Eight students from Carlisle Adventist Christian College (Mackay, Queensland) have graduated in 2019, making them the first cohort to complete their year 12 certificate at the school.
The achievement comes after a long and uncertain history and threats of school closure.
Originally named “Mackay & District Seventh-Day Adventist School” in 1951, the school began as a ministry at Mackay Seventh-day Adventist Church. The high school was added in 1978 thanks to the dedication of local church members.
In 2006, the school relocated to northern Mackay and like many small regional schools, struggled with enrolments. As a result, leadership planned to close the high school in 2010, but thanks to generous church members giving surety for accumulated debt, the school remained open and enrolments began to increase.
From a total of 63 students in 2013, Carlisle now has 261 students enrolled, with more joining next year.
Thanks to the vision of a new principal in 2015, Carlisle’s long-held vision of a year 12 graduating class soon became a reality. Year 11 was added in 2018 and year 12 in 2019.
Carlisle hopes that the 2019 cohort are just the first of many more students to graduate at the school with a year 12 certificate.
