Post Tagged with: "Association of Christian Schools International"

ACS Students Excel at March 23 Spelling Bee Sponsored by Association of Christian Schools International

Members of the ACS Spelling Team excelled and made their mark at a March 23 South Jersey-Philadelphia spelling bee for 1st to 8th grade students sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). 8th grader Garrett Martin came in 2nd place overall and 5th grader Joey Kinch placed 5th. Seventeen of the twenty-seven students on the ACS team received ribbons for winning 1st to 4th place and six ACS students won 1st place in their grade-level bees.

ACS and two other schools competed in the ACSI bee — The City School in Philadelphia, which hosted the Bee, and the New Jersey United Christian Academy in Cream Ridge.

The Bee got underway with students first competing in their grade level. Seven students in the 1st-4th grades won 1st to 4th place in their grade-level bees — Jordan Vielma (1st place-1st grade), Ellie Campbell (3rd place-1st grade), Jack Sawyer (4th place-1st grade), Molly Klinetob (4th place-2nd grade),  Ellie Sellers (1st place-3rd grade), Rachael Eachus (2nd place-3rd grade), Caitlin Doucett (1st place-4th grade), Eric Protesto (3rd place-4th grade), and Hadley Basso (4th place-4th grade).

Eight ACS students in the 5th-8th grades placed 1st through 4th in their grade-level bees — Luke Sabulao (1st place-5th grade), Joey Kinch (2nd place-5th grade), Brody Panetta (3rd place-6th grade), Gaebriel Hahn-Chaney (4th place-6th grade), Antonino Miranda (1st place-7th grade), Matthew Coates (2nd place-7th grade), Garrett Martin (1st place-8th grade), and Caedyn Hahn-Chaney (2nd place-8th grade). These students then advanced to compete in a Spell-Off to determine the overall top spellers.

Thank you to the parent and staff volunteers who assisted at the Bee — Despina Bara-Protesto, Marques Chaney, Joe Coates, Rhapsody Hahn-Chaney, Walter Klinetob, Spelling Team Coach Jessica Martin, Clint Sawyer, Meredith Sellers, and Lisa Smith.

High School Students Learn About Importance of Making Every Moment Count at ACSI Conference in Washington, DC

By Robby Barberio

Twenty-six 10th-12th grade students traveled to Washington, DC in late November to participate in the  Redemption Everyday Conference in Washington, DC, which focused on the importance of making every moment of your life count and seeking to make a difference in the world around you. The students also had the opportunity to tour the Museum of the Bible and meet in small group sessions for deeper discussion.

The conference, held from November 20-22, was organized by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), of which ACS is an accredited member school. Each conference day opened with a time of worship and eight speakers were featured over the three days of the conference — Megan Almon, Dave Binewald, Amy Crouch, Gian Paul Gonzalez, Kathy Koch, Bobby Manning, Justin McRoberts, and Derek Melleby.

Faculty member Dan Vasquez, one of four ACS group leaders on the trip, said his favorite speaker was Gian Paul Gonzalaz. Gonzalez was a former NCAA First Team All-American forward from Montclair State University. After playing in the NBA Summer League in 2007, he was offered a few professional basketball contracts, but turned them down to work with at risk youth. He is currently a high school teacher at an inner city school in New Jersey.

“Gian Paul was called by God just by doing everyday work,” Vasquez said. “He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he is serving God in his everyday life. He was a reminder to me to stay faithful.”

During breaks between speakers, comedian Keith Coast entertained the some 400 students from ACS and other schools in the northeast region with skits and fun, interactive games. ACS 10th grader  James Papanikolaou and staff member Jessica Martin were invited to the stage to compete in a game where a student team faced off against a team of chaperones to guess the meaning of a Swedish word that was the name of an Ikea product. The student team won.

At the end of each day, the ACS students met with their group leaders to discuss what they had learned from the conference speakers. Faculty member Chris Lopez, another group leader, said he was encouraged to see how the students processed the things the speakers had talked about.

“There’s a temptation to blindly agree with a speaker just because they are speaking at a large conference,” Lopez said. “But I was encouraged to see the students challenge the speakers out of love.”

On the third day, the students worked with their leaders on an action plan of projects or activities they could bring back to ACS to implement during this school year.

In addition to the group sessions, the students also had the chance to explore Washington, DC and visit the Museum of the Bible. “My favorite part of the trip was exploring downtown DC with my friends and seeing different parts of the city,” said 12th grader Daniella Ajayi.

Overall, the leadership conference was a time of learning and bonding for the students. When asked what his favorite part of the trip was, 11th grader Noah Gibbs said — “I just enjoyed learning about God, and it’s even better with my friends.”

The students who attended the conference were: Daniella Ajayi, Kaia Barbour, Maddie DeNick, Tommy Ellison, Zac Fosbenner, Noah Gibbs, Sam Glancey, Vera Huff, Richie Jackson, Dee Jang, Grace Johnson, Manny Johnson, Moges Johnson, Ali Lushina, Ryleigh Martin, James Papanikolauo, Haven Sanchez, Alek Stein, Nate Stein, Makayla Tomlinson, Trae Walls, and Grace Wroniuk. The four adult group leaders were Chris Lopez, Jessica Martin, and Dan and Erin Vasquez.

