After opening its doors to students and their families on Sept. 8, 2025, ATLAS Ministry celebrated the first anniversary of its new learning center in Greensboro by reflecting on a year marked by expanded programming, new partnerships, and increased opportunities to serve Greene County children and their families.
“Our donors’ investment didn’t simply build a building,” ATLAS Ministry CEO Ryan Gibadlo said. “It created capacity for more students, deeper programming, new partnerships, and opportunities we simply could not have pursued before.”
The learning center’s impact has extended far beyond what the organization initially envisioned.
During the past school year, seven full-time ATLAS programs operated from the new learning center, serving more than 525 children. Now, during the first semester of the 2026-27 school year, 451 children are already enrolled in ATLAS programs at the new facility.
“We want to personally thank everyone who answered the call to support this vision,” ATLAS Development Director Lisa Brondyke said. “It is because of their generosity that we were able to serve over 525 students in this building alone this past school year and expand our programs to serve additional middle and high school students at our South Main Street campus.”
ATLAS also partnered with The Oconee Performing Arts Society (OPAS) and Greene County Elementary School to provide opt-in music classes to kindergarten through fifth-grade students at the ATLAS Learning Center during their school day. The learning center houses a new OPAS piano lab, allowing students to attend piano classes taught by Amy Reber. Students can also attend lessons in hand drums, dance, or agriculture as other enrichment classes.
Beyond music, ATLAS Christian Learning Classes offer Bible courses to interested students. The program currently welcomes more than 250 elementary students across its various offerings and anticipates serving nearly 400 by the end of the school year.
The facility also provides room for ATLAS Academy to grow to 90 students, with kindergarten through fifth-grade learning under one roof. Sixteen small reading rooms provide space for individualized instruction, allowing students to receive support tailored to their specific learning needs.
The additional space strengthened ATLAS’s summer programming, too. During a six-week Leadership Summit, 60 high school students were trained and equipped to lead three sessions of 120 children each week through a discipleship- focused camp experience.
With the expanded facility, campers also participated in a wide range of hands-on activities, including woodworking, horseback riding, culinary skills, wilderness and survival skills, fishing and boating, dance, cheer, art, and swimming.
Additionally, through its first year, the ATLAS Learning Center hosted full-length productions of Junie B. Jones the Musical and The Wizard of Oz through The Arts Barn and OPAS, as well as FCA Nights of Worship, school graduations and award ceremonies, and community events including Lake Oconee Builders Association meetings and United Way Days of Caring.
“This building has become more than an ATLAS facility. It has become a place where our community comes together,” Brondyke said. “We never could have anticipated the collaboration capacity this facility would provide.”
— Contributed