Arrowhead Christian Academy is a private junior high and secondary school located in Redlands, California

Redlands, California

Redlands is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 68,747, up from 63,591 at the 2000 census. The city is located east of downtown San Bernardino.- History :...

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History and Campus

Co-founded in 1979 by Dr. Larry W. Poland (the current head of Mastermedia International, Inc. http://www.mastermediaintl.org/) and Gordon Shipps, Arrowhead Christian Academy consists of grades 7-12 and is based on incorporating Christian teachings and ideals into all aspects of education.



Arrowhead Christian Academy has been accredited by the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) since July 1996. ACA is also a member of the Association of Christian Schools International

Association of Christian Schools International

The Association of Christian Schools International is an association of evangelical Protestant Christian schools.-Purposes:ACSI, a protestant association for Christian schools, impacts nearly 23,000 schools and transforms the lives of more than 3.9 million students worldwide...

 (ACSI).

The main campus building (originally a large hosiery factory) houses junior high and high school classrooms, a science wing with computer centers, a main computer lab with updated CPUs (economically affordable and refurbished) and a gymnasium/multipurpose auditorium. It includes a Library Research Media Center with 24 workstations, along with a wide assortment of research materials and books. Sports facilities include athletic fields, an exercise building (the "Barn"), and the 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) Eagle Arena with three full courts. In 2004, a 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) soccer field was completed which contains three full-size practice fields as well as one competition field. In 2010, five additional acres adjacent to the school were purchased in preparation for future expansion of the campus. The North Campus is home to the Center for the Arts Facility with classrooms for music and visual arts. The school hosts a comprehensive sports program with several teams earning CIF titles.

In 2008 ACA merged with Redlands Christian School to create a comprehensive Christian school system serving Redlands and the surrounding municipalities. The combined schools enroll over 1,000 students.

Academics

Arrowhead Christian Academy offers Advanced Placement and Honors Classes in different subjects, such as Philosophy and Theology, Lab Sciences, Mathematics, Language and Literature, and Social Studies.

Arrowhead Christian Academy has consistently received numerous awards and recognition for academic excellence. Many students are also awarded several academic awards, such as various forms of the AP Scholar Award. Around 98% - 100% of each years alumni move on to college each year. On average, around 4% - 9% of students of each graduating class move on to an Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 college or a comparable Tier 1 university. The student-to-faculty ratio is around 16:1.

ACA graduates have attended colleges such as Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

, United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

, and Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

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Arts and Journalism

"Wings"

ACA’s yearbook, Wings, has garnered consistent national honors for the past 15 years under the direction of adviser Crystal Kazmierski (JEA National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, 2000). National awards include multiple Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Columbia Scholastic Press Association

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs...

's Gold and Silver Crowns http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cspa/CrownArchive.html , the National Scholastic Press Association

National Scholastic Press Association

The National Scholastic Press Association is a nonprofit organization founded in 1921 for high school and secondary school publications in the United States. The association is membership-based and annually hosts high school journalism conventions across the country...

's National Pacemaker Award http://www.studentpress.org/bohsp/index.html and the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

's Quill and Scroll

Quill and Scroll

Quill and Scroll is an international high school journalism honor society that recognizes and encourages both individual and group achievements in scholastic journalism. According to the Quill and Scroll website, over 14,104 high schools in all 50 U.S. states and 44 countries have established local...

. "Wings" is added to the president's collection http://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/contentmgr.nsf/0/E261281112FB369A862571150068BFC4?opendocument at Walsworth Publishing yearly and consistently pushes the envelope in the scholastic journalism world. In April 2006 "Wings" was inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame for having earned 10 consecutive All-American ratings in their annual critique service.



Cambiata

ACA's high school choir performs annually at the ACSI Musicale in Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

. Under the direction of Elizabeth Van Gelder (1991–1999), Ellen Beery (1999–2004), Ruth Goodman (2005–2006) and Nancy Gilmore (2006-Current), they have participated in many choral-related events with the Kerygma Honor Choir.



