The ACS Legacy Gala on March 31 is just 10 weeks away! Help us spread the news at your church or a local business. Pick up a poster or flyers in the school office. Join the Gala team and let’s fill every seat in the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel and give Governor Mike Huckabee a warm south Jersey welcome.

If you can help us contact area businesses to be Gala sponsors, advertisers, or silent auction donors, please join the effort. Come out to our next Gala Committee meeting on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. Or contact Event Coordinator Jessica Martin any time to volunteer at jmartin@acseht.org or call 609-653-1199, ext. 314.  Two additional Committee meetings will be held on  February 23 and March 9.

And don’t forget to purchase your tickets to the Gala and encourage your family and friends to attend.  Individual tickets are $155 each and a table of 10 is $1,450. To purchase tickets, go to: iTickets.com/ACSGALA.

Gala sponsorships start at $2,000 and include tickets to a private, Sponsors-Only Reception with Governor Huckabee; dinner tickets for a table of 10; a complimentary autographed copy of his new book, “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy;” advertising in the Gala program book; and a valet parking pass. To be a Gala sponsor or advertiser, obtain the reply form and details on the ACS website under the Events tab.

The ACS Missions Club would like to thank everyone who donated coats and jackets for the coat drive. Over 40 warm jackets, 50 blankets of various sizes, 30 sweaters, and many other types of outerwear blessed the homeless and needy in Atlantic City.

The Missions Club partnered with St. Peter’s Church in Ocean City to support the Atlantic City Urban Partnership (ACUP) program that provides meals to the homeless on Saturdays. Thanks again for allowing God to use you to bless those in need!

Eight restaurants and counting are donating their signature soups for our February 4 Bowls of Hope benefit fundraiser. The featured restaurants will include: Carluccio’s, El Coyote EHT, El Coyote Galloway, Gregory’s, Sadia’s Tea and Coffee, Sofia Margate, Steve & Cookie’s, and Towne and Country Cafe.  Thank you to Sturdy Savings Bank, newly on board as a Sponsor, and to Formica Brothers Bakery, who is donating tasty bread. We will also be collecting canned soup that night to donate to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey – Southern Branch. It’s all about giving back to our community.

As the winter season gets underway, we want to be sure that parents and guardians are aware of our communication guidelines in the event that school is cancelled. As a general rule, if the Egg Harbor Township public schools are closed, ACS will be closed. The decision to close school is usually made by 5:30 a.m. and will then be communicated to parents and guardians in a variety of ways, as follows:

1. An automated phone message will be sent to all parents’/guardian’s home phone numbers or to the cell number listed as the primary contact in Renweb.
2. Posting on the ACS website home page
3. Posting on the ACS Facebook page
4. On 6 ABC TV and 10 NBC TV as part of their announcements of school closings
5. On Lite Rock 96.9 FM and WOND 1400 AM as part of their announcements of school closings

The ACS Legacy Gala is just 11 weeks away! We had a great turn-out at our Gala Committee Meeting this Thursday night. Parents, alumni parents, and grandparents are coming on board to help us contact area businesses to be Gala sponsors, advertisers, and silent auction donors. If you want to join the effort, mark your calendar to come out to our next meeting on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. Two additional meetings have also been scheduled for February 23 and March 9.

We have flyers and posters about the Gala and we need our school family to help spread the news in our churches and to local businesses. You can pick up the flyers and posters in the school office. Join the Gala team and let’s fill every seat in the ballroom at the Sheraton on March 31.

If you would like to be involved in some way, please email Event Coordinator Jessica Martin at jmartin@acseht.org or call 609-653-1199 ext. 314. This is a great opportunity to tell people about the positive impact that Atlantic Christian is having in the lives of our children and to ask them to support our school.

And don’t forget to purchase your tickets to the Gala and encourage your family and friends to attend as well. Individual tickets are $155 each and a table of 10 is $1,450. To purchase tickets, go to: iTickets.com/ACSGALA. To be a Gala sponsor or advertiser, obtain the reply form and details on the ACS website under the Events tab.

