Mission Oaks Christian School – Merger

Mission Oaks Christian School combined Shawnee Mission Christian School with Oak Grove Baptist School in 1996.  The new mascot was the hawk, and the school colors were purple and silver. The junior/senior high campus was at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas.  Mr. Jim Collogan was the administrator and high school principal. The elementary campus was located at Olivet Baptist Church in Westwood, Kansas, and Mrs. Marlena Zink was the elementary principal. Galen Collins and SherryAnn Vermillion drove a bus between the two campuses to help families who had students at both locations.  The following yearbook pages from that first-year help to explain the merger: 

Teachers from both schools joined to form the new staff of MOCS; from Oak Grove Baptist: Dennis and Corrie Stone, Marsha Smith, Susan Lehmann, Breck Appell,  and from Shawnee Mission: Carolyn Cox, Pauletta Salmon, Becky Guess, Nancy Durham, Lenny Proch, Sandy Stone, and Kevin Stone. It is interesting to note that Kevin Stone was in the first graduating class of SMCS in 1983, and prior to the merger, he had returned as a teacher. He also began writing plays and directed them, both at SMCS and MOCS. The first graduating class had 19 seniors.
​
The following year Mr. Collogan was called to serve at Faith Baptist Bible College.  Thankfully, four qualified teachers stepped in to help lead the school through the rest of that year. 

Then, in 1998, Mr. Dennis Chapman became the new administrator.  He was able to help the school in many ways; however, he only stayed for one year.  During the “turn of the century school year” (1999-2000), two men, Lenny Proch and Dennis Stone, hoping to bring stability to the leadership, became principals over the two campuses.  The teachers of MOCS worked tirelessly to educate students, both academically and spiritually. Sadly, in 2001 the school closed.

But…parents at Olivet Baptist Church didn’t want to lose a school, no matter what it would take.