Students from elementary to high school are lining up to fill their water bottles with healthy, refreshing filtered water from three new water bottle filling stations that were recently installed on the first and second floors of the main school building. The purchase of the new filling stations was made possible by a grant from the AtlantiCare Healthy Schools, Healthy Children program combined with a gift from an anonymous donor.
ACS facilities staff member Bill Smallwood finished installing the filling stations on January 25, which also have a regular water fountain in the front. One filling station is located near the elementary bathrooms and the rear bus entrance of the school building. The 4th graders pictured above filling up their water bottles during lunch are, from left, Isabelle Kiefer, Joey Kinch, and Brennan Meyer. On the second floor, 7th graders Kalee Tardif (left) and Zion Dawkins (right) used the filling station near the Music Room, (pictured below right), while 11th graders Cruz Lewis, left, and Jake DeNick, right, filled up at the new station near the high school stairwell (pictured below left).
“We are very grateful for the support from AtlantiCare and a generous donor that made the purchase of these filling stations possible,” said Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen. “We now have water filling stations at every location in the school building, replacing all of our basic water fountains. We know this helps provide a healthy learning environment for our students and staff.” Oblen also said studies have shown that water bottle filling stations encourage everyone to drink more water and also have a positive impact on the environment, reducing the usage of disposable plastic water bottles.
ACS installed its first water bottle filling station in the 1st floor Multi-Purpose Room in the spring of 2018. It was purchased with a grant from the AtlantiCare Healthy Schools, Healthy Children program. That filling station has now been used to fill close to 103,000 water bottles.
Students and staff showed off their school pride for Spirit Week from January 18-21, dressing-down each day with various themes, culminating with White-Out Day on Friday, January 21 to get fired up for the Varsity home games against Pilgrim Academy. The excitement paid off with a four-victory sweep for the ACS Cougars’ JV and Varsity Basketball Teams.
The students in Mrs. Parker’s high school Child Development class received hands-on training in CPR the week of January 10-14 from instructors from Public Safety Training of South Jersey. The students will earn their Heart Saver CPR certification in time for the start of this second semester, when they will gain experience serving as aides in the ACS Early Education Center.
Sixteen high school students from the Atlantic County Institute of Technology (ACIT) visited various elementary classrooms on Tuesday, January 25 to teach students about the importance of dental hygiene, an educational visit facilitated by school nurse Carrie Jorgenson.
ACS parents, families, and friends are invited to attend our 9th ACS Bowls of Hope Soup Cook-Off Benefit to be held as an in-person event on Saturday, February 5, 2022 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the school gym. Some 20 restaurants and chefs are expected to serve up their signature soups. Come out for an enjoyable evening of good food and fellowship. All proceeds will benefit Atlantic Christian and the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. ACS students will also entertain the crowd with a Talent Show.
A series of fun activities for students and staff, including themed dress-down days. are planned for Spirit Week next week — January 18-21, culminating with a “White-Out Day” on Friday, when ACS Varsity basketball teams will play Pilgrim Academy at home. Students dressed in all white at the games will get free admission.
ACS collected over 300 hats during a December Hat Drive that were donated to the non-profit, Ellie’s Hats, on January 6. Members of the Student Council, who organized the hat drive, presented Shanice Beltran, an Ambassador for Ellie’s Hats, with three big boxes filled with hats that will be donated to children undergoing cancer treatment. Beltan plans to deliver the hats sometime this month to the Pediatric Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia specialty care unit of hematology and oncology in Voorhees.
Barbie dolls, LEGOs, puzzles, and toy cars were among some 90 toys that were donated by Atlantic Christian School on January 6 to the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County for their “Three Kings Day” event on January 8. Thank you to our generous Early Education Center families who donated the toys to our December Toy Drive to support this charitable event.
Parents and guardians can sign up now for our winter Parent-Teacher Conferences that will be held Tuesday-Thursday, January 25-27. Twenty-minute time slots are available from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, and from 1:00-5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The sign-up site will close on January 18 at 6 p.m., at which point any parent/guardian who has not signed up will be assigned a time to meet with their child’s teacher.
Congratulations to our Varsity Boys’ Basketball team for winning first place at a Christmas Basketball Tournament hosted by Cairn University on December 29 and 30, beating Faith Christian Academy of Sellersville, PA in the championship round in overtime play. The Varsity Girls’ team also advanced to the championship game, but lost to Faith Christian Academy of Sellersville, finishing in second place.
Student Council members kicked off the Bowls of Hope Food Drive this week, making presentations to students in various classrooms on Friday morning and distributing white plastic grocery bags to take home for families to begin collecting canned soup and other non-perishable food for the Community FoodBank of NJ, Southern Branch. Please return the Food Drive bags to ACS by Friday, February 4, or bring them with you to the February 5 Bowls of Hope event. Families can also bring donations to ACS during Parent-Teacher Conferences to be held the last week of January.
Students from kindergarten to the 12th grade are invited to audition for the Bowls of Hope Talent Show, to be held during the Bowls of Hope Soup Cook-Off on Saturday, February 5. Talent Show auditions will be on Thursday, January 2o, from 3:15-5:00 p.m. in the Music Room. The sign-up form for the auditions is in the school office and students will receive a specific audition time slot.
Students in the 6th to 12th grades are being challenged to create an original video to promote the Bowls of Hope Soup Cook-Off. The contest offers VISA gift card prizes for the top three entries and the winning videos will be posted on ACS social media in January and early February and shown at the Bowls of Hope Soup Cook-Off on February 5.
Give the gift of blood and help save a life. The Red Cross is reporting that it is experiencing the worst blood shortage in over a decade. Make an appointment to donate blood at the American Red Cross Blood Drive on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 from 3:00-8:00 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room. Our goal is to collect 47 or more donations.
