Luther Classical College, which is scheduled to open in August 2025, offers a unique set of educational opportunities, ranging from pre-seminary studies in biblical languages to trade school partnerships for students aspiring to careers in plumbing, welding, diesel mechanics, and the like. All students share about eighty per cent of their coursework in common, spanning Lutheran theology and the classical liberal arts. A handful of track-specific courses offer opportunities to prepare for specific careers after college.

The A.A. Trade Partnership Track includes the requirement that students begin a trade certificate program at another school, with the aim of completing an A.A. at LCC within two years and a trade certificate at the partner school by the end of year three. LCC assists students in finding a trade school and selecting trade courses that suit individualized plans. While LCC does not limit students to any particular list of trade schools, LCC is in active communication with faculty and administrators at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming, and Tarkio Technology Institute in Tarkio, Missouri. Tarkio Tech is located just thirty minutes away from the Lutheran Institute of Regenerative Agriculture (LIRA), another LCC partner organization.

“Faculty and administrators at Casper College have been eager to work with us,” notes Dr. Ryan MacPherson, academic dean at LCC. “With their campus just a five-minute drive away, we look forward to an easy integration of their trade courses with our liberal arts curriculum.” LCC’s other partner, Tarkio Tech, is located halfway across the nation in Missouri, but its proximity to the LIRA opens up exciting possibilities. “Imagine a student learning organic farming in the morning, taking a welding course in the afternoon, and returning to the farmhouse for evening devotions and a readers’ theater performance of Shakespeare in the evening,” explains MacPherson.

Luther Classical College recognizes the importance of preparing students for gainful employment, but above all the new school intends to train students to be God-fearing husbands and wives who lead their children in home devotions and are active volunteers in their congregations. “Picture a man who owns his own HVAC business, sings in the choir, serves as chairman of the church council, and reads great literature to his children for bedtime stories—that’s the sort of person Luther Classical College seeks to train,” says MacPherson.

LIRA, located in southern Iowa at Legacy Farms, provides summer work and apprenticeship opportunities for Lutheran young people, while also hosting conferences and retreats. LCC students have opportunities to work, to learn, and to teach, with subject matter ranging from regenerative farming techniques to the Lutheran liberal arts. In an interview earlier this year with Dr. MacPherson, LIRA’s director, Pastor Christopher Maronde, announced a special “gap year” program for prospective LCC students who are looking for enriching activities while they await the college’s grand opening in August 2025.