Park Christian Begins School With Completed Renovation, $5.3 Million Expansion

The expansion started in May 2018

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Park Christian is home to more than 430 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The school’s staff says you can expect that number to go up in the future though, meaning the campus will have to keep up.

“We’re trying to transform our building to make it more accessible for more families to come here. We’re anticipating that. We’ve added flex classrooms so that we can grow,” said Chris Nellermoe, the school’s president.

Nellermoe says this year a third kindergarten class has been added and the school will add another first grade class next year. To create the right accommodations, Park Christian started renovations last May. The upgrades and the $5.3 million expansion are just phase one of a two–part project.

“This new commons, the new classrooms, remodeling our current classrooms is transformational for our school in legitimizing who we are in just being a vibrant, active school for our communities,” Nellermoe said.

New additions in phase one include 11 more elementary classrooms, two science rooms, new Special Services offices, more student work space, new lockers and an entirely new cafeteria that’ll also serve as a performance space.

All of the prior classrooms in the building have also been remodeled. The school opened in 1981 in what is now the Moorhead Elementary School. It then moved to its current location on 17th Street a few years later but only had a few minor upgrades since.

“We added three classrooms in 2015. That was our first upgrade to the facility. Prior to that we added a commons to the front side of the building. This is the most significant renovation that we’ve had,” Nellermoe said.

Phase two is still being planned but he says the goal is to get it done within the next couple years. It’ll add another gym and fitness locker rooms as well as a fine arts room and music room.

The Chamber will host a ribbon cutting for phase one of the project at Park Christian within the next few weeks.