HIGH SCHOOL

A Christian High School in Gastonia With Excellent Academics

The Gaston Christian High School Program is designed to help meet both the spiritual and academic challenges of more than 250 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 Sevenstar 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 challenges to 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, and boys and girls golf. 

Concurrent Enrollment Program

For the 2020-2021 school year, four GCS classes can be taken concurrently for GCS high school credit and College at Southeastern (CASE) college credit! The GCS classes eligible for concurrent high school and college credit are:

1.   (GCS) AP US Government and Politics = (CASE) American Constitutional Development HIS 3650
2.   (GCS) Worldviews = (CASE) World Cultures and Religions PHI 2100
3.   (GCS) Honors PreCalculus = (CASE) College Algebra MAT 1600
4.   (GCS) Advanced Functions and Modeling = (CASE) College Algebra MAT 1600

What does Concurrent Enrollment mean?

To take part in concurrent enrollment, students will need to complete a concurrent enrollment application for the College at Southeastern, pay the $180 tuition fee for each course they are taking that is listed above, and complete the course at GCS with a C average or better. The students who do this will receive official credit from the College at Southeastern – which is fully accredited – granting three credit hours for EACH course.  (By the way, the $180 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 their catalog.

Note – only one college credit can be earned in math through this program. Honors 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 either course. However, they cannot earn two college credits by taking both 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.

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 in the spring semester of 2021. For your student to earn college credit with one of these concurrent courses, an application and the fee must be submitted to CASE by January 31 of 2021.  The application and fee can be submitted between late November of this year and January 31 of next year.

High School Principal 

Dr. Joel Uecker

Dr. Joel Uecker (the U is silent) is our new Associate Head of School/High School Principal for Gaston Christian School. Dr. Uecker is a seasoned veteran of Christian education. He graduated from Norfolk Christian School, attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and has a Doctorate Degree from Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Dr. Uecker will be over the academic areas of the school.