On September 3, 1985, Christ Presbyterian Academy opened its doors to 124 students and 11 faculty and staff members. They began the first day of school by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, led by founding head Richard Anderson. Today, 40 years later, all 1,440 students and 250 faculty and staff members gathered on the quad to celebrate this momentous occasion. Again, Headmaster Emeritus Richard Anderson led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer with Head of School Nate Morrow. 

Read how we are remaining faithful into forty from Associate Head of School–Advancement, John Patton.

This is a special year at CPA! We are celebrating 40 years of God’s faithfulness. When members of Christ Presbyterian Church put together the first board to launch Christ Presbyterian Academy, they were stepping out in faith. The growth of CPA has not merely consisted in the number of students or buildings. Faithful leadership, both within Academy leadership and the board of trustees, has leaned in deeper through the years to these words  written in CPA’s constitution by our founding board:

“Education is the total process of coming to know the truth of God, applying that truth to all of life, and evaluating all of life by that truth. It is rediscovering that pattern of life in which God is ultimate.” 

As we celebrate the past 40 years, we will also have the opportunity to realize the culmination of our campus master plan that began in 2011 with the opening of the upper school. With the Soli Deo Center opening in 2020, the final phase of this expansion finishes with the opening of the athletic and wellness center in early spring 2026. We are thrilled to see the campus gather in this new athletic space for our students when it opens. There is truly much to be grateful for this coming year at CPA!

So many of the past 40 years have been following the Lord’s guidance in the growth and maturation of CPA. As we look to the next 40 years, one word has come to mind over and over among campus leadership and families: sustainability. What does it look like for CPA to stay faithful to its mission as a mature institution in academics, in athletics, in arts, in attracting the highest quality teachers and staff, and in so many facets of what we do? CPA leadership is actively planning this coming year for the future and looking at ways to grow our endowment, which currently sits at $2M, as a key element of planning for a sustainable future at CPA.

After two years back at CPA as a staff member and 25 years after my own graduation from this campus, I am struck not by how much the school has grown, but how doggedly we have tried, of course imperfectly, to stick to the basics. Innovation and novelty are the currency of our world, and simply sticking to our mission does not sound innovative or creative to the superficial eye. However, the truth of God’s Word lived out with the active power of his Holy Spirit bears fruit in the lives of His people. God’s work in the hearts of men and women will never get old and certainly never boring as we are transformed more each day into the likeness of the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. 

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18