Lakeshore Museum Trip

Sometimes doing the same things in school over and over again can get boring and lose the interest of students. Other times, there are things that can be better understood by experiencing them first hand. This is when going on field trips can benefit students while they are learning. One field trip was recently taken by the first graders to the Lakeshore Museum.

On Tuesday, March fifth, the first grade class got in some cars and drove to the Lakeshore Museum in Muskegon. Here they got to experience different sound devices to listen to each other when they were standing far away and many other

fun activities. One of these had a big wheel that they would spin and the kids would dress a cutout man on the wall according to what activity it landed on. For example, if it landed on basketball, they would put a basketball jersey on him. This taught the kids how to dress appropriately for different things they will do in the future.

Another thing they did was learn how to take care of their bodies, and specifically their teeth. This involved brushing properly for two minutes, seeing what would happen if they did not take care of them, and learned what foods not to eat to keep their teeth clean. Ryan said he felt guilty for eating candy and other sugary foods after he saw what it does to his teeth. In addition to taking care of their teeth, the kids were taught about the food pyramid. One of the employees at the museum showed them how much of each food group they should be eating every day on a giant food pyramid on the wall. After that, the students went to make a plate of fake food with the right amounts of everything on it based on what they had just learned. These are a few of the things they did.

All the students had a lot of fun at the museum and learned many things about science. The trip was mixed with exciting things that would keep the attention of the first graders, yet taught them as well. This is a good balance to have and as one first grader put it, “I learned a lot and had a little fun.”

- Megan Mitchell, Freshman

Job Shadowing 2013

Every year, Mrs. Collins has a Bible class called “C3.” C3 stands for “Colleges, Careers, and Choices.” It is a special class designed for students to start thinking about where they want to go to college, what types of jobs they are good at, and what careers they may want to go into after graduating. One way she helps her students find this is by having them go on a job shadow for potential career options.

Mrs. Collins hand-picks where each student will go for their job shadow. First, the kids take an online survey to find their interests and abilities. The students then must fill out a sheet of their first, second, and third options for the job shadow. Mrs. Collins then decides where to send them based on what was filled out. She is not always able to find the students’ top choice, but she does her best to find something enjoyable and educational for each student.

Mrs. Collins was very pleased with the wide variety of occupations her C3 class had chosen. The kids picked anything from teachers to police officers to news reporters. Mrs. Collins did a great job of getting the kids great opportunities to shadow all sorts of jobs so they can see if the job they picked is really the one they want to go through with.

Nearing the end of the quarter, C3 has really been a unique experience for the sophomore class, along with a few others. Job shadowing was really a blast, and will be a lot of fun to share each others experiences with one another.

Gabrielle Kuszewski, Sophomore

Spring Sports are Here!

When I look outside and see the weather changing, it reminds me of the new sports seasons. For the past week, girls soccer and Varsity track has been practicing together in the gym. Even the Middle School girls’ soccer has been diligently working on the stage! Everyone is so excited to get into this new season of competition!

The Varsity girls are looking great as they work together with the soccer balls on the gym floor. The players have very good ball control as they play on a smooth surface. They are doing an excellent job with Coach Zehr and Coach Wildfang. This could be a very exciting year for our Calvary Christian Girls soccer team! For their first game they play at Freedom Christian on March 21, at 4:30! Be there or be square.

The Varsity track is hard at work in preparation for this new season as well! They have gone to the mezzanine every day this week to do a boot camp work out. Coach Langdon has hooked up his Kinect so that it displays big enough for all 33 people to see! That’s right, we have more people on the team this year than ever before! Mr. Marshall also joined the team this year as an assistant coach working with the Shot Put and Discus competitors. Also participating as much as they possibly can are some of the Varsity Soccer girls and Joel Fullmer. We are very excited for this year! The first track meet is at Ravenna High School on March 26 at 4:00 pm.

Be sure to come out and support your CCS teams this spring! Thanks!

Taylor Richards, Sophomore

A Shower of Blessings

Have you ever tried to bake a cake without a bowl, a mixer, or a cake pan? How about trying to make snacks for a high school history class without any plates, cooking utensils or serving trays? Until recently, that was exactly what would happen if someone tried to use our school kitchen to actually cook something. Unless they brought everything from their home kitchen, they were out of luck.

