Christian Crossroads Academy (Interview with Steve Hallstrom from Flag Family Media)

Danita Bye in the Flag Family Media Studio with Scott Hennen

Steve Hallstorm: A little bit about Christian Crossroads Academy. We are blessed here in the West Fargo Moorhead area by Capstone Classical Academy, which has been a wonderful addition to our community. And now you've got something cool being planned up there in that Tioga Stanley area.

And it's another one of these classical Christian academies. So, tell us a little bit about how all this got started.

Danita Bye: Well, the whole concept of classical Christian academy is a wave that is building momentum across the nation as parents are continuing to look for educational choices.

And so even in North Dakota, we have Capstone, which is doing phenomenal work. There's a classical Christian school starting in the Jamestown area, Dickinson. I heard there's something in Williston that's happening.

So, this is a trend that's not only sweeping the nation, but it's sweeping North Dakota as parents are looking for educational choice and how do we equip students to excel in academics, think critically, and then live and be taught from a biblical worldview. And you asked, how did this start?

There are multiple origin stories, but the most challenging origin story is that we had someone, who was a well-respected part of the Stanley community, who needed to make some business changes, called my dad and said, “would you like to buy my building? I'm making some changes.” And my dad said, yes, that's a perfect place for a Christian school.

He came home and said, we're putting a classical Christian school right there on the corner of two and eight. How about that? So, there we are. Wonderful, what great news that is.

Steve: Oh, wonderful. Fred Evans, what a legend and continuing to make our world better one day at a time. No doubt about that.

So, tell me how you got started then. Okay, so it's a great idea and you got a building, but that only gets you so far. How did it happen from there?

Danita: Well, we are in the process of getting started.

What had happened is my dad had a good friend of his in the oil and gas business, who at a North Dakota petroleum show, dad was striking up a conversation and he talked for like effusively about this new school that his son had been going to and how wonderful it was. And that it was a new type of school and a new type of education. And so, my friend, my dad's friend, Mark passed it on.

My dad got super excited. My parents got super excited about this new movement, this classical Christian education movement. And so that was a spark and we're in the process of doing, right now we are at all planning stage.

We must do the building. We have to convert from a lumber yard to a school. The key thing that I'm looking for right now, we're looking for right now is a startup school administrator in the classical Christian world.

They often call them headmasters, Paul Fisher, like a headmaster or a head of school. So, we're looking for someone who deeply loves and is passionate about classical Christian education who can and really is that a startup school entrepreneur that can help bring this to life.

Steve: Yeah, Danita, there are a lot of private schools out there, Christian schools, how, for those that aren't familiar with the concept of classical Christian education, how is it different than say you just, I hate to say standard, but your typical private Christian school? How is a classical Christian school different?

Danita: Well, I have been in the process of learning about that myself. Initially, when I first started learning about it, they said Latin, you're going to learn Latin. Our kids are going to learn Latin? Now, what's interesting is that what I've discovered is that many of our Catholic friends have had Catholic or have had Latin in their schools for a long time. Maybe they took them out for a while, but they're in the process of bringing them back in. And the reason behind that is Latin provides a structure for our language, and it provides a structure for critical thinking.

And critical, a structure for critical thinking. For me, I think of this, the age of AI, and one of the core questions that I'm asking is, will we lead AI, or will AI lead us? And one of the differences is going to be our ability to think well, and our ability to have the character and virtue that will allow us to lead.

Steve:  Absolutely. When do you, oh, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Danita: Well, I was just going to say, and then within that, there are some things within classical, there's the grammar stage, kindergarten through fifth grade. There's a proven process, a way that they developmentally like to learn to really encourage learning.

Once you get into middle school, there's the logic stage. Students start to ask questions and think about why things happen. So, in the classical model, you shift your training to help them to reason and to understand ideas deeply.

And then the third stage in high school is the rhetoric stage, where they learn to share their thoughts clearly, with confidence, speaking, writing, debating. And so those are the three stages that are part of a classical education.

Steve: So, when are you hoping that you can have a school up and running? How long do you think that will take?

Danita: Well, thank you for the word hoping.

I've talked with school startup entrepreneurs that have taken four years to start. It is our plan to open fall of 2026. And one of the reasons I was excited for us to talk, Steve, is that I'm curious to hear from other parents and grandparents across the state of North Dakota that are also interested in this classical Christian wave that's building momentum across the United States. So would love to talk and start forming a network.

Steve: Yeah, the area, the Stanley, Tioga, Powers Lake, Ray, kind of some of the core communities there, those are certainly vibrant communities. Is there, how do I ask this? Is there enough of a population center in that area to get enough students to make this a go or will you have to have students come from a ways out to get the kind of mass of students that will make this work? Or do you think you may not need that many to make it a successful school?

Danita: That's a great question, which has to do with the model and why we're looking for that great headmaster to come and help us formulate this.

I've had conversations with a school that's between Newtown and Watford City, Johnson Corner. And Johnson's Corner has had a school there for, I don't know, maybe 30, 35 years. And they have, out in a rural ranch land, have had up to 75 students.

And they have graduated some amazing leaders from that. So, I believe as I'm starting to research and conceptualize that we could, that there are, well I’ll tell you what my big vision is, Steve. My big vision is that there is a network of classical Christian schools across the state of North Dakota.

And that through this network that we're able to live stream, we're able to video, we're able to connect and that we can pull some of the best of the best together for all our students within this network. That's a great idea. So, I know that's kind of a, well, I don't know, it's a great idea.

Steve: It's kind of a crazy idea. Some people go, Danita, you are dreaming. No, you got to have a vision. You got to have a vision. So yeah, well, I think there's a groundswell. And in North Dakota, we just have a lot of people that are wired the way you and I are and that like this idea.

Are you getting any pushback from anybody in the public schools up there about, hey, don't take students out of our public schools?

Danita: I haven't talked with that group yet. And, there is a groundswell across the nation for parents wanting educational choice. That's one of the reasons that the homeschool movement has kicked off so strongly in North Dakota, and in Stanley.

If parents want, they want to have choice. And so, this is another choice for parents, and we would anticipate being in a small community that we all get to play in the sandbox. And I have a tremendous admiration for those who are in the public school.

I think of with my own children, there were times that we were public, there were times that we were private. I never had the strength to do homeschool.

Steve: Yeah, same.

It takes a unique person to do that for sure. Yeah, it takes a unique person to do that. But like you say, people are looking for those choices for sure.

How many students do you think you might have when you open in the fall of 26? Have you gotten that far along with your planning? What are you hoping for?

Danita: I would anticipate, well, probably open with kindergarten, first grade, second grade. I would anticipate those would be our opening grades. Sure.

And that could be more depending on housing. There are so many variables that we're working with.

Steve: Yeah, it makes sense.

Danita: In the classical education model, you don't do more than 15 students per classroom. So, whether we'll end up having some multiple classrooms, but it's just, we really want to have some of that individual focus. We just want to make certain that we're giving the students the individual focus and that we can focus on a whole child in terms of development.

We can look at them from spiritually and relationally and physically and emotionally and mentally. The whole picture, it all comes together.

Steve: Well, Danita, I'm so thankful that you're doing this and that you are taking it upon yourself up there and Stanley to say, let's make this happen.

Let's get it going and serving our state and our community as well. So, we appreciate you. Thank you for taking time and we'll visit again, I'm sure, and get some updates along the way.

But thank you for taking the time to give us an update today.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.