Dec. 21 -- JAMESTOWN -- Construction of the Victory Christian School's new addition is on schedule, and the school plans to add the first class for high school in fall 2025, according to Mike Woodley, executive director.
Victory Christian School plans to open enrollment for its first ninth grade class on Jan. 6. The school has a cap of 18 students for the ninth grade class, Woodley said.
The school has nine eighth graders who will enroll into ninth grade, he said.
"That's a good cohort for us to roll right into high school," he said. "We're pretty excited about that."
The school plans to add a class every year.
"By the fall of '28, we'll have a full high school at Victory Christian," Woodley said.
He said Victory Christian School will need to add some elective classes that are required for the ninth graders.
"We are going to have to add some teachers to teach electives," he said. "We do have the core teachers in place that we need for next year because they're certified (grades) five through 12."
Victory Christian School, located at 510 9th Ave. SW, is an interdenominational evangelical school that provides "high quality Christian education that ministers to the whole child -- body, mind and spirit," according to its website.
Victory Christian School offers classes for students prekindergarten through eighth grade. The school has 89 students. The school had 53 students in 2021-22 and 93 students in 2023-24.
Woodley previously said the school could have 260 to 300 students in 10 years with its growth rate over the years and the addition of a high school.
Victory Christian School launched its $5 million "Growing Together" capital campaign for the construction of a new addition in April. The school plans to add a high school.
The school has received over $3 million for its capital campaign, Woodley said.
"It's amazing the generosity that I've seen," he said. "The amount that people pour into Victory Christian School is amazing and I think that's because they see the fruit of what's happening here. They see lives being changed for the positive, people coming to know Jesus through their kids and our education is great."
The addition is on the north side of Victory Christian School where its playground was formerly located. The addition connects to the existing school building. The playground was relocated west of the current facility.
Victory Christian School's goal is to build a school campus for prekindergarten through 12th grade and to have enough space for two classrooms per grade,according to the school's pamphlet of the project.
The project includes three phases. The first phase includes the construction of a 10,000-square-foot addition that will include a new gym, commons area, kitchen, storage area, multipurpose classroom and another classroom.
The addition is currently constructed. All rooms for the new addition still need to be finished.
The first phase also includes remodeling the current gym and kitchen area into additional classrooms and offices. The renovations of the current gym, kitchen and fellowship hall areas will begin in summer 2025.
If all the funding for the $5 million capital campaign is raised in the next couple of months, the construction phase could be complete by March, Woodley said.
"Basically, our plan is this will buy us about three to five years," he said. "If the school keeps growing, then we're going to have to add a second and third phase, which would be another building project."
The second phase of the project includes the construction of the first half of the new school campus building that will serve as the main academic pod with classrooms, bathrooms and lockers.
The third phase includes constructing the final half of the new school campus building. It would include adding two academic pods with classrooms, bathrooms and lockers. It also includes adding administrative offices.
The cost for each phase is $10 million or $20 million total for both phases.
The new campus building would be built west of the current school. Woodley said Victory Lutheran Church owns land west of the facility that it would lease to Victory Christian School for $1 per year.
"We can build out there whenever we need to," he said.
The groundbreaking for the new addition was held in May. Nill Construction Inc. is the general contractor for the project.
"We had a lot of months of dirt work and concrete work," Woodley said. "Oct. 3, it was just concrete. Then the building started going up and that went up very, very quickly."
Woodley said one classroom has to be complete for Victory Christian School to have enough space to add the ninth grade class. He said the entire project will need to be finished to add 10th grade and beyond.
He said stopping points in the construction process have been identified.
"The crucial one is to make sure that classroom gets done," Woodley said. "As long as that classroom gets done, that buys us another year until we have to have the full project completed."