Sandpoint Christian School serves the Sandpoint community through Christian education, family inclusion and facility expansion
By Joshua Nishimoto | Photo Courtesy of Sandpoint Christian School
As an educational staple, the Sandpoint Christian School has been serving students and families in the Sandpoint community for the last 25 years. SCS puts an emphasis on reading, writing, arithmetic and reasoning, and consistently works to provide a Biblically centered curriculum. SCS is also committed to interactive and hands-on history and science classes, intentionally integrating technology instruction within content area instruction.
Sandpoint Christian School maintains academic standards, which promote and challenge the learner to maximize their gifts and opportunities. When working toward the highest level of achievement, SCS honors the exhortation to “do everything as unto the Lord.”
The school is also committed to providing enrichment in cultural arts, which include foreign language, art, music and library time. SCS has used the S.A.T. national tests for many years and Terra-Nova standardized testing since 2016, as well as actively participating each year in various competitions with other ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) schools as a measure of the yearly progress that their students make.
Those events also include the ACSI Speech Meet, Spelling Bee, Creative Writing Festival and Math Olympics. With an educated and talented staff, small classroom sizes and devotion to student attention and growth, SCS serves the greater Sandpoint community with dignity and grace. That is why SCS plays a huge role in mentoring and instructing students while including and encouraging family members to participate in students’ instruction on campus.
SCS seeks to provide a safe learning environment that is conducive to the development of academic excellence and Christ-like character and behaviors. As such, Sandpoint Christian School values respectful relationships within their learning community (students, staff and families), as well as honoring and supporting individual accomplishments and effort.
This year, SCS is raising funds to expand on their music program with the goal of raising $4,000 for all their instruments, including hand bells. The SCS music program includes the hand bell choir and orchestra, offering classes for beginners to intermediate students. Fifth- through eighth-graders choose between hand bell choir and orchestral instruments, practicing with those instruments throughout their time at SCS. It’s important that a student stick with the instrument they choose to eventually master that instrument; hence the emphasis on the need for quality and affordable instruments to be available for each student.
A financial boost for the SCS music program will allow the school to purchase new instruments and fix old ones, allowing students to not worry so much about the financial burden that often comes with playing an instrument, and putting less financial stress on those families who have multiple children playing instruments. Thus, the availability and wide range of instrument offerings will allow even more students the opportunity to perform live music for the community.
These instruments not only play a vital role in a child’s learning and growth but are also necessary for the SCS to continue hosting student musical performances for their annual concerts, including their spring concerts when both the hand bell choir and orchestra come together to perform music from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” “We need kid-sized violins, cellos, hand bells and violas,” said SCS principal, parent of previous student attendees and former board member, Shar Wikoff. “Four-thousand dollars would go a long way to help with providing new and refurbished musical instruments to our growing student body.”
As the Sandpoint community grows, so does the number of students that Sandpoint Christian School admits. With the importance of providing enough instruments for their students, SCS is also planning for future growth by focusing on facility expansion with a vision of serving not only the student body, but also serving the community at large. “We are bursting at the seams with students,” Wikoff said. “With an increase in our student population, it provides new challenges with space. We have not started the planning phase of our campus expansion, but we will be starting soon.”
Although there is currently no monetary goal for their facility expansion, SCS is putting their secondary focus on making sure that they have enough starter money to make the necessary adjustments prior to moving forward with their planning.
“There are many hurdles in place along this journey,” Wikoff said. “The first hurdle being the raising of initial funds to make the proper improvements to our current septic system. From there we can move into the early planning phase of adding new facilities.” To participate in SCS fundraising efforts for both the music program and the eventual building expansion, please visit Sandpoint Christian School’s website at SandpointChristian.com/giving and click on the “Give” button, or email Sandpoint Christian school at office@sandpointchristian.com to inquire about further ways to be of service.
SCS will also be accepting of checks and cash gifts for their septic tank fundraising project in person at their main campus office: 4777954 Highway 95, Ponderay, ID 83852. All gifts are tax deductible. (Please see a tax expert for more information regarding your gift of taxable income.)
“We are grateful to be a part of the community,” Wikoff shared. “Our fundraising efforts will benefit our students, families and musi-lovers alike. We look forward to providing our students with the proper musical instruments and the facilities needed to host as many students and families as we can.”