Calvary Cristian School is Awesome!

My name is Rikako Yoshida. I’m an international student from Japan. 
Before I came here, I was in Seattle, where everyone called me Karen, my English name. I’m really glad that Calvary Christian School’s students and teachers call me by my real name.

It took me a lot of courage to come to the America. Before I left Japan, I was filled with anxiety. But American people were so kind. I was impressed by the warm welcome. All of my friends, teachers, and host family, are so kind.

In Japan, it is traditionally a men-dominant culture. Nowadays, we rarely see men discriminate against women in Japan, but there isn’t the custom of letting ladies go first. However in America, men are really kind. I was so surprised and happy to see that.

I’m not used to how Americans joke, so I’m always laughing. I’m really happy. I’m leading a full life.

Classes at school are hard for me, but teachers and my friends support me. So it’ll work out all right.
I want to talk with everyone more. One of my friend recently said to me, “You are quiet!” But I’m not quiet - I want to speak English more!
My heart is full. Why are Calvary Christian School’s students so kind?!?! I love everyone. I really don’t know how to thank you.

I’m proud of being a student at Calvary Christian School. I’m still inexperienced, so I hope you will guide me. Thank you!!!

Rikako Yoshida, Sophomore

The Roads Have Been Cleaned

On Tuesday, September 23, the freshman and sophomore classes of Calvary Christian schools cleaned up a part of the I-96 Highway. These students do this twice a year, once in the fall and another time in the spring. It was a beautiful September day, and although very hot and sunny, the students still had a pretty good time doing some community service.

The two volunteer student advisors for this trip were Mr. Foutz (with the sophomore class) and Mr. Payton (with the freshman class). They did a great job making sure the students were very safe on the side of the highway, because they are masters of security. Mr. Foutz prided himself by proving he “picked up the most trash because he obviously had the most trash bags filled”. Chris Byers, Vice President of the sophomore class, did not find these evidences to be true. At least this time nobody happened to mistake a cactus for a piece of trash. I think the students learned that from experience. As for the freshman class, this lovely experience was yet to come.

 After the students had been cleaning up for around a half an hour, the big yellow bus driven by Mr. Maine (athletic director of CCS) stopped by each class to re-supply trash bags and hydration level. What a thoughtful being he is! Surprisingly, the sides of this part of the highway were not as dirty this fall as they had been in previous years. This was noticed by sophomores Emily Turbett and Alyssa Chartrand. This could mean the people of our Western Michigan community are realizing the importance of keeping our environment clean. Hopefully, this observation will be seen in the future of highway clean-up students.

- Ally Richards, Sophomore

Why Calvary?

Are you thinking about sending your child to Calvary Christian maybe this year or next year? Let me answer your question to make your decision easier. Why Calvary Christian?

The major aspect of the school is the great Christian environment that you don’t get anywhere else. The teachers pray for your day in most classes before teaching and learning starts. We have a chapel every Thursday. The worship band plays; and then a pastor or speaker from around the community comes and gives the message.

The second major aspect of the school is the family-like community. Everyone is like family at Calvary. We all do our best to treat each other in a Christ-like way. What family doesn’t have an occasional problem though? We have classes together, we play sports together, we laugh together, and we love God together.

The third major aspect of the school is our sports programs. We excel in anything we put our minds to. Our girls varsity basketball team is coached by Brad Richards and has all-state player, Taylor Richards. Coach Richards works them hard so they can come out like champions. Just like last year when they became conference champions and moved on to winning a few rounds of Districts.

Our boys varsity soccer season has been a great one as well. Matt Payton coaches the Varsity team and Ben Cooley coaches the Middle School team. Both teams have been working hard and have seen a lot of improvement.

So Calvary Christian is a great school with a lot of opportunities to do great things for God. Why Calvary? These are a few good reasons why. I hope I was able to help you with your decision.

Will Lipscombe, Junior

9/11 Varsity Soccer Game vs. Zion

On September 11, it was a Thursday afternoon as the Calvary Varsity soccer boys were getting ready for their game. They had mentally prepared for this game the whole day after strategize the night before at practice.

It was a cold day on Thursday of the game. The team was actually happy with the colder weather because they wouldn't have to be so hot in the beating sun. Calvary Christian playing Zion Christian. This was a conference game, so it was pretty big for the team. The team had a team dinner before to talk over things and hopefully figure out the best way to win the conference game.

Calvary was already 0-2 in the conference so they needed to figure out how to get their record back in shape and hopefully have a chance to come back and try to get a good ranking for the conference. It was time to start the game. The team huddled together and began to pray for no injuries and to just have fun and be good sports out there.

When the game started, Zion had the ball. Calvary has a solid defense so it was very hard for Zion to get it past the defense. Up on the line was Ililo, Joel and Carson which is the offense. Carson Burgess with 2 goals in the first half, along with Joel Fullmer with 2 goals. Zion with 0. It was 4-0 at the half. Calvary was excited and ready to play the second half with the intentions to play the same and hopefully come out with a win.

