Christian school moves toward expansion

Enrollment has grown from 174 to 485 over the past decade.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;By JoANNE VIVIANO & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rev. Gary Johnston points toward a crooked tree growing outside the south end of Youngstown Christian School.
There is where the new classrooms will be.
He points again. Beyond the classroom, to the east, will be the new 600-capacity gymnasium.
It's a dream of the administrators, staff, parents and pupils of this private South Side school. But it is dream that is becoming reality.
The school has raised $775,000 in its "Impacting Generations" campaign to reach a $2 million "celebration goal" that would fund an addition, renovations to the 77-year-old building, debt elimination and a student scholarship fund.
The Rev. Mr. Johnston, school superintendent, said parents are the primary fund-raisers. Now, they are turning to the community at large.
"This is truly a community project," he said. "We need help. We cannot, within ourselves, come up with the $2 million we need. ... I think once the community sees what we have here, many community groups will join in."
About the school
The school, on Southern Boulevard just north of Boardman, opened in 1975, after Highway Tabernacle Assembly of God Church in Austintown bought the old Bancroft Elementary School for $77,000.
It has since grown into the largest, non-Catholic Christian school in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, serving pupils in preschool through grade 12. Other locations are a preschool in Austintown and a preschool/kindergarten in Poland. Call (330) 788-8088 or visit www.ycsweb.com for more information.
Over the past 10 years, enrollment has been growing steadily, Mr. Johnston said. The 1993 enrollment of 174 grew to 485 by 2002-2003.
Besides a gymnasium and 18 classrooms, plans for the new two-story addition include a new science lab and a new library. The extra room also will help the school provide programs to advanced pupils and to those who may need extra help, Mr. Johnston said.
Ground breaking is planned for the fall and the building will move forward as funds become available.
Pupils come from 90 different area churches. Mr. Johnston said they take achievement tests each year and, as they get older, the gap between YCS pupils and public school pupils widens, with YCS youngsters scoring higher. More than 90 percent of graduates go to college.
Since its opening, the school renovated its unfinished second floor to make room for more pupils and now has two modular classrooms sitting to its northwest corner.
A current gymnasium is elementary size and cannot be used for high school sporting events, Mr. Johnston said. And a library is "in a closet" with no room for pupils to sit and study.
Filling a need
He said there is a great need in the Youngstown area among parents, especially those who are Christian, for a school where they can be confident in academics and confident that Christian values will be nurtured and reinforced rather than torn down.
"It's obvious our public schools are failing," Mr. Johnston said. "Even in good schools, the spirit of secularism has overtaken them ... and I don't think that's really how the mainstream feels."
The school has a diverse ethnicity, including 30 percent minorities, not always seen in the suburbs or the city, with whites, blacks, Hispanics and those with Asian backgrounds, Mr. Johnston added.
"I think the school is vital to the city because our city has been searching a long time to find a place where people of different races, different churches and different backgrounds can join hands and work for what's best for children, what's best for the community," he said. "And that is what's happening here."
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;viviano@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;