Students in Miss Stonelake’s 8th grade integrated science class designed and built large models of roller coasters as part of a month-long class project that concluded with classroom presentations on December 21 and 22, which was also Christmas Pajama Dress Down Day. The students worked individually and in groups, both in class and at home, using household materials to complete their unique designs, some of which spanned nearly 4 feet high and 4 feet wide.
The students in Mrs. Reilly’s kindergarten class wanted to give back to their community helpers, and who better to appreciate during this time of year than mail carriers? The students wrote “thank you” letters during class on December 23, the last day before Christmas break, and created hot chocolate gifts for their mail carriers to enjoy after a long day of work.
Students and staff gathered to worship and celebrate the birth of Jesus at an all-school Christmas Chapel on December 23. Students from preschool to the 12th grade participated in the chapel program with drama, vocal, and instrumental presentations. Event Coordinator and high school Bible teacher Christian Delacruz encouraged everyone in his chapel message to be thankful for the best Christmas gift of all — the gift of grace, love, and eternal life made possible through the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Congratulations to 10th grader Ryleigh Martin for winning first place in the ACS Christmas Card Art Design Contest. Her original art design is being featured on the cover of our school’s 2021 Christmas card that was recently mailed to several thousand families, friends, and supporters.
Fifty-four cover art designs were submitted for the contest. Students from the 6th-12th grades worked for a month on their designs during art classes taught by Sherry Mirakian and Patti Scardilli, including Middle School Art Studio, Middle School Mixed Media, 9th Grade Art Appreciation, and High School Mixed Media.
Students from kindergarten to the third grade took center stage to share the story of the Biblical events that led up to the birth of Jesus at their Christmas concert on December 16. After the opening prayer by Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen, the kindergarten students performed “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Jingle Bells.” The concert program then transitioned to a presentation of the children’s musical — “Beneath a Shining Star.”
The jingle-jangle of bells rang out to open the Early Education Christmas Concert on December 17, getting family members and friends in the Christmas spirit. The program featured ACS preschool-aged students dressed in their best Christmas outfits singing songs that celebrated the birth of Jesus, interspersed with an interactive reading of the Christmas story by Early Education Director and Elementary Principal Gail Alford.
Between each class performance, Mrs. Alford gathered for a special story time at the front of the stage to read the Christmas story aloud as several students from Mrs. Kelley’s and Mrs. Bird’s PreK4 classes listened and asked questions. The students who were part of the story time were: HazelMarie Black, River Finnegan, Jaxon Fiorilo, Lucas Keaney, Michael Lombardi, Wesley Myers, Lily Platt, Moriah Ragland, Teagan Raughley, Zoe McNulty, Roman Siu, and Hunter VanHenninga (from Mrs. Bird’s class); and Robert O’Donoghue, Brielle Sabulao, Jackson Sawatzke, Julian Walder, and Johannah Wilson (from Mrs. Kelley’s class).
School parent and pastor Lee Martin presented a Christmas message to the hundreds of parents, grandparents, other family members, and friends in the audience, reminding them that the best gift ever given was Jesus and the eternal life that comes through Him. The PreK3 and PreK4 students closed the concert with an enthusiastic rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
The students in Mrs. McCarthy’s 3rd grade class surprised ACS Event Coordinator Christian Delacruz on December 23 with a special Christmas gift — a poster full of hand-written letters thanking him for his dedication and hard work serving the students and staff and an envelope filled with $300 in cash.
In the students’ letters to Delacruz, they thanked him for all his efforts to make the Race for Education and the One Christmas Night Festival a success. They also talked about the valuable lesson they learned about sacrificing by giving up their personal time to do chores to be a blessing to someone else. The students described the various chores they did, including setting the table, doing dishes, and cleaning their bedroom.
The Middle School basketball season got off to an early start this month as the boys’ and girls’ teams competed in the Dixie Howell Jr. High Basketball Tournament in Ocean City from December 10-15, with only a few practices under their belts. The regular season for Middle School basketball kicks off in January, with the first games to be played at home against King’s Christian School on Wednesday, January 5. Come on out and cheer for our Cougars! Please note that Atlantic Cape Junior High League rules this season require that masks must be worn by spectators at all games, whether at home or away.
In the Dixie Howell Tournament, sponsored by the Ocean City PBA Local 61, the Middle School Boys’ team won one game and lost one game and advanced to play in the Tournament’s Boys’ Consolation game, where they lost to Upper Township 38-20. The Middle School Girls’ team lost its first two games and did not advance to the final round.
The 15 members of the Middle School Girls’ Basketball Team are: Alexis Andujar, Angela Awad, Sophia Costello, Mikayla Cubbage, Gianna Flynn, Lucy Huff, Gracie Leon, Grace Lushina, Malena Meyer, Solia Pecou, Nina Purdy, Skyler Shivers, Kalee Tardif, Shelby Tomlinson, and Anyae Welch. Faculty member and ACS alumnus Grant Miller (’07) is in his third year as head coach, assisted by his wife and faculty member, Minelva Miller.
Mark your calendar for our 9th ACS Bowls of Hope Soup Cook-Off Benefit to be held on Saturday, February 5, 2022 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the school gym. You won’t want to miss this enjoyable and entertaining evening of good food, fellowship, a student Talent Show, and a canned food drive — all to benefit ACS, the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, and the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch.
The winter 2022 schedule of After-School Classes is finalized and there is something for everyone. To promote the benefits of health and exercise, there are classes for karate and gymnastics which start during the third week of January. There is also a new Mock Trial Team for high school students that will be preparing for February competition.