Foundation Christian Academy ‘Falcons Nest’ to serve more than 100 preschoolers

Published 6:10 am Friday, August 1, 2025

By David Horowitz

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Foundation Christian Academy board members, teachers, local officials and construction project leaders cut a ribbon to officially open the school’s new Falcons Nest preschool building on Thursday, July 31, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS

DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

 

The Foundation Christian Academy on Thursday celebrated the opening of its $6 million, 22,000-square-foot state-of-the-art preschool facility.

The Falcons Nest – also known as the G.H. Baker Building, named after longtime board member Garnet Holmes Baker – will serve 128 students, with a capacity of 160 students, FCA President David Pahman said. The academy unveiled the facility at a Thursday ribbon-cutting with numerous families and academy members as well as Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott, and Mark Lord from Rep. Brett Guthrie’s Office. Much gratitude was expressed to supporters – donors, the academy team members and community, architects, contractors and many others.

The Division of Regulated Childcare has given the greenlight on the building, Preschool Director Lorie Baker said. Students begin Aug. 7, Pahman said. The facility will allow the academy to serve 14 more preschool students and free up space across campus so it can eventually serve 150 more students, he added. It also adds places where staff can meet more comfortably and have more staff-related trainings, Baker added.

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The facility is state of the art, Pahman said.

“Every step of the way, every part of the design of this building was designed with kids in mind,” Pahman said.

The academy held the event in a large main room that’ll serve the children during chapel and lunch as well as during recess when weather’s too hot or cold, Pahman said.

A key feature is its wide hall, classrooms along either side, adorned with local additions such as tributes to The Capitol and Fire House No. 3. It also doubles as a storm shelter that holds around 380, Pahman said.

The lobby was built with bulletproof glass and bulletproof sheetrock, he said, and there’s access control throughout the building and campus.

The playground features interactive, modern equipment with a natural play area, he said.

The administrative wing, with a board conference room, will assist FCA in its growth through the years and houses admissions, financial fundraising and the president’s office, Pahman said.

The academy, at 2480 Three Springs Road, also added a third lane for traffic that’ll extend all the way to the back of campus to pull more cars off of Three Springs Road during morning dropoff and afternoon pickup.

The facility, which will have a one-to-10 teacher-student ratio, has room for 18 more preschoolers, Pahman said. And while multiple grades have been full in the past, the expansion has allowed for some openings across most of the academy’s grades, he said.

Lee Duff recalled when she and another became the academy’s first teachers. They had taught 22 kindergarten students in 1996. These days, the academy serves around 500 students preschool through 12th grade.

“It’s like a dream come true,” she said.

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