By Jarred Meeks
Traders Point Christian Schools will increase opportunities for students with the newest phase of their campus expansion – a new junior high facility.
Scheduled to break ground in late February, the building will be constructed on the east side of the high school.
The 14,000-square-foot junior high facility, which will connect to the high school, will house classrooms on the first floor of the two-story structure. The second floor will be left open for multipurpose use, according to a press release.
The new building will give students needed space for things such as robotics and using flight simulators in the schools new aviation program offered through a Lift Academy partnership – the campus is the second in the state to offer this program, according to the school’s chief advancement officer, Ryan Gallagher.
Traders Point Christian Schools is a pre-K-through-12 grade school serving over 600 students from six central Indiana counties on a 25-acre campus in Whitestown. The schools educate students with a biblical worldview.
“We always look for a way to find God and God’s grace in what we’re doing. In science, math and history, we always look for a biblical worldview,” Gallagher said.
Currently, junior high students attend classes across campus in the Academy building and a six-classroom modular, which is over ten years old. The new junior high will adjoin the high school facility via a connecting hallway, allowing both student bodies their own space, while increasing shared facilities and equipment. The school will also expand course offerings.
Of the facility’s estimated $1.5 million cost, Traders Point has already raised $993,000, all from 12 families, Gallagher said. He said the school’s goal is to construct the facility without acquiring debt, and that the school aims to raise the remaining funds from donations from other families and the community.
“Our high school building, we had a campaign of $7 million, and we obtained that goal. And we reached that goal through private funding,” Gallagher said. He also said the state of funding for the junior high facility was “encouraging.”
“We see it as a vote of confidence,” Gallagher said. “People are willing to step forward and give their money generously to us with nothing more than a good feeling. It’s telling us how good they feel about the experience that we have here.”
The new junior high is one part of Trader Point’s initiative to expand opportunities for student achievement called The Scholar Project, the schools focus on creating scholars. The plan includes expansion of facilities as well as implementation of new, aligned Pre-K through 12 curriculums, and a multi-year rollout of the Schools Within a School model – large public schools that have been divided into smaller autonomous units.
Traders Point has implemented curriculum from Project Lead the Way in grades pre-K through 12 to help its scholar project goals. The curriculum emphasizes the fields of computer science, engineering, and biomedical science to engage and supports teachers through training, resources and support. This year is the first full year the school has offered the curriculum.
“We are preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet. How do you do that? It’s these soft skills that will be imperative no matter their career path,” Paul Williams said in the release. “Uniting the Upper School and allowing more efficient and effective use of our facilities, equipment, and faculty is critical to offering our students and families the very best while striving to uphold our credo: Training scholars. Making disciples. Graduating leaders.”
