Twin City Christian Academy students, alumni, parents and staff invite community members to help them celebrate the 50th anniversary of the private Baptist school at 723 Horine Road in Festus. A three-day celebration is planned for Friday through Sunday, Aug. 23-25, at the school, which serves students in preschool through grade 12.
The school is a ministry of the adjacent Second Baptist Church.
■ An open house will be held Aug. 23 at the school, with historical pictures and memorabilia on display. The public is invited to tour the facility and refreshments will be served.
■ On Aug. 24, guests will be welcomed at Living Springs Camp in southern Jefferson County, another church-affiliated facility, for a free open house and continental breakfast.
■ A catered anniversary banquet is slated for the evening of Aug. 24 at Fredericks Banquet Center in Festus, during which alumni are encouraged to offer their reminiscences. Tickets cost $30 and may be purchased in advance.
■ A special anniversary service will be held Aug. 25 at the church.
From left, Bill Albright, Frank Bair, Harold McFerron, the Rev. Gene Casey, the Rev. Henry Roberts, Gene Alford, George Chance made up the first board of education for TCCA in 1974.
“Last year was technically our 50th year,” school Principal Tim Bowen said. “We started promoting it back in January.”
Bowen, who is 32 and is in his sixth year as principal at TCCA, said the school is a good option for families looking for a faith-based educational alternative to public school or homeschooling.
“Parents love the fact that our class sizes are smaller; most less than 20 students,” he said. “We use traditional textbooks and we follow a Bible-based curriculum. We’re unashamedly Christian, and all our classes are taught from the Christian perspective.”
The germ of an idea
Twin City Christian Academy was founded in 1974, in an effort spearheaded by Second Baptist Church’s pastor, the late Rev. Gene Casey. It was the first Baptist school in the state to offer a K-12 education, according to the school’s website.
The Rev. Gene Casey, left, and the Rev. Henry Roberts in front of the new Twin City Christian Academy in 1974.
The Rev. Henry Roberts, a Christian educator, was brought from Georgia to help start the school, and inaugural classes were held for 57 students. By the end of the year, enrollment had gone up to 74 and climbed, slowly but steadily, through the next few decades.
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked increased interest and boosted enrollment numbers, school officials said.
“Since 2020, we have definitely gone up. COVID drove a lot of people to look at us,” school secretary and activities director Emily Feltmann said. “TCCA is a good solution for parents who want a Christian education but aren’t capable of homeschooling for whatever reason.”
“We were around 90 at the beginning of the (2019-2020) school year,” Bowen said. “And in just one year it went up to more than 120.”
Enrollment at TCCA stands at about 160 for the upcoming school year, Bowen said.
The Second Baptist Church pastor, the Rev. James King, serves as the school’s superintendent, with Bowen heading a staff of 20 teachers and support personnel.
The school follows the ABeka and the Bob Jones curriculum models and administers the Iowa Achievement Test to students each spring to assess progress. Course offerings include reading, English, math, science, history and Bible studies, plus electives such as home economics, typing, office suite, band, choir, handbells and more. Students must have 24 credits to graduate, and the calendar includes 174 days of instruction as required by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“All our high school students get a college prep diploma,” Bowen said. “They take physics, chemistry, pre-calculus. On average, most students test one to two grades ahead. And our ACT and SAT scores are right where they need to be.”
The Rev. Henry Roberts leads students in a chapel service in the early years of Twin City Christian Academy.
TCCA students go on to secondary education at about the same rate as other area schools, Feltmann said.
“Last year (the school) graduated five (students),” Feltmann said. “My son is going to St. Louis University, another (student) is headed for Missouri Baptist (University), two will be at Jeffco and one is going to cosmetology school.”
School officials said they work to balance educational philosophy with the demands of the modern world.
“Some parents don’t want their kids on a tablet all the time; they appreciate the fact that we have books,” Feltmann said. “But the kids definitely have technology. We just got interactive smart TVs in every classroom, and we use laptops for a lot of things.”
The school offers boys basketball and girls volleyball. Teams practice and play at the school gym, the former Douglass School facility on the corner of Mill Street and Lee Avenue in Festus.
The building was rented for the first few years from the Festus School District, then purchased in 1980, according to Feltmann. It just underwent a renovation project.
“It had water damage, and we repaired all that,” she said. “We put a lot of money into it and it looks great. We host a basketball tournament every year.”
Into the future
Twin City is a member of the American Association of Christian Schools.
“We do fine arts competitions in the AACS, local and regional,” Bowen said. “We’re looking to possibly add more sports if we can get some people to help coach – girls basketball, golf, maybe pickleball. We’re definitely looking to expand in the coming years.”
Plans are being made to expand the campus itself as well, although those are strictly in the preliminary stages.
“We’re doing OK, space-wise, right now,” Bowen said. “The main thing we’re talking about is we’d love to get a larger fellowship hall. We’d be able to make some upgrades in getting people from one side of the building to another. We also want to expand the office area, make better use of the space.
“Our pastor has talked about a kind of multipurpose building toward the back of the campus, large enough for a ball court that we could use for inside recess and things like that. At this point, though, it’s years away.”
Officials expect enrollment to continue to rise, both for cultural and economic reasons.
“A lot of parents don’t like some of the things being taught in public schools,” Bowen said. “We emphasize critical thinking; we encourage students to challenge accepted knowledge and beliefs and seek out the truth.”
Current tuition rates range from $3,786 for full-day preschool and kindergarten to $4,582 for grades seven through 12.
“It’s more affordable than you think,” Bowen said. “The cost of our preschool is so much cheaper than day care.”
Feltmann said events like the upcoming anniversary celebration make TCCA more visible in the community.
“We joke that we are the best-kept secret in the area,” she said. “But social media has been amazing. Our Facebook page is growing.”