Did you receive a new coat or any outerwear for Christmas? If so, please consider donating your gently used coats, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. to the ACS Missions Club. The Missions Club will be serving at a luncheon for the homeless and needy on Saturday, January 14 in Atlantic City. In addition to serving a nutritious lunch, the students will be handing out warm outerwear to bless those in need. Please place your donations in the marked boxes in the school foyer. Thank you for blessing the community!

The ACS Student Council will be hosting its annual American Red Cross blood drive on Monday, January 30 from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room. Adults and students who are at least 16 years of age may donate with written permission from a parent or guardian. All presenting donors will receive a voucher for a free cup of coffee and free donut at Dunkin Donuts.

If you would like to help save lives, please click here to make an appointment.

Enjoy an afternoon of skating with your family and friends for free at Young’s Skating Center in Mays Landing. Young’s is giving away free skating passes for students to use during the Christmas break. The school that turns in the most skating passes will win a free private skating party in 2017. Pick up your skating pass in the school office so you can take advantage of this opportunity.

Students in the ACS Servant’s Heart Club shared Christmas cheer with residents at the Somers Place Assisted Living facility in Egg Harbor Township on Tuesday, December 6. Some 22 students from the 2nd to 5th grades performed Christmas carols for the residents and presented them with a special hand-made Christmas gift of a candy-cane filled cup decorated to look like a snowman.

Thank you to the parent and student volunteers who assisted behind the scenes to make this fun, after-school community outreach activity a success including Club Advisor and ACS parent Jennifer DiMaio, faculty member Patti Scardilli, ACS parent Lori Capito, and 11th grade club volunteer Ngoc (Nora) Vu. The Servant’s Heart Club will continue meeting the first Tuesday of every month through next May, from 3:15-4:00 p.m. Contact the school office to sign-up to participate.

The ACS Fitness Center has a new trainer — Caroline Calogero, a CrossFit Level 1 trainer with over 25 years of experience in health and fitness. Ms. Calogero is now working in the ACS Fitness Center Mondays through Fridays from 3:00-5:00 p.m.

She is the manager and a trainer at Ambitious Fitness in Egg Harbor Township. She is an AFAA Certified Personal Trainer, an AAAI Certified Master Personal Trainer, holds a Zumba Step certificate, and is a licensed Zumba and Zumba Toning Instructor. She has trained Division 1 athletes and is experienced in leading fitness classes in Tabata, Bootcamp, and High Intensity Interval Training.

The ACS Fitness Center is open to ACS students 14 years and older, parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty, and staff. The Center is open Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (students may use the Fitness Center from 3:00-5:00 p.m.) The Fitness Center includes Nautilus equipment, free weights, kettlebells, and a cardiovascular room with treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals. Classes will be offered soon.

The cost to use the center is $15/month. If interested in joining and working with our new trainer, please fill out the waiver form and submit it with payment to the school office.

Invite a friend to visit ACS!

Many public schools are closed on Tuesday, November 8. This is a great opportunity for prospective new students in grades 1-11 to visit our school and experience ACS. Complete and return a registration form to the school office by Friday, November 4. Space is limited. No 12th grade friends, please. Please contact Mrs. Martin at 609-653-1199, ext. 314 or at jmartin@acseht.org if you have any questions.

The Nurse’s Office recently received several donations to support its important services to our students — two recovery couches and EpiPens with an EpiPen storage cabinet. School nurse Lara D’Anna said the couches are a welcome addition that enable the nurse’s office to better meet the needs of our larger student body this year. The gently-used couches were donated by the Estell Manor Elementary School. Two adult EpiPens, two junior EpiPens, and a storage cabinet, valued at close to $1,000, were donated by Bioridge Pharma and Mylan Pharmaceuticals through a program called EpiPen4schools. This is the third year ACS has received EpiPens through this beneficial program.

