NEW CHRISTIAN SCHOOL BUILDING SHAPING UP

Principal Janice Margrabe will probably be more excited about the completion of Eagle Ridge Christian School than any of her students.

"I'm really anxious," she said. "We've almost hit the miracle mark -- $500,000."

But the $1.3 million project can't be completed without money. Christian Faith Fellowship church, which sponsors the school, will hold a "Soaring with the Vision" fund-raising banquet Sunday evening at Drury Lodge.

"It's a stewardship campaign," Margrabe said. "It's a time of commitment for the school and church supporters."

About 100 students are enrolled in the school, which opened in 1982 in Scott City. After the school moved to Cape Girardeau in 1994, enrollment increased.

Eventually, the small classrooms in the church basement were no longer able to hold all the students. So the school split elementary and secondary students into two buildings.

The high school building on Boulder Crest Drive sold last summer, so administrators combined the age groups again this year.

The new building will have nearly seven times the space of the current school.

Originally, the new building was to be completed by fall. But construction delays prolonged the schedule, Margrabe said.

Construction on the building, located about one mile west of the I-55/Route K interchange, began last February. But rain and bad weather have pushed the deadline back.

Margrabe said tentative plans are to move sometime in early February 1998.

Margrabe, who has been both a classroom teacher and administrator at the school, watched it change from just a dream into a reality.

"It's exciting to see the hand of God move on this project," she said. "People have been very faithful."

For more information about the "Soar with the Vision" campaign, call the school at 339-1811.