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Welcome to the October 2025 edition of The Salem Story!
Sharing with you how God
is moving among His children in Black Jack, MO!
Check out our Web Site!
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Here at Salem we have a story to tell...one of God's grace and faithfulness for over 175 years!
Inside you’ll find: Chapel Talks, Girls Volleyball, Spirit Week and Pumpkin Patch Fun!
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Our Theme
this year
is JOY!
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Enjoy our students and staff singing our theme song of "JOY!" which stands for putting Jesus first in your life, then Others, then Yourself last.
Jesus says we should SERVE ONE ANOHTER!!
Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Click HERE and watch our "JOY" Video!
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Our PreK - 2nd graders led by Mrs. Upchurch and Ms. Osiek had a great time at Thies Pumpkin Farm! God blessed us with a beautiful day as they did all the rope ladders, swings, slides, zip lines and tire swings.
Click for Pumpkin Farm Video!!
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Our 3-4th graders painted their pumpkins
and made some VERY cool designs.
We love Mrs. Pena's Owl Pumpkin!
| | | | We are so grateful for our DONORS like Gary and Irene Kalmer, members of Salem Lutheran Church. They donated 40 white and orange pumpkins for our students to take home and enjoy. Gary is pictured here with 8th grade student Chloe, who helped bring the pumpkins inside. | | | Kindergarteners with pumpkins | | |
Middle School carving
their pumpkins
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Meet our exciting
STAFF
for the
2025-2026
school year!
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Back Row: Nancy Joy-Development Director, Susan Scherer-School Administrative Assistant,
Jeff Burkee-Principal, Rev. Dr. Martin Dressler-Pastor, Elin Hogan-Gomez -Church Administrative Assistant, Front Row: Shelinda Upchurch- PreK and Kindergarten, Karen Osiek- 1st and 2nd Grade,
Rachel Pena- 3rd and 4th Grade, Jessica Potter- Middle School.
| | Our Principal, Mr. Burkee, is in his 39th year of being a principal and is in his 45th year of Lutheran Ministry! He came to us during Covid 5 years ago and has been a huge blessing to our students ever since. He makes the atmosphere at Salem friendly and exciting. The students love his energetic morning announcements, the fun dress up days, and all the activities he provides. He and his wife Cathy have 6 married children, 5 grandchildren, and a dog. Mr. Burkee says, “I love working with all of the people at Salem. I have a great staff and a great administrative group surrounding me. I truly enjoy helping students reach their full potential.” His favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” | |  | Rev. Dr. Martin Dressler came as our Pastor at Salem Lutheran Church 8 years ago. He has been a pastor for 12 years now, and he provides insightful and exciting chapel talks for our students. Pastor also teaches religion classes for our middle school students. On Thursdays he is having that class read “The Chronicles of Narnia” and they have been having wonderful discussions about their faith. His wife, Justine, is a synodically trained teacher, and they have four sons: Titus, Jude, Grey, and Edmund. They also have two cats and a varying number of fish depending on the day (they tend not to live very long). Pastor Dressler feels that being the pastor at Salem is a real blessing saying “Getting to share the love of Jesus with students and helping them live into God's true story - what's better than that?!” His favorite Bible verse is 2 Corinthains 4:7 which says "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." We love having Pastor share Jesus at our school! | | | | |
Click to watch a video on what God is doing through our school. There is a lot of fun, learning, and faith building going on here at Salem!
Thank you for your support!
| | | In Chapel, it's great to see how our middle schoolers lead by example by ringing the bell, lighting the candles, reading the scripture lessons and taking the offering. What great servants' heart they have! | | | |
Nancy Joy led a chapel on "How Being a Christian Is Like A Pumpkin" Enjoy the handout and you can click here to download a copy for yourself. To demonstrate how God “scoops the sin out of our lives” each student came forward and scooped out seeds of sin we all have (of disobedience, hate, anger and doubt) and put them into a bowl. It was a great visual to remind us of how God LOVED us enough to die and forgive ALL of our sins!
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Ms. Joy explainging God's
Plan of Salvation for us
| | John 1:9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. | | Only God can "Scoop the Goop" out of our lives. | | | | |
At Salem we LOVE our donors.
We are VERY thankful to all who donate and make our jobs easier
to do here at Salem!
Wish to support us?
