Hilda Jividen
Innovation Center
We have all had that special teacher, the reminiscence of whom—even decades later—blesses our thoughts and makes our heart smile. If you attended first grade at Cross Lanes Christian School during the first twenty-five years the school was open, you would have been privileged to have had Mrs. Hilda Jividen as your teacher.
Mrs. Jividen instilled in her students a love for learning, a love for God, and a love for others. She modeled excellence and order in every way and expected the same from her students. She required every first grader in each of her classes to memorize the Books of the Bible and Psalm 23. Those who attended Cross Lanes Bible Church witnessed her faithfulness and commitment to serving God in her home church. Her heart loved them as unconditionally as the excellence she required of them academically.
“Never have I known a more diligent, devoted person to her duty as a teacher! Whatever she did, she did with all her might.”
The relationships she formed with her students did not end on the last day of first grade; Mrs. Jividen continued to love on her students through high school and even into adulthood. She lovingly greeted her former first graders when she passed them in the school hallway after they had moved on from her class. She kept a scrapbook with a picture of every student of every class she ever taught, recording their birth dates and details of the paths their lives took beyond high school. She attended their graduations and presented each with her gift of a bookmark she cross-stitched herself and attended their weddings with her gift of a wooden Bible from Jerusalem.
“She was a great teacher who had an impact on the lives of the many students she taught, and teachers as well. She truly loved her students and loved teaching. She was a godly woman who was a wonderful testimony to me.”
Mrs. Jividen met her beloved Savior on March 20, 2019. Continuing her legacy of excellent education and Christian love, Cross Lanes Christian School is proud to present the Hilda Jividen Innovation Center, a vision realized through the prayers, dreams, plans, and labors of many who were directly or indirectly touched by the life of Mrs. Jividen.
About five years ago, a group of alumni and parents of current CLCS students began to brainstorm ideas to improve the school’s aging library. As enthusiasm mounted, ideas poured in and the dream of improving the library soon expanded to include updating the computer lab and combining the two areas into a center for learning and technology. Former students of Mrs. Jividen who were involved in the planning wanted to honor her and continue her legacy of excellent education through the new center.
“She loved those kids and dedicated herself to starting their education as first graders with high expectations and love for Jesus.”
Mrs. Kathy Scarberry, CLCS alumni, former student of Mrs. Jividen and parent of current CLCS students, brought the dreams and ideas to possibilities and designed plans for a new space for technology, creativity, and information for the students of Cross Lanes Christian School. The next step would be to secure funds for the extensive project.
Mrs. Jividen’s family learned of the plans for the center and generously contributed funds. The Warrior Foundation began a campaign to fund the project. The campaign climaxed in early November 2024, coinciding with the Cross Lanes Christian School 50th anniversary Celebration. Donations were collected at the banquet held on November 11, 2023. Additional funds were collected on the Warrior Foundation website. As funding goals approached fulfillment, dreams of construction could become reality.
“Mrs. Jividen was a wonderful Christian educator and a friend to our family that will never be forgotten.”
Before construction on the innovation center could begin, major redesigning of the campus 300 Building was required to provide an area large enough to accommodate both the library and the computer lab. The former library, the computer lab, and a classroom were all completely gutted to make room for the expansive innovation center. Burdette Realty Improvements (BRI), owned by CLCS alumnus, Jon Burdette, began the project in the spring of 2024. The remodeling was completed just before the first day of the 2024/2025 school year, but much work was to be done to furnish and decorate the center.
Mrs. Scarberry, parents, teachers, and students spent many hours assembling furniture for the center. Mrs. Susan Sylvia, CLCS IT Specialist, organized the computer lab, configured all the computers, and installed the software the students would need.
“I remember her being so kind and loving.”
The first official event in the center was the November Parent-Teacher Fellowship, held in a gathering space in the center of the library on November 7, 2024. Those in attendance enjoyed comfortable seating in a bright, spacious but cozy atmosphere with a view of the computer lab on the other side of glass accordion doors that can be opened to combine the two areas. Since then, the center has hosted a WVCEA Discipleship Conference for area Christian school leaders, student club and organization meetings, Kindergarten Preview Day, scheduled middle school discipleship times, Warriors Abroad meetings, regularly scheduled computer and library times, and provided an area for presentation and display of classroom projects. CLCS students meet in the center for keyboarding classes and library time. Our new Introduction to Engineering Design class meets in the computer lab to learn software such as AutoCAD Fusion 360 to create 3D models. The center is equipped with 3D printers for the students’ use.
We are grateful to Mrs. Jividen for the godly impact she made on all those whose lives she touched as a teacher at Cross Lanes Christian School and desire that the center named in her honor would continue her legacy of love for students and passion for education.
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Dr. Steven Ghareeb, with appropriately over-sized, blue-handled scissors, (and with the assistance of daughter, Mariam), cut in half the gold ribbon, officially signifying the completion of the Hilda Jividen Innovation Center. On Friday, May 23, 2025, members of the Warrior Foundation, Burdette Realty Improvements, Administrator Riley, Assistant Administrator Cumberledge, and Pastor Edwards gathered outside the glass doors leading from the center to commemorate the official completion of the Hilda Jividen Innovation Center.
The building renovations were finished before the 2024-2025 school year began, but a few details needed to be finalized before the project was considered fully completed. The center was utilized for classes, meetings, conferences, and other events throughout the school year. We are thankful for the many hours of labor and love given by all those who have helped to make this vision a reality for our school.
