The ACS Early Education Center and the ACS Summer Cougar Camp program recently received special honors in The Press of Atlantic City’s 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards — one in the category of “Best Child Daycare Center” and the other in the category of “Best Summer Camp.” A new banner recognizing this accomplishment has been hung at the front entrance of the school building. The award winners were announced on August 23 and published in a special pull-out section in the Press of Atlantic City.

Thank you to our ACS family and the many friends in our community who voted online in the contest in August. This is the 5th year that our Early Education Center and Cougar Camp have received “Best of the Press” recognition. This year, our Early Ed Center was recognized for placing in the Top 5 of “Best Child Daycare Centers in the region. Our Cougar Camp achieved second place and received a Silver Medal for Best Summer Camp. 

This past summer, some 100 children from grades 1 to 6 enjoyed a 10-week Cougar Camp program that included field trips, movies days, lake days, STEM activities, sports, music, and much more. We’re very proud of our Cougar Camp staff, led by staff member Dara Kimmerley, and our Early Education teachers and aides, led by Early Ed Director and Elementary Principal Gail Alford, for their dedication and love for each of the students who in these programs.

ACS teachers and staff are ready for an exciting year of growing and learning. The teachers have been working hard this week preparing their classrooms to be a warm, loving, and welcoming place for their students. 

From Monday through Wednesday, teachers and staff attended in-service training and workshops where they had an opportunity to get acquainted, review school policies and procedures, and focus on specialized topics. Faculty and staff heard presentations on the importance of integrating a Biblical worldview into classroom instruction, received hands-on training on the use of Google Classroom, and learned about the dangers of vaping from a representative of Atlantic Prevention Resources.

On Monday, Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen introduced members of the Board of Directors, who provided breakfast that morning, and Board Chair Les Tomlinson led the group in prayer and gave the devotion drawn from Romans 12. Oblen also welcomed and introduced seven new employees who have joined the ACS faculty/staff this year. Pictured above in the 1st row from left are: Princesa Santos, Assistant Director of Development and Communication; Gina Santos, High School Math Teacher; Ashley Vaccaro, Kindergarten Teacher’s Aide; Steffanie Boyer, Aftercare Director; 2nd row from left: Sarah Getty (Early Ed Teacher’s Aide); Amy Parker, Middle School Teacher; and Ben Chapman, Middle/High School PE Teacher.

Each in-service session began with worship and devotions led by Business Administrator Kelly Flynn and Facilities Director Bill Smallwood. Lunch on Monday was graciously provided by members of the Parent-Teacher Fellowship.

The heart-warming musical, Annie Jr., is coming to ACS this November! Auditions are open to ACS students in grades 1-12 and will be on Tuesday, September 10 from 3:30-6:30 p.m. This is going to be a GREAT show, but we need ALL students (elementary, middle school, and high school) to participate to help make this possible. Come out for the audition and be a part of this fun production.

Weekly rehearsals will be from 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from September 17 to November 12. There will be two performances — Friday, November  22 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.

CLICK HERE to register to audition.

Our Elementary, Middle School, and High School faculty and staff are looking forward to meeting our new families with students entering the 1st to 12th grades at our annual New Family Orientation and Dinner this Thursday, August 29 at 6 p.m. The dinner and program will be held in the gym, and then families will have the opportunity to go to the classrooms and meet their teachers. Hope to see you there!

Our Early Education and Kindergarten teachers are looking forward to meeting each of their students at Open House this Thursday, August 29 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity for parents and their children to get better acquainted and acclimated to our teachers and aides and to explore their classroom. We look forward to seeing you there.

The ACS Lunch Program will be available to students starting on the first day of school, Wednesday, September 4. Our delicious, healthy hot and cold catered lunches, which include a fruit and beverage, are once again being provided by Towne and Country Restaurant in Egg Harbor Township, owned by ACS alumni parent Steve Thomas. Lunches must be ordered online through Renweb and the meal prices will be the same as last year — $5 per meal, except for the Chick-fil-A meal, which will be $5.50.

Some of the delicious lunch menu choices will include a turkey burger, baked ziti, chicken pot pie, grilled cheese and vegetable soup, a chicken Caesar wrap, a beef rice bowl, and more. A cheese pizza meal will be offered every other Friday, starting September 6, and the Chick-fil-A sandwich or 8-nugget meal will be offered every other Friday, starting September 13. 

The Parent-Teacher Fellowship (PTF) will also be selling Philly Pretzel Factory pretzels for $1 every Monday during lunch, starting on Monday, September 9.

We need volunteers to serve lunch and help with light clean-up. Volunteers can be parents, grandparents, and other friends of ACS. Volunteers can choose to serve daily, once a week, once a month, or any other frequency that fits your schedule. The serving time is from 10:30 am to 1 pm. To sign up, please contact Services Coordinator Anne Block at ablock@acseht.org or call 609-653-1199, ext. 381.

