Top News
Rapid City Christian moving to Hart Ranch Arena
Remodel will give school more room
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
FarkRAPID CITY -- When classes ended, students and teachers at Rapid City Christian High School tucked away more than the previous year's papers. They packed up the entire school for a move.
When school resumes in September, students will begin classes in newly remodeled quarters at Hart Ranch Arena, according to principal David Berry.
It's a dream come true for the Christian school of about 100 students in grades 6-12. The school has rented space in the Bible Fellowship Church on East Fairmont Boulevard for more than 16 years.
"This has been a long time brewing. That's what's exciting for us. We're finally pulling it off," Berry said.
The move reaffirms Rapid City Christian's commitment to the city's Christian community, which has supported the school for the past 26 years, according to board chairman Mike Schultz.
After considering other sites, the board is moving ahead with a plan to house the school at Hart Ranch, he said.
"I think the Christian community has been wondering if we were going to make a decision," Schultz said. "Bible Fellowship has been awesome to us for a lot of years. It's time we grew up and moved out."
Rapid City Christian bought the Hart Ranch Arena in 2003. At the time, the facility was leased to National American University. The university has another year left on its lease, but a recently negotiated lease allows Rapid City Christian access to two floors of vacant offices in the front of the building. NAU will continue using the horse barn and arena, Berry said.
"There is plenty of room for our current needs and excellent potential for growth," Schultz said.
Over the summer, Rapid City Christian will spend about $850,000 remodeling the office areas and erecting a 9,300-square-foot, fabric-covered, open-span structure west of the arena. The open-span structure will serve as a gymnasium and assembly area for the school.
The converted offices will give the school an additional 3,000 square feet of classroom and office space, Berry said.
Berry said moving the school to Hart Ranch may have a brief negative impact on the school's enrollment. Some families may object to driving an additional nine miles to the school, he said.
But in the long term, the school's new home will attract more students, especially with the growth of the city to the south, Schultz said.
"Once people get used to it and see that education is really happening and we have the facilities," Berry said.
At Hart Ranch, the school has plenty of room for more students and expansion, Schultz said. "All that opens great doors for us."
Rapid City Christian's school board has a master plan for converting the arena and horse barns into additional classrooms, a fine-arts center and gymnasium.
A capital campaign will begin next fall to cover the costs of the conversion, estimated at between $2 million and $3 million, Berry said.
"We plan to go after the whole building right after they (NAU) get out," he said. "We're finally going home."
Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com
The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.
If you don't see your comment, perhaps...
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy