Big dreams becoming reality: Newton Christian School’s expansion reaches significant milestone

When the Newton Christian School opens its latest expansion this year, students and teachers will begin and end each day surrounded by the Word of God.

Inscribed on the walls of the two new classrooms and other additions are messages of love and positivity — and several Bible verses, including a lengthy verse from Psalm 23 — handwritten by kids, parents and school staff. Since the expansion is still under construction these messages are as clear as day.

Principal Nicole Van Wyk said these blessings will eventually be painted over and covered by classroom furnishings, but she hopes their impact can still be felt by the seventh- and eighth-grade students who will likely be moving into the space by next school year. It is a big step forward in the school’s Dream Big project.

Apart from the larger classrooms and pre-K classrooms, the Dream Big initiative includes the addition of a gymnasium, music and art rooms, a larger library, a resource room, secured entries, a private pull-through drive, maintenance funds and technology updates. It is a big undertaking that is years in the making.

Michael Lauterbach, president of the Newton Christian School Board, said the big dream is to attach both buildings: the original building and the new preschool and middle school building. In the middle would be a gym surrounded by other classrooms. Lauterbach said the vision is a large complex.

Funding for the expansion was possible through stakeholder donations.

“We’ve had a couple big donors. Then of course we have two fundraisers every year that bring in about $50,000 a piece,” Lauterbach said. “This year, this last one was dedicated to funding this. We’ve had some funding for this all along the way, but we just had a big push and were able to do it.”

The school dedicated approximately $350,000 for this portion of the expansion. Van Wyk said rather that raising millions of dollars all at once, the school has added new additions as the years go on. The build-as-you-grow approach has worked well for the Newton-based private school.

When fully constructed the Newton Christian School could then reorganize its classrooms and grades into more fitting placements.

Van Wyk said that will come in time. For now, a classroom is a classroom.

Located in the same facility as the preschool classes, the new seventh and eighth grade rooms designate a separate learning space for the “upperclassmen” in Newton Christian School. But students from all classes still get to interact with each other at lunch and recess. Van Wyk assured that culture is not going away.

In fact, in some ways, it is also being expanded. Van Wyk said the seventh- and eighth-grade students become “prayer buddies” with kindergartners and interact with their younger peers once a week. It is an activity the school wants to open up for fifth- and sixth-grade students when the middle schoolers relocate.

Which means the school could then open the activity up to preschool students.

“Since (the seventh- and eighth-grade students) would move here, they would become prayer buddies with the preschoolers,” Van Wyk said.

Newton Christian School takes great care in ensuring students and staff feel like one big family. Lauterbach said the seventh graders, for instance, are not just developing friendships with those a grade above or below them. They are forming bonds with students of all grades.

“Usually your friends are only in your grades, but here kindergartners become friends with fifth graders,” Lauterbach said, noting his own daughter who has since graduated still keeps in contact with her friends from Newton Christian School. “…It’s unique to see an eighth grader care for the kindergartners.”

Kate Van Manen, a board member who works advancement and marketing for Newton Christian School, said it instills a level of responsibility for eighth graders, too. They look out for the little ones, and school leaders are confident that will carry on when buddying up with the preschoolers.

Van Wyk said there was some initial hesitation to move the seventh- and eighth-grade students from the old building to the new building. But it came from the most unlikely of people: the students themselves. When confronted with the idea of switching buildings, they had questions of their own they wanted answered.

“I was like, ‘Hey, these are going to be your new classes.’ Right away they were like, ‘Well, are we still going to do recess together? Are we still going to have lunch together? Are we still going to have chapel together?’ It wasn’t like, ‘Hey! We want to get away because we’re the big kids on campus!’” Van Wyk said.

Family dynamics are just as important to the students as they are for teachers and parents. Van Wyk hopes the expansion is not seen as a way to separate the older kids from the younger kids. Instead, the hope is that it brings in the preschool to the greater Newton Christian School.

It is anticipated the new expansion for seventh- and eighth-grade students to be ready by spring. Van Wyk said contractors are ready to paint the walls soon. It is uncertain whether current students will be able to move in before the end of the school year. Either way, next year the middleschoolers will be in new rooms.

It was a community effort to get this far in the project, but the dream is not over just yet; Van Wyk said community members are stepping up to make it a reality.

“They’re also the ones that are helping move stuff over and help clear out the warehouse so we can start this project,” Van Wyk said. “…Our own staff and our board are pouring back into the school, so they’re also coming to our fundraisers and donating back. You don’t see that everywhere.”