Keswick Christian School
Encyclopedia
Founded originally as Grace Livingston Hill Memorial School in 1953, Keswick Christian School is a private, Pre-K
-12
, Christian school with an interdenominational student body, mostly of Protestant
background, and an enrollment around 650 students (2007). The campus spans 30 acres (121,405.8 m²), set among towering oak trees reminiscent of its once rural surroundings, and is located on the outlying area of St. Petersburg, Florida
, only about half of a mile outside Seminole, Florida
, whose city council annexed the school into its city limits in 2000. The school is accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International
and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
.
in 1952, Ruth Munce
founded Grace Livingston Hill
Memorial School in 1953, naming it after her mother, an author of more than 100
Christian-themed romance novels. Munce felt called by God to
establish this private educational facility because no other Christian school existed in Pinellas County, so she purchased a 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) site, an old chicken farm off Seminole Boulevard on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Florida
. Munce's philosophy that "God would
be the sum of the equation, the Bible a textbook" was put into motion. Classes were held in the chicken house and log cabin-style farmhouse. Munce taught Bible and English courses and remained principal of the school for 15 years, bringing enrollment to as many as 200 students a year. In 1968, at age 70, she undertook an eight-year stint teaching at Nairobi Bible Institute in Kenya.
-FM and WGNB
AM, and the Southern Keswick Bible Conference. Bill Caldwell operated these facilities, and to him, Munce turned over the school in 1961. The following year, the school name was changed to Keswick Christian School to reflect its new ownership. The Keswick name is said to come from a holiness movement
that originated in Keswick, England, in the late nineteenth century. By 1970, the school's enrollment rose to 480 students, giving the Board of Directors ample reason to expand the school to offer a senior high, which was completed in 1975 with the first senior class graduating in 1978. Also around this time, the school became a mission of Moody Bible Institute
in Chicago, an affiliation that lasted 18 years.
Moving into the 1980s, school officials broke ground in February 1983 for constructing a new library, but in order to do so, part of Keswick's history was removed. The early log-cabin farmhouse, where Keswick's first classes were held, was partially demolished,
leaving only one room, maintained for elementary music classes. The library was named Ruth Munce Library after the school's founder. In the early 1990s, the Upham Music Building was constructed to better accommodate band and choral instruction and rehearsal.
550-seat chapel and three homes, to Keswick for $600,000. The radio station remained the property of Moody. A fundraising campaign ensued to fund the purchase; however, this was only the beginning of the school's endeavors to reach new goals through a capital campaign.
, annexing it into Seminole city limits. At a Seminole city council meeting in July 2000, neighbors of the school aired their grievances concerning the expansion. They argued the proposed building would change the look of the neighborhood and generate more traffic and noise. This council meeting, however, was not to discuss the school's expansion but to decide its request for rezoning it from residential status to public/semipublic status. The re-designation was granted after tough debate. In 2001, Keswick officials scrapped the plan for the large, two-story building; instead, minor modifications were made, such as installing a fence on the grounds along 54th Avenue, building a paved running track, improving drainage and paving dirt parking lots.
Despite the false start of sorts, Keswick did embark on a three-year capital campaign called Foundations for the Future in 2003, the fiftieth anniversary of the school. The $4.5 million campaign was completed in 2007. Highlights of the campaign include a new 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) senior high school building; a refurbished preschool and new two-year old program; and a relocated junior high building.http://www.keswickchristian.org/keswick/main.php?id=gettinginvolved
John Mark Joseph (class of 2007) Accountant.
Pre-Kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten refers to the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends in the United States. It begins between the ages of 3-5 depending on the length of the program...
-12
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
, Christian school with an interdenominational student body, mostly of Protestant
background, and an enrollment around 650 students (2007). The campus spans 30 acres (121,405.8 m²), set among towering oak trees reminiscent of its once rural surroundings, and is located on the outlying area of St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, only about half of a mile outside Seminole, Florida
Seminole, Florida
Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,890 at the 2000 census. As of 2007, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 19,195. St. Petersburg College has a campus in the city.-Geography:...
, whose city council annexed the school into its city limits in 2000. The school is accredited by 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...
and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...
