Dear Saints Families,

May the peace of Christ continue to comfort, strengthen, and sustain you and your family in the weeks ahead!

As we continue walking through our grief in the passing of Ryder Barnes, we want to thank you for the prayers, compassion, and care you have shown throughout these difficult weeks. Ryder’s loss has been deeply felt across our Saints community. Grief does not move quickly or predictably; rather, it is felt in waves, some quiet and others heavy. We also know that it affects students, families, faculty, staff, coaches, teammates, and friends in different ways.

From the outset, our desire has been to walk through this loss as a Christian community, with care, prayer, support, encouragement, and confidence in the hope we have in Christ. Scripture does not ask us to pretend that death is small or that grief is easy. Instead, the Lord meets us in our sorrow with His presence and His promise. Jesus Himself tells us that in this world we will have tribulation, but He also tells us to “take heart” because He has overcome the world.

Since learning of Ryder’s passing, Crean Lutheran has taken several steps to support students and families. We communicated with our community, gathered in prayer, provided counselors and campus pastors for students, held a memorial chapel, and continued to make space for students to process, ask questions, sit quietly, pray, or simply be with trusted adults and peers. Our Counseling Department, Campus Ministry team, administrators, teachers, coaches, and staff have remained attentive to students who may be struggling, especially those closest to Ryder.

Last week, we offered a parent webinar, "Showing Up When It Matters Most: Supporting Teens After Loss." Led by Dr. Clare Albright, a Christian psychologist with decades of experience supporting individuals and families. This evening was designed specifically to help parents understand how grief may appear in teenagers and how to respond with wisdom, steadiness, faith, and compassion. This week, our students also participated in a resilience and grit assembly, “Resilience Through Perseverance.” Brandon Joffe (LCSW) and Zack Collie (AMFT) from Inspired Resolutions Counseling engaged in a meaningful conversation as Zack shared his personal journey following a life-changing injury. He spoke to students about resilience, perseverance, patience, gratitude, acceptance, and the importance of support. His story helped students reflect on what it means to face hardship honestly while continuing to move forward with courage, purpose, and hope.

During the week of May 11, we are planning a chapel panel to help students continue processing some of the faith, life, and wellness questions that can surface after the loss of a classmate. In a pastoral, age-appropriate, and student-centered manner, the panel will address the ongoing grief and residual impact of Ryder’s passing, how Christians speak about suicide in light of the Gospel and the promise of salvation in Christ, how a Christian should respond when experiencing suicidal thoughts, and practical steps for suicide prevention. Our goal is not to sensationalize or speculate, but to point students to Jesus, remind them that they are deeply loved, and clearly encourage them to seek help from trusted adults, counselors, pastors, parents, and other appropriate supports whenever they or someone they know may be struggling.

As we continue caring for students and providing you with updates, we want to assure you of the great importance we place on mental wellness and spiritual health. Throughout the pandemic and in the following years, we observed an increase in anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues across the country. As a school community, we took this matter seriously and invested in expanded Counseling and Campus Ministry teams. By God’s grace and through intentional stewardship, CLHS has invested in a level of student support far stronger than the California and National benchmarks. In addition to our Counseling Department, we are blessed to have three full-time pastors on campus, allowing students to receive not only social, emotional, and academic support but also spiritual care. We share these details not for comparison, but for reassurance. When students are hurting, struggling, grieving, or simply in need of a trusted adult, we want them to know there are faithful people ready to listen, pray, encourage, guide, and walk with them.

We will continue to monitor and support our students. Counselors and campus pastors remain available, and faculty and staff have been encouraged to remain watchful, patient, and responsive. We will continue to care for students individually, support teams and friend groups most directly impacted, and communicate with families when additional partnership is needed.

Parents, we encourage you to continue checking in with your children. Some students may want to talk often; others may say very little. Some may seem fine, only to struggle later. Changes in sleep, appetite, mood, motivation, social behavior, school performance, or emotional regulation may be signs that a student needs additional support. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Counseling Department, Campus Pastor Tim Unke, or school administration if you have concerns about your child or another student.

Above all, we ask you to continue praying for Ryder’s family, his friends and teammates, our Senior class, our faculty and staff, and every student carrying grief in visible and invisible ways. We remain committed to walking together as a Saints family, proclaiming Jesus Christ not only in moments of joy and celebration, but also in moments of sorrow, loss, and need.

In Christ,