But, thanks to the bright idea of Mrs. Sam Anhalt, Calvary Christian Schools no longer has this problem. Along with Mrs. Heidi Lipscomb, they decided to hold a “kitchen shower” to restock our school kitchen. During the month of February, you may have noticed all the tags hanging on the trees in the rotunda. Each of these tags listed something that was desperately needed to restock our kitchen. Parents, friends, and Calvary Christian students then “picked” tags off the trees and purchased the needed items.

At first, the items were placed under the trees. After the trees were removed, the items were then placed on the table by the school office.

Some of the items needed were as basic as bowls, cookie sheets, and plastic storage bags. Other items were more expensive, like gift certificates to Target and Gordon Food Services and electric roasting ovens. While there are still a couple of gift tags that still need to be purchased, all in all, the “kitchen shower” was a big success!

In case you missed seeing the items in the rotunda, here are just a few of the items purchased for the kitchen at Calvary Christian School. Baking pots, mixing bowls, several eighteen-quart roasters, an electric griddle, aprons, serving utensils and trays. Cutting boards, crock pots, can openers, and colanders. Pitchers, cake pans, cupcake pans, and measuring cups. Pot holders, pizzas cutters, as well as wooden spoons and many other items that were greatly need.

So thanks to Mrs. Anhalt, Mrs. Lipscombe, and all the other parents who once again came through when asked to help. Calvary Christian is not just a school….. it’s a family.

- Cory Greeno, Sophomore

Last Varsity Boys Game of the Season

It was a Wednesday night on March 6th the varsity boys had a district facing Muskegon Catholic. This game determined who would qualify for the district finals and who would go home and have a completed season. The eagles were doing great and had only lost one home game so districts being home were a “plus” for our eagle boys.

Before the game started, Providence Christian played Waypoint Academy. It gave the eagle boys time to have a plan and think about the rivals who had beaten them the first time. Coach Warren had the boys meet in the locker room twice before the game to go over plays and have a discussion about how the game needs to be played.

The boy had game out of the locker room after Providence Christian's big win against Waypoint looked ready to go. They were ready to play the game how they wanted to this time. It was time for jump ball. Mike Warren was jumping against their strongest guys. Mike Warren won the tip off and Drew Maine got the ball and dribbled down the court. The pass was made to Mark Carlson and then the shot went up from Mark and barely missed.

The boys had played hard the first quarter and only were only down by one. Coach Warren clapped the team in after a great quarter. He had told the boys to keep on doing what they’re doing and they could come ahead and end with a great win.

It was half time and the Eagles were down by 13, coach had told them they had plenty of time to come back. They just need to play better transition defense. By the end of the third quarter they were down by 9 and were playing great. It was 4th quarter and it was time for eagles to show they still had it in them.

Sadly, Muskegon Catholic had kept there scoring up and the eagles had a disappointing loss but played a great hard game. Coach had told the team he loved coaching these guys and they were family to him and he couldn’t be any prouder. They had done their one last team huddle and said team. It was sad to see the varsity boys season end, but exciting to see how well we played as a team.

- Carson Burgess, Freshman

Elementary Speech Meet

Some people may say that elementary school is the easy life. That statement is true in some ways and false in other ways. Each year in the beginning of March the elementary have to do speech meet. The speech meet is where the students pick a poem or a verse. After the students pick their verse or poem they have to memorize the whole thing.

Now these poems or verses are not short they are a good length. When the day of the speech meet comes the students show off their memorization to parents, two judges, and the whole class. After a couple of weeks the results come back of the speech meet.

There is a first and second place out of the whole class. If you win first or second place you get to recite your poem or verse in front of the whole friday chapel. Some people like the speech meet and some people do not. Some people like to speak in front of the whole class and some people are not fond of it at all.

The speech meet is first graders through fifth graders. So the kindergarteners get an easier life for a year. For the first graders the speech meet can be a scary thing for them, but they always do great at it. For the second graders it is still pretty new but they are still getting better and better at it. For the third and fourth graders it is easy for them because they have done it for a while. For the fifth graders it is a bittersweet moment for them. It is their last year doing it, but most of them are excited for being done with it. From what I have heard from some people the speech meet went great. Good job elementary you guys did great!

