School enriches lives of its students

By B.G. Kelley

Brian Vazquez could have gone just about anywhere to high school. He chose a tiny school in Olney, and now, four years later, this senior from a rough section of Kensington will be the school's valedictorian. "I am a better person academically and spiritually for attending International Christian High School," he says. "The teachers really care about the students."

Today, the school will hold its last graduation from the building where it began in 1968 as Cedar Grove Academy, the first nonparochial, independent Christian high school in Philadelphia. Renamed 20 years ago, the school has since served inner-city youths of all races and nationalities from the lower Northeast.

The school of about 125 students sends just about all of its graduates to postsecondary education. Many of them go into fields that help others, such as counseling, social work, teaching, and health-related professions.

However, now, after 45 years at Rising Sun Avenue and Tabor Road, the school, which fights to balance its budget, has been forced out due to skyrocketing rent.

But that's not the end.

The school has recommitted to continuing its ministry to inner-city Philadelphia youth and will relocate into Burholme Baptist Church, just north of its present facility.

Having taught a writing course at the school for 14 years, I've seen its student body, a melting pot of African-Americans, whites, Hispanics, Chinese, South Koreans, Serbians, Pakistanis, Haitians, French, and Brazilians, mix and mingle like a colorful bouquet. Don't get me wrong, it's not idyllic. We have kids with discipline and academic issues, but the teachers and administrators work with the students and their parents to ensure there is an understanding about how to surmount these problems. It works.

What's poignant, too, in the sense of the school's history and continuity, is this: The specter of Pastor Paul Parr, the school's founder, remains.

Parr's grandson, Corey Nolan, is a senior, and the best writer in my class this year. One of his sisters is a sophomore at the school, and another will enroll shortly.

"I am aware of my heritage, but I would have chosen to go to this school even if my grandfather didn't found it or my mom, brothers, and sister didn't graduate from here," Corey has told me. "My life has been enriched."

"I got to meet many kids from different ethnic groups and grew to understand their cultures. I'm a better person for that," he said, echoing Brian Vazquez.

Tonight, as Vazquez delivers his valedictory address, he will demonstrate what it takes to become that better person and wind up with something worthy: reject shortcuts and put into motion the irreplaceable demands of determination, hard work, self-motivation, and focus. His reward for those efforts? He has been accepted into a scholarship program at La Salle University.

I'm not sure Brian Vazquez would have flourished at another school. But he has no doubts.

"I know I wouldn't have," he told me.