This graduating class was so small that each student gave a performance
Shortly after Sean Cousland received his high school diploma, he performed an Irish stepdance in front of the audience of family and friends at Lehigh Christian Academy’s graduation.
It’s unusual for high school seniors to perform at their graduation ceremonies, but since Lehigh Christian Academy had such a small class all of the graduates were able to do some kind of performance.
Four students graduated from Lehigh Christian Academy this year, although just three attended the ceremony because one person was remote.
Of the three who graduated, one gave a valedictorian speech, another gave a testimony about their path to Christianity and Cousland, who is ranked fifth in the world in Celtic dancing, performed.
LCA’s senior class graduated June 5 at Cedar Crest Bible Fellowship Church in Salisbury Township, being the school’s first graduation in 33 years.
The school first opened in 1973 with 19 students, offering a Christ-centered education. Now there are around 230 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. This graduation concludes the first academic year offering 12th grade.
LCA began offering ninth grade in the 2017-18 school year, 10th grade in 2018-19, 11th grade in 2019-20 and finally 12th grade for the 2020-21 school year.
LCA previously had a high school, but it was dissolved in 1988 to reorganize as the Lehigh Valley Christian high school. Its last graduating class in 1988 had about 10 students.
For the 2021-22 school year Beth Hauser, head of the school, said the school expects to have around 14 graduates.
“I’m sure that there are times when you might find that you’re always with the same people,” she said. “However, that can be a bonus.
“What I see from my perspective is a sense of community and it’s really [where] you get more of a relationship in a smaller class size with the adults in the building.”
Cousland started at LCA for preschool when he was 4 years old. In his freshman year of high school he had to leave, since they did not offer it at the time. However, he returned to have his junior and senior year back at LCA.
“I always felt like LCA was a family to me, so I came back, and I knew it was the right decision,” Cousland said.
LCA was able to offer in-person and remote options this academic year. Being a small school, the classes range from having four to 15 students.
The theme of this year’s graduation was a “Celebration of Legacy.”
The school’s founder, Pastor Kenneth Smith, was honored and his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren attended the ceremony. His son-in-law was also the commencement speaker.
He also presented the class gift, a legacy scholarship fund for a future graduating senior going into higher education, whether that be college or trade school.
Cousland is currently touring the world with “Lord of the Dance” and will compete in the World Championships in November in Killarney, Ireland. Two of the other graduates will go on to college and one into the workforce.
“We were really close,” Cousland
said. “What was also cool is we were mixed with the junior class a lot as well, which had about 15 students. So we always felt like a bigger class, and we were all really close, which was really nice.”