I will always recall 2022 as the year that Covenant made the bold decision to plan for its 50-year future. In the fall, we found ourselves at a critical juncture, already pressured by space, but opening a second Kindergarten class nonetheless. In making this choice, Covenant committed itself to a trajectory that would outpace the capacity our current space in just two years.
Those who have been involved in Covenant for a long time will recall the days that this school could plan only a few months ahead, worried about making payroll and surviving at all. In the past few years, we’ve reached enough stability to plan for a 5-year term, setting ourselves to accomplish longer range goals like accreditation, teacher certification, and curricular program development.
In 2023, we have before us an opportunity to plan and build a school that will outlive all of us, a school campus that will serve this community by raising up generations of Christians with a broad exposure to great books and great ideas and who possess a genuine love for Jesus Christ and serve Christ in a wide range of vocations.
It was a clear act of God’s providence that we found land that is both beautiful and so close to our current location. We all look forward with gratitude to how God may use this school and this land to bless and serve Huntington and Central Appalachia.
Covenant also started our first chapel program this year, inviting both internal and external guests to speak to our students and challenging our students to lead and organize the chapel service. This weekly rhythm reminds us each Wednesday that Covenant School is not only a group of scholars and thinkers but a community of faith oriented around the Gospel and the worship of the Triune God. I am grateful for this new tradition and mid-week reminder of what is most important and true about this school.
We completed the renovation of several more classrooms, added essential security measures, and began to build an Upper School Library. We also took our entire Upper School student body on 3-day trip to Washington D.C. I’m grateful for the generosity of many donors to our Annual Fund, which made all of these projects possible.
God continues to bless our school with new families, students, and growth. We had 162 students in 2018. This rapidly grew to 231 this year, and we are projecting at least 260 for 2023. We can feel the pressure of this growth by the tightness in the hallways and the complexity of finding classrooms space, but we are delighted by the opportunity to form each of these students in a love of learning, wisdom and virtue.
I praise God for a school and a community of teachers and staff that equips the next generation to answer questions about who we are, why we are here, and how to embody the traits of a virtuous, good, and Christian life well-lived. As we begin to plan for a 50-year vision, I pray that this school will even then be found faithful to this noble and Christ-centered mission.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Craig Hefner, Ph.D.
Head of School
