Valley Christian Academy, a private Christian school run by First Baptist Church in Santa Maria, celebrated its 40th anniversary April 20.

The school's band and orchestra played, as well as the elementary and high school choirs. Former pastors John Stevens and the Rev. Brian Barber spoke, and current VCA principal Chuck Mason offered a DVD presentation of VCA history.

Mason has been principal since 1979. His predecessor, John Brock, offered a closing prayer.

Valley Christian academy currently has 400 students from preschool to 12th grade. The curriculum is Christ-centered. Students go to chapel once or twice a week, depending on their grade, and study the Bible the first period of each day.

Another advantage the school has, Mason said, is that its students perform well academically. VCA students have been scoring in the 90th to the 92th percentile for the past 15 years on the Stanford Achievement Test when compared to private, public, large and small schools nationwide, Mason said. “Even though education has struggled in California and continues to struggle, we've been able to maintain a high academic standard, and the young people have done exceptionally well,” he said.

The school started in 1966 in what is now Pine Grove Baptist Church, back when First Baptist Church was meeting at their old property at Fesler and Vine streets. Fifty-five students from kindergarten through fourth grade attended. “The reason that they started the school back then was because the church realized that things were tightening up in public education and the Bible was being excluded more and more from the curriculum, and opportunities to include any kind of Christian reference even in the holidays ... were becoming more difficult to do,” Mason said.

There was also a concern that students in public schools were dropping in academic achievement due to a shift in the curriculum from phonics to sight-reading, Mason said.

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The church purchased 25 acres at its current site on Santa Maria Way in 1967, and built its first three buildings in the fall. The preschool was founded in 1968.

By 1973, the school had grown to 300 students in grade K-11.

In 1975, the church sold the property at Fesler and Vine and moved the entire congregation to the VCA campus to meet on Sundays for services and Sunday school and during the week for other programs. The congregation has met there ever since.

Since 1975, the school has added a 900-seat auditorium and a gymnasium. A Talent Development program for students with learning disabilities and special needs began in 1982.

In 2005, a major remodeling effort started when Conoco Phillips requested to excavate material that had been at the school site from the company's oil sumps. The junior high and high school students were moved to modular buildings that had been purchased in 2003.

The remodeling effort has included cement playgrounds, new athletic fields, new parking areas, and new fencing. This year, Pastor Jim Schettler initiated a remodel of the auditorium and the Fireside fellowship hall.

Possible plans for the future include remodeling the remaining classroom buildings, converting one of the rooms into a science lab, putting modular housing on campus for teachers and developing the back of the property into a Bible institute or a missionary institute.

The school is open to anyone of any faith or no faith at all. Mason interviews parents before admitting their children, and explains the school's mission of a Christian education, and hopes the children come to faith in Christ. “That has worked out really well, actually,” he said. “Our parents overall have seen the need for a strong moral education.”

Since the school's inception, teachers have had access to more Christian textbooks, although they still use some non-Christian textbooks. They began offering AP classes in 1999, according to the VCA Web site, as well as beginning the pursuit of accreditation from the American Association of Christian Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school was granted a six-year term of accreditation by WASC in 2003.

Mason is happy to see how the school has influenced its students. The 40th anniversary allowed him to get in touch with alumni or former students who attended but didn't graduate.

“As you run into them and have an opportunity to talk to them, they look back and think about the things that they learn here. They've been challenged by the spiritual principles that they've learned here,” Mason said. “Most of them have really fond memories of the time they've spent here and a lot of good things to say.”

One of the best parts for him is seeing the new generation of VCA students whose parents have attended. “That's been something that's been very gratifying,” Mason said.