- Sam Nesbitt, Freshman

Interview with Mrs. Anderson

Mrs. Anderson has been teaching at Calvary for seventeen years. She has been a blessing to the school and the third grade. Mrs. Anderson was born in Oregon on June 30. She has been married for forty-three years and has three kids.

Her favorite movie is "The Lord of the Rings, the Trilogy. Her favorite colors are aqua, and peach. She attended BJ Collage and Grand Valley State University. She attends Calvary Church in Grand Rapids. Her favorite music group to listen to is the Newsboys. Her favorite sweet candy to eat is chocolate.

Mrs. Anderson’s home tradition for Christmas is a Thanksgiving Christmas dinner with her family. She currently does not have any pets living with her. She use to speak Spanish but has gotten out of practice. Her favorite books are "The Chronicles of Narnia" which she loves reading to the third graders every year.

She believes that the Lord brought her to teach at Calvary and how wonderful the people are at Calvary. Her favorite subjects to teach in the third grade would be math and history. Her favorite memory of all the years teaching at Calvary would be moving back in to the current building we are in right now.

Mrs. Anderson loves to teach the third grade in so many ways and the school is so grateful for her loving care for the third graders. I know that the third graders love working in the art station and the computers. She has taught so many students who have graduated and who is still at Calvary. In my opinion, Mrs. Anderson has blessed me not only in education but in friendship. Many Calvary students say thank you Mrs. Anderson.

- Sarah Carlson, Freshman

Sea Animals in 5th Grade

A little while ago, the fifth grade class was learning about Sea Animals. For a project, the fifth grade students had to pick a sea creature and make it. They had to be creative about making it. They had to use household items. Some of the choices that the students picked were sea anemone, jellyfish, sting ray, sea horse, and the puffer fish.

These students worked hard on these projects. Some of the animals were difficult to make. Some of the materials that they used are paper mache, cardboard, paper plates, pillowcases, paint, tissue paper, plastic bags, pins, suction cups, yarn, pillows, plastic tops, shish kabob sticks, clay, and cardboard.  Plus, on top of making the animal they had to do a report on the animal.

These fifth graders are getting ready for middle school with the big projects. My sister did the sea anemone. Some of the materials that she used where a toilet paper roll, sand, shells, paints, raffia. The fifth graders didn’t get as much of a Christmas break because they had to work on their Sea Creatures throughout the whole break.

Finally the due date came for them to turn them in. They can finally take a little breather. They still have to do their presentations. For their presentations they have to hold up their animal and give ten facts that they found about their animal.

The fifth graders can take a long breather. The project is done. The next topic that the fifth graders are studying is stars and the night sky. The should have fun with that subject. Watch out you upcoming fifth graders it is your turn next year. Soon they have to start thinking about the big end of the year country project. For now, they can just relax and enjoy school. Have fun fifth graders!

- Sam Nesbitt, Freshman

The Life of a First Grader

 Sometimes we get caught up in all of our school work and projects, and are busy with sports. When this happens, it is easy to forget what is going on at the other end of the building in the elementary classrooms. From Mrs. Kapanka and Mrs. Wilson teaching the preschoolers their letters, to the fifth graders learning about decimals and long division, they can all be fairly busy too. To see just what some of them do, I decided to interview my little brother Ryan, who is in first grade, to see what life is like for a first grader at Calvary Christian Schools.

The first graders are very busy and learn a lot. They learn phonics, how to read better, simple math, counting money, spelling, and other things. Not everything they do is work though. Mrs. Smith does lots of fun things that help motivate the students to learn. She has a reading loft with lots of pillows that kids can read in once they finish their seatwork. She also has spider plants, Fly Guy books and posters, hanging snowflakes the students made, a tooth chart, and other fun stuff around the room. In addition, Mrs. Smith has parties and full days filled with fun activities.

