Northwest Christian School re-enrollment launches next week...with the smallest tuition increase in the history of the school and...

Watch your inbox! Between Monday, January 13th, and Friday, January 17th, all current Northwest Christian families will receive a notification (sent to the primary email address associated with their Blackbaud account) providing re-enrollment information for the 2025/2026 school year as well as how to access the sites required to facilitate registration. The re-enrollment window will remain open until midnight on Friday, February 14th. Then, beginning Monday, February 17th, open enrollment for new students and new families will begin. As well, tuition schedules will be published here on Monday, January 13th.

"Here's what I am most excited about within all of this," says superintendent Geoff Brown. "Our families will see the smallest tuition increase that we have ever enjoyed in the forty-five year history of Northwest Christian School. Depending on division and grade, families will see between flat and 2%. At the same time, we will be positioned to move our faculty forward within compensation, further closing the gap between where they are now and public school pay levels. Given that 70% of our annual operating budget is compensation for the amazing faculty and staff that are in the classroom making Biblical worldview real in student learning, that is crucial." Geoff continues, recognizing that while Northwest Christian increases are falling, value proposition and affordability are increasing relative to other schools: "We also watch other private schools and Christian schools throughout the state very closely. We want to know that our affordability and value position recognize the sacrifice of the many families that work hard to provide Christian education for their students. You can see this in a very straightforward way on a tuition comparison spreadsheet that we actively maintain on our website. It is a detailed representation of tuitions, fees, and various costs for most Arizona private and Christian schools. As I review it, I am proud of the work that we have done towards affordability and, once they review the comps and consider all of the opportunities that Northwest Christian provides, I earnestly believe that our families will be thrilled."

...Northwest Christian School's "Build Here, Build There" campaign to provide a lunchroom crosses the 50% mark...in just two months.

The new lunchroom building balance rises from 20% to 50% in just four weeks. "This has left me just flabbergasted," says NCS superintendent Geoff Brown. "We are seeing God provide on a level that I never anticipated. At the beginning of November, recognizing the excitement associated with opening the new Ernest and Beverly Shortridge Elementary Classroom Building, we juggled the order of Build Here, Build There phases and lined up the lunchroom as the next project. The response has been incredible." As of the end of November, the balance within the Build Here, Build There fundraising account stood at $700,000 towards the contractor's initial estimate of roughly $2,800,000. "Then, in December, between our budgeted allocations and year-end generosity, that balance doubled." Given what may ultimately become an accelerated timeline, Geoff went on to describe what will happen next. "At this point, we have enjoyed the initial planning conversations with the architects. These are the planning conversations that produced the initial concept estimate. Shortly, we will begin detailed planning with the architects. From there, we will begin the process of finalizing the general contractor selection and talking through construction timelines. Honestly, I am trying not to get too excited but it is getting really hard not to..."

What can be done to maintain the momentum and see this long-desired project reach fruition?



"Here's what I am asking," continues Geoff. "Right now, the majority of funding that has come in has been from alumni and alumni families. I am asking our current families to lean in and support this campaign in one of two ways. First, on March 29th, we will enjoy our annual fundraising dinner and auction. I'd love for that event to sell out! Second, the Crusader Legacy Brick program is an affordable way for every family to contribute. Since November, we have seen 43 families support us through the Legacy Brick program. Ultimately, I am praying that 800 families will buy a brick. We have also seen 12 families contribute at the Cornerstone level." To purchase tickets to the March 29th fundraising dinner and auction, please follow this link. To support the project through the Crusader Legacy Brick program, please click here.

We can do this! Help make the Northwest Christian Lunchroom a reality! Buy your 2025 "In Full Bloom" Fundraising Dinner and Auction tickets now! The long-asked-for lunchroom could finally happen! "Presently," explains NCS superintendent Geoff Brown, "fundraising towards our funding goal has reached 50% in just two months. I am asking every Northwest Christian family to do what they can and one of the best ways to help make this dream a reality for our students is strong participation in our annual fundraising dinner and auction. Would you consider buying your tickets today?"

Getting down to business on Biblical worldview... On Thursday, January 23rd, NCS Online is pleased to be one of the title sponsors for an event featuring the Colson Center for Christian Worldview: Breakpoint Forum - A New Sexual Revolution. "Involvement within this event is a crucial expression and manifestation of our mission as a Christian school: Biblical worldview," explains NCS superintendent Geoff Brown. "Two things here to recognize. First, yes, the topic is mature. But, unfortunately, we cannot allow our culture to back our students into a corner on the issues of gender and sexuality. Our students are constantly inundated with un-Godly and un-Biblical perspectives that need to be addressed head on. This event may not be suitable for all students but I would certainly encourage families with older students to attend. Second, we are a Colson Educator school. This means that our entire staff is working through a multi-year Biblical worldview training with Colson. We're two years in and it really has been remarkable. Second, we are offering the Colson Fellows program to our entire staff and faculty. Not only are we paying for this Masters-level deep dive into apologetics and Biblical worldview, if teachers earn their Fellowship, we will give them an additional annual raise to express our appreciation for their commitment to the school's mission. Right now we have twenty teachers working through Fellowship training. This is what it looks like to get to the real business of Biblical worldview and mission fulfillment as a school." To register for the Breakpoint forum on January 23rd, please follow this link.

