By LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / May 26, 1999

RESERVE – Reserve Christian is investing a million dollars in the youth of St. John the Baptist Parish.Principal Raymond Goodman of Reserve Christian said the new high school building, for which the slab was poured Monday, represents a half-million dollar project.

Goodman added that the church’s 180 Youth Center on U.S. Highway 51,LaPlace, is another half-million project.

“We’re running out of room,” Goodman said of the school’s expansion. Thenew 13,000-square-foot building will house six classrooms, a science lab, library, cafeteria and a computer room.

The school has been growing at an unprecedented rate, he added.

Established in 1974, Reserve Christian had 300 students this year, with an estimated 400 expected this fall. Of these, 97 were high schoolstudents, with 150 expected this fall.

Goodman said there’s a possibility that, for the first time ever, the school will have two ninth-grade sections.

The school is also facing a deadline, with freshman orientation set Aug.

13, Goodman added.

“We started as a church school, then we opened it up to the community,” Goodman continued. “We feel we have something excellent to offer.”The 180 Youth Center, the name derived from the intention to turn young lives around 180 degrees, is also expected to open this fall.

Youth director Steve Augillard said the 9,600-square-foot facility will offer food, games, pool tables and a small basketball court on one side, as well as a sanctuary on the other side.

Plans are to have it open two nights a week, Goodman added. “We’reexcited! We have a lot going on!”

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