“It’s got multiple buildings, so it’s a wonderful complex,” said John Gredy, Dayton Christian’s head of school. “We really hadn’t been able to do a lot since around 2004, and so just recently, in the last couple of years, we’ve really been focusing in on renovating our facility and upgrading it.
Based on a campus master plan, planning for the expansion started in January and construction launched at the end of the school year, he said.
“Fortunately, we have a lot of space in that facility, so we’re really maximizing the facility, first, instead of adding buildings to it,” Gredy said.
The campus projects this summer totaled more than a dozen and included a new athletic weight room, a complete roof replacement, a renovated high school wing, parking lot repairs, upgraded audio/visual equipment for chapels, and a refreshed cafeteria serving area, according to Dayton Christian.
At the center of the improvements is the conversion of its old cafeteria into the Student Life Center, a 7,300-square-foot multipurpose space that houses daily lunches, weekly chapel services, and theater productions, the school said.
“The cafeteria was really starting to look worn (and) the carpet was really old, and so we just wanted to do a complete makeover of the cafeteria,” he said. “That included all lighting, flooring, acoustics, technology, plus the serving area,” Gredy said. “Then of course, our high school, you know, we completely did the same thing. All new flooring, all new graphics, and all the hallways, all new lighting. I know the high school students love it. It just looks tremendous.”
Dayton Christian, which has roots that stretch back to 1963, also renovated existing space into nine new classrooms for its elementary level to support increasing enrollment. The school serves nearly 990 students in preschool through high school, including a homeschool group, Gredy said.
The investment supports the growth and momentum Dayton Christian has experienced in the past several years, he said.
Enrollment at Dayton Christian has seen a steady increase since 2019, Gredy said. It increased by 21% for the 2021-2022 school year and then 12% for this school year. A healthy enrollment increase for a private school is about 3%, Gredy said.
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