Heritage Christian reaches 50-year milestone

FINDLAY — Heritage Christian School is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. It's a milestone that provides students, alumni, parents and staff with a chance to look back at its history while also looking ahead to the future. A ministry of Calvary Baptist Church, the chartered, non-public school provides a Christ-centered education from elementary through high school. "And it is growing," said Administrator Tim England. This year, there are 132 students attending the Broad Avenue school. Last year ended with 107 students, he said, and they've been adding about 25 youth a year for the last three or four years. "We're getting close to being maxed out," he said. "We are in the very, very, very beginning stages of thinking about building a new school." The school was founded in 1976 for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, according to Folusho Ebosele, a senior at Heritage who is helping oversee some of the special projects planned to commemorate the milestone. "Our church is getting up there in age a little bit," England said. "We do have some younger couples who have kids but maybe 5% are actually from our church." Today, the school serves students who come from over 40 different churches across Northwest Ohio, said Folusho. Between 1977-79, the gym and cafeteria wing were rebuilt which allowed it to expand the grade levels. "At one time there were 320 students here. But to house all those in classrooms, they actually put curtains in the gymnasium and made it into four classrooms," England said. "And some other rooms that are large, split those in two which would not go over well among parents today. So we don't have, in my opinion, the ability to house 320 at his current facility." They can only house about 150 students now, noted England. "And we should be there next year, I think," he said. Staffing has also grown by over 50% to support the expanding student body. Sports and extracurricular activities were added in 1979. The school offers volleyball, soccer and basketball. And if someone wants to run track in the spring, even if it's just two or three students, they can, he said. Back in the 1980s or 90s, there was also a wrestling team at Heritage, said England. "But before I got here, they sold the mat. Those mats are really expensive and I wasn't going to buy another one after they sold it," he explained. Instead, students tend to concentrate on fine arts competitions in the spring. "That's the main reason we don't emphasize spring sports is because we are so tied up in fine arts. We want a well-rounded student here," England said. At a recent junior high and high school concert, he held up two trophies because both the high school girls and junior high girls won their division of the Northwest Ohio league in volleyball. "So I held up the trophies and then had the girls stand up. And everybody who's on the volleyball teams was also part of that concert," he said. "So it really was to emphasize a well-rounded example of students." Students also participate against schools from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois in music, speech, art, photography and home economics. And every other year the students present a play. "We're just like a normal school other than the fact we offer Bible or they have Bible in the morning or chapel, depending on what grade they're in," said England. All of the grades participate in a community service project each year. "With the elementary kids we pack 600 boxes and it ends up getting shipped wherever there's a national disaster anywhere in the United States east of the Mississippi River," said England. "To watch is pretty impressive," he said. "It's an assembly line." The elementary students have packed over 3,000 disaster relief boxes in the last eight years. "We make it a big deal for them so they all got a hoodie this year. We feed them. They can earn money through this because schools have a walkathon or something, we have a workathon," he said. The junior high and high school students used to help at Camp Berry. But a change in leadership made it difficult for the camp staff to have projects available for the students. Now they go to a school camp near Mount Gilead. They have torn the shingles off a roof, painted a cabin and cut wood. "This year they purchased four trailers that they're converting into apartments, and the inside had to be completely gutted. So all of our students worked on the same project," England said. Some of the students were inside tearing down the walls while others were taking the debris to the dumpster. He said it them all day to do those four trailers. "I like the project for several reasons. It's a great fundraiser. I'm not selling candy bars or anything like that. It gives them the opportunity to do some legitimate community service work. It also has the potential to teach some leadership skills," he said. To help celebrate the school's anniversary, England said he's contacted some graduates who have been out for a while and invite them back to possibly speak at chapel. He will be planning a dinner in March or April. They're also thinking about starting an endowment program that will possibly be called the Golden Anniversary Endowment. "We started one 25 years ago called the silver endowment," he said. The school went through a process and it now chartered which means it receives state funds. "That's the reason why we have grown is because we chose to do this," England said. "We were at about 50 students five years ago, and we were going to have a really hard time paying the bills. So we investigated getting a charter, went through the process and as a result, we don't charge tuition anymore. So everybody here is able to go here free." He said just over half of the students are what the state describes as lower income. "Probably almost none of them would have come here five years ago," he said. "So that's the great thing about this program, we're affordable now to everybody."