What The Community Says About Whitinsville Christian School

From TheDailyNorthbridge.com 
Whitinsville Christian: Not your average private school
by Karen Gibson

January 18, 2010 - Part 1 of a series focusing on private schools in the region.

At right - A bulletin board at the Whitinsville Christian School lists students will college acceptances.
Photo by Karen Gibson.

When many people think of private, religious schools, they often think strict teachers, a lot of rules and no fun. That is not the case at Whitinsville Christian School.

Serving towns from across Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island (basically if a parent is willing to drive the kids here, they are welcome) WCS offers a variety of sports and extra-curricular activities that would rival any larger school. The 81-year-old institution has an average of 540 students in grades pre-k through 12 on its 27-acre campus.

"We've had a large push for athletics in the last five years," said Dennis Epplett, Admissions Coordinator. "We recently had our athletic facilities redone...Many people see the school from the front, and don't realize the huge amount of space we have out back for sports."

Students are taught instruments as early as preschool, and the well-known Strings music program has over 100 students participating. A large number of students participate in the two drama productions every year, as well.

"In this school, we are very lucky to be a smaller community, so there are no (cliques)," said Epplett. "Students don't feel embarrassed if they play basketball and play the violin...Our recent drama production of 'Hook' had a senior athlete who decided he wanted to participate, and he had quite a large role. You wouldn't get that at a larger school."

WCS started in a building on Willow Street in 1928, before moving to its current home on Linwood Avenue, next to Northbridge High School, in 1969. Many updates to the school has been done since, most notably the addition in 1998 of a second floor to house the high school students.

Around 95 percent of the graduating students here go on to college. One senior this year, Arleigh McRae, has been accepted into the Naval Academy and he won the state championship in cross country.

This smaller community allows students to be more at ease and relaxed, along with having a more immediate education with such small class sizes. There is no cafeteria in the building, rather students who buy lunch go to the kitchen each day and pick up their hot meal to eat in their classroom - or outside on warm days. "We have one parent come in once a month and make sweet and sour chicken that I think the whole school, faculty included, gets for lunch that day," said Epplett.

This is part one in a series concentrating on the Whitinsville Christian School. See part two about what makes this school religious, and part three will be how the school raises funds and keeps tuition costs manageable for its families.