Students in grades 6-8 are encouraged to tryout for the Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer Teams. Tryouts will be held on Wednesday, September 4 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Wednesday is a half day so tryouts will begin right after school. Please come prepared with cleats and shin guards.  The MS Boys’ coach is George Dickson and the MS Girls’ coach is Casey Hopwood.

The Varsity Boys’ Soccer team, in its first outing this season, defeated visiting Lancaster Christian 3-1 on August 23 in a pre-season game played entirely in the rain. Congratulations to our players and new head coach Ben Chapman for an exciting game and we’re looking forward to a great season.

The first home game for the Varsity Girls’ Soccer team, led by head coach Carly Witherow, will be on Wednesday, September 11 against Our Lady of Mercy Academy. Both the Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ soccer teams will play at home on Friday, September 13 against Cumberland Christian School. The games will be held prior to the start of the ACS 17th annual Back-to-School Family BBQ. Come out and cheer for our Cougars!

When you do your Back to School shopping, shop at AmazonSmile and support ACS at the same time.

When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Atlantic Christian School.

To shop at AmazonSmile, go to:
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/22-1935456.

Thanks for supporting ACS!

Our Parent-Teacher Fellowship (PTF) is once again selling SpiritWear to promote school spirit and help raise funds for the school. The SpiritWear is for ACS families, with sizes available from preschool to adult. SpiritWear is also approved apparel that can be worn by students during the school day.

The SpiritWear feature the school name, logo, and Cougar paw and are available as an ACS hoodie or crewneck sweatshirt in green or gray. Prices range from $22-$30, depending on the item and size.

PTF members will be taking orders for the SpiritWear at the New Family Orientation and Dinner on Thursday, August 29 and at the Back-to-School BBQ on Friday, September 13. The order form is also posted on the ACS website and can be printed, filled out, and sent into the school office with payment. The deadline to place a order is Friday, September 13.

CLICK HERE to view and print out the SpiritWear order form.

THANK YOU to everyone who donated blood at our American Cross Blood Drive on August 12 and made the event a success. We collected 31 pints of blood — the highest amount ever at an ACS blood drive. One unit/pint of blood helps save 3 lives and will benefit patients at 78 area hospitals. We plan to hold another blood drive in February 2020.  Look for more details that will be posted in the “Cougar Current,” on our school website, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Prestige Soccer Training is leading a summer soccer camp at ACS from August 19-23 for boys and girls who have completed grades K-8. The cost is $150 per camper and includes a T-shirt. Sign up today to reserve your spot.

CLICK HERE to register online.

• Varsity Soccer Pre-Season (August 19) — Varsity Soccer pre-season practices will begin Monday, August 19. Both boys’ and girls’ practices will be from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. each morning. Please pick up a sports packet with all the necessary forms from the school office and have your physical completed before the first day of pre-season.            
• Varsity Soccer Scrimmage (August 23) — The Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ teams will scrimmage at home against Lancaster Christian on Friday, August 23.
• Middle School Soccer Try-outs (September 4) — Middle School soccer try-outs will be after school on the first day of school, Wednesday, September 4.
• High School & Middle School Soccer Season Schedule — The game schedules for the high school Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer Teams and the Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer Teams is available and posted on the ACS website under the Athletics tab. Then choose either the “High School Calendar” or “Middle School Calendar” tabs.
• Fall Soccer Coaches — Our head coaches are lined up for the fall soccer season. We’re welcoming two new coaches — Ben Chapman, an ACS alumnus (’13), will coach Varsity Boys’ Soccer and middle school faculty member George Dickson will coach Middle School Boys’ Soccer. Carly Witherow will return as the Varsity Girls’ Soccer coach and Casey Hopewood will return to coach Middle School Girls’ Soccer.

Congratulations to our top scholars who made the Honor Roll for the 2018-2019 school year. Elementary students in grades 1-5 who earned a 95% average or higher in every major subject received the Highest Honors designation and students who received an 85%-94% average in every major subject received the Honors designation. Middle School and High School students in grades 6-12 who earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.8 or higher at the end of the school year received the Highest Honors designation. Students in grades 6-12 who earned a cumulative GPA of 3.5-3.79 received the Honors designation.

Click on the link below for a complete list of the 166 students from the 1st to 12th grades who achieve Highest Honors or High Honors. We are blessed with a dedicated and highly qualified faculty who encourage our students to excel academically and to seek to honor God with their lives.

CLICK HERE for the 2018-2019 ACS Honor Roll.

