Kent Harrison said it’s “hard to believe” Christian Heritage School began its 38th year this fall, but “even more amazing” is the school’s immense growth during the last seven years since he joined as Christian Heritage’s head of school.
“We are at 615 students this year,” he said. “Our enrollment growth is now seven years running. It’s up about 50% from the start of my time at CHS and we believe that trend is only going to continue.”
Harrison outlined Christian Heritage’s mission for student achievement during the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 State of Education and Workforce event on Thursday.
“’Academics that challenge’ is not just a tagline,” he said. “From kindergarten through senior year, we are promoting college preparatory objectives and initiatives.”
The meaning behind the titleHarrison said although the “independent,” kindergarten through grade 12, “non-covenant,” college preparatory, Christian school has been a fixture in Dalton for almost four decades, “we still feel new in so many ways.”
“In the life of a school, 38 years is still pretty young,” he said. “After 38 years, it’s still kind of interesting that (many people) don’t understand what an independent college preparatory school means in Northwest Georgia. Basically there’s two types of non-public schools: private and independent. An independent school is exactly what it sounds like. We are completely independent of any organization, denomination, church or governing body, so we are able to make our own decisions for the group of students that we have each and every year.”
Harrison said the school is governed by a board of 12 people that “ensures the head of school is doing their job to lead our mission, which is ‘educating children to serve Christ.’”
Harrison said another misconception about the school is that students have to be a Christian to attend.
“We’re non-covenant, meaning that you do not have to be Christian,” he said. “In fact, many of our students and families are non-believers and we’re OK with that. But the agreement and the partnership on the front end basically says we believe Jesus is who he said he was. and everyone’s welcome.”
Harrison said the school is “unapologetically Christian.”
“We don’t whisper when we talk about Christ,” he said. “All of our students are going to take Bible (class) all year long for their entire time at CHS, but again you don’t have to be Christian to attend. I think that surprises folks.”
Focusing on ‘relationships’With an $8 million annual budget, Harrison said Christian Heritage has “limited resources.”
“If you’re thinking about a home budget, $8 million sounds really good,” he said. “But in the school business, $8 million doesn’t go very far. Our Board of Trustees have required that I use our resources for basically one track, and that’s our college preparatory track. In other words, if you graduate from CHS you have the diploma necessary to attend a four-year college of your choice. That’s what we’re in the business of doing.”
Harrison said Christian Heritage is still relatively small compared to other schools.
“Our typical class size is around 18 (students) and our classes cap out at 20,” he said. “We are so small, it’s shocking. But we focus on relationships and believe that is the secret for pulling out a child’s maximum capacity in the classrooms, in the hallways, on the fields and on the courts. We invest in those relationships and push these kids to spots they and their parents didn’t know were possible.”
Of the 615 students, Harrison said 207 make up the high school classes.
“And it’s roughly 50/50; almost a hundred boys and a hundred girls,” he said.
Harrison said the school is very “community service-oriented.”
“You probably see our vans and our buses all over the city every afternoon,” he said. “We require 40 hours of community service each year for graduation, so each and every afternoon when (students) leave we’re sending them all over to help be hands and feet in this community. We want our children not just to know that people need help but to learn leadership and service.”
He said a big factor in learning those qualities is knowing the difference between “understanding who God is and wanting to serve God.”
“We believe the more our students learn about Christ, the more that they will want to serve him,” he said. “And if we can give kids a taste of what it’s like to serve others, they will want more of it. It’s a model that we believe God gave each of us in our core and it’s such an active piece of the CHS experience.”
Past successes and future plansHarrison said he is equally proud of the members of the school’s 2024 graduating class and alumni.
“Last year, we had 44 graduates who earned just over $3.5 million in college scholarship opportunities,” he said. “That does not include the HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) Scholarship and other grants. and we had 191 college acceptances last year for those 44 students, with 80% HOPE eligible. We’re just really proud.”
Harrison spotlighted the school’s most recent strategic plan, known as Deeply Rooted, which not only tackles learning initiatives but acts as a “road map” to eventually grow the school from 615 students to 945.
“If you look around the state of Georgia and other independent schools outside of metro Atlanta, around 950 students is the sweet spot for schools just like ours in rural communities,” he said. “Our students aren’t just from Dalton and Whitfield (County). We send a bus every morning to Calhoun and it brings back 40 (students). More and more families outside of our community are finding the partnership at CHS very valuable.”
Because of that growth, Harrison said the school needed to have a plan for expansion.
“Our campus cannot house 945 students, so Deeply Rooted tackles some of the needed campus growth,” he said. “Just last month we broke ground on an eight-classroom middle school addition, and plans are being drawn now to expand the high school so that it will be able to house 360 high school students. and we would love to have a chapel and fine arts facility on our south campus. There are some big things happening at Christian Heritage.”
With limited resources, Harrison said the projects will take time to complete.
“Of our $8 million budget, $5.5 million is brought in through tuition, which means my responsibility is to raise $2.5 million a year.”
Harrison said he is grateful for the “philanthropy” of the community each year.
“I think it’s worth noting that there’s also a big misconception across Northwest Georgia that if you’re rich and white, you can go to Christian Heritage,” he said. “That’s just not the case. More than 50% of our students receive some form of financial aid and that comes in from a variety of ways, but, truly, it’s philanthropy. People are giving to our school to provide children with an opportunity they couldn’t otherwise afford.”