Hickory Valley Christian School on Shallowford Road looks to the future through the clarifying lens of its 30-year history, to be celebrated Sept. 2.
"God has been faithful in prospering this school," said board member J. Pat Williams of Missionary Ridge.
Back then, school officials didn't have a teacher for those first nine students until the Wednesday before school was to start, Sept. 2, 1980 - others had backed out that August. Zelma Landsford, former headmaster at St. Nicholas School, served as the first HVCS superintendent.
Hickory Valley Christian School board member J. Pat Williams of Missionary Ridge, co-founder Lewis Alligood of Tyner and headmaster Jack Exum of Collegedale, from left, will celebrate the school's 30th anniversary Sept. 2.The school, which had 11 students by the end of the first week and 17 students by the end of the year, today boasts 129 students and 20 teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Under leadership of new headmaster Jack Exum of Collegedale, hired in June, school officials plan to be in position to enact a waiting list three years from now.
The school prides itself in a low student-teacher ratio and an individualized education, Exum said, and raising admission standards will intensify the school's Christian education and academics even more.
Williams said Exum's goal this year to get 50 school families to financially support World Vision child sponsorship program will help bring close to home the caring and impact-oriented world view the school teaches.
"Staff, faculty and board are all on the same page when it comes to helping students form their world view," he said.
Exum also plans to bolster the school's technology offerings, integrating each grade's curriculum into computer classes to produce students who are competitive on the global stage.
"I think the technology is the big piece of the puzzle," he said.
The Sept. 2 celebration at the school will include a ceremony dedicating a new brick patio to co-founder Lewis Alligood of Tyner, who was part of the 1980 committee at Hickory Valley Christian Church that got the ball rolling.
"He didn't give anybody a choice," Williams said. "He said, 'God said we're going to have a school here and we're going to have it''"
Alligood said the idea to start a school began in 1968 when the church drew up plans for a gymnasium with classrooms surrounding it, built in 1972.
Former minister Reggie Thomas, then new to the church, began pushing hard for the school in 1980 after the church board had turned down the idea year after year.
Students will celebrate the anniversary with a picnic, popcorn and snow cones. Former administrators and teachers will also be in attendance.