Click here to donate!
| | We have also had donors buy 24 items so far from our Teacher Wish List. You can click on these QR codes and have any item shipped right to the school. Thank you for helping equip our teachers! | | | | Pre K and Kindergarten Items | | | |
Our Pre-K and Kindergarten classes, led by Mrs. Upchurch, are really learning their
site words and math skills!
| | | | Mrs. Upchurch teaching site words | | Painting God's fall beauty | | Our 1st and 2nd graders are learning to read better and do science experiments with Ms. Osiek | | Showcasing their bean sprouts growing in the window | | | Their creative Noah's ark mural | | Mrs. Pena's 3rd-4th graders love doing STEM projects to learn science concepts, being artistic and enhancing their math skills in creative was by using poker chips and decks of cards | | STEM Project: Build a hat to protect your head and face | | "I did it!" -- Solving a math problem with cards and poker chips | | Creativity shines in art class | | |
Middle Schoolers, led by Mrs. Potter, also love doing STEM projects like making solar ovens
and religion classes with Pastor Dressler
| | STEM project: Making S'Mores in a solar oven created from a pizza box! They were yummy! | | Catechism class...Great discussions are happening! | | Science project: Create an internal organs display and present it to the class. | | Proud of our Middle School students for helping little ones learn to read | | "Reading Buddies" makes reading more fun!! | | Inter-grade activities build school unity | | |
It's rewarding to work with our students! Call Nancy Joy at
314-741-0477 or Email: development@salembjmo.org
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Do you like to read
to children? Teach art, gym or music?
We need volunteers to read to and help some students learn to read better. Also if you are a retired music, gym or art teacher, and wish to volunteer a few hours each month teach these subjects, we are looking for volunteers to assist in classes in these areas. We will work around your schedule!
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Nora, a Salem member,
helps our students read
several days a week!
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Are you handy? Or do you have extra time? We have many volunteer jobs that need to be done at Salem!
Let Nancy know if you can volunteer!!
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We are grateful for our principal, Mr. Jeff Burkee and our Admin Assistant Mrs. Susan Scherer for always organizing Pizza Day and serving it up quickly!!
Students love the "Pizza Hat" he wears on Fridays.
| | | | | | Our students learned a lot about Fire Safety. They got to sit in the fire truck, use the fire extinguisher, and hold the jaws of life. We are grateful to the Black Jack Fire Protection District for sharing safety tips with our students. | | | | |
Spirit Week was the last week of October and every day our students dressed up according to the theme of the day. Day #1 was "The 90's" so the staff pulled out some old clothes to wear!
Watch 90's Day Video
| | | | | | Are your Spidey senses tingling? | | |
Day #3 of Spirit Week --
"Country Club Day!" Look at all these golfers and tennis players! And the Country Club Manager was our own Principal-
Mr. Burkee
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Day #4 of Spirit Week Happy Halloween!
Everyone enjoyed showing off their Halloween costumes!
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Mr. Burkee as "The Beast" along with a beautiful Belle
and Mrs. Potts!
| | | | | | | Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Pena | |
Day #5 of Spirit Week --
Color Day!
Everyone sported their favorite color!
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Scholarships!
One of the best ways you can help us is by providing scholarships for our students. Each student receives a $6,000 scholarship. If you get your Bible class, or friend group to all pitch in together, it can happen! Just 10 people giving $50/month = $6,000/year. Gather up some friends and share what God is doing at Salem! Contact Nancy Joy at
314-741-0477 or Email: development@salembjmo.org
for more details. You can give to the Scholarship Fund by clicking here: Click to donate a scholarship and more!
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God has brought us a long way!! | | |
Salem Lutheran School will be celebrating its 165th Anniversary next year. The Alumni Committee is planning an ALL Class Reunion for the fall of 2026. We are currently in the process of collecting contact information and need your help to locate alumni! Are you a Salem School alumnus? Do you have contacts for other alumni that are not currently members of Salem? Help us round up our former classmates.
Please email alumni information to sbjalumni@gmail.com, or you may bring a list to the church office. Include as much information as you can like: Full name (including maiden); mailing address; phone number; email address; class year.
*To volunteer to help with the reunion, please email sbjalumni@gmail.com or you can call/text Kym Webb at (314) 623-2012
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At Salem we love to celebrate Birthdays! In September the staff was excited to celebrate these 2 students. May God richly bless these amazing young men we have at our school!