One of these special days is the parties every ten days to celebrate the tenth day, twentieth day, thirtieth day, and so on of school. This past week was the ninetieth day of school, so one of the parents brought in marshmallows that had been dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles. They brought in enough for each kid to have nine. Then the class counts by tens until they get to ninety. The whole point in this is to teach the kids how to count by tens and divide things up. The best day throughout this whole process is the one hundredth day of school. The kids wear glasses that are made of paper one hundreds, and everyone brings in one hundred round “somethings.” They divide one hundred by however many students there are in the class, then make piles on their desks with that many “somethings” for each kid. After that, they pick up a pile from each desk. They do activities with their piles, and then eat them.

Also recently was Valentine’s Day. For this, they have a party with fun things to do like passing out valentines. But they will be writing letters to Mrs. Smith’s daughter, Shona, too. She is in Nicaragua with the Peace Corps. This is one way the students can learn about what’s going on in the world.

First grade is a lot of fun and is a blast for these kids. It’s not all seatwork and paper, there is other stuff mixed in. Mrs. Smith keeps them engaged in learning without them even realizing it. I think that makes first grade really special. Kids get to learn while doing exciting things. These were some of the highlights from a first grader’s perspective.

- Megan Mitchell, Freshman

March 12 Blood Drive

Every year the Calvary Christian Schools chapter of the National Honors Society hosts two blood drives at the school. It will soon be time for the second blood drive for this school year. On March 12th, the local chapter of the Red Cross will be at our school to help us with our life saving event.

Mrs. Stenberg has given the members of the National Honors Society a special challenge for this drive. Each of the seventeen National Honors Society members is trying to sign up at least two people to donate blood. This would give us thirty-four donors. We are trying to beat our last drives number of twenty-eight donors.

Almost every day there is some sort of disaster somewhere in our country. Whether it is a tornado, a hurricane, or an earthquake, there is always a need for blood. This is our chance to help others in their time of need.

The Muskegon/Oceana Chapter of the American Red Cross helps distribute blood to over sixty-five counties throughout Michigan. The current blood supply is very low and the students, staff, and families of Calvary Christian Schools can help our community with this very precious need. The Red Cross will be taking donation types of both blood and double red cells. One pint of blood can save up to three lives. Every two seconds someone needs a blood transfusion and five million people in the United States need blood every year.

All Students at CCS can help out even if they aren’t a National Honors Society member. For those of you younger than seventeen, please ask a parent or other relative if they would like to help save a life. If you are seventeen or older, maybe you can donate. Either way, this is our chance to make a difference. All you need to do is call the office to schedule a donation time. Our drive is running from 12:00 noon to 6:00 P.M. on March 12th. You can also schedule on-line.

Help our National Honors Society Chapter reach its goal. Give blood- it saves lives!

- Cory Greeno, Sophomore

New Friends at CCS

 Late in the school day on February 20th, CCS welcomed five new feathery friends to take residence in the rotunda.

All of the elementary students gathered around the new bird cage to get a quick look at these fascinating, and very colorful creatures. Even the middle and high school students were quite interested at the sight of the new arrivals.

After all of the commotion of the staring eyes and the roar of excited students, the birds had a chance to settle into their new home. These birds have a big, brown, oak cage with many swings to swing on, toys to toy around with, and plenty of food and water to meet their needs.

The particular breed of birds that were chosen to be a new part of the CCS family were Parakeet's. This specific type of bird are the most popular house and pet birds. They come in a wide range of beautiful colors. They are also very affectionate and are very playful, which is great to have especially if there are kids involved.

I think these new additions to our school will be great companions to the students, staff, and visitors. It will take a little while for them to settle in, but they will soon love CCS and all of the students and parents!

Lauren Hutchison

Changes at Calvary Christian School

There have been many new things happening this year at Calvary Christian Schools. Big changes have been happening throughout the school year like classes being moved into the rooms off of the mezzanine, the concessions having an entire new menu, and more! It is definitely very exciting to see all of these big changes happening in the school. Many of the recent changes you can walk into the building and see for yourself. But, there may even be some changes that you have not noticed yet!

