School History

20 years of God’s faithfulness!

Living Waters Christian Academy is committed to watching children grow spiritually, academically, and personally to become leaders that make a difference in their community.

We look back over the years at how God has worked in and through the school and celebrate the milestones we have crossed, thankful to God for his faithfulness to us.

1992	A prayer was answered - a school was born! We renovated a space in a strip mall in Stony Plain in one week. Parents and staff joined together to paint, put up walls, lay carpet, and build shelving to get ready for the first day of school. We began with 2 teachers and 23 students in grades 1-5.
1993	added Grade 6. Shirley Tilroe remembers walking all the students to a nearby park at least 3 times each day because we did not have a gym! Since we were at capacity for the space in Stony Plain with 40 students, we began a building program. Through prayer and planning for the future, our Mission Statement was developed.
1994	We moved into our beautiful red brick school house! The traditional red brick building style was chosen to signal our arrival as a permanent addition to our community. As part of the commitment to excellence and our solid foundation in Christ, the board chose the anchor to symbolize the stability of this new venture and point to Christ as our anchor. We were able to begin a Jr. High program with Grade 7 & 8 with a humble jr. high science lab and a computer lab. Kindergarten was also added.
1995	Our Jr. High program was completed by adding Grade 9. We completed the basement level of the school. Again the parents and staff rallied to put up walls, paint, and hang doors.
1996	In response to a high demand we began our pre-school program.
1997	We expanded our music program to include a brass band.
1998	Allan Hunsperger was asked to serve as our board chair. Allan brought with him the experience of founding several Christian schools, and developing them to a place of stability. He began to lead the school into several new initiatives including the development of the high school, and a building program. His vision, and most importantly his faith in God's direction helped create the program opportunities that we enjoy today. Keith Penner was hired as our new principal. His leadership abilities and wisdom brought stability to the school and his administrative genius was key in actually putting into motion the new strategies and plans for the exciting new expansion program.
1999	Keith Penner's heart for missions inspired the beginning of the missions program, and this year was the inaugural year of our bi-annual mission trips to Guatemala.
2000	In our 9th year of existence, we saw our dream of adding a high school materialize. 5 students made the transition to grade 10. The theme for that year was History Makers and they were.
2001	In a desire to see the elementary students infected with the joy of missions, International Night was started, and has drawn much enthusiasm every year.
2002	In seeking God's direction for the future of the school, we needed to consider who we really were, and what values we would defend at all cost. As a board and staff, we took time away to unearth the Core Values.
2003	We put on our first full length drama at the Horizon Stage. Our athletic teams started to participate in competitive sports in the community and county. We celebrated our first Graduating Class.
2004	We were happy to include multi-media and digital video production to our course menu. Mr. Gauthier won the first annual Christian short film makers award.
2005	At long last we witnessed the completion of the new gymnasium which opened up a host of new opportunities for us! The renovation doubled our classroom space and provided a large entry for the students.
2006	Our international vision began to clarify. In 2006, after an involved and careful consultative process, the Vision of Living Waters was approved. The vision was not surprising to those who had been part of the school from the early days. The desire to make a difference in the community and the world has resonated through much of the planning and development of the school and its programs over the years. Our Science lab was built complete with new equipment. This provided greater resources to teach a dynamic science program. As part of our commitment to excellence and growth, we hired Heather Fritz as Development Director. We sent our biggest mission team to Guatemala. The team of 20 was used by God to make an impact.
2007	As an out flowing of our vision statement and in consultation with parents and staff, we chose Spanish as our second language. We are happy to announce that we now offer Spanish as a second language. We updated our computer lab by adding new flat screen monitors and new computers. As our community grows and we look forward to the long term impact of our school we have undergone a rebranding process. The goal of developing a new logo was to accurately express the vision, creativity, and life that Christian education brings to our students. Christ is our living water and the source of life and joy and freedom. Water spreads out to bring life and growth. Like waves on the ocean the ripple of our lives influences our community, our nation and our world.
2008	Living Waters Drama department took on the challenge of the musical production HONK, incorporating drama, music, singing, and dance. Living Waters sent 2 teachers to Guatemala to lead a teaching conference for the Guatemalan teachers of Impact Ministries. We are seeing our vision unfold as “an international training community”.
2009	Our new playground was unveiled in September. This was a huge fundraising endeavor for our community and once again we saw God’s faithful provision. Living Waters also started using a comprehensive school administrative software program (RenWeb) to manage student and family information. Two founding members of the school retired. Lois Curry was one of the founding parents and a dedicated staff member for 18 years. Together with the early founding families and board members she has worked sacrificially and with excellence to manage the school through challenging and uncertain times and transitioned to the years of growth and blessing that we enjoy today. Dori Sawatzky was also one of founding parents and served the school as board chair for 6 years. Ben and Dori Sawatzky’s foundation own the school facility and have provided generous support for Living Waters over the years.
2010	Living Waters sports program continues to grow and we are now competing in the public school league. Our athletes are committed to excellence on and off the court. To continue to enhance this program we unveiled a new warriors athletic logo that captures what are teams exemplify. Our gym was branded through a generous donation and the sports teams fundraised for new jerseys. With a growing high school, Living Waters mission program is now sending teams every year to Guatemala!