By Isabella Lahoue, Editor-in-Chief. Photos by Eileen Flaherty, Student Life Division Head.

In preparation for alumni class reunions this Saturday as part of Homecoming Weekend, Mr. VanderBrug and Mr. Milton assembled a tribute to our alumni, turning physical snippets of LCA’s legacy into collages currently displayed in the school entryway. These pieces of the past have drawn in our writers to put to paper the fascinating context of the mementos and their significance.

“Who are we? LCA!”

How did those who walked before us forge the path that we now walk on? This is the question we ask ourselves, taking the captured moments and piecing them together, hoping to find identities that provide us with an explanation of who we are. What is Lexington Christian Academy — a building, a people, a name, a mission?

Things change. In 1965 the location changed from Boston to Lexington, and the name changed from Christian High School to Lexington Christian Academy. New people fill the halls each and every year, and every 10 or so years very few of the same faces will remain. None of these are constants.

Except the mission.

But are we driven by the same dream? Do we believe the same as the class of 1950, the pioneers of an education preparing students to be lanterns, beacons of light for those around? LCA isn’t built on a people, a building, or a name, but an idea. An idea that stewed in the mind of Boston Christian High School founder Elizabeth Evans and 70 years later continues to stew in the minds of our leaders. An idea nurtured by faculty and staff designing an outlet for young adults with firecrackers for minds, curious and creative, unique and unmatched.

LCA is an incubator for world-changers. Students become leaders, mentors, and teachers. This idea is that of an education that focuses on cultivating not only the academic person, but the whole — the spiritual, physical, and mental — of every boy and girl transitioning into adulthood. During this time, the foundation for the rest of our lives is laid — how we think, act, and respond to life. At LCA this foundation is solid, built with sincere values, the body of Jesus Christ as one family, knowing what hope is secured for the future. Truth, Partnership, Respect, Honesty, Excellence and Glorifying God aren’t just words but characteristics which our community aids each student in the development of; they are cornerstones ingrained into the identity of each graduate as representatives of the mission. That mission can be found on the walls of every classroom and on the website:

Lexington Christian Academy is an independent college preparatory school that exists to educate young men and women in the arts and sciences in the context of a complete commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why does LCA exist? Why do we the students groggily roll out of bed every weekday morning between 5 and 7 AM to sit half-awake in hours of classes, often feeling destitute of freedom? Because of what we aspire to become: educated young men and women, artists, scientists, completely committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, prepared for college and beyond.

As we look back through time in the lobby, captivated by the events of the past that put us where we are now, we thank God for making it all possible. Without the love and support constantly poured into the atmosphere, from 1946 to 2018, thousands of young people in the world who have been touched by LCA would remain as untapped potential, unused ability, and undeveloped character.

The photos, newspaper clippings, and playbills strewn across the walls of the lobby feature many familiar and unfamiliar faces and names to all of us. We read inscriptions written by students thanking teachers in the 1970s, and, because we don’t know that teacher’s impact personally, we can’t say we understand. But he or she undoubtedly shaped the ground we walk on today. Ms. Elizabeth Evans, although I had never heard of her before this week, has made it possible for me to call LCA my weekday home, as I am entrusted in the hands of the teachers who now roam the halls. The teachers of the 1970s left their mark on the students of the 1970s, just as our current teachers leave their marks on us, and in the same way, we will always remember the gifts they have imparted to us.

And of course, the rest is pure nostalgic glory; the varsity jackets, cheer uniforms, yearbooks, and other memorabilia draped about the room turn back the clock for a few precious moments as we gaze into their eyes and relive an era we never knew. For alumni and many faculty, it feels like it was just yesterday that they smiled for the camera, dribbled down the court, and tossed their caps in the air, preparing for departure. I imagine the experience to be similar to the way E.B. White puts it — “like the revival of an old melodrama that I had seen long ago with childish awe” — for those who have graduated years ago and now return to step back into adolescence and savor the memories. This past homecoming weekend, many alumni roamed the halls of their high school once again — and meanwhile, the current students continued to make history, smiling for the cameras, dribbling down the field, knowing that one day we will stand in their shoes and reminisce together on the sweet years of our youth.