Having built schools over the past decade, ParagonED Owner Chase Eskelsen decided it was time to build near him where his children could attend.

ParagonED is a private K-12 school set to open Sept. 12. The school revolves around three basic principles: critical life skills, career experiences and Kingdom values.

“We're just looking at taking an innovative approach to have students engage in all those areas,” Headmaster Dr. Jill Hollander said. “We have something called interlacED learning that really integrates all those different components into our core content classes.”

Critical life skills:

• Going beyond traditional education
• Teaches students practical skills for after school
• Includes cooking classes, how to balance a checkbook, how to do taxes and more

Career experiences:

• Equips students with soft skills to start jobs after graduation
• Ensures students graduate with a resume and prepared for interviews
• Partners with local Frisco businesses over the course of four weeks to teach students what running a business looks like

Kingdom values:

• Helps students make decisions rooted in faith
• Option to partake in Kingdom-focused courses and attend chapel services
• Provides opportunities to serve the community through service projects

“Are you sitting around with friends or family and someone says, ‘School is not preparing kids for what they need to be successful after high school?’ We started with that premise when coming up with these values,” Eskelsen said.

Despite having these invaluable life skills being integrated into the normal curriculum, ParagonED is still able to keep the cost of schooling very affordable to families.

For full-time students, the cost of tuition is $10,000 per child for the entire school year. Elementary-age students come in for basic curriculum classes Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the morning, and older students come in the same days but in the afternoons. Wednesday and Friday are reserved for field trips, electives and extracurricular classes.

Part-time schooling is an ideal option for homeschooled students. ParagonED works more like a homeschool co-op for part-time students. For students that are interested in only doing part-time schooling or doing individual classes, the cost will vary depending on how many classes are taken or what the classes are.

“Part-time students can still participate in the career activities, and they can still participate in chapel services and things of that nature. Everything is open to our part-time students,” Dr. Hollander said.

For parents who are interested in learning more about ParagonED, there are multiple ways to find out more information.

In-person sessions:

• July 10, 6-7 p.m. at White Rhino Coffee in Frisco
• July 18, 6-7 p.m. at White Rhino Coffee in Frisco
• Aug. 13, 6-7 p.m. at White Rhino Coffee in Frisco
• Aug. 17, 10-11 a.m. at White Rhino Coffee in Frisco

Virtual sessions:

• June 27, 6-7 p.m.
• Aug. 15, 6-7 p.m.

Sessions at Frisco Fresh Market:

• June 29
• July 13
• Aug. 3
• Aug. 10

To find out more about the ParagonED difference, attend one of the information sessions or visit the website for more information.

The above story was produced by Community Impact's Senior Multi Platform Journalist Sierra Rozen with information solely provided by the local business as part of its "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.