1st Month of High School

As a freshman this year, I have learned that high school is very different than middle school. This is my fifth year at Calvary and I love it here. As a small school, we do not change schools for elementary, middle school and high school. We have our own hallways; elementary in one and middle and high school in the other.

We have amazing teachers here that love their jobs and love teaching their students. We have small classes from ten to twenty kids. We all go from class to class with each other like in our own little packs.

In high school, our teachers expect more from us now that we are out of middle school because we are more responsible. This year we have more homework assignments and many more notes. Unlike middle school, our teachers would write down the notes with us as we discussed them. This year most of our teachers think we are more than capable by taking them ourselves as they talk to us.

From being an upper-classmen in middle school, to being the lower-classmen in high school is a drastic difference. In eighth grade we were considered the ‘big kids’ and no one called us names; but now we are the freshmen. The upper-classmen call us ‘freshies’ but we don’t mind it.

Overall I really do enjoy high school. From the exciting new songs we do in band and to the crazy spirit week, it will be much more exciting. I love how Calvary brings us so much closer to God than any other school could. I am so thankful to be at this loving and caring environment.

-Rebecca Weipert, freshman

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

Variety Show - March 28th!!

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The variety show is coming around soon and Mrs. Dickson is doing a great job preparing all the acts for their performance. The variety show is like a talent show but nothing is judged. There are many acts such as singing and skits. We have a lot singing and all of them are terrific!! We have been working on them the past few days during choir.

Mrs. Dickson has got a lot on her plate trying to get this prepared. She has to figure out the order of the acts along with Mrs. Kapanka. Mrs. Kapanka herself arranged a couple skits such as Charlie Brown's song "Book Repo

rt" and a small scene from The Princess Bride. It is awesome to listen to all the acts as the are rehearsed! The Choir is doing a song from The Lion King, "The Lions Sleeps Tonight." It sounds pretty good but it is coming along great!!

As we prepare for this exciting night everyone is getting a little stressed and worried about their act. Mrs. Dickson has been very helpful to all of the groups. Giving them tips on what they can do better and helping try an get them on beat. The groups are doing a great job at keeping up their hard work. I'm excited to see what happens at the variety show on March 28. Mrs. Dickson has put a lot of time and effort into this and it will be great!!!

Emily Turbett, Freshman

9th Grade Visits Michigan's Capital

The day started out early for the CCS 9th graders. We met at school at seven o’clock and loaded the bus for the trip. After about 2 hours, we pulled into the Capital and un-loaded.  We were greeted by a friendly tour guide and he started us on our little journey through the magnificent building.

As we weaved in and out of halls and went up and down staircases, we came to the Senate room. It is very rare to be taken onto the Senate floor because you have to be invited by the Senator. But we got lucky and bumped into Senator Geoff Hansen right by the door of the Senate room. He took us onto the floor and showed us the beautiful room filled with extraordinary masterpieces and carvings. The ceiling made of 50 glass tiles each representing a state was an amazing token to see. The Senator also invited us to watch part of the session they were about to hold. We left the Senate floor and walked to the other wing of the building which was the House of Representatives wing. And as luck would have it, we bumped into one of the representatives and were invited onto the House of Representatives floor. This room was just as amazing and we marveled at the extreme work that had been done. We thanked the representative and headed back to the Senate floor to watch the session.

The best part was sitting in on a meeting where we could see what the people were doing. They voted using special buttons, green for yes, and red/orange for no. Only the representative could push the buttons, otherwise, it would be illegal. At the same desk as the Representative, there was usually a reporter or an assistant. If we looked up at the ceiling, we could see all 50 state flags and right under the Michigan one was the podium where the person in charge would sit. It moved very fast, but it was really fun to watch. Around the voting room, there were various paintings of governors, i.e. Lewis Cass. The Michigan coat of arms was all over the building and the building itself was very intricate and detailed. In the round part of the building there were paintings of all the governors, one was left unfinished because the person it was painted of didn’t want it finished once he was out of office.

The trip wasn’t done after the Capitol building. We headed to the Supreme Court to learn more on that subject. As we entered the building, we all had to go through a metal detector. Mr. Marshall was the only person who had to be scanned twice. We toured a learning center and played a bunch of interesting interactive games that we could play to learn more about the capitol and how it worked. The trip came to a sad close when we left the Supreme Court and headed home. Thanks to Mr. Marshall and Mr. Maine for making the trip such an awesome and fun time!

- Alec Cammenga and Laurie Schreur, Freshmen

Varsity Boys Basketball - Pentwater Game

We started out playing a great game against Pentwater. Our offense was working together very well and our defense was the best we have seen it yet this year. As the first quarter progressed, we took a substantial lead of 8 with the help of a couple 3 pointers by Mike Warren and Brendan Hamilton. C

arson Burgess contributed a couple points as well and snared several boards.

