Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Healan.
Michael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The Waukegan Christian School was founded and incorporated as a non-profit educational organization in the spring of 1972 by a group of Christian parents. Their chief desire was to honor the Lord by providing a quality, Christ-centered education for their children as an alternative to the prevailing educational system.
Starting with an enrollment of 55, the school occupied the Christian education facilities of the Waukegan Bible Church until 1975. During the 1975 76 school year, having outgrown the Waukegan Bible Church facilities, the school moved to the Christian education wing of the Christian Catholic Church (now Christ Community Church) in Zion, Illinois. Enrollment continued to rise; after two years the school was compelled to move again.
WCS occupied the Lakeview School in Zion from 1977-92, a building rented from the Zion Elementary School District. In 1992, the school moved across Bethesda Boulevard to lease the first and third floors of Pearce West from the Zion-Benton High School District. In 1995, the name of the school was changed to Westlake Christian Academy.
In the fall of 1998, after much evaluation and consideration of the future growth potential in the northern Lake County region south and west of Zion, WCA relocated its elementary grades to the lower floor vacancy made available at the former Gurnee Grade School. In 1999, the High School joined the lower school at the Gurnee campus. It was announced in December 2001 that a growing student population in District 56 meant that Gurnee Grade School would not be available for lease after the end of the 2001/2002 school year. WCA’s enrollment at that time was approximately 250 students. After much prayer, God’s gracious hand led us to our current location in Grayslake.
WCA moved into the Lakeview School in Grayslake in August 2002. In 2004, Westlake’s board secured a mortgage and purchased the current building. Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, the Board and administration sought to strengthen the school’s philosophical foundation by focusing on discipleship. Great care was made in defining entrance requirements and building student spiritual formation. A position of Discipleship Director was established and funded. The result was an extended period of stability.
In the second decade of the 21st century, Westlake added a second focus — strengthening its academic program— while seeking to maintain a vital concentration on spiritual health. AP and dual credit classes were added, a curriculum was strengthened and defined, the secondary science program was expanded, and in 2014, work was begun on obtaining dual accreditation with ACSI and AdvancED, a project which was successfully completed in the fall of 2016.
In 2012, the school redefined development as donor partnership rather than fundraising and eliminated fundraising events based on sales. In 2014, the school hired its first full-time development director to guide the ministry in broadening and strengthening the donor base.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
(1) In earlier years, the school’s identity was often related more to the vision and leadership of the head of school, causing confusion in its mission. However, shortly after the turn of the 21st century, the school board created a new constitution and bylaws to resolve that problem, requiring the head of school to adhere to a clear mission statement in enrollment and operations.
(2) Because it is an independent school, Westlake has only a surface relationship with the 50+ churches represented by its stakeholders. As a result, few of the leaders of those churches are fully supportive of the school’s mission, allowing us minimal access to our most defined market. This is a common problem faced by independent Christian schools: church leaders who see us a competitor rather than collaborators and as unnecessary for their church members.
(3) Because of the size of the school and limited financial resources, our focus must be on fulfilling our mission, which is to prepare our students spiritually and academically to be effective, productive disciples of Jesus Christ. Thus we cannot offer the breadth of choices available in public schools. This is often seen as a weakness in spite of the excellence of our program.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Westlake Christian Academy story. Tell us more about the business.
Westlake is a fairly small independent evangelical Christian school with an enrollment of 220 students, preschool through grade 12. We offer a robust education permeated with a Christian world-view which is designed to transform lives. The small class sizes, the intense interest and passion of our teachers, and the cohesive community of the school allow us to meet individual needs. Parents and students often praise the family atmosphere of the school.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We attribute good things not to luck but to the God Who provides for us. We’ve seen this most obviously in three ways. (1) Our commitment to enrolling a socio-economically diverse student body means we depend upon donor support for a great deal of tuition assistance, usually in excess of $300,000 each year. For a school our size, that requires much faith, and we have seen multiple instances where needed generosity came just in time in response to our prayers. (2) Our community, focus, mission, and degree of sacrifice calls for a certain kind of staff, and we have also seen just the right person come our way exactly when we needed them. (3) Most of all, we absolutely require a transcendent power working in the lives of our students affecting a positive transformation that human effort alone could not achieve.
Pricing:
- Grades 7-12 tuition $5,063-$10,125 (variable tuition)
- Grades 1-6 tuition $4,545 – $9,090 (variable tuition)
- Kindergarten tuition $3,693-$7,385 (variable tuition)
- Preschool and Prekindergarten (ages 3 & 4) various options – see our website
Contact Info:
- Address: 275 S. Lake St.
Grayslake, IL 60030 - Website: www.WestlakeChristian.org
- Phone: (847) 548-6298
- Email: info@westlakechristian.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/WestlakeChristianAcademy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WestlakeChristianAcademy
- Twitter: twitter.com/Westlake_Eagles
Image Credit:
Dr. Michael Healan, Administrator, with kindergarten children
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