Firm Foundation Christian School has broken ground on a long-planned high school campus on the west side of Battle Ground, marking the beginning of a project school leaders say will expand educational, athletic and vocational opportunities for students while allowing the school to continue to grow.
Members of the Firm Foundation community and local supporters gathered Tuesday, Sept. 8, to celebrate the official start of construction on a new high school campus.
The vision for a separate high school campus dates back more than two decades. The school's existing campus on 199th Street was originally designed as a kindergarten through eighth grade facility. As Firm Foundation added high school grades, school leaders recognized that a second campus eventually would be necessary to accommodate growth.
Firm Foundation has been operating in Battle Ground for about 25 years after initially establishing the school roughly 31 years ago. The first high school class was added about 15 years ago.
Over the past decade, school officials evaluated several potential properties before securing 62 acres along state Route 502 between Northeast 92nd Avenue and Northwest 29th Avenue in Battle Ground in 2023.
Architects and engineers were brought onto the project, and the school's master plan was approved by the city of Battle Ground.
Board Chair Kelly Helmes said the school has been working toward a dedicated high school campus for years.
“This campus was originally designed as kind of a K-8 campus, and at that time that's what we were, K-8,” Helmes said.
As the high school program developed, the need for additional space became increasingly apparent.
“We knew that eventually, someday, it would be time to move the high school to a full, dedicated high school campus,” Helmes said.
The school's current high school enrollment is 66 students and growing, according to Superintendent Julie Olson. The first phase of the new campus is expected to provide enough space to roughly double that enrollment, while the long-term plan could accommodate as many as 300 high school students.
“We've been seeing interest growing as our grade levels go up,” Olson said. “And we do a lot of surveys each year. We do five surveys a year of families.”
Olson said an increasing number of families surveyed each year indicate they intend to remain at Firm Foundation from elementary school through high school.
“So that was one of the great indicators for us that, yeah, the timing is good now for us,” Olson said. “Because there's that really strong interest in it, and then just the growth of the different programs and stuff.”
The first phase of the project will include a roughly 19,000-square-foot classroom wing and is projected to cost more than $10 million. Future phases are planned to include a gymnasium, chapel, east classroom wing, cafeteria and other support spaces.
The overall master plan also includes a future trade school, auditorium and track and field facilities capable of additional athletic opportunities.
The additional athletic space is particularly significant for a school currently sharing one gymnasium among elementary, middle school and high school programs.
“Being here with only one gymnasium and trying to share that with all grade levels has been a challenge,” Helmes said. “Because we have high school volleyball, we have high school basketball for boys and girls. And we would like the community to be able to use the gymnasium space.”
The new campus is planned to eventually include a double-sized gymnasium and a full track and field facility. School officials also envision a full-size soccer field, while football could become an option as the student population grows.
“There certainly could be,” Helmes said when asked about a potential football program. “Because it's a football field slash soccer field. So ideally, we'd have both.”
Currently, Firm Foundation students participate in a football co-op with Seton Catholic High School.
Beyond athletics, the campus is intended to create room for expanded academic programs. Plans include a larger science lab and, eventually, a fabrication lab that could accommodate robotics and other hands-on programs.
Olson said the current campus has become increasingly crowded as the school has expanded its offerings.
The new campus is also expected to support the school's growing focus on vocational education. This year, the high school expanded its vocational program for students participating in Running Start, Cascadia Tech and other dual-enrollment or vocational opportunities.
Olson said the program was restructured so students can remain connected to the Firm Foundation community while taking classes off campus.
“We want them to do really, really well when they go out,” Olson said. “We've had a couple kids who've gone out and done internships at different businesses. And I have loved the feedback from those businesses because they love having our kids come into their workforce.”
She said the school wants students entering the trades or workforce to receive the same level of encouragement as those pursuing college.
“And for me personally, and for our board as well, it's great that we have so many kids who are college bound and do well at college,” Olson said. “But it's just as important that we have students who are going directly into the workforce or they're going into the trades. And they know we value that as much as our students who are going into college.”
Construction is being approached in phases, in part to avoid placing a large financial burden on the school and its families. Excavation work has begun, while vertical construction is not expected to begin until summer 2027.
The first classroom building is tentatively expected to open in fall 2028.
Helmes said the phased approach is intended to help keep tuition attainable for families.
“It's very important to us that we keep our tuition attainable right now for families,” Helmes said. “And Christian education is something people like. And that's what they're looking for. But they also want it to be attainable.”
The school's approximately 400 students currently span prekindergarten through 12th grade. Olson said moving the high school would also create additional room at the existing campus for younger students.
“We could have more classes in elementary if we had more classrooms available,” Olson said. “So right now we have two classes per grade level.”
Olson said the project has received support from members of the community and that students have been particularly excited about the future campus.
For school leaders, the new campus also represents a continued commitment to Battle Ground.
“When we first started discussing this high school campus, one of the things that we talked about is that we are part of this community, and we want to continue to be part of this community,” Olson said.
She said an early priority was keeping the future campus close to the existing school.
“One of the priorities was that we stay within 10 minutes of this campus, because Battle Ground is our home,” Olson said. “And this is where we want to be investing.”
Helmes said the school's investment extends beyond its students.
“Yeah, we're investing in the next generations of students,” Helmes said. “But we're really investing in the future of Battle Ground as a whole. You know, the success that the students take from here and bring into the community benefits everyone.”
This report was first published by The Reflector Newspaper. Reporter Cade Barker can be reached at [email protected].
