Cornerstone Christian School holds first commencement

With a ceremonial turn of their tassels, five graduating seniors recently became the first alumni of Cornerstone Christian School (CCS).
   
The commencement ceremonies held May 24 in Columbiana were the first for the Shelby County school, which began offering classes in 1997 under the sponsorship of adjacent Bethel Baptist Church.
    
As new graduate Katie Smith said in her valedictorian address, the tight-knit group that came to CCS as eighth graders has grown accustomed to being first.
   
“This class is so special for many reasons,” Smith said. “No matter what happens in the future of Cornerstone, we will always be the first class to stand in this position.
   
“We are the first of many to enter eighth grade, first to be role models, first to graduate. Let’s also be the first to leave those we leave behind proud. … I hope that we have made the school proud and that we will be a first senior class that will glorify Cornerstone’s sole purpose.”
   
That purpose, said CCS Headmaster John Blair, has remained constant since church members first caught sight of the school’s vision nearly a decade ago.
   
“We want to make sure that every child that goes through our school has the opportunity to know Jesus Christ, and as they leave the school, to take Christ with them into the world,” Blair said.
   
Toward that goal, Bethel Pastor Allen Dennis presented the graduates with Bibles bound in the school’s colors of purple and gold. Each contained a highlighted passage that serves as the Scriptural basis of the school’s mission, Isaiah 28:16: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
   
“We know we’ve given you the cornerstone in education … but more important, we’ve given you the cornerstone in Jesus Christ,” Dennis told the graduates.
   
Dennis said he is proud of the example the graduates have set for younger students and is confident they are well prepared to continue the legacy they began five years ago as they leave Cornerstone.
   
“They have received as good an education as you can get, but they also have something you can’t get in public education. And that is a Christ-centered biblical foundation,” Dennis said.
   
“I think time will prove that they are not only prepared in terms of education, but for life in general. Because education is much more than just books; if you don’t have a spiritual foundation, you’re not going to make it today.”
   
High school principal Margaret Pickett delivered the keynote address at the ceremony, challenging the graduates to maintain that foundation by allowing God to be in control of their lives.
   
“Recognizing that God is in control is the first step toward success,” she said. “It may not seem fair that we cannot control our circumstances, when, in fact, it is for the best. “Once you stop trying to control your circumstances and control your attitude instead, you become useful to God.”
   
Also during commencement, the family of would-be graduate Michael Willis surprised the graduates by dividing among them a scholarship founded in Michael’s memory.
   
Willis, who would have graduated with the class of 2002, died in September 1999 as the result of injuries he received during a junior varsity football game at the school.
   
Smith spoke for her classmates in remembering their friend.
  
“I know that we should look forward on this day, but I think I speak for my whole class when I say that Michael will go forward with each of us no matter where we go in life,” she said. “I believe we all carry a piece of Michael with us in our hearts.”
   
Having grown from 70 students in 1997 to an enrollment of more than 240 for the upcoming school year, CCS continues to prepare for the future.
   
A new $1 million gym currently is under construction with completion slated in time for basketball season, and the finishing touches are being added to a new $250,000 field house built almost entirely from donations. 
   
Plans are now under way for additional seventh and first grades, and a K-3 program will be offered for the first time this fall.
   
Whether the continued growth or the graduation of the first senior class, Dennis sees it all as evidence of God’s will for the school.
   
“It’s always exciting to see what God can do with people whoare willing to step out and do His will,” he said. “It’s as if God is putting His stamp of approval on the school."