UPPER TOWNSHIP — Four years ago, the fledgling Sugar Creek Christian Academy opened its doors to students in grades kindergarten through six. A few classrooms of the old Rock Hill Elementary on State Route 141 were freshened up and 19 students were on the enrollment list.

Today, there are 65 students, three of which are in the school’s first ever-high school class. The school has now grown so much it uses the entire building.

“I never dreamed four years ago we could do this,” the Rev. Mike Long, principal, said.

But time flies and for Sugar Creek Christian Academy, the years that have flown by have brought more than three-fold growth.

“Parents are seeing results and I think people have figured out we’re here to stay,” Long said. “We’re here for the duration, until the Lord returns.”

Academics

Elijah Adams went to Burlington Elementary last year but this year his parents sent him to Sugar Creek.

“It’s fun and it’s a good school,” the fourth-grader said. “They tell you about the Bible and some schools don’t.”

Elijah said he likes Sugar Creek although there are parts of it he likes more than others. Like lunch.

Meals are catered by Spice of Life catering and some days caterer Heidi Clark serves breakfast food for lunch. Elijah likes that. He likes science, too.

“We’re studying molecules and how it takes millions of them to make one penny,” he explained.

While few schools can top Sugar Creek’s lunches (how many get a caterer to come serve the meals?) Long will tell you Sugar Creek is keeping up with other schools when it comes to academics.

He said parents who send their kids there can be assured they will get an education and it will match or surpass what the kids were getting or would get in public school.

“Kids are coming here and doing better,” Long said. “They’re learning more here.”

One of the reasons is the lower student teacher ratio. Most classes have between six and 12 students and this means problems can be detected early and kids can get more one-on-one time with the teacher than they would in public school where ratios are usually 19 or 20 to one.

This is one of the things that persuaded Elijah’s parents, Natalie and Isaac Adams, to send him to Sugar Creek.

“They’re so willing to work with him and his teacher (Connie Dudding) stays a half hour after school to help. I can’t say enough about the teachers,” she said.

Adams said Sugar Creek allows students to work at their own pace and is less concerned with teaching-to-the tests as they are with actually teaching what the students need to learn.

Students do not take the state tests that public school students do; they instead take the nationally used Stanford Achievement Test. Most of the Sugar Creek students’ scores range between 70 and 90 percent.

In 2012, Sugar Creek will send out its first graduating class. High school work was offered for the first time this year.

“We offer the same basic courses as public schools offer,” Long said. “We have advanced courses.”

The high school is using the ABEKA curriculum from the ABEKA Academy of Pensacola, Fla.

“We’re able to tap into some of the best teachers in Christian school in the country,” Long said.

If plans go accordingly, the school should be K-12, or even pre-K- 12 within 3 years.

“We’re pulling kids from all over,” Long said. “I think Fairland is probably the exception. And we’re getting some kids from Kentucky.”

There are now eight teachers, some of whom retired from public districts but heeded the call to Christian service when Sugar Creek opened its doors.

“The Lord just sent them to us,” Long said.

Long said Sugar Creek offers an education with a Biblical point of view. Such classes as history and science are taught with a Biblical perspective.

A Christian emphasis

In addition to academics, Sugar Creek offers a class you will likely not see in too many public schools: Bible studies.

“The Bible is part of the curriculum in K-12,” Long said. “In the course of a year a student will memorize 30-50 Bible verses. Older kids are getting advanced Bible. The seventh and eighth graders are studying the missionary journeys of Paul. Fifth and sixth graders are studying the book of Judges.

With the Bible and Biblical principles at the bedrock of Sugar Creek’s foundation, students are taught Christian values and how to apply them to their daily lives. Adams said this is another facet of Sugar Creek she appreciates.

“Elijah was sick and in the hospital and they sent him cards and that said, ‘We’re praying for you’ and I thought that was so awesome,” Adams said. “I can remember being in the third grade and our teacher reading the Bible to us and having prayer and I think that’s very important.”

Extras

The school also offers a music program that includes a youth choir. Each year the school has a Christmas program and the public is invited to see the school’s talent for themselves. The Christmas program features Christian hymns.

Unlike public schools where separation of church and state is the norm, Sugar Creek’s holiday program is unabashedly different: There is a manger and a baby Jesus. Santa Claus is nowhere to be found.

Students can also opt to take piano lessons at a small charge.

In the fall the school offered a flag football league and there is a boys and girls basketball team. School officials hope to add more sports offerings in the near future.

The hope

To members of Sugar Creek, this school is a ministry of the church and it’s a ministry Long will adamantly tell you is very important: this ministry is preparing young people to be quality Christian citizens in the future.

“We are trying to teach the next generation to know God and to serve him,” Long said. “That’s what we’re doing and that’s why we’re so different.”

Profile 2009 is The Tribune’s annual section about the people, places and issues of Lawrence County and the surrounding area.