Los Angeles Baptist High School

Heritage Christian School
Established 2012
Type Private/Coeducational
Principal Lance Haliday
Grades Pre school-12
Location 9825 Woodley Ave., Northridge, CA (South Campus); 17531 Rinaldi Street, Granada Hills, CA (North Campus);,
Northridge, California, USA
Colors Black, White & Gold
Mascot Warriors
Website http://www.heritage-schools.org

Heritage Christian School is a Christian, private, coeducational day school located in Northridge, California with approximately 1240 students enrolled in Pre-school through 12.[1] In the summer of 2012, the school was acquired from Los Angeles Baptist Middle/ Senior High School by (Hillcrest Christian School), and the two merged to become Heritage Christian Schools. The L.A. Baptist campus is now the South Campus of Heritage Christian School. The campus is now home to approximately 945 students in grades 7-12.

Los Angeles Baptist Middle School/High School was founded and administered by the Los Angeles Baptist City Mission Society later renamed American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles. The school was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. On July 1, 2012 ownership of the campus was transferred to Hillcrest Christian School of Granada Hills, CA.

Administration

Dr. Rev. Samuel Chetti, the Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles, is the Chief Administrative Officer of the American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles' Board of Directors, which served in making the school's policies. In consultation with the Board of Directors, Dr. Rev. Samuel Chetti superintended the administration of the school in the areas of personnel, curriculum, public relations, administrative policy, and campus development.[2] Walter Clarke was the last Headmaster.

Academics

Los Angeles Baptist Middle and High School, a college preparatory school, is privileged to have 39 teachers be a part of its mission to equip “the saints for the works of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” The school's mission is derived from Ephesians 4:12 (the New American Standard Bible Version that is used above). In pursuit of promoting intellectual growth in its students, Los Angeles Baptist requires that prospective teachers have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. The student/teacher ratio is 25:1.[3] One hundred percent of Los Angeles Baptist students from the class of 2011 were admitted to either a university, college, speciality school, or military program.[4]

International students

In 2008, international students, who met a certain set of requirements, were accepted from the nation of South Korea. In 2009, they accepted students from Mexico and other countries as well. Currently there are students from South Korea, China, Viet Nam, and Venezuela. The school is also participating in a foreign exchange program with other schools located in Germany.

Athletics

Middle school

High school

For more detailed sports information: LA Baptist's CBS MaxPreps homepage

Spiritual life

Director Jonathan Park, also known as "J.P", filming a video for chapel with Spencer Bakst entitled The Filing Cabinet.

As a Christian school, one of the school's goals is to contribute in the spiritual growth of its students. Once a week, the whole student body, including both middle school and high school students, come together for chapel. In chapel, the school's worship team leads the student body in worship, and guest speakers come to speak the Word of God. Past guests have included Nick Vujicic, Louis Zamperini,[6] and Something Like Silas. Every year, the spiritual life chairman, a student, who is chosen by a committee, proposes a spiritual life theme for the year. The spiritual life chairman is a part of the ASB and presides over the chapel team. The chapel team consists of a group of students who come together to make a few chapels that creatively convey the year's spiritual life theme. Last year's spiritual life theme is "God is Good". The Current spiritual life theme is "Purity". Spiritual Life Week, which takes place twice a year, is a week where three days of the school week are set aside for school chapels, which challenge the students’ religious life and personal commitment to Christ. From seventh grade to twelfth grade, students are required to take a religion class, including a course that is taken second semester by students in eleventh grade in world religions that studies the beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. In the first semester of their Senior year, students takes a course in Apologetics. In 2009, faculty member Philip Struyk was named the first campus pastor.

Middle School Educational Events

LA Baptist middle school students have the opportunity to participate in several extra-curricular educational events, many of which are sponsored by ACSI, including the ACSI spelling bee, math olympics, and geography bee. Students participating in these events compete against students from other Christian secondary schools in the greater Los Angeles area.

Traditions

Senior class gift from the class of 1990.

Annually, the student body has a day of competition called Spirit Day, preceded by a week of festive dress, where high school classes face one another in various events, while middle school homerooms compete against one another. The day is planned out by the ASB and the Middle School Student council. At the annual Junior-Senior Banquet, the Junior Class hosts the Senior Class at the event. The Senior Patio is generally thought of as reserved for the Senior Class, however this is not a definite rule. The Senior Class, in the past, yearly gave the school a Senior Class gift.

Scouts

In the 2007-08 school year, Boy Scouts of America Troop 356 was formed, averaging 12-18 scouts.

Publications

Los Angeles Baptist has three school publications: Commitment, Excalibur, and The Knight Writer. Commitment is a quarterly newsletter magazine sent to parents of students, alumni and friends of Los Angeles Baptist High School. Excalibur is a literary magazine that publishes the English works of students. The magazine was first published in 1987 as Opus Minimus, which remained the title of the literary magazine from 1987 to 1989. Unbound Treasure proceeded as the literary magazine's title from 1991 to 1994, then Los Angeles Baptist Annual Literary Magazine followed from 1994 to 2001. In 1994, Excalibur became the fourth title and has remained as its respective title.[7] In 2005, a group of high school students came together to create The Knight Times. The Knight Times was the first newspaper that appeared on campus after a sum of years where the school did not have a newspaper.[8] The school began to offer a journalism class taught by Sharon Ranieri in 2006, and since then, the journalism class has kept a newspaper circulating the student body.

Bible Bowl

The Bible Bowl is a football game where the Los Angeles Baptist Knights compete against their rivals, the Crusaders from Village Christian High School. The Village Christian Crusaders won this year's Bible Bowl game.

Allyson Felix Track

On May 21, 2008, the school began renovation of its track and field facilities. The renovation transformed the area into a synthetic field equipped with an eight-lane synthetic track. The new field was dedicated to four-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix at the school's Homecoming Festivity on October 11, 2008.[9]

School song

Oh! Baptist High, all hail to thee!
We pledge our faith and loyalty.
Thy sacred truths our hearts enfold.
We proudly serve as Knights of old.
Our Lord will lead to victory. Oh
Baptist High, all hail to thee.

Notable alumni

Todd Sands, Class of 1981. US Olympic figure skater, 1992 Olympics

References

  1. ↑ http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ca/private/9514 greatschools.net
  2. ↑ "About LAB". Los Angeles Baptist Middle School/High School. Retrieved on 2008-12-19 http://www.labaptist.org/about.html.
  3. ↑ http://www.k12academics.com/la_baptist_middle_high.htm
  4. ↑ Marshall, Scott. "A Message from the Principal" ' 'Commitment Fall 2008: 2-2.
  5. ↑ Chae, Jonathan, and Hilliger, Jon. "XC Makes History". The Knight Writer Volume 3.3. December 2008:1-1
  6. ↑ Hardy, Kimberley (Summer 2009). "Campus News: Louis Zamperini". Commitment.
  7. ↑ "Historical Note". Excalibur 2008 2008:36-36
  8. ↑ Zarcone, Rose, and Wong, Joanna. "Corrections from Last Month". The Knight Times February 2005:1-1
  9. ↑ Chin, Like and Lewis, Brad. "Here Comes the Turf Part". The Knight Writer: Volume I, Issue No. 8 2007:1-9

External links