Wasilla Lake Christian School achieves national accreditation

June 12, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Students of private Christian schools who graduate from programs with small budgets, aging buildings and limited staff often suffer from intense academic scrutiny when applying to colleges and universities, which want assurance that the young graduates are ready for the academic rigor of the university.

In the Mat-Su, many parents pay upwards of $3,000 a year to send kids to a Christian school. Until this year, however, no private Christian school in the Mat-Su was accredited by a national accrediting body.

Wasilla Lake Christian School recently broke the mold when it received accreditation for grades seven through 12 from the Association of Christian Schools International, a crediting body recognized by the Northwest Association of Colleges and Schools.

With the new status, the school now stands on equal footing with Alaska's public schools in terms of accreditation.

"The goal was to achieve a standard that would make us achieve excellence," said school principal Colleen Hamblen. "It also allows our seniors to be recognized throughout the country without having to jump through other hoops."

According to Hamblen, those hoops often entail high school graduates having to take extra college entrance exams beyond the SATs and ACTs. Many times they also have to take tests showing proficiency in college-level reading, writing and math. Many Christian school graduate go on to respected colleges, but the additional requirements sometimes make it more difficult to get in.

"If you come from a nonaccredited school, then a lot of times you are an initial weed-out during the application process," Hamblen said. "Now we are recognized by all colleges throughout the county."

To achieve accreditation status, every teacher at the school had to earn a bachelor's degree. The school also had to establish a mission statement, school board and curriculum development program. From a building standpoint, it had to meet state fire codes and safety requirements. Now in its fifth year of existence, the WLCS serves 151 students, grades K-12.

One of the school's strengths, according to Hamblen, is the fact that each classroom is limited to 12 students. The smaller class sizes allow for more one-on-one tutorials, which Hamblen said pays big dividends in the long run.

"Our kids learn cursive in the first grade and begin learning multiplication in the first grade," she said. "We also have 100-percent passage of the [statewide High School Graduation Qualifying Exam]; we had 30 kids take it."

The school offers the standard math, science, history, English, health and physical education subjects as well as high school electives in band and foreign languages.

If students want to take other classes the school doesn't offer, such as physics, higher-level math or electives, they can enroll in the Mat-Su Borough School District's correspondence program and take those classes at local public schools or through tutors.

Courses offered at the school itself are infused with religious ideas and Christian doctrine, with all students required to take Bible classes and attend weekly chapel services.

"We definitely teach from a Christian perspective and the biblical truth of God," Hamblen said. "We incorporate that into all aspects of academics. We are a school that values spiritual-mindedness; it's a Christ-centered institution."

To ensure that Christian teaching remains central at the school, all staff must be Christian and attend a local church. The school was founded and continues to be run by the Nazarene church, but Hamblen said about 30 different Christian churches are represented throughout the school.

This year, the school's student population is nearly double from what it was when it opened five years ago with 83 students.

Next year, the school expects to be at full capacity, with 156 students and 19 teachers.

With 87 percent of students re-enrolling each year, Hamblen said the intention is to eventually expand to serve even more kids. First, however, the school will need a larger building and more money.

"We've definitely grown," Hamblen said. "We've got a waiting list in nearly every class."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.