One to One

Walking through the halls at CCS is like walking in a Christmas wonderland. All the classrooms are decorated with handmade decorations from students. The rotunda has a beautiful display trees and decorations thanks to Kristin Price and others. With the constant reminder that it is Christmastime, the students are counting down the days until Christmas break. With all the bustle of the holidays, it's easy to forget about people who are in need. One way that the students at CCS look outside themselves is participating with the student council in partnering with the Muskegon Rescue Mission in a program called “One to One”.

“One to One” is a great opportunity for students from our school to show God's love in our own community. The leadership team at the Muskegon Rescue Mission has been praying specifically for a group who would help them provide gifts for children who have been living at the mission this past year. This year, the mission will be providing gifts for about 100 children that is why it is so important that we all participate in this. For some kids, this will be the only Christmas presents they receive. Each student, K-12, is asked to bring in a present for someone who is their age and gender. I saw many different kinds of presents around the trees this year like basketballs, clothes, toy cars, and blankets.

It was really neat to see the elementary kids walking around and placing their presents under the tree. It's important to expose them to thinking outside themselves, even at a young age. I think that “One to One” is a great way for the students to see that people are hurting even in our own community and how there are many ways we can show them God’s love, even if it’s just as simple as getting a present for a child.

- Natalie Kapanka, Senior

Christmas in Spanish class

Christmas time is coming! You know what that means! Eating cookies, decorating everything, and Christmas cards! Several of our teachers get us involved with the Christmas spirit!

Mrs. Saum had the sophomores do a project on a Spanish country and how they celebrate Christmas. We each had to draw a slip of paper from a sombrero. The pieces of paper had a country name on it. We had to do some research on the countries traditions for Christmas. We made a poster in Spanish about their Christmas. It helped us learn about other countries instead of just our own.

Mrs. Saum also had us write a letter to somebody is Nicaragua. Mrs. Smiths daughter, Shona, is in Nicaragua. She sent us names of people to write to. We wrote at least one page to the person we were assigned. We made cards for them out of colored paper and different little things. I think that was a really cool thing.

Christmas is a great time of year. It's cheerful and the best thing ever happened several years before during this time. The one who created this world, who created me and you, was born.

Merry Christmas!

- Brittany Chartrand, sophomore

Service With a Smile

As anyone who attends a Calvary Christian Schools basketball game knows, the only thing more important than one of our teams winning is the availability of snacks for us to munch on during the game! We’ve all really enjoyed the candy, chips, popcorn, and pizza that have been a game day staple for us. But things are about to change.

Starting within the next two weeks, the concession tables located by the girl’s locker room will be a thing of the past. According to details worked out by a new parent committee, the plans call for the new concession area to be located in the mezzanine area above the bleachers.

The new location will not only enable the seniors to serve more students and parents in an orderly way, but it will also make it easier to serve different kinds of foods.  Also new to the area will be tables that the fans can sit at to eat and watch the games at the same time! This should help make clean-up of the bleacher area a lot easier.

Some of the new food that will eventually be available to the fans will include all of your current favorites as well as things like chili, hot dogs, chili dogs, and macaroni and cheese. Other things like weekly specials are also being planned as well as theme nights! It really sounds like it might be a great addition to an already fun night of family basketball.

Hopefully the fun and food will not stop there. Warm chocolate chip cookies and ice cream Sundaes would be the perfect way to top off a winning evening! The new plans should help the senior trip as well as giving a few parents a new way to get some task hours.

All in all the new concession area sounds like a winning way to serve all the fans of our winning teams!

- Cory Greeno, Sophomore

Monday Night Basketball

    This past Monday on December 10, 2012, the JV Girls Basketball team and JV Boys Basketball team, and the Varsity Boys Basketball team played extremely well. Thank you to all the fans who came to watch these exciting games!

            The JV Girls Basketball team won their very first game against the Pumas. They were the only team to play Potter’s House that night, and all their preparing for the team was well rewarded! The team is made up of mainly eighth and ninth graders. Our girls play against almost all tenth graders which is quite impressive. Everyone is looking forward to seeing this JV team play more as they continue to improve!

            The JV Boys Basketball team has done great so far this year as well. Although they have yet to win a game, this team shows signs of a great team in the making. Scoring more than thirty points in their very first game of the season, I think we will see signs of improvement quickly throughout the season. Your Calvary Eagles JV Boys team pulled up a few eighth graders which is a huge benefit for them. Playing against bigger, faster, and stronger opponents will benefit the team greatly.

            The Varsity Boys Basketball team had a smashing third game on Monday. They beat Providence by a comfortable amount of points, allowing Coach Warren to have everyone play good minutes in the game. Mike Warren always spices things up by getting a dunk or two, and Mark Carlson loves to hit that far-out three pointer to get the crowd cheering. Everyone on the team contributes in a valuable way. Each player also gets their share of good instruction and discipline from a great coach. Everyone is excited about this team and the things they will accomplish this season!