We were excited to welcome Will Dukes and Michael Shyne to their first game. Both of these guys came out playing an intense and quick game and helped the team out a lot. Will is known for his 3 point shot and as Carson made a basket cut and kicked the ball out to Will, Will took the shot and swished his first basket for his Calvary Christian basketball career. All smiles and full of excitement, he ran back down the court and our Eagle bench and fans were cheering as loud as possible.

Michael Shyne also was given the opportunity at a 3 and took it. As the ball left his hand, all that was heard from him was “ahhh!” But the bank was open and Shyne made his first attempt at a basket for his high school career as well. He also dragged a rebound out of the air from way up and put it back in for a block shot. Congratulations to them both.

The game was intense all the way through and as multiple shots were made by the Pentwater team, us Eagles matched them and held out place with them. As the fourth quarter wound down to 2 minutes left, the score was within 3 and Isaac Burns made an extraordinary free throw to tie the game with about one minute left. The Eagle bench was cheering at the top of their lungs and the team fought as hard as they could but with 10 seconds left Pentwater made a well-placed mid-range shot to take the lead by 3. The final score of the game was 66-63 and we held our heads high even though we lost! 

Alec Cammenga, Freshman

Middle School Girls Basketball

It has been such a great season for the middle school girls’ basketball team, with Mr. Payton as the coach and Mrs. May as the assistant coach; they really have worked hard coaching and preparing the girls for games. Giving them the opportunity to play and enjoy the games.

So far the girls are undefeated, with 5 Wins and 0 losses. The first game they played was at home against Black River,
the score was 28-14 CCS won. The second games they won 34-13 against Holland Calvary. The third game was against Algoma Christian, the score was 19-12, this was a really close game but they came and played hard during the last two quarters.
The fourth game was against Tri-Unity, the girls dominated them 46 to 3. The CCS girls missed a lot of lay ups, but it felt great winning by that much. The last game they played was against Potter’s House. The middle school girls won 30 to 21. It was a really interesting game to watch, because all the Potter's House players were bigger and from 8th grade. However, it didn’t matter how big, stronger or scarier they looked - the middle school girls came and shut them down and the win was ours.

All in all the girls are doing great, they just need to continue working hard in practice and on the court - the season isn’t over yet - there is still more upcoming games.

Ililo Bisee, Freshman

Spirit Week 2014

The week that Calvary students look forwards to is finally here! Not only does it signal the end of exams, but it is an awesome week of poster painting, lip-syncing, and spending fun times with your class.

This year, the overall theme is The World of Animation. The lip-syncs and posters all follow that theme. The dress up days, however, do not necessarily have to follow The World of Animation theme. This year Tuesday will be Disney Day, where students dress up as a Disney character, Wednesday is Color Wars, when each class is assigned a different color to wear, Thursday is Duck Dynasty Day, where you can dress up as a member of the Duck Dynasty crew, and Friday is blue and gold day, where you dress up in as much blue and gold as you can to show your school spirit all day long.

The lunchroom games are always a fun activity to watch, but this year I will actually be competing in them! The lunchroom games for this year are: donut on a string, shake your bells, the marshmallow toss, and duct taping a class member to the wall. I am very excited to see how these all turn out.

The poster and lip-syncs competitions, that are judged at Thursday night’s Pep Rally, are my favorite events that happen during Spirit Week. I like seeing how every class has worked the theme of Spirit week into their creation. This year’s theme of The World of Animation is very broad and I think the classes will have some very cool and original posters to look at and some creative lip-syncs to watch.

Overall, Spirit Week is one of my favorite weeks of the school year. The lip-syncs and posters, lunchroom games, and dress up days all help make it so much fun.

Rachel Postiff, Freshman

Spirit Week!

The week that Calvary students look forwards to is finally here! Not only does it signal the end of exams, but it is an awesome week of poster painting, lip-syncing, and spending fun times with your class.

This year, the overall theme is The World of Animation. The lip-syncs and posters all follow that theme. The dress up days, howe

ver, do not necessarily have to follow The World of Animation theme. This year Tuesday will be Disney Day, where students dress up as a Disney character, Wednesday is Color Wars, when each class is assigned a different color to wear, Thursday is Duck Dynasty Day, where you can dress up as a member of the Duck Dynasty crew, and Friday is blue and gold day, where you dress up in as much blue and gold as you can to show your school spirit all day long.

The lunchroom games are always a fun activity to watch, but this year I will actually be competing in them! The lunchroom games for this year are: donut on a string, the marshmallow toss, and duct taping a class member to the wall. I am very excited to see how these all turn out.

The poster and lip-syncs competitions, that are judged at Thursday night’s Pep Rally, are my favorite events that happen during Spirit Week. I like seeing how every class has worked the theme of Spirit week into their creation. This year’s theme of The World of Animation is very broad and I think the classes will have some very cool and original posters to look at and some creative lip-syncs to watch.

