BELLVILLE — Faith Academy Bellville opened in 1994 with no paid staff, and 12 students operating out of borrowed/rented facilities.
The school has certainly come a long way in its 31 years.
On Wednesday, March 19, a special ceremony was held to not only showcase its newest additions, but to dedicate them to
God. Merlene Byler, school founder, told those attending, “I want to welcome everybody, but we want to make sure that dedicate this to God because we wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for God. It’s a beautiful gift from God.”
She spoke those words inside the spacious “great room” of the elementary building, which opened this year.
The building had its groundbreaking in the summer of 2023, and its opening, it has enabled the school to repurpose and better utilize some of its other buildings.
Also part of the dedication that day were the FALCON Center, the EEC FALCON and the high school.
Prayers and dedication were conducted in each facility, including the board room, as that’s where the critical decisions are made.
Pastor Eric Moore talked about the history and growth of the school during the dedication portion in the elementary building. He said the name, Faith Academy, is important because the school has been built on Faith.
“In 1994, the school started with 12 students, and in 1995 they went from 12 to six, and In 2008, FA had its first graduating class of more than 10. In 2023 the school graduated 14 – the largest up to that point.
Moore said, “In 31 years we have grown from 12 students across all grades to about 330 kids on this campus. We went from no paid staff to over 100 staff members. We now have roughly 140,000 square feet of owned buildings across the campus (55-60 acres). That’s a big God.”
He also pointed out that FA currently has 28 second-grade students.
“I believe God’s vision for Faith Academy is much bigger than we can fathom,” he said. “I believe that when we look at where Faith Academy will be in 30 years, we will be blown away.”
A major highlight of the tour/ dedication was a visit to the FALCON Center, which stands for Faith Academy Learning Connection of Neurodevelopment.
The idea for the FALCON Center was founded in the first years of Faith Academy to help struggling students improve academically in and out of the classroom and to further challenge those students who excelled.
The FALCON program has evolved over the years and now provides several modalities and a multitude of resources.
The FALCON Center consistently attempts to provide the best, updated, researched-based, state-of-the-art modalities to help its members reach their greatest God-given learning potential.
Its vision is to help students, adults, and community members strive to become successful learners and reach their fullest, God-given potential while having fun strengthening their brains and bodies to work together using the best research-based stateof- the-art techniques available.
Faith Academy Bellville FALCON Mission is to be a place of learning with brain-challenging activities, movements, and exercises that are done with a specific frequency, intensity, and duration to strengthen and challenge the brain. To use our years of research into neurodevelopment, so we may provide support to every student, adult, and community member alike to become the best God intended them to be physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Faith Academy in Bellville recently held a dedication ceremony of their newest additions and tour of the FALCON Center. Courtesy photo