            Last but not least, I would like to put a word in for our fun CCS cheerleaders. I personally love the candy that they throw to the crowd, and I know the kids on the stands do too! Keep it up Varsity Cheerleaders! 

            Keep supporting your Calvary Christian Basketball teams! As a player, I will say the cheers and encouraging fans in the stands are a HUGE plus to playing the game of basketball at CCS! Thanks again! 

            - Taylor Richards, Sophomore

The Tale of Three Trees

Friday, December seventh, the rotunda was decorated for Christmas by Mrs. Price. The decorations were themed after the book, The Three Trees. Mrs. Price also came in for chapel and read to the book to the kids and explained the significance of the three trees’ purposes.

The first tree wanted to become a treasure chest, and ended up being the manger that held baby Jesus, the greatest treasure it could ever hold.

The second tree wanted to be a great ship that traveled far and carried mighty kings, that tree was the boat that Jesus crossed the see Galilee in. The second tree carried the mightiest king and made the most important voyage it would ever take.

The third and final tree wanted to stay on the mountain top and stand proud and tall pointing the way to heaven for all of its life. The third tree was made into the cross that Jesus was crucified on, and did end up standing proud and tall pointing the way to heaven.

The story of The Three Trees can help remind us of the real meaning of Christmas; Jesus was a gift to us. We should celebrate the birth of Jesus and not focus on the gifts we are going to receive, which is what Christmas has become all about.

This Christmas we should all take time to get away from all the gifts and the big dinner to thank god for giving us His Son. Every time we walk through the rotunda and see the three trees and manger it will remind us of the true purpose of Christmas. We should all thank Mrs. Price for taking the time to come and decorate the rotunda, and for helping us remember the heart of Christmas.

Annie VanTine, Sophomore

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

 It has been a great year of school so far at Calvary Christian School. It's hard to believe that it's already getting to be winter. Once volleyball season ended we went full speed into our winter sport, basketball, and now we are already getting ready for the Christmas season.

A great part about winter at Calvary is getting to decorate the classrooms and make them festive for Christmas. These decorations are not ordinary decorations, they are very special. Many of the classrooms have red and green chains hung from the ceiling, snowflakes covering the walls and windows, and  in Mrs. Saum's room we even have a mistletoe (only for hugging). Each classroom was decorated by the students.

Decorating helps us to have a new excitement going into the classroom. It changes the scenery of an ordinary, boring classroom, into an exciting holiday environment. It gets us all into the Christmas mood. Not only are the classrooms decorated, but the rotunda is decorated beautifully by Kristin Price. She went out and cut down three trees which represent the Christmas story about “The Carol of the Three Trees.”  It's a beautiful reminder of the Meaning of Christmas. With the snow falling outside and the beauty inside, it's hard not to be in the Christmas spirit.

Winter is a very busy time of the year at school. We are getting ready to have our Christmas concert. At the Christmas concert, the sixth grade band, middle school band, and high school band will all be performing. Also, the elementary, middle school, and high school choirs will be singing and performing.

After Christmas, later on in the winter season, we will be getting ready for spirit week. The most fun week of the entire school year.

We are so blessed to have a beautiful school building that we can decorate and enjoy all the wonderful things and events that make the Christmas season at CCS so special.

            Elise Maine, Sophomore

Heritage Kalamazoo Games

On Friday December, 7th the Varsity girls, JV, and Varsity guys all played at Heritage Christian. The JV lost their game, but the Varsity girls and Varsity guys won their games. The JV played a pretty close game but in the end couldn’t recover from their bad start and lost by ten. The Varsity girls won by a lot and had a running clock in the fourth quarter. The Varsity guys won their game by a score of 70-54.

The Varsity guy’s game was a lot closer than it seemed by looking at the score. Both teams had great hustle but in the end Calvary out hustled them from the beginning. Calvary jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter. With junior center Mike Warren having 16 points. The Eagles were relentless and would not stop scoring and they had control of the rebounding aspect of the game, by heavily out rebounding them.

Coach Warren was very pleased with his team’s three block-out fouls, two of which were by sophomore center Isaac Burns. Heritage would go on a scoring run, but every time they would Mike Warren would shut it down with one of his three dunks. Heritage played very hard, but Calvary had an answer for everything that they did and that is why they won the game.       

Isaac Burns, Sophomore

Geography of Jerusalem

The second quarter is the time for the new freshman to pick their own Bible classes. There are three different classes to choose from: World Religions taught by Pastor Eric Strattan of Bridge Bible Church, Geography of Jerusalem taught by Mr. Chandler Collins and The Book of Ephesians taught by Pastor Nate York of Evanston Avenue Baptist Church.

