The Eagle Center
By Head of School Michael Dewey
What’s In a Name?
"This past week I was leading a group of prospective parents on a tour of our school. As we entered the Gymnasium, I found myself being led to say something more than, “This is our gym.” Yes, it is clearly a gymnasium, and that is how we have referred to it countless times since the beginning of our school in 2021. But over the past few months, I have come to realize that it is far more than just a gymnasium. And so, without giving it much thought, I asked the tour group if anyone could tell me what room we were currently in. The response was emphatic: “This is your gymnasium.” What I said next caught them off guard. “No, this is not our gymnasium. This is The Eagle Center.”
The Eagle Center is far more than just a gymnasium. It is the place where we gather for our weekly chapel program; it’s where we worship together, pray together, explore God’s word together, fellowshipping as brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no better way to start each week than in The Eagle Center on Monday mornings, singing and celebrating our common bond as the people of God.
But it is also the place where we hold community events, awards banquets, auctions, trivia nights, Christmas parties, and prayer breakfasts. It is where we have joined together to celebrate milestones, such as the First Lady of Virginia speaking at our building dedication and our inaugural commencement honoring our school’s first sixteen graduates. The Eagle Center is where every member of this community, at one point or another, has gathered to celebrate the faithfulness of God.
The Eagle Center is also where we have lunch each day, getting to know each other over a good meal and a vigorous game of Spikeball. And of course, it is also the place where we gather together to cheer on our student athletes as they don their Eagle jerseys to represent Evergreen Christian School. The Eagle Center is where we’ve seen our girls volleyball team hit the court to dig out tough serves, our wrestling program hold its first meet, and our boys and girls basketball teams rattle the building with authoritative dunks and dazzle the Eagle faithful with their passing and rebounding skills.
But even with all that, we want it to be so much more. We want The Eagle Center to be a showcase venue for concerts and plays. Where the ECS community can gather to see our Concert Choir, guitar ensembles, theater troupe, band, and strings musicians as they magnify our mighty God through the many talents that he has given them.
That is why we are rebranding this space as The Eagle Center – the place where we share the moments that define who we are as a school and make us proud to be the Eagles. The Eagle Center represents a renewed vision for the central feature of our school.
Given the fact we have designed it to be the visual focal point of our school, with the second and third floor windows looking down, I have always found myself looking in and looking forward to the day when we would transform and elevate the space to the level of the rest of the building. Yes, we’ve upgraded our lights in this space, reinforced the interior walls, installed decorative acoustical paneling along the back, invested in improving the playing surface, and glassed in the entire second floor. But just as there is so much more to this space than being a gymnasium, there is so much more that needs to be done.
Over the next few months, you will continue to see changes to The Eagle Center. We recently added new padding along the walls surrounding the court and are installing a new scoreboard on the west end. We have also engaged outside consultants to advise on the cost of installing a wood court to provide a better (and safer) playing surface, improving and expanding seating, and installing audio/video and sound equipment to enhance acoustics for Chapel and performing arts. We are also looking to invest in additional resources such as Choral shells, portable staging, and lighting so that we can easily transition from athletics to performing arts.
Our vision is to have The Eagle Center be, not only a multi-functional space serving athletics, the arts, community building events, and Chapel, but a source of pride for our school, a visual representation of our commitment to building the premier Christian high school in Loudoun County. I hope that as we explore ways to enhance this vital area of our school, that you too will come to share this vision for making The Eagle Center a distinctive feature of ECS."