Our History

The Founders

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 Sun Valley Community Church (then Bethany Christian) in Tempe. Marlin Broek was hired as the first full-time employee of the school. He would go on to serve the school in various roles as an educator, athletic director, and administrator until 2012. 

The Bethany Campus, 1982-1992

Valley Christian High School opened its doors with a meager 20 students between the freshman and sophomore grades on the Bethany Campus off of Price and Guadalupe Roads in Tempe. The original plan was to grow by a grade level each year, but in year two, there were 40 students but no juniors. The grade levels continued to slowly grow and expand from that point until Valley Christian had its first graduating class in 1987. Interscholastic athletics first started 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. 

Pivotal Move, 1992-1996

After outgrowing that site, VCHS moved into a strip mall at Broadway and Price Roads in Tempe. The mall was revamped to accommodate the high school. During that time, land in Chandler on 56th Street between Ray and Chandler was procured through the assistance of Eldorado Holdings. During the schools’ stay at the Price campus, VCHS launched a capital campaign to raise funds for the current campus.

Our Chandler Campus, 1

In the fall of 1996, Valley Christian moved to its current location. Since the move, a number of capital construction projects have occurred to improve and increase facilities on the campus. The capital construction projects have consisted of an addition to the gym, football field and track, a North classroom building, an addition to the main academic building, softball field, and remodeling of some of the main academic building.