Kerygma

ACA's honor choir has won a gold or silver award at the invitational Heritage Festival at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA annually since 2004. Kerygma competes each year as a small ensemble at ASCI musicale and has participated at local venues under Elizabeth Van Gelder (1994–1999), Ellen Beery (1999–2004), Ruth Goodman (2004–2005) and Nancy Gilmore (2005-Current). On March 23, 2007, the entire music department (Kerygma, Cambiata, and the Drum Line/Percussions Studies groups) attended the Heritage Festival in Anaheim.

Competition	Result (Medal Awarded)
2005 Heritage Festival	Silver
2006 Heritage Festival	Silver
2007 Heritage Festival	Silver
2008 Heritage Festival	Gold
2009 Heritage Festival	Gold
2010 Heritage Festival	Gold

Drama

Audience seating is set up for theatre-in-the-round productions that earn critical acclaim. Plays are performed such as Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....

, The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...

, All in the Timing

All in the Timing

All in the Timing is a collection of one-act plays by the American playwright David Ives written between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service in 1994, with a collection of six plays; however, the updated collection contains fourteen. The short plays are almost all...

, The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show of the modern...

, The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed (play)

The Bad Seed was a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson adapted from the novel of that name by William March, and was in turn adapted by John Lee Mahin into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name directed by Mervyn Leroy. Staged by Reginald Denham, it opened...

, The Unexpected Guest

The Unexpected Guest (play)

The Unexpected Guest is a 1958 play by crime writer Agatha Christie.The play opened in the West End at the Duchess Theatre on 12 August 1958 after a previous try-out at the Bristol Hippodrome. It was directed by Hubert Gregg.-Plot summary :...

, Black Comedy

Black Comedy

Black Comedy is a one-act farce by Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1965.The play is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: the play opens on a darkened stage...

, 'Art'

'Art' (play)

‘Art’ is a French language play by Yasmina Reza that premiered on 28 October 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The English language adaptation, translated by Christopher Hampton opened in London's West End on 15 October 1996, starring Albert Finney. It played on Broadway in New York...

, Play On and The Curious Savage

The Curious Savage

The Curious Savage, written by John Patrick, is a comedic play about Ethel P. Savage, a woman whose husband recently died and left her approximately ten million dollars. The play was first produced in New York by the Theatre Guild and Lewis & Young at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 24, 1950...

. Students are coached by Crystal Kazmierski and Nathan Smith, who have numerous years of performance/directing experience. Former directors include Wes Harty and Steve Smith.



Drum Line/Percussions Studies

In 2005, ACA introduced Drum Line classes. Its current director is Chris McDonal. Drum Line and Percussion Studies perform at school concerts and sporting events. Arrowhead Drum Line has won the gold in the 1A Category for the 2nd year in a row.

Competition	Result (Medal Awarded)
2006 Heritage Festival	Silver
2007 Heritage Festival	Silver
2008 Heritage Festival	Gold
2009 Heritage Festival	Gold

Cirque du ACA

A new fund-raising opportunity called the "Diamond Jubilee" was introduced in 2008. Held at the Orange Show in San Bernardino, the evening event included a sit-down dinner, live and silent auctions and entertainment.
In 2010 the Diamond Jubilee was replaced with Cirque du ACA, a fundraiser with a carnival atmosphere. It included a silent auction, a live auction, entertainment in the form of dramatic and musical pieces, a performance by the YMCA Circus and bounce houses. These fundraisers will help ACA with various expenditures such as improving campus facilities and donations to various organizations in the Inland Empire

Inland Empire (California)

The Inland Empire is a region in Southern California. The region sits directly east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Inland Empire most commonly is used in reference to the U.S. Census Bureau's federally-defined Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area, which covers more than...

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The International Student Program

Arrowhead Christian provides an International Student Program for kids from other countries to come and study in the United States. Many international students find a host student (student that attends ACA) and the international student lives with the host student for the entire year.

International Student Country	Population at School (Percent All-Time)
Korean	Approx. 60%
Chinese	Approx. 40%

• These percents are only applicable to the international student population at ACA.

External links

• http://www.acacommunity.com/
• http://arrowheadchristian.com/
• Unrelated school with identical name and mascot in Glendale, AZ