Gilroy
– Steve Malone, 93, is the man behind Gilroy’s new Christian
high school. Standing in the mid-morning sun on the historic San
Ysidro campus on Pacheco Pass Highway, Malone doesn’t mince words
when describing what he sees.
”
This is a dream that came true,
”
he said.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Steve Malone, 93, is the man behind Gilroy’s new Christian high school. Standing in the mid-morning sun on the historic San Ysidro campus on Pacheco Pass Highway, Malone doesn’t mince words when describing what he sees.
“This is a dream that came true,” he said.
In fact, it is Malone’s dream from eight years ago that has become reality in Anchorpoint Christian High School. Malone says he got the vision after hearing his wife, Connie, recount her experiences with raising children in Christian schools, and decided it was vital that this town have one for ninth through 12th-graders.
Anchorpoint, in its second full year, started classes three weeks ago at its permanent campus.
Now, some of the classrooms are bigger than the entire space the school occupied while leasing room from a Gilroy church last year. Besides being cramped for administrative and instructional space last year, Anchorpoint students were missing out on some important high school activities, said Sondra Cole, the school’s acting principal.
“One thing we realized that we needed to have were access to a sports program, and music theater,” Cole said.
At San Ysidro, which the non-denominational Anchorpoint purchased from Gilroy Unified School District last month, there’s room for both.
“It’s great to see the kids running around with agriculture in the background,” Cole said.
The campus currently takes up about five acres of the more than eight-acre property, but the rest is leased to farmers who grow crops there. Eventually, the school may expand into that land to build full athletic fields. For now, students are enjoying physical education classes – as well as volleyball and basketball teams – so much that they spend their free time on the school’s field.
Malone is especially excited about the opportunity for students to be active. He frequently sits either in his car or on a folding chair where he has a clear view of the students participating in P.E. When they wrap up and head in to change out of their uniforms, he cheers them on with a “Good job!”
A resident and developer in Gilroy since 1946, Malone not only sparked the idea for Anchorpoint, he and wife Connie also provided the financial backing to make it happen.
They make up half the Anchorpoint board, joined by pastor Steve White and Ruben Galvan.
“These people, they are amazing,” Cole said of the couple.
And Connie already knew a thing or two about starting a new Christian school, having been a member of the board for Pacific West Christian Academy during the 1990s. Her interest in Christian education goes back to her college years, she says, but became even more significant when her son entered the first grade at a Christian school from a public school and was behind the rest of the students.
“People in the community have been clamoring for a (Christian) high school here because they have to travel to Watsonville or San Jose.” Connie Malone said.
That’s exactly what Olivia Escheverria, a sophomore, and Cynthia Cerdan, a junior, said they would have done had they not attended Anchorpoint.
“You are allowed to live within your faith” at a Christian high school, Escheverria said.
“It’s much safer in a private school, too, more peaceful,” Cerdan said.
With only 18 students enrolled in Anchorpoint this year, the student body is still very close-knit. Cole said the school’s new campus and relatively low tuition – $4,990 per year – should attract more students.
“I have been getting quite a few calls from people who … realize, yes, we’re open and they’re seeing some really positive things already coming from the students,” Cole said.
Connie Malone is also one of the school’s six teachers, which include a Spanish, music and P.E. teacher. Malone teaches a life skills class that covers adolescent issues from study skills to relationships to financial know-how.
Cole emphasized that the school provides instruction based in Christian values, and students are required to take a Bible course each year, but it does not exclude any students.
Although excited to be starting a new chapter in the history of San Ysidro, which was the state’s oldest continually operating school when it closed in 2002, Anchorpoint is also intent on honoring the site’s past. The “San Ysidro” name is still visible on the front of the school, a several hundred-year-old sycamore will remain standing, and the site will be formally dedicated as the birthplace of Gilroy late next month.
