Lutheran High School North celebrated its 50th anniversary during a Sept. 23 homecoming football game. Alumni were invited onto the field for recognition and group photos during a break in the game. On Oct. 26, the school’s assistant principal Tim Hardy also celebrated his 50th birthday.

In 1972, “The French Connection” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Richard Nixon was reelected president, Lutheran High School North welcomed students for the first time, and a future assistant principal of the school was born.

Although it became a school in 1972, Lutheran High School North’s (LHN) first graduating class year was 1975. LHN Assistant Principal Tim Hardy has three children, two who are currently attending LHN. They were quick to point out the school’s coinciding 1972 founding and their father’s birth year.

“They said, ‘Dad, you are as old as the school,’” Hardy said.

This year has been a school year of birthday celebrations thus far at LHN, located at 16825 24 Mile Road in Macomb Township. First the school proved that you can go home again with a special homecoming celebration on Sept. 23 for its 50th anniversary. All students were invited to participate in a photo booth and use throwback apparel to create fun photos during homecoming. Lutheran High School North’s Facebook page sported a Sept. 15 post inviting all alumni back to the school to celebrate 50 years of ministry. The post invited alumni from any and all graduating classes to meet on the football field between the first and second quarter of the game for group photos.

A little over a month after homecoming, LHN had an additional reason to mark 50 years. Hardy celebrated his 50th birthday on Oct. 26. When he came to the school office that day he found it decorated, including photos of himself throughout his life, and he also received plenty of birthday cake.

“The kids had the opportunity to write notes. Many kids wrote happy birthday and other special things for me,” he said. “My brother, who is a pastor in the Lutheran church, he recorded a devotional message.”

LHN Principal John Reincke said the entire school was able to hear the devotional message, which contained some birthday references for Hardy. It was given by Jamison Hardy, the president of the English District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

Lutheran High School North and its Assistant Principal Tim Hardy both turned 50 this school year, each receiving birthday celebrations with fanfare.

Hardy graduated in 1990 from Lutheran Westland in Westland. This high school was established in 1986 and is one of three high schools that make up the Lutheran High School Association. The other two schools are Lutheran North and Lutheran Northwest, located in Rochester Hills.

“It is meaningful for me that I am working at an association that I attended high school in,” Hardy said.

He took his first teaching job out of college at LHN in the 1995-96 school year, and taught for about 18 years before moving into the assistant principal role, a post he has held for nine years.

“To me it has been about the relationships that I have had with the kids and families. I partner with the families and try to help guide young people through all the challenges that come with being a teenager, the milestones,” he said.

Hardy said staff are more aware of what is going on in the lives of students and their families than in the past, which better equips them to offer any assistance or support that they can. He also acknowledged teens today face more and different challenges than in the past, due to external factors like social media. He sees the role of his school as more important than ever.