by Courtney Haindel
On the morning of Friday, August 12, Parkview Baptist School made the decision to ‘postpone’ our Faculty InService planned for that day, assuming that we would start school as usual the following week. Obviously, South Louisiana and the families affected by the Great Flood would never be the same. At Parkview, we made the decision to open up an emergency enrollment scenario for families in the Greater Baton Rouge area who had either their house or school (or both) flooded out. Although the school was closed, the admissions office was open for business! Over the course of the next five days, we enrolled 70 students from Pre-K to twelfth grade from both Ascension and Livingston parishes.
Our library became a ‘free’ uniform store, stocked completely with uniform donations from our families. After we walked our new families through the admissions process, they were able to visit the uniform ‘store,’ where parent volunteers worked to get the right sizes, and student volunteers served as ‘fashion advisors’ to our new Eagles.
While this was going on, our cafeteria became volunteer central, where we had teams of parent, student, alumni and church volunteers organized in order to go out and help families clean out their houses. Almost two months into the ‘16-‘17 school year, only eleven of those students have returned to their schools in Livingston. The remaining students (including five seniors) have chosen to finish out their school year at Parkview Baptist because of the love and acceptance they have felt since they started.
Kallie, a senior from Denham Springs, said that she was really nervous when she started because it’s a totally different setting and she wasn’t sure what people would think of her. She said that everyone has been wonderful to her and her favorite thing about Parkview is that the school is centered around God and it makes her feel better that teachers open up classes with prayer.
Mya, another senior from Denham Springs, chose to stay at Parkview because as a Christian school, she said you can actually talk about what’s going in your life. Bible is her favorite subject because she can talk about things that are important to her. And it’s not just the seniors that have settled right in to the Parkview family.
Hayden, one of our new fourth graders, likes the food, auxiliary classes and likes singing and dancing in chapel. He says that chapel at Parkview is like Vacation Bible School!
Kole, in fifth grade, says he loves Parkview because he has made new friends and feels like he is being taught better than his old school. Whatever the reason God brought each of these students to Parkview, we are thrilled to have a part in their lives!
About Courtney: Courtney Haindel is the director of Marketing and Enrollment at Parkview Baptist School. She and her husband Ben, PBS High School Principal, attend Istrouma Baptist Church and have three daughters at Parkview. Courtney loves her job because she gets to tell the story of how God has blessed Parkview to each new family that comes on campus.