Click here to watch Salem School September Birthdays
We also celebrated Ms. Lay's Birthday and are so grateful for her being our teacher aid and also asubstitute teacher. Enjoy watching Happy Birthday Ms. Lay!!!
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Click and watch the video to join us in wishing Pastor Dressler a VERY Happy Birthday!!!!
We are so grateful for ALL he does for Salem School!!!
Happy Birthday Pastor Dressler!
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Congratulations to Chloe, who has been an Eagle volleyball player for 3 years. She has played hard and helped the team with her energy and skill. Thank you Chloe for being a great role model. We also thank Mrs. Pena for organizing our schools athletics.
GO EAGLES!!!
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Have Nancy come speak at your church!
Our new Development Director Nancy Joy would love to come and share what God is doing at Salem Lutheran School and how YOU can be a part of our mission! She can speak in your church service, Bible class, LWML or misison group, or share with your students during your school chapel time.
Contact her by calling: 314-741-0477
Email: development@salembjmo.org
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We have been blessed by many donations but if you happen to be on Amazon and want to bless us a little more, we please could still use
(like always...and forever…)
1. Plastic knives, forks and spoons
2. Also napkins for students to use at lunchtime.
3. Copy paper (white)
4. Toilet paper
5. Paper towels
6. Hand wipes
Thank YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
| | | | | | We love it when Salem Alumni come back to visit us! Here is Raegan with her Middle School teacher Mrs. Potter. Raegan was a 2025 Graduate of Salem and is now at Marquette Catholic School In Alton. Thanks for stopping by Raegan!!! | | |
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Join us at Salem Lutheran Church for Sunday School and Bible Class at 8:45am, and worship at 10:00am. We are located at 5190 Parker Road in Black Jack, MO, 63033. Contact Pastor Dressler at 314-741-6781
Click here for The Salem Church Website
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We had a great time making Apple Butter! We raised over $5,000 and funds will support the school and
outreach projects.
| | Come to the Manger will be on December 5-6th from 6-8pm each night. It’s a “Live Nativity Scene” with animals and actors. Bring the whole family! | | We also need volunteers, so if you and your family wish to volunteer please contact Elin at314-741-6781 or email her at egomez@salembjmo.org. Financial donations are also greatly appreciated to bring the message of “Our Savior’s Brith” to our community! | |
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A word from our Principal-Mr. Burkee
One of my favorite passages regarding the pursuit of wisdom is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." The key words here are Trust and Acknowledge. To Trust means we cease leaning on
our own limited perspective, relying completely on God's wisdom. To Acknowledge is
to realize He is the ultimate source of all genuine knowledge and truth. When we adopt
this foundation, we receive the promise of the passage: straight paths in our education
and life. And who wouldn't want that?
| | | | | | Our principal Mr. Burkee took our 4 amazing teachers to the Lutheran Education Association (LEA) Convocation in downtown St. Louis. They learned some great techniques and skills to make learning even more exciting for our students. Thank you staff for all your hard work and love! | | | |
Every morning we say pledges, the Apostles’ Creed and The Lord’s Prayer. It’s a great way to start the day!
Here is 8th grader Chloe leading the school in the morning pledges. Click and enjoy Salem Morning Pledges
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We thank you for your prayers!
John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
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We thank you for your support of our mission here in Black Jack... and we especially appreciate your prayers. God has a plan for us to reach the lost and to give students an excellent education. YOU are a part of this mission!
Please pray:
*For the Spirit to bless us with ever greater faith, hope, and love so that we may serve God's children according to His will.
* For the Spirit to work in the hearts and minds of the students we teach.
* For family members of students going through health crises.
* That our outreach events touch the hearts of many
* For strength and energy for our teachers as they give their all to students daily.
*For more scholarships to become available for our students.
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Wish to donate to the school?
We are praying for partners to come along side to donate scholarships, and help replace our school roof and parking lot. Thank you in advance for supporting us!
Click here to support Salem!
Feel free to pass this E-Newsletter along to others who may wish to support us.
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Salem Lutheran Church and School ~ 5190 Parker Road, Florissant, MO 63033
School: 314-741-8220 ~ Church: 314-741-6781
Nancy Joy E:development@salembjmo.org ~ Pastor Dressler E:mdressler@salembjmo.org
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