Riverside Christian School is Yakima's largest Protestant school, a PreK-12 program of about 330 to 380 students at 721 Keys Road on the east side of the city. It opened in 1973 as West Side Christian School, a ministry of West Side Baptist Church under Rev. Hal Campbell and founding principal Richard D. Lyon, with 35 students. The school occupied a campus on Summitview Avenue from 1981 until 2007, when it moved to the current site and took the Riverside name.
In the Yakima Valley the private options sort by tradition: Riverside is the evangelical school that runs preschool through 12th grade on one campus, while La Salle High School in Union Gap is the Catholic alternative for grades 9-12 and the valley's Adventist and parish schools generally stop at eighth grade. Riverside's 13:1 student-teacher ratio and single-campus continuity are its main draws; the tradeoff is a 1B-sized high school, which limits advanced coursework and athletic depth compared with Yakima's large public high schools.
The school earned full accreditation from the Association of Christian Schools International in 2007 and also holds Cognia accreditation, and it belongs to the Washington Federation of Independent Schools. The Crusaders, in navy and gold, compete in the WIAA's 1B classification within District Six, offering soccer, basketball, cross country, baseball, golf, cheer, volleyball, and track and field. The school's motto is "Rooted in Christ...Ready for Tomorrow," and it admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.
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