The Comets are not simply filling holes left by last year’s leaders. Players are stepping into those spaces and making them their own. Roles are getting bigger. Expectations are getting heavier. And through two games, Hillcrest is showing that it has players willing to carry both.

Chairs turned inward. Bibles open. A group of students huddled close, not for a casual study break, but because something is happening in the pages in front of them. Their heads are bowed over Scripture, but their hearts are reaching upward and inward simultaneously.

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy came out flying against Pelican Rapids over the weekend, scoring four goals from four different players, forcing turnovers across the field, and carrying a 2-0 halftime lead into a convincing 4-1 season-opening victory.

Hillcrest walked away with a 2-0 win, a 14-2 advantage in shots on goal, and the first shutout of the season for senior keeper Will Selvig.

Week after week, Hillcrest gathers around something larger than the school itself. Teachers and students stand together under the same Word. Christ is proclaimed. Faith is strengthened. Community is formed. Students are prepared not merely to succeed, but to serve.

Teachers are not simply running classrooms, delivering lessons, or keeping hallways orderly. They are helping young people learn to attend, obey, respect, take responsibility, receive correction, extend grace, repair relationships, and recognize what is true, good, and beautiful.

Before the first bell rings, before students settle into desks, before assignments are given or lessons begin, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy begins the school year in a different place. In prayer.

High school is not too early to start this work. If anything, it may be the last window before students face these questions without a teacher, a mentor, or a community walking alongside them. At Hillcrest, apologetics is not just a class, but a posture threaded through science labs, history seminars, literature circles, and Bible classes alike, giving students something they will need for the rest of their lives: the ability to say, with Evelyn's same confidence, exactly why they believe what they believe.

The Comets finished the season with much to celebrate: school records, state-level competition, senior leadership, and a team culture that reflected hard work and gratitude. It was a strong season for Hillcrest Track and Field, and one that leaves plenty of excitement for what is ahead.

As World War II unfolded, lights began glowing in the Hillcrest chapel for alumni serving across the world. Each bulb represented someone who had once walked the halls of Hillcrest and now stood in places marked by uncertainty, sacrifice, and war.

Psalm 19 says that “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” At the hatchery, students saw that same declaration in flowing water, in schools of fish, and in the intricate systems that sustain life beneath the surface. What began as a school trip became something more: a reminder that education is at its best when it awakens wonder, invites exploration, and helps students discover how God may be calling them to use their gifts in His world.

The 5th Grade Send-Off was not simply the end of elementary school. It was a reminder that childhood should be filled with meaningful markers that help young people step confidently into the next season of life, knowing they are loved, equipped, and sent forward with purpose.

In a culture where gratitude is often reduced to quick responses and shallow politeness, the students were being taught something far more meaningful. They were learning how to observe goodness carefully enough to name it. They were learning that healthy communities are built by people whose service often goes unnoticed. And they were learning that saying “thank you” carries more power when gratitude becomes personal and precise.

A teacher paused mid-note, looked up, and you could almost see the connection being made. Across the room, others leaned in, not out of obligation, but because something had just clicked. The kind of clarity that doesn’t just inform your thinking, but reshapes it. Last week at Hillcrest, that kind of moment didn’t happen once. It happened again and again as Dr. Kathy Koch led upper school faculty through a training that moved beyond theory and into transformation.

While team finishes in both meets reflect the level of competition the Comets are facing, the deeper story is one of steady progress. Across sprints, distance events, and relays, athletes are stepping into new roles, competing with consistency, and building the kind of depth that defines a strong team over the course of a long season.

This is what it looks like when learning becomes formation. Students are seen not just for where they are, but for who they are becoming. They are given space to try, to fail, to rise, and to discover that the abilities God has placed within them are not theoretical; they are usable, meaningful, and needed. In rooms like this, with voices raised and minds engaged, students begin to understand that they can enter complex situations, think clearly, speak truthfully, and act with purpose. And that realization changes them.

In Mrs. Moline’s classroom, learning is never just about the lesson. It is about forming the kind of student who trusts the environment, understands their place in it, connects with others, sees meaning in their work, and develops the skill to carry it forward.

Cold mountain air rushed through the field alive with movement. Feet were striking the ground in rhythm, voices rising in unfamiliar songs, laughter breaking through every barrier that language could have built as young people from Tirana joined Hillcrest seniors in the mountains for a retreat. Circles tightened, hands locked, and under a bright Albanian sky, a group of students who had never met hours earlier moved like lifelong friends. No hesitation. No distance. Just loud, unfiltered, and contagious laughter. This is where the Hillcrest students will lead a weekend getaway focused on identity, reality, and the good news of the Gospel.

It would be easy to measure this trip by what it costs. A week away from the final stretch of senior year. The financial weight of international travel. The disruption of routine. In a culture that values efficiency above almost everything, this kind of decision can feel impractical. But day two makes something unmistakably clear: this is not a break from education. This is its fulfillment.

If the first day is any indication, what lies ahead will not simply be a series of planned moments, but a continuation of something God has already been orchestrating. Because the Gospel does not wait for perfect conditions, it moves through willing people. People who will go. People who will sit. People who will listen. People who will love.