Calvary players hoist the championship trophy for the Select, Division III Softball State Tournament at Frasch Park in Sulphur, La., Saturday, April 27, 2024. Calvary Baptist Academy has reached a record of 1,000 students enrolled, and Superintendent Chad McDowell said it’s due to their teachers, staff and the Lord’s guidance.
McDowell said they’ve seen growth in the number of students for years; this is the seventh consecutive year they’ve had an uptick. He said they welcomed 112 new students from 1st through 12th grade. “We’re winning in all aspects,” McDowell said.
Calvary is known to be very competitive athletically, but McDowell said that the students are held to very high academic standards, and they have to win there first. Devin Harper, James Simon and Abram Wardell were selected to The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate for football, but according to McDowell, “We’re going to win in everything we do.” He said the athletics speak for themselves, but the real magic is between 8 a.
m. and 3 p.m.
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“Our teachers are among the best of the best,” McDowell said. The student-to-teacher ratio is small enough that the Calvary teachers can build bonds with the students beyond just academics, which is part of what makes Calvary different, McDowell told The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate. “We don’t have perfect students,” McDowell said.
“They’re not better than any other students from public or private schools, but they are different when they are on campus.” Even with the increased number of students, McDowell found time to take a picture of every single new student during the first few days of school before posting it to He said the community of parents, teachers, support staff, facilities team, administrators, church staff and students is great because they all believe in investing in something they value, like high-quality education and the Lord. There is a waitlist now for enrollment in Calvary, but the school is currently at capacity.
“I have heard people describe the CBA experience in a lot of great ways, but one that circles back to my mind often as I walk through the halls and see everyone smiling, waving, high-fiving and genuinely happy to be at school is the word bizarre,” McDowell wrote on Facebook. “It should be the norm in every school, but we all know it's not. So, I just enjoy it every single day, shake my head in amazement, and say ‘thank you, Lord,’ over and over again for His blessings on CBA.
I look around the campus and find myself all day long saying 'How Ya' Gonna Beat That?'”.