Overall, Spirit Week is one of my favorite weeks of the school year. The lip-syncs and posters, lunchroom games, and dress up days all help make it so much fun.

Rachel Postiff, Freshman

Band Class 2013-2014

Mrs. Dickson's high school band is a wonderful class. I'm Lexi Chartrand I'm in Mrs. Dickson's band class. She is a great teacher and she helps us when we need it and she pushes us to do our best. We put a lot of work in our songs (Well actually in band it's just a "piece." In order to be a "song" there has to be words). So I guess we put a lot of work into our pieces.

Mrs. Dickson makes band class fun she when lets us laugh, joke around, and talk when appropriate. Although in order to have fun we have to work hard on our pieces.
The woodwinds in our band are two flutes: Elise Maine and Samantha Nesbit; an oboe: Ally Richards; a bass clarinet: Rachel Postiff; four clarinets: Lexi Chartrand, Lyssa Chartrand, Gabrielle Kuszewski and Megan Mitchell; and two alto saxophones: Taylor Richards and Jeff Britton.

Our brass consists of three trumpets: Alex Anhalt, Matthew Bliss, and Michael Warren; a French horn: Chris Byers; three trombones: William Dukes, Alex Frye, and Cory Greeno; a baritone: Ryan Cashler; and a tuba: Dalton Hatfield.

We also have some percussion: Cameron Bricker, Christiana Evans, Joel Fullmer, Harry Gruen, Erica Mitchell, Madison Price, and Arisa Sugawara.

Thank you so much Mrs. Dickson for making band class so fun.

Lexi Chartrand, Freshman

G2G Club

The G2G club, which stands for Good to Go, is off to a great start. The members of the club are partnering with a school in Guatemala City, Guatemala, called Comunidad de Fe, which translates to community of faith. Comunidad de Fe is a small Christian school with grades kindergarten through 6.

The G2G members have gone into every elementary class room and done a presentation about the club. Elementary students filled out information about themselves, that the G2G members will translate into Spanish and then send down to Comunidad de Fe. Hopefully the club will be able to set up a pen pal program between our elementary students and theirs.

G2G is doing fundraisers to help Comunidad de Fe. For example, it is doing a change drive. Club members made small change piggy banks out of bottles and sent them home with every elementary, middle school and high school student. Two weeks ago, the club held a very successful bake sale. The members helped by making some delicious brownies, muffins, cookies, and pies and then selling them in the hallway across from the cafeteria.

The Club is also starting up Taco Mondays, or Loco Lunes, where students can buy tacos in the lunchroom to support the cause. Taco Mondays will begin in January.

Comunidad de Fe has sent us some prayer requests and we have sent them ours. Here are some of theirs:

-That the Lord will continue to provide the teachers needed for the school and give them a heart of ministry.

-That their financial need of the school would be met.

-For the families of the children that they would understand the importance of putting their child in a Christian atmosphere.

-That God would open a door for them to have their own property someday.

Hopefully, G2G will continue to build a good relationship with Comunidad de Fe. If all goes well, the club is planning to visit Guatemala in 2 years.

- Rachel Postiff, Freshman

December 5 Chapel

Thursday we had a great chapel! The worship team did great! We had a speaker named Ryan Gables come in from Freewater Experience. Freewater experience is a place where nonbelievers go and enjoy hunting,fishing, and many other things. He has been to Calvary before.

He had a great message that every single one of us needed to hear. He talked about how we need to turn our backs to drama! He was saying he would go into these lunchrooms and see people talking about other people at lunch tables. He said he came into our school and saw such a difference, but even at Calvary there is still drama. He talks to us about ways to stop it. He told us to just turn our backs and ignore it. He also said that if it's not our personal life stay out of it! If it isn't anything involving us than we should just leave it alone, sometimes even if it does involve you just leave it. No one likes drama! We all wish we just lived in a world without drama.

We also need to keep control of our emotions. We need to be careful not to have a breakdown in the middle of the hallway. Keeping control of your emotions is a good way to keep drama to a minimum level. God does not want a lot of drama in the world. Drama can also be a way to draw attention to yourself. We need to make sure not to hurt other people with drama and gossiping. Gossiping can spread rumors and hurt people. No one likes to hear someone saying stuff about them and making things up. No one wants to be hurt in the way of lying. Ryan had a great message for all of us to hear. I'm thankful to be able to go to Calvary. I'm glad we can worship God without getting in trouble. Ryan was a great speaker and I can't wait to have him speak again.

