Grace Christian School (Alaska)

Grace Christian School (GCS) in Anchorage, Alaska is a private christian school supported by the Anchorage Grace Christian Church. It was started in 1980 and now educates nearly 700 students from kindergarten through 12th grades.

The GCS property is over 7 acres on the south side of Anchorage. The building, which is shared with the church, has been in expansion mode since 1998.

Phase III

Grace is currently working on a project that they call Phase III. Phase III will be a major renovation where they will add a new gymnasium. Phase III should add approx. 29,000 sq. ft. to the complex. This project has been in the works since 1985, and the end is nowhere in site. Contractors have made progress they say, but now people are starting to think they simply forgot or plain gave up. They recently made the most substancial leap in their noble quest by erecting a roof! Now thats fifteen years of good hard work paid off, the school boasts. They are a proud group of highly motivated individuals. The production officers have put together some stunning concept photos of their wildest dreams for the future. Its almost like making pictures of how you think heaven will look like. With animation you can make anything real. So far they have constructed 1/8 of the church side and there have no comments onto when the new colossal gym will be raised. They say it will be like an Amish barn raising when it happens. It will all come together perfectly in one afternoon. You cant find that kind of optimism anywhere. Not even with the Amish.

Study Hall

Grace Christian is known for its strong study hall classes that are available each year so efficiently. The administration runs a tight shift, that borderlines communism, but they insist it's for the greater good. The study hall experience is an exclusive happening though, and must be earned. You may never have visitors, because it interrupts the work productivity percentage. Grace's study hall program has won the "Most Efficient Study hall" award every year consecutively, since the origins of the award. Every month the diligent workers of study hall are admitted one 30 min break in their once private sanctuary. This sanctuary was once a place of endless peace and relaxation, but now it is a place of hate, regrets and distain. But the hardworking drones of the study hall continue to do the people's work without question like it has been for years. Study hall sounds strenuous but don let these words hinder your efforts to gain access to this privilege. Some day. Some day you just might be good enough.

Bible

When it comes to excellence in the field of bible classes, Grace is at the top of the rankings nation wide. All the bible classes are full of eager to learn students, primarily because they are required to attend them. Chaos seems to consume the room, but it is a good time to let the kids let out steam about whatever or whomever they please. The discussions don’t have to have any meaning or thought put in to them, as long as the kids are all participating in the bedlam. It isn’t uncommon to have random projectiles hurling through the tumult, followed by expletives of many kinds. This discussion time lets the children (because when they enter the room they become children) explore life skills in heated and sometimes violent debates. These skills can be especially helpful if they decide to become a politician. Bible class is just one of the riveting classes available at Grace, so don’t wait and jump into the madness.

Lunch

Grace Christian's Hot Lunch schedule recently underwent a major overhaul. You could say that we were OVERHAULIN'. In order to provide students with more healthy food option, pizza is now served 2-3 times per week, note the exception that some weeks it is served 5 times. Much to the disdain of many students, TACO TUESDAY has nearly been done away with, it has become better known as, "DEAR LORD PLEASE ALLOW IT TO BE TACO TUESDAY". The day Tuesday is no londer worth getting up for. "Taco Tuesday, those were the best. One time I ate 10 tacos!" This quote was from a satisfied Grace Chrisitan Student. Unfortunatly there is a strong limit placed upon the consumption of tacos. There is a limit of two per student.

Returning Graduates

At Grace Christian School there seems to be a general problem with returning seniors, ok so problem would be putting it lightly. The truth of the matter is that there is an epidemic sweeping Grace Christian School. The epicenter of this problem can be stated in a simple phrase. Graduates of Grace Christian School seem to have some sort of VERY strong draw to come back to school and see people. Now, for some graduates we can appreciate their involvement in the school after their graduation, however for 99.9% of graduates who return on a daily basis, or weekly basis, it is too much. There is one week that graduated seniors may come back; this is the week of Christmas. You may perhaps come back on some days, but this is directly linked to how many people knew you, and how well you were liked. The rule stands that you may not come back for more than 3 days of school in a school year, unless you were and are very well liked. The question can only linger upon seeing a senior who has graduated, “Do they really have nothing better to do than come back and see people?” The sad answer is, probably not. I may suggest several ways to keep yourself busy in the stead of high school. The most popular way can be easily summarized as, GO GET A JOB! Now this may come as a shock to many people, but contrary to popular returning graduate belief, having a job and friends is cool. The second way is GO TO COLLEGE. I believe this is self-explanatory. A commonly spoken of incident at Grace is one that involved a graduate and a student. The graduate was coming back to the school, for no other purpose than to see a lady friend. This is a senior who came back every day. Upon entering the parking lot with his vehicle, he was confronted by a student. This student did not get out of his way, so as all of us would do, he ran over this student. Wow, what a show of judgment. I am all but ashamed of the level of intelligence put into that decision. Gladly the student was ok, but this only goes to show, returning seniors help no one. They are frankly undesired.

Restrooms

During the 2005-2006 school year, during-class restroom usage increased three fold. This posed a problem, in that, students were not spending enough time in class. More importantly, this excess usage of the facilities was unexpected, and thus unplanned for in the school budget. In order to close the budget deficit, restrictions were placed on restroom usage. Many students felt the pains of a full bladder. 5 minutes is simple not enough time to use the restroom and get to class on time. This ban was later lifted after an 'incident.'

Diversity

There seems to be a overload of " Alternate Lifestyles" here at Grace. I've quietly put up with this for years, but as they wear on the problem grows. It used to be only a select few that you could easily point out, now they number in the double digits. The biggest problem directly linked with these folks is that the girls seem to flock to them for some reason, leaving normal (real) men at a loss. I've witnessed this sad occurance happen many times, and no, we shouldn't just accept this. If we don't do something about this, like an infected wound, it will only get worse..

Grace Christian School