Huron Valley School was founded in 1982 as an outreach of The Word of God, an ecumenical community located in Washtenaw County. The school was established originally to serve the educational needs of community members’ children. The school was located on Michigan Avenue just east of downtown Ypsilanti, in the former Woodruff School (part of the Ypsilanti Public Schools). Initially, the school served students in grades four through nine. During the 1990s, Huron Valley School moved toward greater financial independence, relying less on subsidy from its founding organization, The Word of God community. In 1992 Huron Valley School opened its enrollment to include Christian families from many different churches, furthering our mission as an inter-denominational school. At the same time, more effort was needed to build a continual enrollment and support base. In the fall of 1993, we added a 3rd grade, recognizing the key to growth was bringing in younger students. In the fall of 1998, we added first and second grades, enabling us to serve students in grades 1 through 8.
By 1999, we began to look at the future in new ways. While families continued to value our mission of providing an ecumenical environment where students of various Christian backgrounds could learn together and support one another, it became more and more challenging to secure enrollment and maintain a solid financial base. After months of prayer and consultation with families, we began to pursue becoming a Catholic school, while maintaining our independent status and parent-governed structure. The Catholic Bishop of Lansing gave us provision approval as an independent Catholic school, which began in the 2000-2001 school year.
In 2001, we added a kindergarten and became a full elementary and middle school, deepening our commitment to the education and formation of our youth. After years of maximizing use of the older building, the cost to maintain it was skyrocketing, and its limitations and poor location were inhibiting growth. We began to aggressively pursue the idea of building a new school, and launched an ambitious building campaign. With generous support from The Ave Maria Foundation, and financial support from families and friends, we broke ground for our new school in February 2002. In August 2002, our move was complete, and the school opened its brand new doors to 222 students in grades K-8.
At this time the name of our school officially became Huron Valley Catholic School. In addition, we implemented an extended care program for Kindergarten and after-school care for students with working parents. The new building provided much-needed facilities such as a full-size gym, music room, art room, state-of-the-art media center, a chapel, conference room, and resource room for special education needs. We were now better equipped to accommodate the educational and extracurricular needs of our students and prepare them for the world in which we live. In 2008, we added a Preschool program to serve 3 year old, 4 year old, and young 5 year old children.
Today, we continue to operate under the leadership of a parent-governed School Board, whose members are elected to three-year terms. The Diocese regularly reviews our status as an independent Catholic school, and we enjoy a positive working relationship with them. We are deeply committed to serving the educational needs of Catholic and Christian families in the Washtenaw County area. We provide a nurturing environment with solid academic and extracurricular programs preparing our children for lives filled with faith, gratitude, self-discipline, good judgment, and love of God and neighbor.