The ACS School Garden is producing a bountiful harvest this summer. Students in Cougar Camp have been picking some of the vegetables and learning to cook with them. Last week, the students made salsa using tomatoes and onions grown in the garden, led by Cougar Camp counselor and ACS faculty member Bethany Kiefer. Lots of tortilla chips were on hand for sampling the salsa. This week,  the students harvested and did a taste test with cucumbers. Over 11 pounds of cucumbers, squash, purple onions, and tomatoes were also donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch, to bless those in need in our community. 

At our year-end programs this month, we celebrated the many accomplishments of our students and how they have grown not only physically, but academically and spiritually. Our 2018-2019 spiritual development theme, “All In” from Mark 12:30, kept us focused on the most important goal – that God wants us to give Him 100%, to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. The challenge we now face is to continue making progress toward that goal during the summer. Last June, I encouraged our families to create an action-oriented “Summer Spiritual Bucket List” to help get the whole family involved in growing spiritually and I recommend doing that again this summer. Here are some suggestions for the Bucket List:

• Select one Bible verse to memorize each week as a family;
• Choose a specific time each day to do a family devotion and take turns reading the Bible and leading the devotion;
• Go for a walk in a park, on the beach, or in your neighborhood and talk about all that God has created in nature for us to enjoy;
• Get involved in your church Vacation Bible School or Summer Camp program;
• Bake a tray of cookies with your child and deliver a plate to a sick or shut-in neighbor or friend;
• Turn off all the electronic screens and have a weekly family board game night;
• Spend time volunteering at the local community food bank or your church food pantry or thrift shop.

As we witnessed at our promotion and awards programs, God has gifted our students with different talents and abilities. I pray that over the summer they will “abound in every good work” as they develop and use their gifts to honor God in all they do. May God bless you and we’ll see you in the fall.

Karen M. Oblen, M.Ed.
Chief School Administrator

ACS recognized and thanked volunteers, faculty, and staff for their commitment and service over the past school year at our school’s annual Thank-You Lunch on Thursday, June 13 in the Multi-Purpose Room. Events Coordinator Jessica Martin, who works with many volunteers, said that ACS was blessed with some 40 parents, grandparents, and friends in the community giving generously of their time and talents as volunteers. Some of the volunteers who attended the luncheon served in the lunch room and on the Parent Teacher Fellowship board, sold concessions in the Cougar Den, served on the Legacy Gala Committee, and oversaw the Boy Scout Troop 389 and its construction of the new ACS greenhouse. Pictured from left to right are: Minelva Miller, Mike Jorgenson, Amanda Costello, Doug Pearson, Angela Lushina, and Qing Ye.

ACS also gave a warm send-off to five faculty/staff members who are leaving ACS to pursue other endeavors, including PE teacher Ray Picking who is retiring after 11 years in the ACS athletic department and leading the ACS Varsity Baseball team to five championships in the last six years. “We love you very much and we will miss you,” said Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen, who presented the departing employees with personalized ACS sweat-shirts as one of their parting gifts. The five departing employees, flanked on the left and right by Oblen and Martin, are: Linda Jones, Lee Martin, Ray Picking, Unique Johnson, and Heidi Sray.

Thank you to our school families, faculty, staff, alumni, alumni parents, and friends for supporting our Athletic Department this year by participating in our ACS Spirit Days at Buffalo Wild Wings in Mays Landing. Our third Spirit Day on May 2 generated over $1,500 in sales. Due to the excellent turn-out at all three “Eat Wings, Raise Funds” events, the restaurant management decided to give 15% back to ACS from our May event. All told, the three Spirit Days raised close to $1,000 for our athletic programs. Athletic Director Pam Hitchner is very pleased with the partnership and is planning new Spirit Days at Buffalo Wild Wings for the 2019-2020 school year. See you next year at Buffalo Wild Wings!

Athletic Director Pam Hitchner recently announced that eight ACS athletes set meet and school records in their events at the Tri-State Christian Athletic Conference track meet held at the ACS campus on May 16. Congratulations to these outstanding middle school and high school athletes and we look forward to seeing you continue to excel next year:

• Kendall Murphy, Middle School Girls’ Team, 400 meter, 1:07.3
• Cruz Lewis, Middle School Boys’ Team, 800 meter, 2:23
• Moges Johnson, Middle School Boys’ Team, 3,200 meter, 12:09
• Robert Barberio, Tommy Ellison, Luke Phillips, and Jayden Sanchez, Middle School Boys’ Team, 4 x 100 meter relay, 4:19
• Olivia Chapman, High School Girls’ Team, 200 meter, 27.2

ACS students and staff had to opportunity to show their appreciation to long-time substitute teacher Mike Bohs at the recent unveiling of the 2019 ACS Yearbook, which was dedicated to Bohs. Yearbook Advisor and faculty member Tori Novack congratulated Bohs at the May 31 Upper School Chapel and presented him with his very own copy of the yearbook.

