President Jack Haye often opens the semester with a speech to remind students that academic excellence means nothing without spiritual growth. "If you graduate from PHC with a 4.0 GPA but without having grown in your relationship with Christ, we  have failed," he tells the student body. PHC's mission is to grow great leaders for Christ, and we can't do that without first growing students in Christ. 

The rigor of our classes forces students to work hard to achieve success, but our students are not merely called to a higher academic standard. They are also called to a broader academic standard. The 63-credit core introduces students to every element of the classical liberal arts education: history, philosophy, government, theology, science, rhetoric, language, and apprenticeships.

Our core is "Classical" in that it is founded on the great texts and ideas that have stood the test of time and experience, starting with the Holy Scriptures. Importantly, the American founders studied and lived by the great ideas found in these texts. The term "Liberal Arts" represents an education for a free people.

High academic rigor is one of PHC's three distinct qualities. We "promote academic excellence through the leadership of highly-qualified faculty; a robust classical liberal arts curriculum with a rigorous common core and upper-division apprenticeships; high-caliber academic facilities; and an outstanding library." In fact, it is one of our two major focuses as an institution: "[we focus] both on academic excellence and spiritual growth, emphasizing both the life of the mind and the life of the Christian faith." But of course, the Christian flag flies higher than the academic flag, for our strength comes from Him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Everything we do, we seek to do it in the name of the Lord, and whether we fail or succeed, we lay it all at His throne.

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Click below to read about PHC's unique blend of three distinctives!