History of Faith Christian Academy

Faith Christian Academy, as it is known today, began back in 1976 with the dream of Bettie Damiani, the wife of the new pastor of Faith Assembly of God. The church was located on Hooker Ave. in the City of Poughkeepsie at the time. With a $500 loan from the church budget, Melodyland Nursery School was started two days a week in a basement room of the church with 10 three and four year old children. Mrs. Damiani had a desire to nurture these little ones with the love of God and to be able to minister to their families as well. The following year it increased to a five day program (three year olds on Thurs. and four year olds on M/W/F). Two years later, Faith Christian Academy was started with just a Kindergarten class and then first grade the following year. In 1981, another group was added -2nd through 8th grade, with one teacher to teach them all.  At this point, the school rented some facilities from another local church. As they grew, the classes were divided up further but were still combined with shared teachers.

In 1987, the current building on Spackenkill Road was dedicated. So in the fall of 1987, under the leadership of Bettie Damiani as Principal and with 50 students, Faith Christian Academy relocated one final time to its present location.  By this time, FCA had become a member of ACSI and was recognized by New York State. As the facility was now large enough, the school began to expand in its academic offerings as well as sports.  A basketball team was started and students began to compete in ACSI Speech Meet and Math Olympic events.  Enrollment continued to increase throughout the next 10 years.  Mrs. Damiani resigned as Principal in 1996 and the School Board hired the 3rd grade teacher, Wendy Wright, to be the new administrator.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Wright, the part time classes of Melody land Nursery School changed into a full day Pre-K program included under the name Faith Christian Academy. Class sizes continued to increase, as did the number of staff members.  By the year 2000, there were approximately 150 students and staff that taught all of the "special" classes: gym, library, computer, art and music, in addition to the classroom teachers.  Pre-K through 4th grade classes were self-contained while 5th through 8th grade rotated to specialized teachers that taught the core subjects.  Sports teams now included basketball and soccer as well as cheer leading, while other school activities expanded with drama, praise dance, art classes and music lessons.

The next major milestone that Faith Christian Academy faced was the addition of a High School. After much prayer and planning, Faith Christian High School added a 9th grade class, with 14 students, in the Fall of 2008.  Adding a grade each year, and more specialized High School certified teachers, brings us to the current enrollment of 250 students in grades Pre-K through 12th. In the fall of 2009, it was great to have a former student join the staff and to have children of former students attend the school as well. 2012 will be an exciting year as the first Senior class graduates.

In January of 2011, the School and Church Boards unanimously voted to hire Alexander Averin as the School Headmaster, who assumed his responsibilities as a Head of Faith Christian Academy on May 1, 2011. Under the leadership of Mr. Averin, the school has began the High School/College program in partnership with Marist College, where eligible FCA seniors have an opportunity to earn up to 12 college credits upon graduation from FCA high school.

In September of 2011, the Lord has blessed the church and the school with the purchase of former IBM Casperkill Conference Center, located in Poughkeepsie, NY,  that will be a future home of FCA Junior High and High School beginning in September of 2012.  The newly purchased facility has approximately 112,000 square feet located on approx. 24 acres of land and contains multiple resources to
accommodate for classrooms, labs, library, cafeterias, as well as has two gyms, fitness center, tennis courts, swimming pools, baseball field, and bowling alley.

As the school, the staff and the facilities have grown, the dream that the Lord gave to Mrs. Bettie Damiani has come true. God has been faithful to grow this school not only in numbers, but also in its ability to educate children in His ways and for His glory.