Recommendations

***Right now, before it gets too big, this is an incredible opportunity to give your child the very best!***

It’s a hidden treasure right here among us!  A few weeks ago we attended Bright Star Christian School’s graduation, and we were very touched and inspired by the personal presentations of each graduating senior. 
It was by far the most personally touching graduation we have ever attended.  These young people speak and show a deep love for each other, their teachers, and God! They are each others’ best friends! They are bright and well taught, and they each have great plans for their future. Each one of them expressed, in a uniquely personal way, and with a delightfully unique personality, a love for God and a desire to serve Him in the years ahead, through their chosen field.

If you think your child needs or just can use a special dose of love and an emphasis on the principles of God’s Word, in addition to an excellent academic curriculum that provides a college-ready transcript, you should consider sending that child to this school!   The classes are small and friendships of the students are very strong and close.   The teachers have a personal commitment to each child.  We have not talked with young people who are more friendly and loving to each other, or who are more solidly grounded in a knowledge of God’s ways and His Word than these students. They know who they are, Whose they are, and where they are seeking to go,—- and they are committed to going there God’s way.”
– Carol Miller

“5 stars ⭐️ love this awesome school! Everyone is so nice and welcoming and the teachers are able to individually teach and challenge the students at their own pace.”
–Lindsey Welch

“So very thankful for this amazing group of people.”
-Amanda Tillery

“This school has been absolutely amazing for our daughter!”
-Krista Neal

“This school is a blessing to our family! This has really made a positive impact on one of our grandson’s life! So if you have a child or know of a child that could use a change in the way they receive their education give Brightstar School a try! Very caring teachers and staff!”
-Debbie Berry

“Six weeks into his fifth grade year, we pulled our son, Garrett, out of public school.  He was really struggling socially and emotionally, and we felt he needed a change of environment immediately. At that moment, we had no idea where to go or what to do, but we prayed that God would show us the way forward.  A few days later, it came to our attention that our friends, Brad and Faith McFadden, had just opened the doors of Bright Star Christian School, so we made an appointment to visit, praying that it would be God’s answer to our prayers.  It was. Enrolling Garrett in BSCS was the best decision we could have made for him and our entire family. We loved it so much that we moved our daughter, Sadie, to BSCS a couple of years later.  

As middle school students, Garrett and Sadie continued to flourish emotionally, academically, and spiritually at BSCS, but many well-intentioned people began expressing their concerns to us about the risks of leaving our children in such a small school through their high school years.  When Garrett started at BSCS, there were only five students. Although the school was steadily growing with each passing year, we continued to hear murmurings that BSCS wouldn’t be able to provide the resources or opportunities that our children needed to be college-ready. The arguments sounded compelling.  After all, how could a small school like Bright Star compete with the academic resources, athletic programs, and other extracurricular activities available at larger public high schools? When it came time to apply for college admission and scholarships, our children were going to be at a big disadvantage, we were told.  Not to mention the culture shock of moving from a small school setting to a big college campus. They would surely be overwhelmed.  

We listened to the concerns and gave them their due consideration, but we just kept praying and trusting in God’s plan.  He continued to show us that Bright Star was exactly where he wanted our children to be. Bright Star had teachers who were certified and highly experienced.  Many of them had retired from careers in the public school system, but their love of children and desire to teach, especially in a Christian environment, motivated them to continue pouring themselves into the lives of the students at Bright Star.  The small classroom sizes allow the teachers to give our students the one-on-one attention they would never get at a larger school. And as a private school, BSCS is free to choose the highest quality, Christ-centered curriculum available for their students.  But most importantly, we could see that at BSCS, their top priority was to create an educational environment with Christ as the foundation, where the students feel valued and loved, and were taught to hold themselves and others to a higher standard in everything they do and say.  The teachers and faculty at BSCS don’t just preach this…they live it out. The students are surrounded by Godly role models who show them what it means to be a disciple of Christ every day. And the kids are given opportunities to live it out, as well. They attend chapel every morning, and the Seniors participate in Bible Story Friday where they act out Bible stories for the younger students.  Our children have taken Apologetics and Worldview classes where they learned how to defend their faith and approach life situations from a Christian perspective. But the experience doesn’t end in the classroom, as BSCS has a number of extracurricular activities available to help their students become more well-rounded. Our kids have had opportunities to represent BSCS on the basketball and tennis teams, perform in the Mighty Bright Star band, and explore their unique interests through elective courses such as Film Production, just to name a few.  

To help ease the transition between high school and college, BSCS allowed us the flexibility to schedule some daytime classes at Paris Junior College, Sulphur Springs Campus.  Not only did these classes count as dual credit for high school and college, but they also helped acclimate our students to a college classroom setting. Students are allowed to use their free class periods at Bright Star to take online PJC classes for dual credit, as well.  

Brad and Faith work tirelessly to help each of their students prepare for the next stage of life, whether that is college or otherwise.  They have spent hours doing research and making phone calls to different universities to make sure Garrett and Sadie were on track to meet admissions requirements.  They have also been available to meet with us to discuss any questions or concerns we might have, and have been more than willing to help tailor our childrens’ educational experiences to prepare them to achieve their individual future goals.

When we began the process of helping Garrett choose a college, we quickly realized that the concerns about his college readiness were unfounded.  Garrett applied to multiple universities because he wasn’t certain where he wanted to go at first. Not only was he accepted by every college to which he applied, he was offered considerable merit-based scholarships at each one.  He scored very well on the ACT, and we found that most universities were primarily interested in ACT/SAT scores and high school GPA. Also, we found that most universities are now very welcoming to home-school students, so the fact that Garrett attended a small, private Christian school was of no concern at all.  After graduating from Bright Star in 2018, he chose to attend the University of Texas at Tyler, where he was awarded a full academic scholarship! He just finished his freshman year, and we have no doubt that God has him right where he needs to be. He lived in the dorm last year, which was a little scary, but God provided Garrett with a great roommate.  During the school year, they attended Baptist Student Ministry together every Thursday night and met together at lunch every day for Bible study. Even during the summer, they’ve continued their Bible study over the phone! What a blessing that has been to Garrett and our whole family, and we look forward to them being roommates again this fall. We have no doubt that God has awesome plans for Sadie, as well, and we look forward to seeing where God leads her in the coming years.  She will be a part of the BSCS graduating class of 2020, and will soon be making a college choice of her own!

Words cannot express what a blessing Bright Star Christian School has been to our family.  It’s great to know that when you send your children out the door to school every day, they are going to a place where they will be surrounded by people who truly love and care about them and want to help them be all that God has called them to be!  That is truly priceless!”

-Angie Hargrove