.
Founding
Following a temporary location started with help from Roy Gustafson and her other friends at "the Baptist Church on 22nd Avenue South" in St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
in 1952, Ruth Munce
Ruth Munce
Ruth H. Munce was an American romance novelist, mission teacher and founder of Keswick Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida.- Early life, family history :...
founded Grace Livingston Hill
Grace Livingston Hill
Grace Livingston Hill was born in Wellsville, New York on April 16, 1865 to Presbyterian minister Charles Montgomery Livingston and his wife, Marcia Macdonald Livingston. Both of her parents were writers, as was Hill's aunt Isabella Macdonald Alden. Hill was an early 20th century novelist and...
Memorial School in 1953, naming it after her mother, an author of more than 100
Christian-themed romance novels. Munce felt called by God to
establish this private educational facility because no other Christian school existed in Pinellas County, so she purchased a 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) site, an old chicken farm off Seminole Boulevard on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
. Munce's philosophy that "God would
be the sum of the equation, the Bible a textbook" was put into motion. Classes were held in the chicken house and log cabin-style farmhouse. Munce taught Bible and English courses and remained principal of the school for 15 years, bringing enrollment to as many as 200 students a year. In 1968, at age 70, she undertook an eight-year stint teaching at Nairobi Bible Institute in Kenya.
Name change and growth
Headquartered on the same site as the school were Keswick radio stations, WKESWKES
WKES is a radio station broadcasting a religious radio format. Licensed to Lakeland, Florida, USA, it serves the Tampa Bay area from its studios at Keswick Christian School in Seminole...
-FM and WGNB
WXYB
WXYB is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish / ethnic format. Licensed to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, USA, the station is currently owned by Angelatos Broadcasting.The station also sells brokered time to other advertisers and groups...
AM, and the Southern Keswick Bible Conference. Bill Caldwell operated these facilities, and to him, Munce turned over the school in 1961. The following year, the school name was changed to Keswick Christian School to reflect its new ownership. The Keswick name is said to come from a holiness movement
Higher Life movement
The Higher Life movement was a movement devoted to Christian holiness in England. Its name comes from a book by William Boardman, entitled The Higher Christian Life, which was published in 1858...
that originated in Keswick, England, in the late nineteenth century. By 1970, the school's enrollment rose to 480 students, giving the Board of Directors ample reason to expand the school to offer a senior high, which was completed in 1975 with the first senior class graduating in 1978. Also around this time, the school became a mission of Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute is a Christian institution of higher education and related ministries that was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Since its founding, MBI's main campus has been located in the Near North Side of Chicago. MBI's primary ministries are education,...
in Chicago, an affiliation that lasted 18 years.
Moving into the 1980s, school officials broke ground in February 1983 for constructing a new library, but in order to do so, part of Keswick's history was removed. The early log-cabin farmhouse, where Keswick's first classes were held, was partially demolished,
leaving only one room, maintained for elementary music classes. The library was named Ruth Munce Library after the school's founder. In the early 1990s, the Upham Music Building was constructed to better accommodate band and choral instruction and rehearsal.
Parting ways with Moody
In 1996, Moody Bible Institute decided that their future focus would be solely on higher education, so the college amicably parted ways with Keswick. Moody sold its conference center property, established in 1962 on Lake Kersey, including a 48-room lodge, a550-seat chapel and three homes, to Keswick for $600,000. The radio station remained the property of Moody. A fundraising campaign ensued to fund the purchase; however, this was only the beginning of the school's endeavors to reach new goals through a capital campaign.
Foundations for the future
In 1999, school officials announced their expansion plans to add a two-story, 18690 square feet (1,736.4 m²) building that would house administrative offices, classrooms and a state-of-the-art media center. The following year, the Seminole city council changed the school's unincorporated status with Pinellas CountyPinellas County, Florida
Pinellas County is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. This county is contained entirely within the telephone area code 727, except for some sections of Oldsmar, which have the area code 813...
