Grace Christian Academy is putting an emphasis on enrollment throughout the month of May, even offering interested students the chance to shadow current classes. School officials said GCA offers a unique opportunity for local students — including small class sizes and instruction with a Biblical worldview.
GCA opened in the fall of 2020 with a freshman class. Head of School Chris Holmes said the administration decided to add one class per year to make sure they didn’t move too fast.
“We wanted to make sure that we grew in such a way that we were able to give the attention and all the consideration we need to the students,” Holmes said.
They are now taking applications for both the upcoming freshman and sophomore classes. They’ve already approved a few applicants, and Holmes said they are looking forward to more students joining the GCA family.
“We don’t have any real limits on either at this point,” he said. “We’re eager to get students for either grade.”
GCA offers three diploma paths. Standard consists of 22 credit hours. Academic consists of 24+ credit hours and a 3.0 GPA. Honors consists of 26+ credit hours, a 3.5 GPA, and two AP or dual-credit courses.
Beyond the classroom, GCA offers the following sports: cross country, volleyball, bass fishing, archery, and boys basketball.
The application process can be completed completely online here. For questions or a paper application, interested families can contact the school at 270-574-9974 or via email here.
Additionally, GCA has welcomed many incoming freshmen and sophomores to “shadow” current students. This allows them the opportunity to see the campus, attend classes, meet the students, engage with the faculty, and learn more about GCA.
May 14 is the last day of classes, but individual appointments can be made for school tours after that date. For more information, visit our gcaowensboro.org or call 270-574-9974 to schedule a visit.
Holmes also wanted to make sure interested families know there is tuition assistance as GCA, so they shouldn’t let that be a barrier in at least finding out more about their options.
“As long as God provides the means and resources, if there are students that are interested and want to come — and there are not other reasons for which we might not accept them — we want them to talk to us and see if we can work out a way to assist them financially and get them in here and get them plugged in as a part of our school.”
Holmes said even with the pandemic, the first year has been a successful one for GCA.
“We feel like we had a tremendous year,” Holmes said. “The Lord has blessed us in so many ways. We’re thankful we were able to not simply meet but really to excel in many ways. We keep hearing reports from our students over and over again of how this environment is just ideal for them to be able to flourish.”
Holmes said one of the benefits of attending GCA is a relatively small class, which allows teachers to give more individualized attention to students.
Perhaps more importantly, though, is what goes on in the classrooms. Holmes said GCA is able to offer some things that are not going to be available at most area schools.
“We are able to offer not only faithful, traditional education, but we’re also able to offer all of that with a biblical worldview for all of our subjects,” he said. “That means when math, history, or science is being taught, we are incorporating a biblical perspective into that so that our students can see not only the value of learning the disciplines, but also to see how that properly integrates into living a Christian life — all the while we understand how God has made and formed and taken care of us even today.”
Holmes said GCA is actively pursuing accreditation with the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). He said ACSI is one of the largest accrediting agencies for Christian schools in the world, and their process is rigorous.
“We take academics very seriously,” Holmes said. “We’re looking forward to receiving our accreditation. When we graduate our first class, we expect to be graduating students who have fully accredited diplomas.”
In addition to Holmes, other faculty include Kristyn Gabbert (Associate Administrator, English); DJ Johnson (Government); Connor Minogue (Physical Education, Health, Personal Finance); Ryan Parsons (History); Mark Price (Mathematics); and Betty Sullivan (Spanish).
For approximately the first two years of its operation, GCA has been granted the use of the facilities at Yellow Creek Baptist Church. A block of classrooms has been updated, new and larger restrooms have been installed, and technological and security updates have been added. Eventually GCA plans to build a permanent facility on the 40-acre property that it owns near the Owensboro bypass.
