CHRISTY AVERY [email protected]

NEW ALBANY – “VALOR.”

That’s the word spelled out on the staircase at Christian Academy Indiana’s new middle school, paired with words that represent its characteristics: V for vision; A for attitude; L for love; O for ownership; and R for respect.

Those traits, said eighth-grader Sophia, are what make her proud to be a student at Christian Academy.

For eighth-grader Sophia, Christian Academy’s new middle school is an example of how the district has grown since she began in preschool. She said the school’s motto, “valor,” inspires her to deepen her faith and be kind to others without judgement.

“I really like the idea, because it reminds me to grow in my faith with God, and it reminds me that even though I’m young, that doesn’t mean that I can’t,” she said.

Sophia is one of around 1,000 students settling into Christian Academy Indiana’s new 44,000-square-foot middle school facility, which opened last week.

A $9 million undertaking, the school includes 26 new classrooms, a media center, education resource rooms, three new science labs, two art rooms and a choir room, along with an expansion of 2,800 square feet to the school’s cafeteria.

“We are truly blessed to be able to add a new building for our 5th to 8th grades,” said Christian Academy Superintendent Darin Long in a Monday release. “Not only does this benefit our middle grades, but it will also allow our high school to expand in both classroom space and course offerings, along with new learning pathways.”

The new addition gives the district’s middle school students a dedicated space, where before they were part of Christian Academy’s upper school, which combined middle and high school. The building was originally meant for students in sixth through eighth grades, but the school opted to expand it to include fifth grade students to ease the transition into middle school.

Principal Taylor Jarman, who joined Christian Academy at the start of the 2025-26 school year, said the district was looking at long-term planning over the past couple of years and saw its number of families growing. When thinking about how to expand their facilities to accommodate, separating the middle and high schools was the natural next step.

“Getting everyone here underneath one roof all together has been awesome,” he said. “Getting to see more families come in and be a part of Christian Academy.”

Christian Academy Indiana’s new 44,000-square-foot middle school opened March 2. The facility, which holds students in grades 5-8, creates a larger space for students with added resources including a choir room, science labs, a media space, an expanded cafeteria and 26 new classrooms.

Koetter Construction was the general contractor for the project, and Bayus Design Works served as lead architect.

The school is structured in “hubs” for each grade level, where students are surrounded by their peers in a dedicated wing. While fifth grade was previously a part of Christian Academy Elementary School, Jarman said merging it with sixth through eighth helps hit the four key grades where students begin asking foundational questions in their education.

Staff members wrestled with how to create a unique middle school culture separated from that of the upper school, and found their answer in the concept of valor, which Jarman said encourages students to think about who they want to be as young men and women.

“That is where a student can show up and say, ‘I feel belonging here. I feel like people care about me,’” he said. “We have great teachers that do that every day, but are we setting up our building to feel that way? I think it’s something really, really special.”

Along with the added amenities for students, the new facility also includes collaborative learning spaces for teachers to facilitate group work and presentations in a relaxed environment outside of the traditional classroom. More meeting rooms were added, as well as a bigger office for the school’s counselor to meet with students.

Having a separate middle school will also allow the high school, which has dealt with space constraints, room to expand their offerings for students, Jarman said.

For fifth-grader Eli, the most exciting part of the new middle school is being able to be closer to his sister, who is part of Christian Academy Elementary’s fourth-grade class. Included in the renovation was a connecting tunnel running between the elementary and middle schools, allowing students and staff to access each area without even having to go outside.

Eli also loves the middle school’s new library, where he can check out books like his current read, “The Hunger Games.”

Included in the new middle school was an expansion of 2,800 square feet to the existing cafeteria at the “upper” school, which included middle and high school levels before the separation. Hanging in the cafeteria are flags from dozens of countries around the world, representative of Christian Academy’s diverse student population.

“There’s just so much to read here, and it’s pretty comfortable,” he said.

During construction, students in the middle grades attended classes at Graceland Church for a semester in the interim.

On his first day back at Christian Academy, Eli said, he was nervous — specifically about the transition to using a locker, a classic big-kid status symbol. In the week since, however, he’s figured out the twists and turns to enter his combination.

“I thought it was going to be like the elementary building that we have over there, but it was very different,” he said. “The lockers really scared me. I didn’t think that I would be able to get it. It wasn’t really natural for me, because I really struggled at first.”

Sophia said she was excited upon hearing of the new addition last year because she remembers how much she looked forward to middle school as a fifth-grader. Her own sister was a fifth grader when the new building was announced, and Sophia said she thought it was a great opportunity for younger students like her sister to engage with and learn from older kids.

“I feel like that’s a really cool experience for the fifth graders that they get to experience middle school a little bit earlier than most kids do,” she said. “The week before we got to move into this building, I was nervous because I didn’t know where my teachers were going to be, and I would have a new locker. But it’s actually going really well, and it’s beautiful.”

As if the indoor expansion wasn’t enough, the renovations also include a new campus entrance road to help ease traffic for families coming in from Grant Line Road.

“That has been huge when it comes to traffic flow around our entire campus,” Jarman said.

On their first day at the new school last Monday, Jarman said students were glad to have more space to move around, creating a calmer environment. Students and staff held a first-day meeting, where they delivered morning announcements, prayed and read the Bible together.

“I think we’ve seen that a lot in just how they’re interacting,” he said. “I think a lot of them have really enjoyed coming back, too, because they were by themselves at Graceland for a while. We’re still figuring things out, which is really fun, but I think just getting to see them enjoy the process and the space once we did the move was really nice.”

Sophia, who has been at Christian Academy since preschool, said the new school is a reminder of the growth she’s seen in the district. As someone who struggles with anxiety, she added Christian Academy has helped bring peace into her life.

“I’m so thankful that all of our teachers can pray with us and can talk to us about different things,” she said. “I’m just so thankful that I get to come to this school, because a lot of kids don’t.”