New high school has bigger classrooms, updated science labs
The new Illiana Christian High School will open next month with a modern learning environment and bigger classrooms.
With its move from Lansing, the new school, 10920 Calumet Ave. in Hanover Township, Ind., will have updated science labs and classrooms with movable tables and chairs to encourage student to collaborate and think creatively.
“Those have been our themes as we have designed this space,” Principal Peter Boonstra said.
Construction on Phase 1 has totaled $28 million, he said. The high school was budgeted at $25 million with the school raising $20 million and then borrowing the remaining $5 million.
Student tuition will increase next school year to help the school repay that loan, Boonstra said.
The 100,000-square-foot, two-story building has the capacity for 550 students. About 460 students are signed up for the next school year, he said.
The lower level will include classrooms, collaborative learning spaces, administrative offices and science labs. The upper level will include classrooms and a multimedia room. The building also will have an 1,800-seat standard gymnasium and a smaller adjacent one where it will have daily chapel.
The school raised an additional $3 million to build an adjacent Arts, Recreation, Community building that will include the smaller gym and a small stage with a large projection screen, speakers and other equipment bought at a bargain when the Star Plaza Theatre closed in Merrillville, he said.
A yet unplanned second construction phase would add 35,000 square feet of classrooms and an auditorium. It also would enable enrollment of another 250 students, he said.
The school plans to take part in Indiana’s voucher program. It has set up a $250,000 fund to provide Illinois students with the equivalent of voucher tuition scholarships, he said. Families would be evaluated based on the same criteria as if they were attending through Indiana’s voucher program. The amount each Illinois student would receive is still being determined, he said.
The school’s center will have a large commons area where students will eat lunch. It includes a large Ebenezer stone that towers to the second floor. It is also adding a cafe run during the morning by volunteers.
“We are kind of eager to see how this space is going to be used, because you design it all on paper and envision how it might go, but we are not quite sure how tight it’s going to be,” Boonstra said.
By the end of fall, the school will complete two soccer fields, a track, softball and baseball fields, and a tennis court, Boonstra said.
Illiana Christian will have another building tour for parents and residents at 10 a.m. Aug. 4.
It will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8 a.m. Aug. 20 and a dedication ceremony Sept. 15.
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