Sandhills Classical Christian School (SCCS) began classes in its new sixth-12th grade academic building in Whispering Pines on Thursday. Planning and Development Director Gene Liechty held the door for students, and donuts were offered to celebrate.
It is a state of the art building with 12,000 square feet and holds 200 students.
Students prepared their lockers the previous day to streamline learning on the first day of classes.
SCCS students prepare for the first day of classes in the new academic building.
Humanities instructor for ninth, 10th, and 12th grades, Katie Conely, plans to decorate her classroom this weekend. She said that she will decorate with the curriculum in mind.
“I have a banner I know I’ll put up,” Conely said. “It asks three questions: Is it real? Is it true? How do you know?”
SCCS Humanities Instructor Katie Conely and ninth-grade student Rory Robertson are happy to be in the new classrooms.
Conely said that seniors complete a thesis under a class called Great Ideas, formed by their foundation of literature, rhetoric, philosophy and theological classes. The students choose their own subjects, and the thesis papers have ranged from the influence of social media to exploring the idea of total war being biblical to whether industrial arts should be taught again.
Ellie Abbot, a ninth-grader, has been attending SCCS since kindergarten and has an interest in marine biology. Abbot said she wanted to try a different environment in eighth grade and attended public schools.
SCCS ninth-grader Ellie Abbott is excited to be in the new academic building.
“It’s different here,” Abbott said. “Kids pay attention, and in public schools, there were a lot of outbursts. I’m glad to be back.”
SCCS Headmaster Dell Cook said he was “more than thrilled to be on the same campus” with the existing kindergarten through fifth-grade academic building.
SCCS science instructor Cassie Miles begins first day of classes in new science lab.
Students were also “thrilled” on the first day of classes – when they learned how to use the emergency shower in the science lab.
“I’ve already notified everyone that they will hear this once an hour today as we go through classes,” Miles said. “They have to learn.”
SCCS science instructor Cassie Miles guides Martha Grace Stewart on how to operate the emergency shower.
Martha Grace Stewart, a 10th grader, was the first to ask instructor Miles to demonstrate the emergency shower.
“I was fun but kind of scary,” Stewart said.
Feature photo: SCCS Science Instructor Cassie Miles teaching students at their new state of the art science lab.
Article, photos, and video by Sandhills Sentinel Reporter Stephanie M. Sellers.