Bohs started at ACS as a Cougar Camp counselor in the summer of 2010, then applied to be a substitute teacher that fall, and he has been at ACS ever since. Two years ago, Bohs also stepped up to become the head coach of the ACS Middle School Girls’ Soccer team, which has finished in first place for two consecutive seasons in the Atlantic Cape Junior High League.

Bohs has also family ties to ACS, as two of his eight grandchildren — Nolan and Lauren — are enrolled at ACS. “It’s great to be able to see my grandchildren during the school day and give them a hug,” Bohs said. He is a strong supporter of Christian education and enjoys working at ACS. “The students here get a lot of individual attention and the spiritual atmosphere and training is tremendous,” Bohs said. Bohs holds a BS in health and physical education from West Chester University and an MA in the art of teaching from Mary Grove College. Bohs and his wife Barbara reside in Somers Point, where he served for 23 summers as the Director of the Somers Point Day Camp. He is also a deacon at Faith Bible Baptist Church in Egg Harbor Township, where he teaches the adult Sunday School class.

Congratulations to senior Rebekah Darragh whose artwork was recently selected to be on exhibit at the Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University. A reception for the opening of the exhibit was held on Friday, June 14 and Rebekah’s artwork will be on display until Sunday, July 14. The Noyes Arts Garage is located at 2200 Fairmount Avenue in Atlantic City.

Art teacher Sherry Mirakian, who attended the opening of the exhibit, said Rebekah’s artwork was selected after being on display at the Teen Arts Festival last month and at a special exhibit at Stockton University’s Pomona campus. Two pieces created by Rebekah are on display — one is entitled “Stitched” and was done with colored pencil, gel pen, and thread, and the other is entitled “Storm of Thought” and was done with colored pencil. Rebekah plans to continue her art studies in the fall at Stockton University with the goal of working in the field of art therapy.

Every month, millions of families use Niche rankings, reviews, and data to choose the right schools for their children. Niche is the largest website for researching public and private K-12 schools.  You can help us encourage more families in our community to choose Atlantic Christian for their children. How? Simply by going to the Niche website and writing a review of your own experience with ACS. The number of reviews of our school on the Niche site helps increase our overall grade and ranking. We value your feedback.  Please help us share your story of success by writing a review of our school! And, if you write a review, you will be entered in Niche’s monthly $1,000 sweepstakes.

We are also asking parents to write a review of ACS on GreatSchools.org — another internet site used by parents to find a school in their neighborhood and that also provides information on schools to the leading real estate sales websites, such as realtor, zillow, and redfin.  Since GreatSchools.org does not rank private schools, parents rely more heavily on the reviews posted about a school. 

Please help us spread the word about the positive impact ACS is having on the hearts and minds of our students. 

CLICK HERE to go to the Niche site.

Visit https://www.greatschools.org/new-jersey/egg-harbor-township/2835-Atlantic-Christian-School/to view the ACS Profile on  GreatSchools.org.

Please mark your calendar for these upcoming Athletic Department events:

• Open Soccer (June 20-August 15) — Want to play soccer for fun this summer with other high school or college students in our area? ACS will be offering co-ed Open Soccer all summer long on its campus on Thursdays from 4:00-5:30 p.m. The Open Soccer program will begin on Thursday, June 20 and end on Thursday, August 15. No need to register; just show up and play and it’s FREE. Players must be entering 9th grade or older to participate. For more information, contact Athletic Director Pam Hitchner at phitchner@acseht.org or Ben Chapman, who is running the Open Soccer program, at 609-374-0258.
• Fall Soccer Coaches — Our head coaches are lined up for the fall soccer season. We’re welcoming two new coaches — Ben Chapman, an ACS alumnus (’13), will coach Varsity Boys’ Soccer and middle school faculty member George Dickson will coach Middle School Boys’ Soccer. Carly Witherow will return as the Varsity Girls’ Soccer coach and Casey Hopewood will return to coach Middle School Girls’ Soccer.
• Varsity Soccer Pre-Season (August 19) — Varsity Soccer pre-season practices will begin Monday, August 19. Both boys’ and girls’ practices will be from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. each morning. Please pick up a sports packet with all the necessary forms from the school office and have your physical completed before the first day of pre-season.            
• Varsity Soccer Scrimmage (August 23) — The Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ teams will scrimmage at home against Lancaster Christian on Friday, August 23.
• Middle School Soccer Try-outs (September 4) — Middle School soccer try-outs will be after school on the first day of school, Wednesday, September 4.
• High School & Middle School Soccer Season Schedule — The game schedules for the high school Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer Teams and the Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer Teams is available and posted on the ACS website under the Athletics tab. Then choose either the “High School Calendar” or “Middle School Calendar” tabs.

          Have a safe and healthy summer!