Christian School Revels in Sound of Silence : Education: Ironwood academy is nestled in the Cady Mountains of the Mojave Desert, where vistas could make many believe in God. It has 27 students and four teachers.

It’s one of the most remote schools in Southern California, nestled in the Cady Mountains of the Mojave Desert, at the end of a 3 1/2-mile dirt road.

“I wanted a wilderness setting for the school, in the middle of nowhere,” said Walt Brock, 47, founder and principal of Ironwood Christian Academy.

The school has 27 students, 17 from kindergarten through sixth grade, six in junior high and four in high school. There are four teachers.

Parents organize carpools for the students. The average driving distance is 22 miles, with some coming from as far away as Baker, 45 miles to the northeast.

Classes are held in a blocklong collection of false-front frame structures that look like an old Western town movie set.

“We stress quality education with a strong emphasis on the three R’s, Bible studies and development of character traits,” said Brock, an ordained Baptist minister. He and the small faculty are all graduates of Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C.

Ironwood, a member of the American Assn. of Christian Schools, sits amid scenery that would make many people believe in God. The vistas are spectacular--miles and miles of open desert, valleys and mountains without a sign of human habitation.

Bobcat tracks dot the school grounds. Coyotes howl outside classrooms. Mallards and Canadian geese flutter in the water and sun themselves on the school’s lake.

Old Indian trails and petroglyphs--prehistoric rock carvings--are within easy walking distance, as are other natural attractions.

“We have our own eight-acre lake to swim, fish and canoe in, 30 registered quarter horses to ride as part of our P.E. program, trails to hike, mountains to climb,” Brock said.

Brock said he bought the 185-acre campus in the raw desert to establish a Christian camp and was encouraged by people in the area to start a private school as well. He said the name was inspired by the Ironwood mesquite, a hardy bush that “you can mold, shape and direct and will not bend under pressure when it gets older.”

The school has been operating since 1980. Tuition is $1,350 a year for kindergarten through 6th grades, and $1,500 for 7th through 12th grades.

“Parents who enroll their children have to sacrifice not only money for tuition, but the long and difficult drive to drop off and pick up their kids every day,” observed Genny Benson, 36, vice principal and teacher here for the last nine years.

“Although this is a small school with few students, our kids leave here and go on to college doing as well and often better than many students from large urban schools,” Benson added.

Nearly all of the 14 graduates to date have gone on to college and some have earned master’s degrees, noted Brock. This year, there are no seniors.

Sabrina Wright, 16, one of two high school juniors, lives 10 miles away in Newberry Springs, the nearest town and the school’s mailing address.

“This is my second year at Ironwood,” she said. “I’m learning much more than I did at the public high school I attended. The teachers here have time for you. They make sure you understand.”

In addition to the school, Ironwood offers a Christian camping program that attracts upwards of 2,000 boys and girls--and parents at father-son and mother-daughter programs--each year. Campers live on the grounds for one to two weeks in cabins and bunkhouses.

“Our campers come here to this clean, clear, crisp air from all over the West,” Brock said. “They listen to the coyotes howl, wake up in the middle of the night away from the city wondering what they are hearing, and finally realize they’re not hearing anything.”