Austin Thiessen is savoring the experiences of his senior year at Berean Academy in the tiny central Kansas town of Elbing.
 
He enjoys playing the trumpet in Bev Lister's band class. "The greatest band teacher," Thiessen said. "She knows how to conduct."
 
Thiessen also strums the chords on bass and acoustic guitar for the Berean Academy Worship Team, a student group that leads music services in the school's chapel. In an industrial arts class, he's in the early stages of building a pool table, a project that taps into his penchant for working with his hands.
 
Other things lie ahead, like Thiessen's final season as a 6-foot-4 center on the Warriors basketball team, and trying to return to the state track meet in javelin. Before that, he will play the role of Baloo, the affable bear in Berean's senior class production of The Jungle Book.
 
"This is the first time I've ever done any sort of theater," said Thiessen, the Capitol Federal True Blue® Student of the Week. "There's a learning curve, for sure. But it's been a lot of fun, especially with all my friends."
 
There was a time in Thiessen's life when encountering a bear would have been more likely than performing one in a school play. One of Doug and Crystal Thiessen's four sons, Austin was born in Palmer, Alaska, not far from where his parents lived for more than two decades. Doug Thiessen served as horsemanship director at Victory Bible Camp, a picturesque retreat at the base of the Talkeetna Mountains about 95 miles northeast of Anchorage.
 
In that role, Doug guided trail rides for campers and guests, gave horsemanship lessons and led wilderness horse packing trips into the mountains. The Thiessens homeschooled Austin and his older brothers, Carlen and Jared, and younger brother Randall. When they weren't studying, they were immersed in splendid nature.
 
"A lot of hunting, a lot of trapping," Crystal Thiessen said. "In wintertime, there was a lot of snow-machining or snowmobiling. In Doug's role, everything had to do with horses, so there were sleigh rides.
 
"There was not a day that went by that they weren't outside, and our huge backyard just happened to have these big, beautiful mountains."

That was the Thiessens' way of life until the summer of 2015. Years before, Doug, who also served as a volunteer emergency medical technician, developed a brain malformation that hemorrhaged, causing him varying degrees of trouble walking and talking. The condition also numbed his hands. He was referred to a specialist in Arizona, and underwent a surgical procedure that restored his health.
 
When similar symptoms returned, another surgery was performed in Doug's brain stem area. Crystal Thiessen said nerves were damaged during the procedure, leaving Doug unable to walk, talk or swallow. While his mental capacity was unaffected, he experienced double vision, his head shook uncontrollably and the right side of his body was numb.
 
With Doug confined to a wheelchair and needing extra care, Crystal, Austin and Randall, who is now a freshman at Berean, moved to Kansas. Doug and Crystal also went to school at Berean, and with family in the area, they relocated near Whitewater, within a mile of the farm where Crystal grew up.
 
"Our older boys still live in Alaska," Crystal Thiessen said. "Because of Doug's situation, Austin has really had to step up to the plate and become the man of the house. He has taken that on.
 
"He's so responsible, and very willing to help with whatever I've needed him to do – things that most teenage boys don't have to worry about."
 
Thiessen, who spends the summer and fall helping uncles with farm work, is Crystal's guy when a faucet needs tightened. Or when tires need air. He also helps his father with transportation needs.
 
"I think Austin took a lot of his cues from his older brothers, and they in turn helped him understand things when they changed for us," Crystal Thiessen said. "These things happen. It's part of life. God is going to pull us through this. He really did a good job of accepting that.
 
"Austin is very social, and that helps, too. So he was able to talk about it. He's thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be with so many people at school, and that really helped him to be able to adjust so quickly."
 
Austin entered seventh grade after the Thiessens relocated. In Alaska, his athletic opportunities were limited to little more than playing hockey on a frozen lake. He tried out for Berean's junior high basketball team, and made a slow and steady climb from the C team to a reserve role on the A team.
 
"My first game, I shot at the wrong goal and fortunately I missed," Thiessen said. "Through some good coaching, especially from Coach (Paul) Rust, he really got me into it and just developed that passion."
 
Thiessen received honorable mention on the Heart of America all-league team last season, helping Berean post a 19-3 record and reach the Class 2A sub-state finals. In track, he finished 11^th in the 2A javelin with a throw of 148 feet, 6 inches.
 
"He's a good, hard-working guy," Berean basketball and track coach Lewis Wiebe said. "He's got a very pleasing personality and he loves to compete and play. He's a fun guy to coach."
 
Thiessen cherishes that his dad, who competed athletically at Berean, can witness his performances. Doug Thiessen has remained influential in his family's lives – and those of others – by communicating on an iPad. Using the Predictable app, he has written six short, faith-based books and started a Facebook page called Doug's Ruminations in which he offers devotionals and reflects on his Victory Bible Camp years.
 
The father-son bond remains close, as well. Austin throws the discus – an event Doug competed in years ago – and occasionally works on his form under his dad's watchful eye.
 
"The wonderful part is that his thinking is perfectly OK, and that has really helped a lot," Thiessen said. "He's still my dad. He likes to hear how my day is going. I still ask for his advice. I can understand some of the things he says, but if the answer requires a little bit of length, he writes it out on his iPad."
 
The relationship matured Austin, made him more compassionate and strengthened his faith. It has also broadened his ability to accomplish new things.
 
"Before my dad's situation, if I saw somebody in a wheelchair, I didn't really know how to approach them," he said. "It's made me a lot more comfortable around people who have other disabilities and allowed me to be able to interact with them a little better.
 
"When we were in Alaska, we thought we were doing what God called us to do. It took us about a year or so to figure out that God had a different plan, and we just had to be willing to change and follow where He was leading us."