The second grade students learned all about pumpkins for their recent fall art project now on display on a bulletin board outside art teacher Patty Taylor’s first floor classroom.  Not only did the students learn how to draw pumpkins, but they studied the technique of drawing overlapping pumpkins. The pumpkin art was created using oil pastels on black construction paper. ACS welcomes Mrs. Taylor back to its staff. She last taught art at ACS during the 2010-2011 school year.

ACS celebrated the accomplishments of seventeen 8th grade students at a recognition ceremony on Thursday, June 9 in the school’s gymnasium. The ceremony opened with Amanda Chau, Alyssa Holliday, and Dalton Sage leading the pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. Tahjae Bush-Davis and Ian Iaconelli read from two Bible passages — 1 Timothy 4:11-12 and Jeremiah 29: 11-12. Emily Kelley was selected by her classmates to give the Christian character address and senior Alejandra Pagoada delivered a challenge to the 8th graders to stay close to God as they move into high school, to not compare themselves to anyone, and to “keep Jesus and the Bible as the one and only standard.”

Congratulations to the following students who were the recipients of various scholarships and awards, some of which were accompanied by financial gifts which will be applied to the tuition and fees of students that will continue at ACS for high school:

• Christian Education Essay Scholarship ($250) — Kathryn Winder;
• Citizenship Award, for service to others and to the school — Emily Kelley, Ben Noble;
• COMPASS Award, for displaying the fruits of the spirit in everyday life — Dalton Sage, Kathryn Winder;
• Cougar Award, for excellence in Christian character, leadership, and athletics ($250 each) — Lauren Harmon and Ben Noble;
• Finkelson Award, for the highest GPA in science and math ($100) — Josephine D’Anna;
• History Award, for the highest GPA ($25) — Lauren Harmon;
• Language Arts Award, for the highest GPA ($25) — Lauren Harmon;
• Most Improved ($25) — Bridgette Rosen
• Parent-Teacher Fellowship Scholarship, for the best essays describing what God’s Word says about the importance of serving others — Kathryn Winder, 1st place ($400); Ben Noble, 2nd place ($250);
• Science Award, for the highest GPA ($25) — Lauren Harmon
• Thomas H. Heist Community Service Award, for demonstrating the “give back” spirit by volunteering in three community service activities ($150) — Kathryn Winder

Congratulations to four ACS parents who were elected to serve on Atlantic Christian’s Board of Directors at the May 23 Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Christian School Association.

Current Board Chair Doug Pearson and Board member Kris Jacoby were re-elected to the Board and ACS parents Cherie Burgan and Jennifer DiMaio were selected to serve as new Board members. The school’s 2015-2016 Annual Report was also distributed to the some 70 parents, faculty, and staff who attended the Annual Meeting which was held in the school gymnasium.  Click here for the school’s 2015-2016 Annual Report.

Burgan and DiMaio will begin their new three-year terms in July, serving along with Jacoby, Pearson, and four other Board members. The functions of the Board are to set the vision for the school through short- and long-range strategic planning, to employ and oversee the work of the Chief School Administrator, and to develop school polices and monitor their implementation.

Burgan has been an Egg Harbor Township police officer for the past 15 years. She and her husband Ray have two children, Hazel and Vaughn, who attend ACS. She grew up in Sculville Bible Church and she and her family now worship at Fusion Church.  DiMaio brings an educational perspective to the Board, as she has served as a math teacher at Egg Harbor Township High School for the past 16 years. She and her husband James have three daughters, two of whom, Annalena and Rebecca, attend ACS and they are involved in the ministry at Linwood Community Church.

The Annual Meeting opened with a devotion by Board Chair Doug Pearson after which the Association members gathered in small groups to pray for the school and God’s continued guidance and blessing. Other highlights of the Association meeting included presentations by Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen, Parent Teacher Fellowship President Terry Vogel, Board Treasurer Christian Loeb, and Director of Finance Kelly Flynn. The Association members also nominated Steve Breunig, Eric Hoover, and Paul Vogel to serve on the Board’s 2016-2017 Nominating Committee.