Emily Turbett, Freshman

Boys Varsity Basketball Team 2013-14

This past week Boys Varsity basketball finally started. This year there will be no boys JV basketball team due to lack of people playing. Since basketball at the varsity level isn't for everyone and their skill set, Coach Warren decided to have tryouts for a week where he watched your playing ability, your coach-ability, your attitude, and your dedication. After tryouts the current Boys Varsity basketball team roster is: Mike Warren, Gage Berg, Brendan Hamilton, Isaac Burns, Michael Shyne, Chris Byers, Zeri Zelenka, Will Dukes, and Alec Cammenga.

This year, depending on how hard the boys work will determine how many wins and losses they have. They have great capabilities and lots of talent. They will have to work extra hard to make up for the seniors that graduated (Drew Maine, Mark Carlson, and Josh Hatfield). Boys Varsity Basketball is all about your dedication, once you start basketball season you have to give all you got towards basketball, and every time you step onto the court for practice you have to give it all your focus. Aside from all the hard work the boys do, they are also planning fun group activities and get-togethers in helping to unite the team.

When in basketball season, not only do you have to worry about basketball itself, but there are lots of things that come along with it. Such as academics, the boys have to always work hard at their grades to make sure they are eligible for upcoming games. All in all the Boys Varsity Basketball Program is lots of fun and those who aren't playing should give it a try. It is a lot of hard work but it pays off and is well worth it. I want to thank coach Warren for all the dedication and time he puts in to coach all the guys, and work to get them to be the best possible players they can be.

- Chris Byers, Freshman

Chances 4 Children

Next week is Thanksgiving and while we look forward to turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, there are over 400,000 children in Haiti without parents. These orphans face a bleak future. One out of five Ha

itian children will die before the age of five. More than eighty percent do not have access to clean drinking water and almost half of the children under five years old have stunted growth due to hunger.

That is why the National Honors Society is staging a food and diaper drive and partnering with Chances 4 Children. Chances 4 Children’s mission is to help combat the severe poverty and orphan epidemic in Haiti one child at a time. This organization focuses on not only adoptions, but also education, family, and community development.

Chances 4 Children partners with local non-profit groups to support four orphanages in Haiti. They give monthly donations of food, clothing, and medicine. They have also helped with the development of local clinics and projects to create fresh water supplies. They also have helped construct local schools and provide funding for these kids to get a chance to go to school.

There are over 500 orphanages in Haiti. Most of these children will live their entire lives in those places. But these are the lucky ones; most kids end up living out on the streets.

This is our chance to help. Please join the National Honors Society and bring in your donation by November 26th. You have probably noticed the cart in the middle of the rotunda. This is where you can place your donation.

The most needed items are:

Chicken and tuna-12.5 oz. cans or larger; white rice- 5 lb bags- not instant; dry kidney and pinto beans; peanut butter-64 oz jars or larger; spaghetti noodles- dry; tomato paste-not sauce- large cans; powdered milk- large boxes; Infant and toddler formula; diapers- size 3,4, and 5.

All items need to be returned to the cart by November 26th.

Please help make this Thanksgiving extra special by showing how grateful we are for all we have by helping those who have nothing. Make a difference in an orphan child’s life. Thanks for supporting this wonderful cause!

Cory Greeno, Junior

Casting Technologies

Thursday last week, Jeff Cook from Eagle Alloy visited the 9th grade Physical Science and 10th grade Chemistry classes for a "Foundry in a Box" demonstration.

Today Andy Sherf gave the 9th and 10th grade a tour of Casting Technologies in Fruitport - showing us all the auto parts that they make and how it is done.

 







 





 

Second Girls Breakaway Chapel

On October 31, we had our second breakaway chapel. Mrs. Suam talked to the girls about the 5 core qualities God has given us as women and the Core qualities He has given to men. Starting with the 5 core qualities of men, we ran out of time and didn’t quite get to the core qualities of women.

God gave men 5 specific qualities which fit perfectly with those that he gave to women. The first is Taking Initiative. This means that He gave men a desire to grow up, leave their parents, and start a family of his own. The second is a desire to work to provide for his family, this means getting a job and working hard for a solid income. The third core quality is to protect his wife and family from harm and to provide a solid Christian foundation in his home. The next quality is to exercise spiritual oversight. This means seeing the bigger picture and doing his best to do the right thing in God’s eyes. The last core quality of a man is to exercise Godly leadership. God intended men to lead his wife spiritually, to instruct her and to help her grow closer to God.

In the Bible, God makes it very clear to us that he intended for men to be in positions of authority and to lead women. Even from how woman was created, she was created from the man’s rib. After God had created Adam and Eve, he placed them in the garden and made told man to name all the animals. He was putting Adam in charge of the animals and in authority over everything living that was on the earth. Today, we often desire to be in leadership positions. This is because of sin and our want to be above or better than others. We often forget that leadership positions in fact do not make you better than anyone else.

- Katie Boeve, Freshman