MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake Christian Academy’s new administrator traveled a long way to answer the call.

“I wanted to be a leader in a Christian school,” Laura Fulton said. “I never thought God would open the door all the way over here, but it was wide open and it was just the sign I needed.”

Fulton, who arrived in Moses Lake the last week in July, had never heard of Moses Lake Christian Academy, or even of Moses Lake, until a few months ago. In fact, until she flew out to her first interview this summer, she’d never been farther west than Missouri, she said. Fulton grew up first in Pennsylvania and then in Maryland, she said. Her last job was in New Castle, Delaware, which is within 15 miles of three other states. After that, eastern Washington looked very different.

“I had never seen so much land with nothing,” she said. “From the airport to (Moses Lake) I was like, I need to get gas because I don’t know how far I’m going to be driving without a gas station … I’m from a small town but there’s not so much emptiness in between.”

Christian education has always been Fulton’s focus. She attended a private Christian K-12 school about the same size as MLCA, she said, and all her teaching career has been spent at Christian schools.  At Harvest Christian Academy in New Castle, Fulton was a teacher for six years, then vice principal, and finally for the last four years as principal. Even as principal, she said, she taught English, which meant a lot of time reading and grading essays.

“It ended up being full-time teaching and full-time administration, and it just became too much,” she said. “It was time for a change.”

Fulton has been married for 19 years and has three children, 12, 13 and 15. Her husband and children will stay in Maryland until next summer, flying out for visits when possible, she said. The kids will attend MLCA, and her husband works from home, so the move won’t affect his job. Meanwhile, she found an apartment and is eager to start making a difference.

“I am committed to being here,” she said. I wouldn't have made the cross-country trip if I wasn't going to be committed.”

Fulton particularly wants to put a lot of time and energy into MLCA’s secondary program, she said.

“It just seems it's hard to keep them once they hit 11th and 12th grade,” she said. “(We want to see) what their interests are and what we can do in order to keep them. We have a thriving elementary school and seventh and eighth grade, and even ninth and 10th. Once they get to 11th and 12th, it's hard to keep them because of what options there are out there.”

That’s a problem for a lot of Christian schools, Fulton said, because the last two years of high school need more specialized classes, and the finances just aren’t there. 

She’s encouraged by what’s already been established at MLCA, and by the teachers and staff, who she said are all committed to seeing the school succeed. Not every private school can say that, she said.

“Some are kind of one foot in the door, one foot out the door,” she said. “Everyone I've met here has been both-feet-in, ready to go. It’s the same with the office staff. They are like, ‘How can I help you? What do you need to know?’  It's been a lot to figure out, and I'm still figuring it out and I'll still be figuring it out, but it's really been helpful to have people here who have sat down with me and walked me through how things go.”

Fulton would also like to see preschool hours extended, she said. 

Public schools in Washington pay 45-65 percent better than private Christian schools, according to the employment website Ziprecruiter.  That means teachers at a school like MLCA have to make some sacrifices.

“It is a ministry,” she said. “People who work at a Christian school need to see it as a mission field, because it's never going to pay what public school does. For those who really have a heart for Christian education, there's no better place.”