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“The founders of this school felt that it would be good to offer education that fit in with the doctrinal position of Christian standards,” said Daniel Lee, administrator of Carolina Christian Academy.
The religion-based educational institution was founded in 1969 and has operated continuously since then. Originally, it was located at Free Pilgrim Church, where it operated for three years before moving, about a mile away, to the present location. During part of its history, it operated as Carolina Christian Academy and College. While the college no longer exists, two dormitories remain as a reminder of that part of its past. Carolina Christian currently has 64 enrolled students, from kindergarten through the 12th grade. It employs 13 teachers.
“We have a very good student-teacher ratio,” Lee said of the fact that there are less than five students per teacher at his school. “That’s one of the real advantages of our school. Another strength we have is that the teachers are very concerned with the students and involved with their lives. They’re trying to get the student’s whole life to be the best that it can be in every area — not only academics, but also their personality and their spiritual development.”
Lee has been at Carolina Christian for two years. He holds a masters degree in education from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and has worked in education for 30 years as a teacher or an administrator. Before coming here, Lee was vice president of Hobe Sound International Missions in Hobe Sound, Fla. He has traveled in over 30 countries.
“Thomasville is beautiful; the people here are so friendly and nice,” said Lee, who has traveled all over the United States and 30 other countries. “Many people on our staff, including myself, have a feeling that God leads you. You ask Him for direction and He leads you to another place. If you’re not in the position where you feel you are under the leadership of God, the you’re going to be unhappy.”
Sharing similar sentiments with Lee are Lisa Plemmons and her husband Ernie. Lisa’s parents moved to this area from Ohio so that their daughter could attend Carolina Christian Academy. She entered the school as a high school freshman, graduated from there and obtained her college degree from God’s Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Recently she decided to return to Carolina Christian from the Buckeye State again. Ernie was pastor of a church in Toronto, Ohio, but the family was ready for a change.
“After being in Toronto several years, we just felt a need to move back down here,” Ernie Plemmons said. “Then the doors opened for her to teach here, so here we are.”
In this case, “we” includes their son David, who is a student in the second grade at Carolina Christian. Like Lee and other faculty members, the Plemmonses live in a house on campus. Ernie Plemmons is the president of the Parent Teacher Fellowship at the school. He also operates a home remodeling and painting business and is getting ready to volunteer for Hospice. Lisa Plemmons teaches English, Spanish, pre-algebra and home economics.
“I’m tickled pink to be back,” Lisa said. “We put our child in the school because we believe in it.”
Carolina Christian Academy still receives support from Free Pilgrim Church. The independent school also gets support from several other churches in the area. It has an association with several colleges, including God’s Bible School, Hobe Sound Bible College, Penn View Bible College in Penn Creek, Pa., and Wesleyan College in Salem, Ohio. Many of Carolina Christian’s graduates go on to these schools, as well as secular colleges in this area. Lee estimates that from 25 percent to 40 percent of the academy’s graduates go into some form of the ministry.
“We do have academic standards,” Lee pointed out. “Our students must maintain a C average if they are going to remain at the school. If they fail to keep their grades up, We work with them as much as possible to try to remedy the situation. If that isn’t possible, we’ll talk with the parents and decide what is best for the student.”
The school would be less tolerant if a student was caught with drugs or alcohol
“The discipline problems that I tend to handle are not from drugs, alcohol or anything like that — because, if that happens, they won’t be here,” Lee said. “The kind of issues I tend to handle is they’re talking too much, they’re being loud, they’re out of their seat; things like that. We have a parent-student handbook that very plainly gives the regulations. We have uniforms and we have a behavior code that we expect students to follow. Primarily they do. I’ve had very little discipline problems that I’ve had to handle.”
Students come from Thomasville, Lexington, Trinity, Asheboro, Winston-Salem and other municipalities. No transportation services are supplied by the school.
“If you look at any kind of educational research, the factor that makes the most difference in a student’s education is the teacher,” Lee said. “That’s where we stand out. Our teachers are not only concerned, but they’re very qualified at what they do.”
That is what Lee is looking for when he hires a new teacher for the school.
“We are definitely selective in whom we ask to be teaching,” he said. “Being a Christian school, we ask God’s direction and guidance in whom we choose.”
Other than Lee, staff members include a full-time secretary, a maintenance man and a teacher, who also serves as the business manager and librarian. A retired farmer volunteers his time to mow the grass, care after the flowers and do other things to keep the grounds in pristine shape. While Lee is fairly new in his position as administrator of Carolina Christian Academy, he professes no interest in changing the direction of the 37-year-old school.
“We have not looked at anything a whole lot other than the fact that we would like to increase the population of the school,” he responded. “We would like to build a multi-purpose building in addition to the buildings that we already have.”
Friday, beginning at 6 p.m., the school will hold its annual Harvest Fest. This will be in conjunction with a PTF meeting. Included in the fun are a hayride, rides in a Model-T Ford, cotton candy, snow cones, caramel apples, popcorn balls, homemade ice cream, chainsaw artisan work and a skit by the seventh and eighth graders.
“We’re very thrilled with what God is doing with our students,” Lee said. “We’re happy to see them advancing spiritually, academically and morally. In today’s society, we feel that it’s very important for the moral education to be a part of the educational process. That’s why we’re very committed to Christian education. We have the opportunity to do some things you can’t do in a public setting.”
For more information, call Carolina Christian Academy at 472-8950.
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 230, or reid@tvilletimes.com.