 

High School Students Attend Leadership Conference in Washington, DC; Focus on Responding to Injustice in Broken World

Thirty-three ACS high school students attended a leadership conference in Washington, DC from November 21-23 that focused on human suffering around the world and how to respond to that through the lens of God’s Word. The annual conference was sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International and drew over 650 students from Christian high schools in the Northeast.

The conference activities featured several keynote speakers, worship, presentations and game time led by entertainer Brandon Rushin, performances by illusionist Brett Myers, and a tour of the Holocaust Museum, led by American Christian Tours.  During one of the inter-active game activities, two ACS students — 12th grader Amber Ramos and 11th grade Sam Glancey — joined several other students on stage to participate in the fun.

The students participated in large group sessions where speakers explored five topics — Dignity Through Work; God Loves Justice; Pro-Life Apologetics; Children’s Rights Issues; and Human Trafficking. At the end of each day, the ACS students broke into four small groups to dig deeper into the topics presented.

Upper School Principal Meg McHale, who attended the conference with the students, said the speakers challenged the students to use the inspiration they felt from the conference to take action to address the brokenness and suffering in the world today.

“This was the largest group of students that we have ever taken to this conference and we were the second largest group overall,” McHale said. “We are very excited to see a growing number of our high school students stepping up to become leaders in our school. We have really been praying for that.”

McHale said that in the final small group sessions, ACS students worked on identifying several projects to spearhead at ACS that would bring more awareness to the pressing issues addressed at the conference. She said one group of 9th and 10th grade girls, led by staff member Jessica Martin, decided to organize a fundraiser to raise awareness about human trafficking. Another group of 11th and 12th grade boys chose to start a student-led Bible study on Mondays during lunchtime.

Four adult chaperones who accompanied McHale on the trip and also served as small group facilitators were: staff member Jessica Martin;  Sean Griffith, Pastor of Sojourn Community Church; high school Bible teacher Urick Lewis; and high school faculty member Gina Wilson.

Middle School Students Challenged to Use Their Gifts, Abilities to Serve God at Spiritual Emphasis Retreat

Middle school students were challenged to look inward to discover their God-given gifts and abilities and to find ways to use them to show God’s love to others at a one-day Middle School Spiritual Emphasis Retreat on Friday, May 7 held at the ACS campus.

The retreat program incorporated a series of 22 short videos entitled “Show and Tell…It’s Your Moment,” which were created by the Association of Christian Schools International for its Virtual Leadership Conference this year.  Upper School Principal Meg McHale felt the topic of the video series was a perfect fit for the middle school retreat.

“The videos were very powerful and helped our students to better identify their own gifts and strengths, to sharpen their ability to work with others, and to help them create a proactive plan on how to engage their own community with God’s love,” McHale said.

Over the course of the day, the students broke up into 14 different small groups, divided by grade level and gender, to discuss and reflect on the videos and also to participate in activities and games.  Each discussion group was led by a teacher or adult volunteer and each student had a workbook to fill in as the day progressed.

McHale said some of the ideas for projects that the students came up with during the retreat were focused on encouraging their peers, raising funds for outside organizations, and helping those hurting in our community by providing bags for their personal needs.

The retreat opened with worship provided by Mrs. Jane Zigner and lunch was provided by Chido Burrito.

 

 

High School Students Attend Leadership Conference in Washington, DC; Focus on God-Honoring Ways to Respond to Human Suffering

Twelve ACS high school students attended a leadership conference November 18-20 in Washington, DC that focused on human suffering around the world and how to respond to that suffering through the lens of God’s Word. The annual conference was sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International and drew over 400 students from Christian high schools in the Northeast.

The students participated in large and small group sessions that explored how humans are stripped of their inherent value and dignity through typical responses to issues such as poverty, human trafficking, physician assisted suicide, abortion, and other problems that plague our society.

Upper School Principal Meg McHale, who attended the conference with the students, said the speakers challenged the students to use the inspiration they felt from the conference to transform how they looked at and valued others within their world and to take action. McHale said that in the final session the students worked together to begin planning a response to one of the issues that each school group chose to address and that the ACS group chose to focus on the issue of human trafficking.

The conference activities also included worship, a presentation by comedian Keith Coast, and an afternoon guided tour of the Capitol Building, led by American Christian Tours, that incorporated interesting and inspiring facts about the role of Christian principles in the founding of our nation. The students who attended the trip were: Elizabeth Alford, Rudy Dalinger, Rebekah Darragh, Emily Elgersma, Solomon Griffith, Paige Hoover, Ashleigh Martin, Joshua Mizrahi, Lola Oguntuase, Sydney Pearson Imohimi Unuigbe, and Caraline Winkel.