique way," he said. "We have a staff here that understands and nurtures those gifts. It's a crying shame if a student spends four years in school and does not recognize that."