More than a school...

Students at American Christian receive more than an education. They receive insight and experiences that are unique to our program.  It is a different environment, one that develops spiritual growth and a closer walk with God. It is a different culture where faculty, staff, and students know and care about each other. It is a different school where learning happens inside and outside of the classroom. An education is important, but our teachers want more than that for your child. They want them to succeed spiritually, academically, socially, and athletically. They want to prepare them for college, but more importantly, for life.

American Christian is more than a school. We are a family, a community, and an environment that fosters a Biblical worldview in our students. We want to partner with you to help prepare them for whatever God’s plan is for their life. Real change in the hearts and minds of our students happens in the classroom. It happens on the football field and on the playground. It happens in a park in Chicago on a windy day. American Christian Academy is more than a school...

We are a family.

Some of our students have attended American Christian since they were two years old, and some have been with us only a short time. Each has brought something different to our environment. Their combined experiences and memories make up the heartbeat —the pulse— of our school. It is a pulse that has been passed on from class to class since 1979. Imagine a high-school graduation where a student’s first grade teacher is present because she still teaches at American Christian.

Our faculty and staff know your child’s name. They know their personality, their needs, and their long-term goals. Our teachers know your family. They know older brothers and sisters because they have taught many of them through the years. Our high-school students know the children in elementary school. They high-five them in the hall and read with them during the week. They protect them and care for them like little brothers or sisters —because many of them are.

Our faculty, staff, and students care about each other because they know we rise or fall as one body. Together we celebrate our accomplishments and rally around those going through difficult times. There have been instances where faculty, staff, students, and fans have cheered for the Patriots on the football field, and then gathered at the hospital to pray for an injured player. It is this caring, nurturing environment that makes us a family, and one of the many things that binds us together as a group.

We are a home.

American Christian is a comfortable, safe environment where your child can blossom and explore new and creative areas of life. Each day our teachers meet elementary students at their car door and welcome them inside. Our high-school students gather in the parking lot or the gym to talk about homework or after school activities. When a student arrives at ACA, they feel like they are coming home.

Because we serve preschool, elementary, and high-school students on one campus, parents drop children off at only one location. Young children are comforted to know that older siblings are only a few feet away if needed.
 After-school care and activities like athletics, piano and guitar lessons, and karate give children a place to learn and play even after school is over. Students often stay after class to talk with teachers about assignments or to get trusted advice from faculty and friends. American Christian is a home away from home, and students don’t want to leave at the end of the day.

We are a community.

We are a close-knit group of people with unique gifts and talents. Together, we want to model our school after the Lord Jesus, who said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you love one another.” We teach our students to serve the Lord by serving others and to treat each other with courtesy and respect.

It starts in our preschool with our young students learning to share, or to take turns on the playground, or to politely raise their hands when they have questions. As they grow older, they become role models for younger students and teammates. They learn to recognize opportunities to help fellow classmates as they raise money for a sick student who is in the hospital or gather to pray for a classmate going through difficult times. They learn to make their family, their school, and their community a better place.

Together our faculty and students embrace opportunities to serve. Our first graders sing to the elderly in local nursing homes. High-school students tutor younger children or throw a baseball with kids who don’t have the privileges they do. They’ve taken Christmas gifts to children in Argentina and collected vitamins for orphans in China. Students have helped those close to home by doing things like improving our neighborhood, and they’ve helped those on the other side of the world with projects like sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq.