A Christian High School in Gastonia with Excellent Academics

The Gaston Christian High School program is designed to provide Christ-centered teaching and learning for both the spiritual and academic aspects of life for more than 220 students in grades 9 – 12.

In keeping with the school’s mission statement, all courses are college preparatory, and a variety of Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) classes are available to qualifying students. Partnership with Northstar Academy and the College and Career Promise Program through the NC Community College System allows GCHS to offer a broader curriculum to better meet the academic needs of the students. Electives in Fine Arts, Technology, and Wellness are also offered. 

Since 1997, GCS seniors have posted College Board SAT scores that are substantially higher than national, state, and county averages making Gaston Christian School a top Christian school in Gastonia. Ninety-eight percent of GCS graduates attend college, and a number of these students have received substantial scholarship offers.

Daily Bible classes and a weekly chapel program offer spiritual instruction and learning for the students. In addition, several days each fall are reserved for a spiritual retreat at the Windy Gap Young Life Camp, and in the spring the school hosts a speaker for Spiritual Emphasis Day.

GCS high school students have many opportunities to develop athletic skills through participation in teams that compete in a 3-A conference for Charlotte-area schools. These options include boys and girls soccer, co-ed cross country, boys and girls tennis, girls volleyball, co-ed swimming, boys and girls basketball, girls cheerleading, boys baseball, girls softball, co-ed track, a co-ed skeet team, and boys and girls golf. 

Concurrent (Dual) Enrollment Program

For the 2021-2022 school year, eight GCS classes can be taken concurrently for GCS high school credit and college credit! Gaston Christian has teamed with the College at Southeastern (CASE) for the first 5 courses listed, and Gardner Webb University for the last 3 courses listed. The GCS classes eligible for concurrent high school and college credit are:

1. (GCS) AP US Government and Politics = (CASE) American Government POL 3500
2. (GCS) Worldviews = (CASE) World Cultures and Religions PHI 2100
3. (GCS) Honors PreCalculus = (CASE) College Algebra MAT 1600
4. (GCS) PreCalculus = (CASE) College Algebra MAT 1600
5. (GCS) Advanced Functions and Modeling = (CASE) College Algebra MAT 1600
6. (GCS) A.P. Statistics = (GWU) Fundamentals of Statistics and Probability MATH 105
7. (GCS) Honors Psychology = (GWU) General Psychology PSYC 201

What does Concurrent (Dual) Enrollment mean?

To take part in concurrent enrollment, students will need to complete a concurrent enrollment application for the appropriate college(s), pay the $195 tuition fee for each course they are taking that is listed above, and complete the course at GCS with a C average or better for CASE, or a B average or better for GWU. The students who do this will receive official credit from the College at Southeastern or Gardner Webb University – which are both fully accredited – granting three credit hours for EACH course.  (By the way, the $195 tuition fee for each three-hour course is usually more like $750-$1000 per single credit hour at most private colleges and universities.) This course will be transferable to nearly every college that has a very similar course in its catalog.

Note – only one college credit can be earned in math through the CASE program. Honors PreCalculus, PreCalculus, and Advanced Functions are both being aligned with the same course – CASE MAT 1600 College Algebra. Our GCS students can earn college credit for College Algebra in any of these three courses. However, they cannot earn two college credits by taking two of these courses at Gaston Christian since these 2 high school courses are being aligned with the exact same college course. GCS students are allowed to take both Honors PreCalculus and Advanced Functions at GCS and earn two high school credits, but they can only earn one college credit for College Algebra. GCS students can gain further college credit in math through the classes that we have aligned with Gardner Webb.

How do students take part in this?

While our students will be enrolled in their GCS class for the full school year, they will actually be enrolled in the concurrent college course at Southeastern or Gardner Webb in the spring semester of 2022. For your student to earn college credit with one of these concurrent courses, an application, and the fee must be submitted to CASE or Gardner Webb by January 31 of 2022.  The application and fee can be submitted between late November of this year and January 31 of next year.

High School Principal 

Adam Lynn

Adam Lynn is our High School Principal for Gaston Christian School. Mr. Lynn is a seasoned veteran of Christian education as both a student and a teacher. He graduated from Gaston Christian School, attended Erskine College in Due West, SC, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, and also attended UNC Charlotte where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Mathematical Finance. He has been a teacher for over 15 years, and has obtained National Board Certification for teaching mathematics.