Huntsville, AL -- Over the last thirteen years, Whitesburg Christian Academy has grown from a single first-grade class to a K-12 school with around 360 students. That success has led to the need for a campus separate from Whitesburg Baptist Church, where classes are currently conducted. A building campaign is now underway, with the goal of raising $4,000,000 for the project.
Dr. Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church, founded the academy in 1999. He says, "other churches could have taken on a project like this, but for some reason, God has given us enough people in our church who are really interested in Christian education, and they've been willing to build facilities to provide for this kind of environment."
The school approaches learning with a Christian world view, a philosophy that seems to appeal to a growing number of parents. Dr. Jackson says, "the failure to allow the local communities to control more of the education in public schools... I think it's pushed some people to be very concerned about the mores of their community, their values... and so, it has prompted not only the Christian school and private school movement, but the home school movement."
Of course, quality of education is also important to parents making a choice about their children's education, which is why academics are heavily stressed at Whitesburg Christian Academy. Jerry Reeder, the school's headmaster, says a third of this year's graduating seniors scored a 31 or higher on the ACT. There is also a National Merit Scholarship finalist among their ranks.
School officials hope to continue that track record of success in the new facilities, which are scheduled for completion in Fall 2013. The goal is to have all of phase one finished by that time, which would allow the entire student body to move to the new South Campus on church property.
