The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
1973 – present
Founded: Blackhawk Christian was established in 1973 by David Jeremiah for the children of Blackhawk Baptist Church and the northeast side of Fort Wayne. The church itself dated to 1969, first housed in two modular trailers on East State Boulevard, and church and school remain one ministry: there is no legal distinction between them, and every school staff member is paid by the church corporation. The school opened at East State Boulevard and Lahmeyer Road with 33 students in pre-kindergarten through grade four, taught by its first full-time teachers, Aida Toffolo and Happy Walts, and ended its first year with 39.
The campus: The school sits at 7400 East State Boulevard and grew there rather than moving. A gymnasium and library were built in 1975-76, a high school addition opened in March 1993, and construction in 2016-17 added six classrooms, an auxiliary gym and a full kitchen. The site is spoken of as a North Campus and a South Campus; recent work includes a South Campus Fine Arts Wing completed in 2024-25 and North Campus gym and lobby renewal.
Growth: The school added one grade at a time and reached twelfth grade in 1980-81, when the class of 1981 became its first graduates and enrollment stood at 302. Its own year-by-year history counts 112 students in 1974-75, 193 in 1976-77, a dip in 1981-82 that the school ties to the poor economy as Harvester left the area, 476 in 1993-94, 818 in 2019-20 and 949 in kindergarten through grade twelve in 2024-25. With its Preschool Academy the school counts 1,065 students in 2025-26.
The name: No source in the school's or the church's own material explains why the name Blackhawk was chosen in 1969, and no connection to Chief Black Hawk is documented; the record carries the question as open. The teams are the Braves: the colors blue and gold and the Braves nickname date to 1976-77, the school retired a mascot figure called Loco Joe in 2002-03 while keeping the name, and in 2020-21 the board voted to stop using the hatchet in the Braves logo.
Programs: The stated mission is to prepare hearts and minds to serve Christ, through academic excellence, a Biblical foundation and a Christ-centered community. A STEM program added in 2020-21 uses Project Lead The Way and NASA Ed materials and hosts a National Inventors Hall of Fame summer camp. In that same year the school became accredited by ACSI and Cognia while remaining an Indiana Freeway school, a triple accreditation it describes as a first in its history.
Athletics: Boys basketball has won three IHSAA state championships: the 2019 Class 1A title, 60-43 over Barr-Reeve at 28-2 under Marc Davidson; the 2021 Class 2A title, 55-40 over Parke Heritage; and the 2023 Class 2A title, 52-45 over Linton-Stockton under Matt Roth. Girls volleyball has won two state titles, in 2016 and in 2022, the second a five-set Class 1A win over Tecumseh under Anne Boyer. The school reports that its first football season came in 2022-23, with an eight-man title, and a first boys soccer state title in 2025-26; those two are carried as the school reports them.
Today: Blackhawk Christian serves preschool through grade twelve on the city's east side, with more than 100 faculty and staff. Its Head of Schools is Kevin Newbry, in the post since 2019-20.
Sources:
- Blackhawk Christian School, History page: the founding, campus growth, enrollment series, mascot history and accreditations.
- Blackhawk Ministries, Elder Board letter: the single-ministry structure and the 1969 church founding.
- Indiana State Board of Education, Freeway accreditation summary, 1 August 2012: the school's purpose and governance.
- Indiana High School Athletic Association: the three boys basketball titles and the two girls volleyball titles.
- Blackhawk Christian School, Administration and Head of School pages: Kevin Newbry and the present enrollment.
- FairHaven Funeral Home, Aida R. Toffolo obituary, February 2026: the first school, its teachers and the 1,065 students.