It is with great excitement that we embark on the next phase of the BCCS Capital Campaign titled “With Faith.” This slogan embraces our unwavering belief that God is leading us to embark on a journey to expand and renovate our West Campus to accommodate our growing enrollment and to upgrade learning spaces for our children.
This year, our West Campus celebrates 75 years of serving the Christian school community in Byron Center. In 1948, the day the school building opened its doors for the first time, students carried their books two blocks from the old school to the new school, which then consisted of 220 students in kindergarten through 10th grade.
Currently, the West Campus serves 240 students in preschool, junior kindergarten, and kindergarten alone, with kindergarten projected to be our largest grade next year. With better-utilized spaces and flexible programming to meet the needs of our families, we are seeing our growth align with that of the Byron Center area over the last decade. The beautiful building and campus is the gateway to our school, and it is in need of investment to better serve our children and families as well as fulfill our mission of providing an excellent, Christ-centered education. We look forward to preserving the legacy of this building for generations to come.
Since BCCS has experienced consistent growth over the last 5 years and has implemented the necessary programming to transition from two homerooms to three homerooms moving forward, additional space and balance between the two campuses is much needed. To accomplish this task and prepare for needed classroom space in a few short years, we plan to add four new preschool classrooms, three additional classrooms, a dedicated media center, and a secure main entry to the existing facility. This will double the size of the current building, allowing us to balance both campuses with 350-400 students each by bringing 1st and 2nd grades back to the West Campus upon the project’s completion.
More detailed information will be shared soon, along with a public launch event, as we continue to work with CarbonSix Construction, The Architectural Group (TAG), and the many contractors that support our school and mission in the coming months.
As we prayerfully move forward “With Faith,” the generous support from our Christian school community is necessary. If you would like to see a more detailed plan of the project and how you could significantly bless what God is doing at BCCS, please contact Ron Fles, Director of Development, at fles@bccs.org or James Onderlinde, Administrator, at onderlinde@bccs.org for additional information.
As we stated in our last Perspective article, “With Faith,” all things are possible. “With Faith,” we have hope. “With Faith,” God will provide the funds necessary for the Byron Center Christian community to continue to carry out our mission.
Blessings,
James Onderlinde - Administrator
Mike Wolf - BCCS Board President