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Mount Pisgah Christian School seeks to double campus size By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
PHOTOS BY YVONNE DAVID/PROVIDED
Partners of The Pippin Project stand together after a day of collecting electronics in November 2022, the nonprofit’s last recycling event. Yvonne David, founder of The Pippin Project, worked with Alpharetta-based Green Cell, HaulDash and eCloud Recycle for a series of technology drives.
The Pippin Project closes digital divide By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — When students were forced to learn remotely amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Yvonne David realized that some students would lose what has become necessary to succeed in the world DAVID — computers. While her two sons used school-issued devices, she and her husband worked from home on their computers. But, in other households, she knew the situation was more precarious. “It became so crystal clear to me that this is something that maybe we can do something about,” David said. So, David founded The Pippin Project, a nonprofit that refurbishes old computers and gifts them to those who can’t otherwise afford them — even in Johns Creek, an affluent city with a
To donate to The Pippin Project, visit thepippinproject.org. median household income of more than $153,000, according to 2022 U.S. Census data. After forming connections with school social workers, David has provided around two dozen computers to students at Chattahoochee High School each year since 2021 and close to 30 to students at Decatur High School in her first year. David is originally from the Netherlands, where she earned her master’s degree in sociology of developing nations. The education system is much different there, she said, with cheaper tuition and easier inroads to obtain an advanced degree.
See PIPPIN, Page 21
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Mount Pisgah Christian School, along Nesbit Ferry Road, plans to add more than 20 acres to its existing campus, and its neighbors say they’re concerned about how the build-out will affect their quality of life. Civil engineer Kenneth Wood described details of the project to a small crowd at the April 4 Zoning Public Participation Meeting at City Hall. The audience included homeowners in neighboring subdivisions, like Chartwell and St. Regis, as well as parents of students at Mount Pisgah. The 123,662-square-foot proposal includes a performing arts center, a swimming facility, a curriculum enhancement building, two new academic buildings, an existing house to be renovated and six outdoor tennis courts. Plans also call for additional parking, increasing spaces from 274 to 574. “Looking at the campus in general that’s there today, it's totally maxed out,” Wood said. Like the existing campus, Wood said the expansion would not change the existing agricultural zoning. Rather, the property would require a special-use permit.
See PISGAH, Page 23
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Chris Harmon, head of school at Mount Pisgah Christian School, explains plans to mitigate traffic to accommodate the school’s proposed 123,662-square-foot expansion at the April 4 Zoning Public Participation Meeting at Johns Creek City Hall.