Our History

A Brief History of VCS

Valley Christian was first conceptualized in 1981, when six men, including  the senior pastors at Bethany Community Church, First Baptist Church in Tempe, and Grace Community Church, met together to consider the creation of a Christian high school in the East Valley. A year later, Valley Christian High School opened its doors at Bethany Community Church in Tempe to a group of 20 freshmen and sophomores.

The original plan was to grow by a grade level each year, but in year two, VCHS had grown to 40 students, but no juniors. The grade levels continued to slowly grow and expand from that point until Valley Christian saw its first graduating class of 20 students in 1986.

Interscholastic athletics began while at the Bethany Campus, but teams had to travel across the Valley for practices and games as the school had no on-campus athletic facilities. Even so, in 1989, the boys track team earned the school’s first state championship. Through 2023-24, the Trojans now enjoy 79 state championships, including at least one state championship each year for 33 consecutive years.

After outgrowing Bethany’s campus, VCHS moved during the 1990-91 school year into a strip mall at Broadway and Price Roads in Tempe. The strip mall was revamped to accommodate the high school, but featured l-shaped classrooms, noise pollution from the nearby railroad tracks, and leaky ceilings. During that time, the school was able to miraculously acquire land in Chandler on 56th Street between Ray Road and Chandler Boulevard. In 1993, by God’s grace, the Chandler City Council voted to change the city’s general plan, which allowed the high school to acquire 17 acres of land and build our permanent high school campus.

The new campus opened in the fall of 1997, and enrollment immediately soared, growing from 224 students in the final year in Tempe to more than 360 students just five years later and more than 400 students by 2005. In 2006, armed with consistent growth and the vision to begin serving all students, VCS started a special education program called our V.I.N.E. program – Valley’s Individual Needs Enhancement. Today, this program serves approximately 10% of our student body, more than 100 students K-12.

After a decade of up-and-down enrollment, and shortly after completing a strategic plan called VC2020, we announced expansion to junior high grades (6-8) to open in the fall of 2018 at Gethsemane Church in Tempe.  In the same year, we started the Valley Christian Schools Association (VCSA) with the goal of supporting and growing our Christian feeder schools with marketing and operational support. But instead of growth, three of our five major feeder schools closed their doors within the next twelve months. In an effort to best support the Christian education market in the East Valley, we announced in February of 2019 that we’d be expanding to serve all grades K-12 beginning in the fall. With increased demand in our high school grades at the same time, we also constructed a long-planned, two-story classroom building in 2020, growing our 9-12 grade capacity to 600 students.

After meeting across three campuses for four years, in 2022 we announced the acquisition of the 16-acre Sun Valley Community Church campus in Tempe, which now serves as our permanent K-8 campus. VCS started on Sun Valley’s Tempe campus in 1982 (at the time, Bethany Community Church), and our K-8 students have now returned to where it all began. The long-term plan for VCS is to serve 1,500 students across these campuses, 900 in K-8 and 600 in high school. May God be glorified and His Kingdom expanded in this pursuit.

1982- VCHS founded with 19 students

1986- 1st graduating class (20 students)

1988- VCHS becomes a member of the AIA

1989- 1st Athletic State Championship (boys track & field) 
1st Christmas Extravaganza

1993- 1st capital campaign (“Growing the Vision”)

1994- VCS wins Don. F. Stone Award for 1^st of 7 times (’97, ’01, ’05, ’07, ’14, ’23)

1997- HS moves to Chandler campus

2004- Blue Cup Award for overall excellence in extracurriculars (AIA)

2005- Dan Kuiper named National Track Coach of the Year (2005, NHSCA)

2004- Choir represents US at 60th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy

2006- V.I.N.E. Program established

2008- Fine Arts program visits Carnegie Hall

2010- 1st of 13 athletes, coaches, teams inducted into Chandler Sports Hall of Fame (Deanna Anglin)
National-record 15th consecutive girls track & field title
Fine Arts program visits Poland

2012-  Dan Kuiper, National Track COY (2012, NHSACA)

2014- Named Top 50 Christian HS by TheBestSchools
10/17/14 VCHS Day in Chandler
1st Trojan Tournament
1st Night of Worship during Homecoming Week

2015- Launch of iValley (1:1 technology program), Robotics wins FTC World Championship
1st VCS Endowment Fund established

2016- Engage program established

2017- Trojan Athletics voted USA Today top athletic program in AZ

2018- Junior high grades (6-8) open in Tempe, Named Top Workplace in AZ (also ’19, ’23, ’24)
Launch of the Valley Christian Schools Association

2019- Elementary grades (K-5) open in Tempe
President George W. Bush speaks at Foundations Dinner

2022- VCS becomes 1st school awarded $20M by ACSTO

2023- Greg Haagsma named National Boys Basketball Coach of the Year (2023, NFHS)

2023-24- Educating 1,100+ students for 1st time
1st Christmas Joy