Fort Worth Christian School - Fort Worth, Texas
By: Jennifer Walker-Journey

Since Fort Worth Christian School first opened its doors in Northeast Tarrant County, Texas, in the fall of 1958, the school excelled at carving out its own niche in providing a quality educational experience in a value-centered setting. Each student is encouraged to grow through educational programs that are designed to meet his or her diversified needs, interests, and abilities, while focusing on the integration of faith, learning, and living.

In its 50 years serving students, the school’s grade offerings have changed, first from offering kindergarten through eighth grade and a junior college, then adding a grade every year, and finally adding a preschool. In 1972, the school phased out the junior college. But, steadily, enrollment grew. Today, more than 850 students attend pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade at Fort Worth Christian School.

The school had plenty of reason and opportunity to expand. The campus sits on more than 40 acres in the geographic center of rapidly expanding North Richland Hills. In 2002, the school converted its high school library into a “library for the 21st Century.”

The following year, it opened the Fine Arts/Campus Center, which provided an expansion of music and art activities, as well as room for a cafeteria/auditorium. The school also began providing college and career counseling center for its students. (One hundred percent of seniors who graduate from Fort Worth Christian School attend college, and students have consistently exceeded the state and national ACT and SAT composite average scores.)

As it neared its 50th birthday, the school began to see the need for a center where students could develop their science and computer skills and prepare themselves for careers in engineering, medicine, and computer science.

Science labs were located in one of the original buildings, but leadership envisioned something more contemporary. A team from the school visited two schools in California, the Tiger Woods Learning Center and New Tech High School, as well as other schools closer to home. The team pulled ideas from those schools into the wishes for Fort Worth Christian School’s Center for Science and Technology.

“Some of the things from (the schools visited) were the ‘pod system’ in the computer labs with moveable desks set up in groups, or pods,” said Lisa Jennings, assistant to the president at Fort Worth Christian School. “Also, the teacher teaches from a command center podium.”

The school hired architect Scott Martsolf with Scott Martsolf Architecture in Fort Worth to design the plans. Martsolf, who founded the firm in 1998, had worked on numerous religious projects in and around Fort Worth.

The 10,000-square-foot, $1.5-million Center for Science and Technology was designed with three state-of-the-art science labs, each with separate lecture areas, two lab prep rooms with chemical storage, two computer labs, and a networking room where students can earn certification to repair computers. The computer lab also houses the controls from which to run videos and other graphics on a flat-panel screen in the center’s lobby. It is also furnished with Steelcase, provided by Business Interiors in Irving, Texas.

All classrooms in the center have a glass wall that looks out into the hall as well into the classroom across the hall. The opposite wall has windows looking outside. The center’s interior was given a modern feel with stained concrete flooring and open ceilings.

School leadership wanted the new structure to blend well with the other buildings on campus, most of which are of painted masonry. Thus, the center, which was built with tilt-wall construction, was accented with masonry accents with liberal use of windows. The entrance was constructed of split-faced block and glass with an inviting polycarbonate and metal canopy.

The grand entrance for the school was also built at the same time as the Center for Science and Technology. It is a new, tree-lined road consisting of a stone wall and a masonry electronic message board that is remotely operated from the building 1,500 feet away. It is also wired for phone capability should the school choose to add a guard shack in the future.

Construction on the Center for Science and Technology began in the spring, and the school opened the doors and began teaching in the new facility the next winter. Since then, students have enjoyed more diversified learning opportunities, including Engineering and Robotics (which uses the Lego Mindstorm robotics kits), Networking (providing Network+ certification), AP Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Pre-AP Environmental Studies, and Environmental Science.

The old science labs were converted into conventional classrooms, allowing space for the school to increase enrollment by as much as 100 students. The new center became the 11th major facility on campus.

Scott Martsolf Architecture specializes in religious, commercial, and residential design, as well as church campus planning, www.martsolfarch.com.