Zion had a strong start in the second half scoring their first goal, but Calvary was stronger and scored three more goals. Ililo scoring a goal, Carson Burgess with his third goal which made it a “Hat-Trick” and Zachary Zehr with a goal as an 8th grader on Varsity! Calvary won the conference game 7-1 and we hope to continue playing as well as we did that night!

Carson Burgess, Junior

HS Retreat 2014

As summer draws to an end and fall approaches, there are usually two groups of students. There are those who are excited and ready to start school, and those who are not so much. But at Calvary Christian School, the first week of school is something to look forward to and is arguably the best week of the entire year. This is because on Wednesday morning, the whole high school loads up on the bus and drives up to the campgrounds of SpringHill. These three days are filled with chapels, getting to meet new people, catching up with old friends, making new ones, worshipping, and having a ton of fun.

During chapel Wednesday evening, the theme for the coming year was introduced. It is, “Know fear...No fear.” Basically, we as Christians need to understand fear and what it is in order to have no fear. Our speaker this year was Pastor Jake Kallman from Bridge Bible Church. He spoke about this theme throughout the retreat and helped the students to grow closer to God through it all.  

Besides chapels, there were many other activities planned by both the school and SpringHill. On Friday, the blobs were open, along with the kayaks and canoes. Later that night, we had the traditional This-is-a-Spoon contest between the classes. For the past two years, the class of 2016 had pretty much failed at this. But we were determined not to lose this year. So we practiced over and over again, and it paid off. We actually won! It was a great night for our class.

Other things we did that week included swimming in the pool, playing Ping-Pong and other games in the game room, hanging out in the gym, doing the high ropes course, the class scavenger hunt, and the campfire on Thursday night. The campfire is a really awesome part of retreat. I do not know of any other schools where students are able to stand up and share what they are learning or what God is doing in their lives in front of their whole high school. It is also a real encouragement to hear the testimonies of fellow schoolmates. It is a great way to wrap up the week and the amazing time we have. I am so glad I go to a school where I have opportunities like getting to go on retreat. There really is no other place like Calvary.  

Megan Mitchell, Junior

This year, like every year, retreat was held at the wonderful Spring Hill! On Wednesday morning we packed up all of our stuff and put it in the trailer and on the bus and away we went.  Once we got there we got settled in our cabins and the activities began. First we usually get the option to either go blobbing or going out in canoes or kayaks.  Blobbing is probably one of the highlights of retreat for a lot of us. And when it comes to blobbing Cory Greeno and Isaac Burns are busy men blobbing one after another! There always a high demand! After many laughs and high flying memories it was time to move to a different activity. 

We got to do our class photo scavenger hunts and many more fun activities! This year we finally got to go on the big waterslide! I had seen pictures of it from other years, but I had yet to experience it. So after much persuasion Mr. Maine said he would find out if we could ride it this year.  So when he told us that we would be going on the water slide everybody was excited!  We finally got to ride it and it was a blast!! I think even Mr. and Mrs. Maine enjoyed it! Britney and I decided to go down together and we ended up flipping half way down! We ended up having to scoot ourselves down the rest of the slide. It was a lot of fun! The volleyball and soccer team had practice every day at retreat. Which I had no problem with but I would prefer it not to be in the morning next time. I’m not a very good morning person and I think my team figured that out that week.

 But all in all my favorite part of retreat is our bonfire night. Bonfire night is when the whole high school gathers around the fire and whoever feels obligated can share something. Whether it be a prayer request, an amazing opportunity they had, or something that’s going on in his/her life. I think retreat is a really cool opportunity our school offers because it’s a time where we are able to get closer to the kids we see at school every day, whether they are old friends or new.

Montana Burgtorf, Junior

This year's retreat was as fun as ever. It was a little different from past years, but I think I enjoyed it more. Instead of riding on the bus, this year I got to ride with some of the seniors in Mrs. Kapanka's car. Once we arrived at Spring Hill, we went through the regular routine of eating our sack lunches, a half an hour of free time, and our first assembly. Each year we have a different spiritual theme to focus on, and this year's is “Know fear...No fear.” The messages throughout the week really honed in on that theme. Mr. Maine was the first to speak; he told us about fearing the Lord. Next, Mrs. Kapanka spoke about the gifts God has given us to combat fear. Finally, My own youth pastor, Jake Kallman, came and preached for the rest of the chapels about our responses to fear. He brought his 22 month old daughter with him, so it was really fun to be able to play with her.

We always do many fun and different activities. Usually we do the outdoor zip line, but due to weather, the juniors and seniors got the opportunity to do the new indoor high ropes course. It's a wooden structure with two levels of courses of varying difficulty. I've done similar things before, so I really enjoyed the experience. In the past few years we haven't gotten to do this next activity due to weather yet again. However, it was finally warm enough this year for the big, outdoor, water-slide. It even required inner tubes. They allowed people to go down two at a time, which made the ride faster and more fun.

The very last night we have an annual camp fire and students have the opportunity to share what they learned or decisions they made that week. There were numerous students that shared and it's very touching. Overall, it was a great three days. I'm so thankful our school goes on this retreat

Christi Evans, Junior