ON CAMPUS
dedicating
I
THE MIC
BY JENNIFER NEW, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
In Januar y 2022, MPCS officially dedicated the Murray Innovation Center (MIC) to the Lord. The building, named after a generous lead gift from the Stuart and Eulene Murray Foundation, is a 23,000-plus square foot addition to the current Dozier Hall high school, originally built to house just 250 students. With its booming enrollment, MPCS — Cobb county’s largest private Christian school — is thrilled to offer innovative new learning spaces for its 450 high school students. The dedication came less than one year after the construction project’s breaking-ground ceremony on Februar y 5, 2021. Despite the challenges of a pandemic, including shipping delays and materials shortages,
DEBT-FREE.
MPCS OPENED THE BUILDING ON-TIME AND
The building’s completion is the culmination of a multiyear capital campaign, whose generous 276 donors contributed $12.9 million to pay for the new building in full, including the inception of the school’s first-ever endowment fund. The ribbon-cutting ceremony included a spark of student innovation: one of the high school Eagle Robotics robots was programmed with special coding by MPCS senior Steven Baker ‘22 to officially deliver the ceremonial scissors to Joe McDonald and Kelly Rowland, Murray Foundation, for the event. The two-time State-championship winning Eagle
Robotics program has consistently been involved with the Murray Innovation Center project. During the launch of the public phase of the capital campaign, a student-directed robot participated in the unveiling of the building’s design plans. Now, the MIC offers a dedicated robotics field within the new maker space room. The MIC opened for students to begin classes in Januar y. The new spaces include a digital design lab and a fabrication lab, a collegiatestyle technology-enhanced classroom, two new science labs, high school administrative offices, and additional classroom and gathering spaces, such as the Graham Commons, made possible by a gift from the Graham Family Foundation. Notably, the MIC now offers a permanent storefront for Roost Coffee Co., a café run entirely by the MPCS high school entrepreneurship classes. The class and café is a result of student fireside chat “dreaming” sessions during the MIC building’s planning phase.
MOUNT PARAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL IS THANKFUL TO ALL WHO HAVE SUPPORTED THE MURRAY INNOVATION CENTER through the generous sharing of ideas, gifts, and prayers. It is our hope and prayer that the new space will be used to glorify Christ in the decades to come. W
BY JULIE RAY, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Good Stewards “COMMIT TO THE LORD WHATEVER YOU DO, AND HE WILL ESTABLISH YOUR PLANS.” — PROVERBS 16:3
Twenty years ago, leaders of Mount Paran Christian School had a vision to build on a new campus, having been hosted onsite at the Mount Paran Church of God since 1976. The Lord led administrators to Mrs. Eulene Murray, who had a dream for a Christian school on her family property at 1275 Stanley Road. Under the leadership of Board Chair Mr. Ron Mulkey and then Headmaster Mrs. Susan King, the school secured $20 million in tax-exempt bond financing. With careful planning, this debt was paid off this school year in December 2021. To build the present-day
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campus was a true step of faith, growing enrollment from 600 students to more than 1,200, the highest the school has ever welcomed. This faith journey was nothing short of miraculous and attributable to the faithful hand of God. W