, annexing it into Seminole city limits. At a Seminole city council meeting in July 2000, neighbors of the school aired their grievances concerning the expansion. They argued the proposed building would change the look of the neighborhood and generate more traffic and noise. This council meeting, however, was not to discuss the school's expansion but to decide its request for rezoning it from residential status to public/semipublic status. The re-designation was granted after tough debate. In 2001, Keswick officials scrapped the plan for the large, two-story building; instead, minor modifications were made, such as installing a fence on the grounds along 54th Avenue, building a paved running track, improving drainage and paving dirt parking lots.
Despite the false start of sorts, Keswick did embark on a three-year capital campaign called Foundations for the Future in 2003, the fiftieth anniversary of the school. The $4.5 million campaign was completed in 2007. Highlights of the campaign include a new 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) senior high school building; a refurbished preschool and new two-year old program; and a relocated junior high building.http://www.keswickchristian.org/keswick/main.php?id=gettinginvolved
Notable alumni
- Neil Amato (class of 1988), sports writer The Star-News, Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington, North CarolinaWilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
non-graduate - Christa Benton (class of 2001), winning long-distance runner
- Bruce G. BlowersBruce G. BlowersBruce G. Blowers is a classically trained, American Contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter from St. Petersburg, Florida. Blowers is signed with , an independent record label based out of Central Florida...
(class of 2004), singer-songwriterSinger-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
non-graduate - Jonathan Davenport (class of 1993), artist, animator
- Samantha Dorman (Class of 1987), fashion model, actress non-graduate
- Kirk Hoffman (class of 2002), 2004 Olympics Judo Team alternate, 2005 World Judo Championship Team
- Kris Ingeneri, Ph.D. (class of 1990), scientist, ORNLOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
& International Atomic Energy AgencyInternational Atomic Energy AgencyThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957... - Nick Ingeneri (class of 1991), artist, animator
- Dan LothianDan LothianDan Lothian is CNN's White House Correspondent.Some of the major events that he has covered while Boston Bureau Chief with CNN included the funeral of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina and the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education case.Lothian was born...
(class of 1982), CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
correspondent - John Mark McManus (class of 1988), poet
- Natalie (Nichols) Gillespie (class of 1985), author & journalist non-graduate
- Jeremy Rasmussen (class of 1985), St Petersburg Times prep sports writer, Jeopardy!Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
champion, & instructor at USFUniversity of South FloridaThe University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA... - Timothy Rasmussen (class of 1991), Director of Production at Worship Network
- Gabrielle ReeceGabrielle ReeceGabrielle Allyse Reece is an American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, fashion model and actress.-Early life:...
(Class of 1987), professional beach volleyball player, fashion model, author & columnist - Christine (Stolba) Rosen, Ph.D. (class of 1990), author, historian, scholar non-graduate
- Chris Shankle (Class of 1990), business owner, professional golfer, star shooting guard on Keswick's 1989-1990 district championship basketball team that had 31-5 record http://members.aol.com/coachmjw/hist12.htm#Keswick%20Christian%20High%20School
- James VanSteenburg (Class of 1990), civil engineer, HDR, Inc.HDR, Inc.HDR Inc. is an employee-owned architectural, engineering and consulting firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. HDR has worked on projects in all 50 U.S. states and in 60 countries, including notable projects such as the Hoover Dam Bypass, TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, and the The Roslin Institute building...
- Justin P. Russo (Class of 1990) Software Developer - VB.Net/ASP.NetASP.NETASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
, VB6/Classic ASP (PRESENT) >> Independent Filmmaker, Actor, Singer-Songwriter (PRESENT) >> United States Marine(1994–1998) non-graduate
John Mark Joseph (class of 2007) Accountant.
External links
- Keswick Christian School Official school web site
- State Champs 1983 Stories and pictures of Keswick's 1983 state soccer championship
- Coach Mike J. Wells Pictures and records of Keswick basketball teams from 1983-99 when Wells coached there
- St. Pete Times article Former Keswick basketball coach Mike Wells dies.
- St. Pete Times article About Christine Rosen's book "My Fundamentalist Education"
- St. Pete Times article about Jeremy Rasmussen's appearance on Jeopardy!
- St. Pete Times article Obituary of Valerie Wells, former Keswick teacher and wife to Mike Wells.