I chose the Geography of Jerusalem class; so far I have enjoyed the class, from learning about the everyday lives of the people of Jerusalem to the topography and layout of Jerusalem.

Chandler really gives the entire class a real-life effect by showing pictures and videos of all of the land, people, and his many adventures in Jerusalem. Learning about the very land which Jesus walked and lived upon for his entire life is amazing to me. I’m sure it is amazing to all of the other students that participate in this class as well.

As a class we have learned about the four major zones of Israel and how they tie in with the different seasons and the needs of the people. The first zone of Israel is called the Coastal Plain which covers the western part of Israel. The second and third zones are called the Central Mountain Spine and the Jordan Rift Valley; both of these zones cover the central part of Israel. The last zone is called the Trans-Jordan Plateau which covers the far eastern part of Israel.

Israel has two seasons which include a wet season and a dry season. The wet season runs from November to April. The dry season runs from May to October. Many of the people store water in wells to survive during the dry season. The people mainly live off of olives, cattle, pomegranate and grains. The Israeli people use their resources that they are given very well

We have also learned many facts about the Bible times and Israel and also some words in Arabic. For example, Dagan is the god of wheat. Acacia is the wood that Noah used to build the Arc. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth. Wadi in Arabic means mountain. Habibi is the male version which means my beloved, the female version is Habibti.

The Muslim people believe in the god known as “Allah”. Every day, five times a day, all of the people stop everything they are doing to go and pray. The signal to go and pray is also known as the ‘Call to Prayer’ which is blasted out into the towns by speakers on towers. These towers particularly light up in the color green because the people believe that was Allah’s favorite color.

I look forward to learning more about the land that Jesus walked and lived upon while on Earth!

Lauren Hutchison, Freshman

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always a very festive and exciting couple weeks of school. Once November is here, the students start to anticipate Thanksgiving Break. That is the first long break since school had started. So as you can imagine, it couldn’t get here soon enough. There were also some other days off of school, because of the end of the first quarter and parent/ teacher conferences. This time away gave the students and staff a good amount of time to rest and take it easy after a few months of school.

After Thanksgiving Break and the other days off, it is hard to get back into the school routine. After sleeping in and just hanging out all day, it usually takes a while to get used to the absence of those luxuries. Once breaks are over, the next awaited break is Christmas Break. Besides Spring Break and Mid-Winter Break, that is one of the longest breaks of the entire school year. These pauses during school are only four weeks apart too! As Christmas draws nearer, everyone starts anticipating its coming more and more. Lots of teachers decorate their rooms for the holiday. Mrs. Stenberg, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Saum, Mrs. Plumhoff, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Langdon are some of the teachers who have the Christmas spirit and rooms to match. When a person walks in their room, they are met with holly, ivy, flashing bells, colorful ornaments, paper garlands, “hugging-only” mistletoe, Charlie Brown decorations, and other cool accessories. Even some of the elementary teachers get in on it too. In addition to all of this, Christmas music will be playing in the hallways. So as the whole school is getting ready to celebrate Jesus’s birth and the upcoming concerts, it is kind of hard to stay focused on work. However hard it may seem, we all have to hang in there until Christmas.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are fun times to be at CCS, and I wouldn’t ever want to miss it. Between the Christmas concerts and parties, it’s hard to have a “Scrooge” attitude. This time between the holidays is exciting and fun, especially as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Megan Mitchell, Freshman

The Beginning of Cheer

One of the things that excites me the most as we move into winter is the start of the cheerleading season. I love cheering with my friends and helping to keep up school spirit and pride.

This year we have five cheerleaders, three of which cheered last year, and two of which are new. Sophomores Michelle Postiff and Brook Sigler, as well as Junior Anna Swanson, have one year of experience under their belt, and are very excited to have freshmen Christiana Evans and Sarah Carlson joining them. And as always, we have Mrs. Judy Henry coaching.

It’s been a learning experience for all of us. For Sarah and Christi, learning the words and motions to many different cheers at once has been challenging, and the rest of us are relearning the cheers, as well as being in a teaching position for the first time. Things are coming along very well, though, and we are getting ready for our first game, which is December third at 7:30 P.M.

We are also beginning to plan our fundraisers. Just like in the past, we are going to have a crazy hat and slipper day, and possibly a sweatpants/pajama pants day.

Also, we are going to have a cheer clinic for elementary aged girls. During the clinic, girls stay after school and learn cheers from the cheerleaders. They get special shirts made just for the clinic, and wear those shirts to cheer during the half time of a boy’s varsity game. It is always a very special experience to work with the girls.

The clinics, and the role model position, are a big reason I decided to become a cheerleader. Not too many years ago, I was one of the little girls at the clinics, looking up to the cheerleaders, and freaking out when they said “Hi” to me because they were just that cool. About a year ago I decided I wanted to be that for another little girl, and I have not for one minute regretted that decision.

- Anna Swanson, Junior