In the year 2000, the founder, Goldie H Burge founded her first school in Laveen, AZ. It was a Life Science-Based K-12 Charter school filled with Farm animals, gardening and expeditions. This hands-on, experiential learning environment, teaching to the “whole child” and learning through all modalities: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Tactile facilitated students of all backgrounds to become successful learners and productive citizens. The expeditions expanded from Arizona, across all 48 states in the US, to Costa Rica, Panama and Belize. The benefits garnered from these expeditions not only enhanced student learning in the content areas of History, Science and Geology, but the social and emotional gains were tremendous. The expeditions into the rainforests of Costa Rica, the marine experiences in Belize and the Indigenous Tribal interactions in Panama were life-changing for all who attended. Low-income minority students and students with Special Needs were blossoming by learning in such a multi-sensory, real-life manner that they were graduating at the top of their class and receiving full scholarships statewide.                                                                                                                                                                                   

       As time passed, alumni revisited the school and relayed to Mrs. Burge that college was boring and they really missed all the hands-on learning and the expeditions. A light went on her head and the idea of opening a College was born. The many Biological Research Stations owned by the Burges sat empty all year except for the once -a-year expeditions scheduled for the students. Mrs. Burge felt these had been so perfect for her students, that they should be utilized by college-level students the rest of the year for both in-depth field studies and research.  The extensive opportunities offered to both Education and Natural Science majors on the campus, across AZ and abroad in Panama, Belize and Costa Rica were endless. Not to mention connections in Italy, Africa, and more.

     So, the work began and the opening of the College of Science and Education in the Fall semester 2025 became a reality. The Laveen, AZ campus offers: A Barnyard full of over 100 farm animals, greenhouses and gardens, its own ZooQuarium Museum filled with exotic, non-domesticated living animals (over 100 species) and marine life (fresh and salt-water) along with hundreds of museum-preserved animal specimens which inhabit the Biomes displayed in the museum: Deserts and Grasslands, Mountainous Regions, Rainforests, and the Marine Worlds. Hands-on touch tanks, an Interactive Amphitheater, Biology and Chemistry Labs, Entomology Collections, a movie theater and even a Dinosaur Lab complete with Dinosaurs and fossil collections. Outdoor animal habitats boast, macaws, 28 species of breeding tortoises/turtles, with more to come. College Science students will be immersed in real live Labs and field studies, both on the campus and in many of the CSE Biological Field Stations in AZ, the United States, Costa Rica and Belize.

      The existing K-12 charter school serves as a living functioning Lab school for all Education majors as well as all the expeditions, where students will learn how to teach through hands-on, experiential and discovery methodologies, known in research to be the most effective for all students, including special needs and the gifted. College Education majors will be able to be in real classrooms, trying out lessons and being mentored in these innovative teaching methods.             Experience a college environment filled with God’s beautiful animals and plants, based in Christian principles and Faith and learn through “real life” experiences. God’s earth and people will be opened to you and through experiences and expeditions, you will discover who you are, your place in the world and God’s purpose for your life!