Faith and science are coming together as the focus of a new lab being built by a local Christian school.

After hours of planning and designing, one local school is excited to break ground on a new construction project. 

Linden Christian School (LCS) has outgrown their current science lab and is planning an expansion to meet the needs of their growing student body.

"We are so incredibly excited," says Joel Kulik, a high school science teacher at LCS. "We've been working all year, designing. Hundreds and hundreds of hours have been put into this."

The state-of-the-art science facility has been designed to meet both the current and future needs of LCS students.

Currently, LCS uses a much smaller science lab, built 19 years ago during a time when the school was much smaller. Now with 950 students, the need for a more elaborate and advanced lab set-up is very apparent.

"We're going to have full gas of course, state-of-the-art technology integration within the lab, workspace for the students is going to be increased," Kulik says. "It's going to allow us to be more interactive with our programming and just expand the experiences that we can provide for our students."

Demolition of two classrooms to make room for the construction began on May 1, with the expected completion date for the project set for September 1, 2018.

Kulik hopes that the building of this new lab will result in new potential for student projects and experiments that would not have been possible in their old facilities. A long-term project area is one way this hope will be realized.

"As a teacher... I have a list of things that I'd like to do but we just haven't had the facilities or space to do that."

The importance of a strong science program in a Christian learning environment is clear.

Principal and CEO of LCS, Robert Charach, says that the new science lab really ties into their vision for the school.

"We are committed to excellence in what we do, we are committed to teaching from a biblical worldview," Charach says. "The space is definitely needed because our space is growing... so we want to be able to offer options. The driving part of this is we want to encourage students in their passion and love of science, teaching from a biblical worldview, and encourage these students to take roles of leadership."

Most importantly, LCS believes in emphasizing the connection between faith and science through their science program and hopes the new lab will serve to realize this goal further.

"There's this idea that [faith and science] are in opposition to each other, but actually when you believe that there's a creator, and order, and that science is a tool to discover that... it shows there is a creative designer behind everything that happens," says Charach.

"We had a student say that studying science is like studying the mind of God, or it's the language of God," shared Kulik. "For students to realize that more in the real world context within their hands-on experience in the lab, for us, and for me personally, that's what really hits home about this. It really allows them just to see the work of God."

The cost of the new lab will total $765,000. They hope to complete the project fully-funded without incurring further debt for the school.

Charach says with over 90 per cent of students who graduate from LCS entering into post-secondary studies, and a growing trend over the past few years of students pursuing sciences in their university studies, the new science lab will be a great way to accommodate the growing demand.

The lab is expected to be used primarily by high school chemistry and biology students.