Bradenton Christian School New Middle School Expansion Wins Approval

Bradenton, Florida, October 22, 2015 (Newswire.com) - A new middle school building will soon be added to the Bradenton Christian School campus, a 24 acre site located at 3304 43rd Street.  Nearly 55 years after the original vision of the school’s founders, who sought to bring Christian education to the Bradenton community through a parent governed school with extraordinary teachers and a nice facility, Bradenton Christian School continues to exceed their wildest dreams.  A celebratory ground breaking event will be held on November 20th with Oden Hardy Construction Company beginning work shortly thereafter.  The new building is expected to open for classes beginning in August, 2016.  

With enrollment continuing to increase yearly (up nearly 25% in two years), BCS was literally running out of space, serving over 700 students this school year.  Maintaining small class sizes is a high priority of Bradenton Christian School, so to say an expansion plan was needed is an understatement.  About a year ago, shortly after the arrival of Superintendent Dan Vande Pol, he and Development Director Heidi Sikkema were blessed to have meetings with an anonymous donor with strong family ties to Bradenton Christian School.  This donor offered to fund $2.4 million toward the cost of a new middle school with the balance needing to be raised by the greater BCS family.  During the 15 months that followed, Zoller Autrey Architects and ZNS Engineering worked diligently to get this project through the design and city approval stages.  A final vote approving Bradenton Christian School’s newest addition was recently held by the school’s Parent Association and tonight by the Bradenton City Council.  

The new middle school will be on the cutting edge of educational technology.  Each of the 9 new classrooms will take advantage of multi-media learning trends and will be fitted with 70” interactive HDTVs, laptops for each student, document cameras and projectors.  Two science labs compliment the classrooms and will be equipped with Forward Vision I Four-Student workstations with their own sinks and Octagon Lab workstations, which will allow for collaborative learning experiences in a whole new way.  Extra wide hallways have been incorporated into the design to allow for social interaction, devotions, announcements and a more enjoyable “middle school experience”.

The new middle school will be located just south of the High School building, which will enjoy a refreshing facelift to match its new sibling.  A covered walkway connecting both buildings and the 17,000 square foot McClure Center for Fine Arts and Media Technology will complete the overall integrated look and feel of the south side of the campus.  The north side of the campus recently enjoyed a dedication ceremony following the completion of the new Mary Jane Spencer Athletic Building and Bouwer Athletic Complex, which was the grand finishing touch to a multi-year athletic complex upgrade.   

Bradenton Christian School has been “Preparing the Hearts and Minds of God’s Children” for 55 years and is honored and privileged to continue the vision of the founding families by expanding rapidly to serve those students enjoying the truly different educational experience that comes with a Christ centered focus.  

For media requests or more information about Bradenton Christian School, please visit our website at www.BCSpanthers.org or contact:  Jennifer Calhoun, Director of Communications, Marketing, and Events, 941-792-5454.  Also, look for and follow us on Twitter (@BCSpanthers), Facebook (/BradentonChristianSchool), and other social media as well as visiting www.BCSpanthersblog.com to learn more about life at Bradenton Christian School.