St. Peter’s in Fort Wayne and St. Peter–Immanuel in Decatur have joined the growing number of The Lutheran Schools participating in the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program.

Other schools participating include Concordia, Woodburn, Suburban Bethlehem, Lutheran South Unity, St. John in Kendallville, Emmaus, Ascension, St. Paul’s, and Concordia Lutheran High School.

Choice Scholarships—also known as vouchers—enable families that meet financial-eligibility guidelines to choose accredited nonpublic schools for their children. The scholarship amount represents the money allocated by the state to educate a student in a public school.

From sending gifts to other children around the world, to sponsoring families in need, to entertaining older adults, students of The Lutheran Schools spread the spirit of Christmas in many ways in 2011.

Here are just a few examples.

One of the most ambitious projects took place at Central Lutheran School in New Haven, where students packed more than 400 shoeboxes with gifts for less fortunate children all over the globe. Central’s effort was part of Operation Christmas Child, a program of Samaritan’s Purse, an international nondenominational evangelical Christian organization.

The Lutheran Schools—17 elementary schools and Concordia Lutheran High School—will host open houses from noon until 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 19.

“We want to give the public the opportunity to discover what The Lutheran Schools have to offer—the highest-quality education in a caring, nurturing Christian environment,” says Mark Muehl, director of the The Lutheran Schools Partnership. “And because we have so many schools in the area, there’s probably one close by for parents who want to see how they can provide their children with better educational and extracurricular experiences.

The Lutheran Schools Partnership has received a grant from Mobile Beacon, a Rhode Island organization that provides fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband services exclusively to education and nonprofit entities across the United States.

Four Partnership schools—Ascension Lutheran School, Holy Cross Lutheran School, Lutheran South Unity School, and St. Paul’s Lutheran School—were selected to each receive 10 laptops and a mix of modem connections, including mobile hotspots, USB modems, and portable modems, and a year of Internet service with a total value of more than $40,000.

The Lutheran Schools are enjoying an enrollment increase of 78 students during the 2011–12 school year.

“This enrollment growth is very encouraging,” says Mark Muehl, director of The Lutheran Schools Partnership. “Attracting more students and families to our schools and all they have to offer is something we’ve put much effort into over the last several months.”

The largest increase is at Concordia Lutheran High School, where an additional 37 students have enrolled. Next comes Central Lutheran School in New Haven with 30 new students. The largest growth by percentage came at Bethlehem Lutheran School in Ossian, where there’s a 50-percent jump from 42 to 63 students.