Walking into the gym, on your right hand side you may have noticed something new! On the wall are a lot of pictures, and newspaper clippings. Joy Richards and Gladys Zehr put together a whole bulletin board of everything that has been in the newspaper for boys and girls varsity basketball. If you cannot make it to a game and do not get the newspaper, next time you are at school you will definitely have to check out the newest updates!

Have you attended any of the recent basketball games? If so, then you may have noticed the big new banner promoting our school right under the score board! Think you have seen this banner somewhere else? Well, that could be possible, since Calvary Christian School now has two new billboards! Whether you are driving North or South on US 31 Highway you will be able to see these awesome new billboards!

Do you want to be able to help and give something to the school? You can! Recently they have just put together “Showers of Blessing”. This is happening right as you walk into the rotunda. A tree stands in the middle with little cards hanging off of the branches with kitchen items on it. You can take off an item and purchase it at your next trip to the grocery store and then bring it back to the school, putting it under the tree. They are doing all of this to be able to restock the kitchen with items. Some people may not be able to afford to purchase a big item, but that is no problem! These items range from things like an ice cream scoop to a crock pot.

It is such a blessing to see everyone come together in the school! People are donating their time to the students, staff, and even the building. I believe the school will continue to grow in amazing ways but, may God always have the glory!

- Megan Beals, Senior

Boys Varsity at Heights!

 Last Thursday night, our CCS Boys Varsity team were scheduled to play their last regular season game of the year. Their opponent for this game? Muskegon Heights. Everyone was talking about the game at school that day. After school, many fans were anxious to load up the bus and head over to the game. Around 4:30 players and fans loaded up the bus and Mr. Maine started the trip to Muskegon Heights.

As they walked into the Heights gym, the other team was shooting hoops. Everyone could tell this was going to be a good game. The boys headed to the locker room and the fans took their place in the stands. There were about 40 CCS fans that made the trip out to the game! As warm-ups came to an end you could see that the boys were itching to start. The gym was packed full of people. The Eagles and Tigers battled it out in the first quarter but the Heights jumped to an early lead. By halftime the score was 48-27, Eagles down. Our boys were fighting hard and you could tell they were not going to give up.

A few minutes into the third quarter, Mike Warren added some excitement with a dunk! The crowd went wild. Once things settled down again, Mike decided it was time for another dunk and this one was even bigger! Both crowds were loving the back to back dunks. As the clock ran down, the boys were still down. But the game was very entertaining and exciting. The final score was 94-65 with Heights winning. Even though they were defeated, the boys had a good time playing in such a competitive game.

Our Boys have their first game of districts Wednesday, March 6th, here in our gym at 7pm versus Muskegon Catholic. Come out and support your Eagles!

- Natalie Kapanka, Senior

Saying Goodbye to Basketball

 There have been many exciting new things happening at Calvary this year. But sadly, every good thing must also come to a close. The slow melt of the snow and the gradual climb out of sub-freezing temperatures is an annual reminder that basketball season is coming to an end. This year especially, it is very hard to see something that was so special to fans and teams alike come to a conclusion. The varsity games this winter were not only a way for a group of young people to waste some energy and compete against other schools; they were also chances for the entire Calvary family to get together for a fun night of enjoying time with friends. Along with this, some cool new things like the Eagle’s Landing concessions and the Eagle mascot contributed to the overall exciting atmosphere of home games.

One of the exciting highlights of the season happened a couple of weeks ago when the girls’ varsity defeated Zion to clinch the conference championship! This was the first conference championship that has been won in girls’ basketball since 2007; and the first one to be won with an undefeated Alliance League record! The lady eagles were also excited to be the team to break the reigning champions’ fifty-one game Alliance League winning streak. Then, soon before the second game with West Michigan Lutheran, they called to forfeit placing the eagles in an even more favorable position for completing their road to the conference championship. Unfortunately, the girls lost this week to Muskegon Catholic Central to end what was a great season. Their final record was 19-2!

Luckily for all Eagle fans…there’s one more chance to come cheer on the varsity boys at home! Because we are hosting districts this year, there will be many games occurring this next week in our gym. The most important one is on Wednesday. Our boys will be playing then for their chance to move on to the district finals on Friday. Make sure to come out to show support for your eagles!!!

- Hayley Mohr, Senior