NORTH LIBERTY – The beginning of a new school year is exciting. The beginning of a new year in a new building – one that took a more than a decade to transform from idea to reality – is beyond description.
Heritage Christian School will welcome the 2010-11 school year in its new facility, located at 235 Hackberry Street.
“This is 10 years, at least, of pursuit finally come to fruition,” Administrator Michael Annis said.
Michael Annis
That’s 10 years of planning, 10 years of fundraising, 10 years of waiting.
The vision is finally reality.
The new building of 25,000-square-feet – more than double the former building attached to Grace Community Church – will open its doors Aug. 19. It boasts classrooms for all grade levels – pre-kindergarten through eighth grade – plus a library/computer lab, gymnasium and art room.
“We’ve never had an art room before,” Annis said. “Our art teachers were mobile.”
It’s likely the art room will become a regular classroom someday, but Annis said the art teachers are thrilled to have a classroom of their own for the time being.
“It’s nice to have undedicated square footage,” Annis said.
In fact, Heritage Christian has room to expand in the future, if necessary. The new $3.6 million facility was built on 10 of the 22 acres of land owned by the school. The Board of Directors purchased the land in 2000.
Heritage Christian was founded by a group of families who wanted a Christian education for their children. The school opened in the fall of 1992 in a small building on First Avenue in Iowa City. It served 37 students kindergarten through sixth grade students that first year.
The school expanded to serve seventh and eighth grade students in 1994. It moved to its former facility attached to Grace Community Church in 1996. An annex building with an additional classroom and a library was constructed in 2004.
The school added its pre-kindergarten program in 2005. In May 2009, administrators hosted the groundbreaking for its new facility.
Frye Builders & Associates in Muscatine was the project’s general contractor.
Heritage Christian will serve almost 170 pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students this school year. Its kindergarten and second grade classrooms are full, as well as one of its pre-kindergarten classrooms.
An open house for the new facility will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 10. The event is open to the public.
Heritage Christian School in North Liberty will welcome the 2010-11 school year with a new facility. The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students. (Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette)
The new Heritage Christian School boasts 25,000 square feet. This includes a new gymnasium, which also will serve as a multipurpose room for school band and performance choir shows. (Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette)
Staff at Heritage Christian School are getting their classrooms ready for the 2010-11 school year while the new facility's final projects are finished. The first day of school is August 19. (Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette)
Administrator Michael Annis stands in front of the new Heritage Christian School in North Liberty. The new facility is the result of more than 10 years of planning and fundraising. (Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette)
