What makes Hilton Head Christian Academy a great place to send your kids.

Making decisions for your children’s future and choosing the right private school in our area can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Today we want to give you a firsthand look at Hilton Head Christian Academy, located here in Bluffton, South Carolina.

Hilton Head Christian Academy opened its brand-new doors to its campus in spring of 2021 and welcomed 460 students to the campus. Their space currently includes a two-story education building with a modern philosophy and design to encourage collaboration and learning. It also includes a nearly 24,000-square-foot gym facility and plans to expand over time.

We're here with Mr. Langhals, head of school at Hilton Head Christian Academy. He's going to give us some information and help us to understand more about the school.

Mr. Langhals: Hilton Head Christian was founded back in 1979, and it started as a small school on the island in a trailer, moved to various locations, and ultimately about a year and a half ago, we moved out here into Bluffton. What makes this school unique is it's a kindergarten to 12th grade school that's really focused on knowing our students. The learning model is project and mentor based. That is what we love as a Christian school. When we talk about knowing Christ and making him known, we do it through relationships with our students.

Tim: That's great! One of the things that I think has been discussed a lot is the new modern learning environment, the open concept, collaborative spaces. How has that been?

Mr. Langhals: It has been tremendous. Having this facility has been an overwhelming blessing because it's opened up the opportunity to think differently about learning, and to get our students into real-life situations. Every school talks about all these skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration. Our learning environment enables us to do a project-based education that actually implements them and tracks them and really works well for our students.

Tim: That's great. If you were to boil it down into a few simple things, in terms of why parents typically choose Hilton Head Christian Academy over any other options, what would you say that is for the most part?

“ We are invested in our students succeeding not only academically, but also as people.”

Mr. Langhals: The biggest things are the private element, the Christian element, obviously. There's the side of how their kids get opportunities with our athletic program and arts programs and things like that. But ultimately, the biggest reason families send their kids here is that we use the term “mentors” for our teachers, and that's more than just jargon for us. That's an intentional term because we want to know our students personally. We don't want a student walking up and down these halls that doesn't have a relationship with a coach or with a mentor who is really invested in them academically being successful, but more than that, being successful as a person.

Tim: Okay. That's pretty unique and interesting. As it relates to extracurricular activities, you mentioned theater, arts, and athletics. Can you tell us a little bit about that too?

Mr. Langhals: Part of our mission statement is we want to really pursue excellence in all areas. As a school, obviously, it's academics, but then fine arts and athletics are a big part of that. What we try to do is give our students, who are all talented and gifted in so many different ways, the opportunity to develop those gifts while they're here and then use them. We have a very strong fine arts program that gives many students a chance to shine in a way that isn't always there. Same thing with athletics and letting our kids compete on the field. We want to give every student, whether they're strong in whatever one of those areas, the opportunity to use those gifts for God's glory.

Tim: That's excellent. If somebody was interested in learning more about the school, what's the best way to get in contact with you guys? What are the next steps?

Mr. Langhals: First thing, if you want to find out just general information, you can go to our website, hhca.org. Beyond that, reaching out to the school, you can call our main line, which is (843) 681-2878, and ask for Donna Wood. Donna is our director of admissions, and she does a phenomenal job of really getting folks integrated into this school and giving a good picture of who we are.

Tim: That's great. Well, Mr. Langhals, thanks for your time today. Really appreciate it. I think that was really helpful.

If you have any questions about this topic or real estate in general, please give me a call or send an email. I look forward to hearing from you.