A missions team of students and adults from Atlantic Christian School, Fusion Church, and Union Chapel by the Sea traveled to the Community of Los Cocos in the Dominican Republic on March 12 for a one-week trip where they built and painted three houses, ministered to the people in the community, and taught VBS at a local church.

One of the three houses built, pictured above, was in memory of Joe Matera, the  previous FCA Director of Board Sports and ACS chapel speaker. Another house was built in memory of the father of ACS Missions Team Leader and teacher Anne Dice. The third house was built with funds raised by the ACS students. Once the houses were built, the team took time to bless the homes and share the gospel with the families who would be living there.

Building houses was not their only ministry opportunity. The team also went on a “prayer walk” where they split into seven teams and traveled throughout the community, sharing the gospel and praying for the needs of the people. A local church in Santiago also allowed the team to teach Sunday School and lead Youth Group where they performed two faith-based skits.

“The people were so thankful for us,” Dice said, “but in reality, they blessed us by giving us this opportunity to grow in our faith. It was a two-way street.”

Building Houses…Building Relationships…With Each Other and With God is the name of this ministry which was founded in 2008. This team built 3 houses on this recent trip, bringing the total to 70 houses built in the past 9 years.

An ACS missions team served in Orange Walk, Belize from March 25-April 1. Led by faculty member Dave Genter, 13 students and ACS staff member Amy Culleny helped teach Vacation Bible School, ran a Young Adults Bible study, built bunk beds for needy families, and shared the gospel with local community members.

Easter Sunday was the first day of the missions trip and the team attended Easter service at Trial Farm Pentecostal Church in Orange Walk. Later that day, the ACS missions team traveled throughout the community, inviting adults to the next church service and children to the upcoming Vacation Bible School. They also took prayer requests and prayed with community members.

Seventy-eight children from the community participated in the Vacation Bible School. The ACS Missions Team ran five different stations: snacks, sports, crafts, Bible, and dance. On the last day of VBS, the ACS team was thrilled to see several children accept Jesus into their hearts.

Building bunk beds was one of the most rewarding parts of the trip because the team was also able to deliver the beds to needy families and see the joy on the faces of adults and children who are used to sharing a bed or sleeping on the dirt floor.

During the final debriefing session, everyone on the team began the session in worship and then took turns sharing their most impactful experiences and encouraging each other. It was truly an unforgettable experience for our students.

A team of 21 students, 3 faculty members, and one student teacher traveled to New York City on Monday, March 28 on a missions trip which focused on serving the homeless.

On the first full day of their trip, the team partnered with Salt & Sea Missions at a local church. Several homeless people were in attendance and the missions team got the opportunity to lead worship and share testimonies while Pastor Rowell gave a sermon. Afterwards, they shared lunch with those who attended the service. They also fed the homeless the next day in Bronx, New York by assisting a relief bus which travels with soup, bread, hygiene kits, socks, and more. The team handed out food and prayed for all they came in contact with that day.

Serving food was not the only way the NYC team helped the homeless. On Thursday, they partnered with World Vision and helped unpackage men’s shirts which were given to homeless people for job interviews.

In addition to serving the homeless, the team also went to an after-school program for children of immigrant parents to help them with their homework.

The varsity baseball team earned back-to-back wins with shutouts of Baptist Regional and Calvary Christian.

On April 8, 2016 the Cougars defeated Baptist 12-0. Matt Roland was the winning pitcher. Solomon Griffith banged out three hits including a double. Matt Roland added three hits and Andrew Arsenis added two hits, including a double. Carl Phillips singled and scored three runs.

One week later, on April 15, the Cougars triumphed over Calvary in an away game by a score of 19-0. Freshmen pitchers Ryan Lomangino and Elijah Chapman combined for the shutout. Solomon Griffith tripled and singled, Lomangino doubled twice, and Matt Roland cracked a two run home run.

The Cougars improved their record to 3 wins and 0 losses and travel to Gloucester Christian next Tuesday.