River Tech did not start as a business plan. It started as a letter, written in Sweden in 2009, about a school that did not yet exist. What you see today is the long arc of that letter — tested in real operation, re-tested by fire, and still standing.
It began as a letter.
In 2009, Dan Hegelund — then living in Sweden — wrote out a proposal for a kind of school that did not yet exist. It described a K–12 program that took music, theater, and technology as seriously as it took math and reading, and that refused to treat any of them as enrichment. It described a community model where families were participants, not customers. And it described a Christian framework in the mere-Christianity tradition — explicit, broadly held, and honest.
The proposal sat. The life took its own shape. But the document never went away.
Tacoma, 2019 – 2020.
Dan and Mary Hegelund moved to the Pacific Northwest and began to sketch out what it would actually take to run the school the letter described. Curriculum architecture, weekly rhythm, how a single teacher could serve a mixed-level room, how to price a full-time track alongside a homeschool-enrichment track, where the church fit and where it didn't.
The working name for the model was coined in late 2020: River Tech — river for the motion, the sustained flow, and the Christian imagery of living water; tech for the making discipline that would sit alongside the arts and core academics as a first-class pillar.
The River Tech name entered the public record on February 1, 2021, when the first program under the brand opened in Post Falls, Idaho. From that point forward, the concept has been running live — not as a plan, but as a school in operation.
The timeline.
The letter
Dan writes the original proposal for a school that integrates performing arts, technology, and core academics on a Christian framework. Written in Sweden. No institution yet attached.
Tacoma, Washington
Dan and Mary Hegelund develop the concept in detail — curriculum architecture, the weekly rhythm, the dual-track enrollment, the community model.
The name
The brand "River Tech" is coined — river for sustained flow and the Christian imagery of living water, tech for a making discipline on equal footing with the arts and academics.
First public use
The first program operating under the River Tech name opens in Post Falls, Idaho. The concept moves from document to live operation.
Iona World Inc.
The original operating entity holding the brand for the school. Six public musical-theater productions over the following four years.
Reversion
Rights in the River Tech concept revert to Dan and Mary Hegelund personally, clearing the way to hold the IP in a dedicated vehicle separate from any single operating school.
River Tech LLC formed
Idaho LLC (SOS #6702427), EIN 42-1918181. Dan and Mary Hegelund as 50/50 co-members. Holds the brand, the curriculum architecture, and the community model. Operating Agreement signed April 14, 2026.
The fire
A fire destroys the flagship school's classrooms at The River Church. Curriculum materials, musical instruments, set and costume stock — gone by morning. Classes were scheduled for Monday.
Fifteen days.
Classes resume at The Heart Church (927 E Polston Ave, Post Falls) under a space agreement arranged in under two weeks. No child missed a semester. No family left. This is what the community model looks like when something breaks.
The fire was not a story about a school that happened to survive. The school survived because the concept was already real — families who were participants instead of customers, a neighboring church that answered instead of watching, a founder who was not in it for the business.
Anyone can build a school on paper. A River Tech school is the one you can't tear down in a night.
See the school the letter became.
River Tech School of Performing Arts & Technology — Post Falls, Idaho. Operated under license by Faithful Five Inc., and the flagship example of the concept in action.