NCS Fire Science program taking steps towards success. Since the program started less than ten years ago, just over forty Northwest Christian grads have gone directly from high school and into positions within various fire departments around the valley. "The program was started by Craig Kempinski and Dave Cruse, a former Glendale fire captain," explains NCS superintendent Geoff Brown. "In just ten year's time, the NCS program has earned the reputation of being one of the preeminent fire training programs in the state. It was started and is currently facilitated by numerous first responders who allow for rigorous and authentic experiences that qualify our students. I appreciate the fact also that students can graduate from our high school program, immediately get hired, and then allow for their department to underwrite their bachelors degrees." In the picture above, NCS Fire Science students are wearing full fire protective gear--some with masks and oxygen tanks--and running steps on the bleachers...all to get a sense of the strenuous demands of the job.

Never mind Nemo! Finding tickets may be the real challenge! Last year's Northwest Christian Middle School production of "Frozen Jr." was the highest grossing theater production in the school's history. And, by all accounts, this year's "Finding Nemo Jr." looks to be every bit as big! Tickets are on sale now...buy yours before Nemo sells out!

The game is afoot? It was Northwest Christian's annual version of the national literacy initiative Read Across America - cleverly titled "Read Across NCS" - that, all the way back in 2017, Sherlock Holmes first made an appearance. Now, with banners posted across campus and a new website, could it be that 2025's version of the event will mark the return of Sherlock Holmes? For more information, please visit ReadAcrossNCS.com. And, don't miss elementary chapel on January 29th!

A Night Like No Other? The poster and trailer for "Stolen Spotlight" boldly proclaim that the 11th annual NXNW Student Film will be a "night like no other". How, within the 11th iteration of the NXNW Film Festival, can this be the case? "Stolen Spotlight" is a mystery movie in which a piece of history has been stolen from an auction. And, here's the kicker, it's a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure"-styled film in which each member of the audience will begin in one of several different auditoriums at Harkins Norterra. Then, ten minutes in, having seen the crime, watched the clues, and having met the suspects, the viewer will be given a choice and will then proceed to a different auditorium in pursuit of their hunch and the culprit. As the evening progresses, the film's plot changes for each audience member until finally, within each auditorium, the thief is revealed! NXNW sells out every year--tickets will go extra fast this year! Click here, or on the images above to watch the trailer! And, so you don't miss your chance to get tickets, go to www.NXNWFilmFestival.org or visit this link to purchase tickets.

Varsity Crusader boys basketball plays the big rooms. On Wednesday, January 10th, the Arizona Interscholastic Association afforded the Northwest Christian and Ironwood ALA boys basketball teams a high honor - the game was moved to the Footprint Center, the home of the Phoenix Suns. Both schools brought cheer squads and, of course, NCS brought the band!

Miles and Quinn are famous! I Witness podcast takes over the Apple podcast charts. With listeners in 60 different countries around the world as well as over 1,500 cities in the continental United States, the second season of the Northwest Christian podcast-based audio drama "I Witness" literally went viral tracking thousands of downloads and streams per day in December. The first two seasons ("The Lazarus Project" and "Silent Night") follow protagonists Miles and Quinn as they enjoy adventures culminating in Biblical truth within a Virtual Reality device called "The Elysium". After the second season launched on December 2nd, it quickly climbed the Apple charts into the top 50 performing arts podcasts as well as earning a spot in the top 200 podcasts overall and on Apple's podcast main page which features highly recommended podcasts overall. Follow this link to hear I Witness on your favorite podcast app. And, get ready for Season 3 to publish in April.

Don't Hang Up - Yet another unprecedented student movie...coming soon! Northwest Christian has been describing the imminently released "Stolen Spotlight" movie as "a night like no other" - and, come January 17th, it will certainly deliver. But, also get ready for a "take 2" within that promise on March 28th with the debut of the second NXNW/NCS student movie in one year. "Don't Hang Up" will debut online only at DontHangUpMovie.com and, featuring a smaller cast, will have been filmed primarily on iPhone! Take a moment to watch the trailer by clicking here or on the image above.

Parenting trouble no more! (Well, that might be a bit optimistic.) This past spring, Northwest Christian announced its partnership with Christian Family Care to open the many parenting resources available through the Family Care Learning library to the Crusader community of families, free of charge. These online courses are immediately available once NCS parents have completed the "NCS Parent University: Foundations of a Biblical Worldview" course that is required as part of the re-enrollment process. For more information, please follow this link.

Trusted Truth Transforms... It's the tagline for Northwest Christian School's foray into the realm of online education, the enrollment for which has blown up this summer. A project four years in the making, Northwest Christian School Online is not the typical online academy. Most online schools rebrand third-party digital curriculum. Instead, Northwest Christian School Online is wholly and organically developed and fully facilitated by Northwest Christian faculty. As well, the online experience is available at roughly half-the-price of other Christian online schools, a price that can be easily covered by an ESA for Arizona-based families. (To survey the price points of online Christian schools relative to NCS Online, please click here.) The most exciting aspect of Northwest Christian School Online is that some aspect of the program--Frameworks, NCS Plus, NCS Flex, and NCS Online--will ultimately impact the learning of every NCS student--whether that student is online or on-the-ground. To survey the different aspects of and opportunities within NCS Online, please follow this link. To learn more about NCS Flex specifically, please click the image below.