Student Life

Ownership and operation of automobiles by students involves certain obligations: adequate insurance must be carried for public liability (personal and property damage), and a parking fee is included in the all-student general registration fee.

Permission to accept regular employment is granted to students, provided this employment will not interfere with their studies and is undertaken with the knowledge and approval of the seminary administration.

The seminary does not sponsor an organized athletic program. Nevertheless, an excellent athletic facility is available for student use.

The seminary does not offer a special health insurance program of its own, but students are eligible to enroll in the Wisconsin Synod Group Hospital-Medical- Surgical Insurance Plan (VEBA), as offered to the pastors and teachers of the synod.

The Seminary Bookstore is a cooperative owned and operated by the student body. The supplies are offered on a minimum margin of profit, from which a student manager, chosen by the student body, is salaried. An annual audit of the bookstore is filed with the president of the seminary.

While at the seminary, students will want to begin acquiring a personal library of the basic theological books needed by a pastor in the parish ministry. The book expenses of the individual student will vary, but a minimum cost of $500 per year may be expected. Books may be purchased through the Seminary Bookstore.

The campus computer network provides student access to the library, the Internet, and email as well as to software programs such as word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and biblical research.

The seminary encourages all students to become acquainted with the periodicals of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. For all enrolled students, subscriptions to the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly and Forward in Christ are included in the registration fee.

Two times each academic year the students publish an online journal entitled Theologia. This journal is published on the seminary’s web site. The journal is overseen by an editorial board comprised of four seniors, two middlers, and a faculty advisor.

In view of the maturity that can be presupposed in seminary students, the affairs of the dormitory are predominanatly regulated by the students themselves with a minimum of consultation with the dean of students.

The married students operate a food bank through which food and other staples donated by individuals and congregations are distributed on an equitable basis to all married students who have need of them.

"Sem Gems" is the name of the seminary's organization for seminary wives and fiancées. It meets several times a year and provides opportunity for Christian fellowship, instruction, information sharing, and mutual encouragement for those who will soon be living in a parsonage.

Since the seminary desires to counsel students before marriage, all students who contemplate marriage (including vicars, those in emergency service, and those on leave of absence) are expected to consult with the dean of students.

A Mission and Ministry Seminar is held annually during the Epiphany season. This three-day seminar is intended to inspire the students for future ministry and to familiarize them with the various functions of the WELS, including the services which it offers the parish pastor.

By its public concerts and appearances the Seminary Chorus represents the seminary in the synod and seeks to set a standard for confessional church music.

Because the seminary believes that Christian faith and life are strengthened by and expressed in public worship, opportunities for worship are offered every morning during the school year, on most evenings, and on festivals and special occasions.

Each student is assigned a faculty advisor at the beginning of the student's first year at the seminary. Under normal conditions the student has the same advisor throughout his time of enrollment.

All unmarried students are required to live in the dormitory unless their homes are in the immediate vicinity. Each dormitory resident is provided with a desk, chair, shelves for books, telephone, closet space, bed, and mattress for use during his stay.

New students are introduced to the seminary and its policies in an orientation session that takes place on the day before classes begin. The dean of students organizes the orientation and sets the agenda. Students are welcomed to the seminary by the president.