Two new Christian schools prepare to open

Published 6:54 am Monday, March 3, 2008

It’s apparent that the Mill Creek community and its surrounding areas are growing substantially. Drive down 35th Avenue SE and it would be hard not to notice housing subdivisions taking shape rapidly.

Housing is not the only sector growing in the area. Two parochial schools are planning to open next year, and Archbishop Murphy High School continues to grow, with its largest freshman class entering in the fall.

Christian Faith Center

Christian Faith Center, which has a church located at 13000 21st Dr. SE, near Murphy’s Corner, will open a pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade school in the fall, elementary principal Andi Ortega said.

It will be housed inside the Christian Faith Center, so no construction is planned.

There is a Christian Faith School located in SeaTac, and the center has recently been leasing its land near Mill Creek to Cedar Park Christian Schools.

Christian Faith School would like to enroll about 200 students, Ortega said, and potentially grow to a K-12 school, similar to its SeaTac location, which has 500 students.

Mission work abroad and connections with the community each are important to the school, she said.

“One of the things that’s unique about our school is our focus on community outreach,” Ortega said.

Seniors and sixth-graders annually visit Mexico on mission trips, she said.

The school emphasizes creativity and academic excellence through a Christian education, she said. Students begin learning Spanish in elementary school, and the school also has art and music programs, she said.

Cedar Park Christian

Cedar Park Christian Schools is moving its K-12 Everett location, which currently leases from Christian Faith Center, to land within the Mill Creek city limits.

Although the building will not be ready in time for the start of the 2005-06 school year, it plans to locate a transitional facility for the fall, with the goal to move in when construction’s completed, said Superintendent Clint Behrends.

“(Site plans) should be submitted sometime in the next week or so,” Behrends said.

Cedar Park is a ministry of the Cedar Park Assemblies of God in Bothell, and there also are Cedar Park schools located in Bothell, Kirkland, Langley and Bellevue.

Enrollment has nearly doubled, to 320 students, since Cedar Park took over the former Northwest Christian School in 2002. Next year it will graduate its first seniors under the Cedar Park name, about six students.

The new school building could include up to 40 classrooms and a large gymnasium, as well as space for a church sanctuary.

Canyon Creek Church, a branch of Cedar Park Assembly of God, would likely share the new building. The church currently meets at nearby Heatherwood Middle School. Under the plan, Canyon Creek also would help fund the school.

Behrends estimates it will cost as much as $8 million to build the school. Cedar Park church has secured a loan, he said.

Archbishop Murphy High School

Since Holy Cross High School moved to its current location and was renamed Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School in the fall of 1999, enrollment has continued to grow, said Jim Britt, the school’s director of development.

At that time, the school had about 250 students. There is now 370 students at the Catholic high school, which is just northeast of Mill Creek at 12911 39th Ave. SE.

Another sign of its growth is seen in the individual class sizes. A total of 67 seniors will graduate this year, and next year’s freshman class includes 143 registered students.

The school opened its second building, Grace Hall, in 2003 to accommodate growth.

“Grace Hall was going to be our five-year solution, and it turned out to be a two-year solution,” Britt said.

School administrators and trustees are currently discussing a third building, Britt said.

The school has grown because of its students’ success, Britt said. In 2004, 100 percent of its graduates continued on to higher education, according to the school’s Web site.

“The school’s growth, I think, is directly related to how well our kids do,” Britt said.

Growing trends

Mary Beth Celio has studied growth and demographics for the Catholic church since she became the director of research 20 years ago in the office of planning and research for the Archdiocese of Seattle.

When she began, there were few requests for more Catholic schools, but over the years, the interest has risen, she said.

“The growth has been phenomenal,” Celio said.

There are a number of factors that have affected this rise in interest in parochial education, she said.

Population growth is one, Celio said.

Paul Hill, who runs the Center on Reinventing Public Education and is a professor at the University of Washington, agrees. As the suburbs continue to expand, he said, there is a greater need to accommodate all of the interests of a diverse population.

Celio said parents also are looking for more options. She referred to alternative programs in public schools as an indicator of this demand. Many alternative programs have waiting lists or hold raffles to select entrants, she said.

“Parents want more choices,” Celio said, and by enrolling their children in private schools, they know they will have more of a say in the direction of their children’s educations, whether that be through religion or other programs.

Many non-Catholic students enroll at Catholic institutions, Celio said. Such is the case at Archbishop Murphy, where about a quarter of the student population is not Catholic, Britt said.

“What they want is their own values enforced,” Celio said.

Another strength of private schools, she and Britt agreed, is the high academic standards.

“The expectations are never lowered, for anyone,” Celio said. “The kids who graduate are ready for anything.”

Herald writer Melissa Slager contributed to this article.