A Christian high school has plenty of space for more students in Penn Hills.

Redeemer Lutheran High School relocated from the nearby Redeemer Elementary campus to a new school building exclusively for grades 9-12.

Freshman Quincy Davis of Penn Hills is happy to have a school solely catering to teenagers, instead of small children.

“I like being around high-schoolers,” said Davis, a first-year student. “It’s welcoming.”

Gail Holzer, executive director at Redeemer Lutheran High School, serves as administrator on campus, which is home to 45 students.

The school began as a preschool 40 years ago in Oakmont and is still in operation, with two additional campuses, including the preschool in Oakmont.

In 2011, Redeemer Lutheran added high school grades at the request of parents, and most of the school relocated to Idaho Street in Penn Hills, serving a total of about 180 students.

The high school students shared the campus until last August, when the school leased the former St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church on Dawn Drive in Penn Hills.

St. Gerard opened in 1964. The building features a finished basement, multiple classrooms and a large sanctuary.

Redeemer Lutheran Church purchased the building, and the high school leases it from the church.

“This building gives us the opportunity to grow our high school and give the students a separate space as high-schoolers,” Holzer said.

Joyce Hanz | TribLive Redeemer Lutheran High School students (from left) Michaelina Andrae, Jordan Mitchell and Quincy Davis gather Tuesday outside a classroom at the school’s new location in Penn Hills.  

The high school is accredited by the Middle States Association. Its mascot is Redeemer Rams.

All religious denominations are accepted for admission.

“It’s a big change and I like it. We have space for ourselves, as high-schoolers,” said Emenet Richardson of Penn Hills, a senior planning to attend college to study nursing. We have lots of room now and classrooms that are unoccupied.”

“I’d like to see enrollment grow to 100,” Holzer said.

School activities and programs include National Honor Society, an honors curriculum, student council, dual credit and college credit, robotics, fine arts, missions, student clubs and an award-winning musical theater program.

Sports offered include soccer, cross country, basketball and volleyball.

Tuition is just over $7,000 per year.

The school plans to construct a full-sized gymnasium next year.

Students are bused in from 16 school districts, including Fox Chapel Area, Gateway, Deer Lakes, Shaler, Pittsburgh Public Schools and Penn Hills.

Senior Jacob Hudzinski said, although he enjoyed hanging out with the younger Redeemer students at the other campus, having a separate high school now provides benefits.

“It’s nice to have devotions now in the morning together in the sanctuary,” Hudzinski said. “And we all have lunch together now instead of eating in our classrooms at the other school. The extra space is great.”

Hudzinski is one of nine seniors this school year.

“It’d be nice to see enrollment grow. They have the space now — and even areas we aren’t using now,” said Hudzinski, who plans to study data science at Duquesne University.

Jordan Mitchell, a freshman from Monroeville, likes the increased space but misses the younger students.

“I actually miss helping out the younger students at the other campus, but it’s nice to have the space now since we were a little cramped over there, Mitchell said.

Sophomore Michaelina Andrae of Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood is thrilled to attend classes in a new building.

“It gives us a sense of identity, and we don’t feel like we’re in middle school like before,” Andrae said.

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