Sierra Lutheran High School head of school Pastor Micah Glenn provides opening remarks May 21 during the dedication of the Pastor Julias “Juls” Clausen Memorial Center and multipurpose hall. Jessica Garcia/Nevada Appeal
Footsteps of families and community members finally filled Sierra Lutheran High School’s new Pastor Julias “Juls” Clausen Memorial Center and multipurpose hall May 21.
Students, staff, alumni and local pastors dedicated the project with a ribbon-cutting and prayer, with tours open to guests.
“Tonight is the culmination of years of planning, of support and generous giving, of dedication, hard work, skill and the community coming in together to make sure something special happens for the sake of future generations to come,” head of school Pastor Micah Glenn said.
Glenn said he was “filled with joy” the expansion will allow Sierra Lutheran to add more students and academic offerings.
Sierra Lutheran opened in 2002 in Minden. It moved to its campus on Romans Road in Carson City in 2010.
Clausen was a school principal who retired in 2017. He helped with the planning and development of its athletics field beginning in 2015 but always felt people and academics mattered more, staff members recalled.
Student and alumni speakers addressed their special ties to the campus.
Alumnus Peyton Hedwall, a player from the school’s first football team in 2014, went on to study kinesiology at Concordia University Irvine and returned to the Carson Valley. He owns a personal training business and serves as the offensive and defensive line coach for the Falcons.
He attributed his success to Clausen and other teachers.
“I had somebody who believed in me and told me that I had that potential,” Hedwall said. “I could do something more and that maybe God did make me to be an athlete. And after all that training, I was able to receive a scholarship not only for football, but for track and was able to pursue that dream and really what I want to provide at this school is that that same belief in these kids.”
Jessica Garcia/Nevada AppealSenior Michael Miles, a track and field athlete, talked about understanding Sierra Lutheran’s place in the community.
“Our school may not be the most historical,” he said. “We’re not the most athletically competitive and we’re far from the largest school in our area. But I see now that it was the right place, the right school in the right community.”
Sierra Lutheran’s staff had referred to the center and hall as Phase 2a since 2021 after a planning study and holding a fundraising campaign to build support. Its groundbreaking took place in May 2024.
Final touches are expected by the end of July, project manager Chris Bonafede said.
The “PC” Center has its certificate of occupancy for 400 with Douglas County, Bonafede said, and some work is still to be finished on its augmented reality classroom. Furniture deliveries are expected in the coming weeks.
“I think that neat thing is the support from our congregational churches that are members of the associations,” Bonafede said. “We see a lot of people here, you know, grandparents, people that haven't had kids here, but whether it's their donations of time, talent, their treasures. They've been a part of this since they've started in 2000.”
Bonafede said he hoped the offerings in the hall would inspire others.
“We’re hoping that this model that we’ve been trying to introduce … is really going to bring to life kind of this individual-targeting educational opportunity we have with every student,” he said.
Board member Jan Marson and one of the original founding visionaries of the school called it a “dream come true” to see the building accomplished.
“This faculty we have right now, they are just the most awesome people,” Marson said. “I’m excited about all the technology. … I love the sports, I love the beginning, the chapels, hearing the kids.”