School History

Ascension Academy began as the shared vision of a group of concerned parents and educators in the 1990s. These individuals recognized the need for an independently-run secondary school that would provide a safe, nurturing, faith-respecting, and academically-challenging environment for young people in the Amarillo metro and surrounding area. After years of planning and preparation, the Ascension Academy Board of Regents welcomed the school’s first group of students in September of 2000. For six years the school operated in a temporary structure located adjacent to Southwest Baptist Church. 

In August 2006, Ascension Academy moved into its permanent facility just west of 45th and Soncy on 41 acres of land donated by the Marsh and Sobieski families. The facility encompasses more than 40,000 square feet of instructional and student activity space situated on a 41-acre campus. Future plans envision the creation of athletic fields and the addition of a performing arts center, along with expansions of the classroom building to accommodate an enrollment of up to 315 students.

Ascension Academy could not exist without the tireless energy and forward thinking of its founders and without the generosity of many of the Panhandle’s philanthropic families. The school is especially indebted to the generosity of Joseph H. and Arlene Pool, whose investment in its facilities and programs have been indispensible to the success of the school. The Lamberger Trust account, established in 2005, has helped the school underwrite its annual Board of Regents’ Scholarship competition.

As Ascension marks the end of its first decade serving students in the Panhandle it looks forward to continued growth and development in the years to come. With steady annual increases in the school’s enrollment will come the addition of new academic and extracurricular programs as well as the expansion of the facility and development of the campus. Plans are being made for a performing arts center, high school wing, athletic fields and gymnasium addition. 

Ascension Academy has, in a short period of time, developed into one of the Panhandle’s most well-respected institutions of learning for students driven by a passion for learning and an ambition to excel in college. The next chapter of the school’s history promises to see the fulfillment of the vision first conceive by those forward-thinking parents whose commitment to the future of young people has helped change the world, one student at a time.