Thank you to our school families, staff, alumni, alumni parents, and friends of ACS who came out to enjoy a great meal and help raise funds for ACS Athletics at our October 14 Spirit Day at Texas Roadhouse in Egg Harbor Township, the first Spirit Day event of the school year. ACS received 10% of the sales that evening. The Spirit Days held at Texas Roadhouse during the last school year raised close to $1,000 for ACS Athletics.
“We’re very thankful for the great turnout from our school families, as well as seeing our athletes, coaches, teachers, and alumni all coming out to support our athletic programs,” said Athletic Director Pam Hitchner. Funds raised from the Spirit Days go toward the purchase of athletic equipment, supplies, uniforms, referees, and more.
Hitchner also thanked the owners and staff at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township for supporting ACS Athletics. ACS plans to hold additional Spirit Days at Texas Roadhouse during this school year.
Our kindergarten classes enjoyed a fun-filled day at Storybook Land on Friday, October 7 and the following Tuesday celebrated Mother Goose Day — two favorite fall activities that helped our students learn all about the role of characters in nursery rhyme, fairy tale, or other story.
On Mother Goose Day, the students dressed up like Snow White and her dwarfs, Little Miss Muffet, Little Bo Peep, Jack in the Beanstalk, Jack and Jill, and other favorite nursery rhyme or fairy-tale characters and paraded through the school hallways and visited elementary classrooms. During their classroom visits, students were challenged to name the characters that the students represented based on their costumes.
As part of National Fire Prevention Week, students from preschool to the 5th grade learned some valuable lessons about fire safety from firefighters with the Scullville Volunteer Fire Company who visited our campus on Tuesday, October 11.
Serving others and showing the love of Jesus through acts of kindness is the motto of a new Middle School Servant’s Heart Club that this month has made some 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, baked brownies for teens at the Covenant House in Atlantic City, and created hand-made cards for gift bags for Angels in Motion. The club is one of 12 middle school clubs that are now meeting weekly during 8th period, a new time slot created this year for middle school and high school clubs to meet.
ACS 11th graders learned about the various academic, athletic, and extra-curricular programs offered at Cairn University, a Christian university in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, during an October 18 classroom presentation by Stephen Hogan, an Admissions Counselor at Cairn. The presentation was part of a series of visits from college representatives organized by Guidance Counselor Christina Ragland for the high school “College and Careers Class.”
The Race for Education is just three weeks away — on Friday, October 28 — and we need every student and teacher from PreK3 to the 8th grade to reach out to family members and friends to ask them to be a Race sponsor. Event Coordinator Christian Delacruz visited different classrooms during the week of October 3 to present green-and-white Race for Ed Sponsor Sneakers to students who had raised $50 or more from a sponsor. The sneakers were also put on display on a bulletin board in the Multi-Purpose Room hallway. There is still room for more sneakers — so let’s keep reaching out to prospective sponsors.
Congratulations to the 45 students from the 3rd to 12th grades who were recently selected for the cast of our November 18-19 production of the musical “Seussical, JR.” Show Director Genevieve Huff got rehearsals underway in mid-September and the cast members have been working hard perfecting their singing, dancing, and choreography at their Tuesday and Thursday after-school rehearsals.
ACS families generously donated food and supplies this week to bless those in need in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. On Friday, October 7, members of the Varsity Boys Soccer team, along with their coach Chris Lopez, helped load a large box truck with the donations, which included over 30 cases of water bottles and nearly a dozen large bins and boxes filled with paper towels, laundry detergent, cereal, canned goods, diapers, baby wipes, and more.
The first Parent-Teacher Conferences of this school year for parents with students in kindergarten to the 12th grade will be on Wednesday, October 12 from 1:00-6:00 p.m. This Parent-Teacher Conference is not mandatory, but is recommended if your child is not performing well academically (a grade of 70 or below in any subject) or is having trouble acclimating to the new school year.
By Robby Barberio
Retreat speaker Pastor Wil Del Valle led four chapel sessions in which he challenged the students to look at what God has to say with a new perspective and to really understand the meaning of the phrase “all Scripture is God breathed,” based on the ACS theme verse this year from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Pastor Wil is the worship and youth pastor at Crossbridge Community Church in Woolrich Township, New Jersey. Worship during the chapels was led by Lee Martin, ACS parent and Director of Worship and Communication at the Ocean City Tabernacle, and Alyssa Griffith of Sojourn Community Church.
Give us your best smile! Lifetouch will be at ACS to take school pictures on Tuesday, October 18 and Wednesday, October 19 and students should only wear school uniforms on those days.
ACS Spirit Day at Texas Roadhouse is just one week away — on Friday, October 14. ACS families and friends are invited to enjoy a delicious meal from 4:00-10:30 p.m. and help raise funds for ACS Athletics. The restaurant is located at 6801 E. Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township.
Homecoming 2022 will be next Saturday, October 15 and ACS families, alumni, and their families are invited for a fun day of soccer, a cross country run, and the crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen. Athletic Director Pam Hitchner, who has organized the day’s festivities, is also adding new activities including inflatables, face painting, and games, along with a cook-out.
Students, teachers, and parents gathered outdoors on September 28 near the flagpoles for a student-led time of worship and prayer before school.
High school students Kaia Barbour, Tommy Ellison, and Evangelina Kim opened the program with worship songs, followed by a time of small group prayer for our school, our community, and our nation.
Seven new middle school and high school teachers are bringing a wealth of experience and a commitment to Christian education as they settle into their positions this fall at ACS. Several of these individuals are not new to the school, having served as paraprofessionals or as substitute teachers, but are now on board as full-time teachers.
Senior Robby Barberio got his big break this fall as a budding writer when an article he wrote on actor and comedian James Murray of the “Impractical Jokers” reality TV show was published in the September 2022 issue of “Millennium,” a New York City-based magazine.
Our 20th annual Race for Education fall fundraiser, to be held on Friday, October 28, launched the week of September 19. Please make a gift online today and help us reach and exceed our goal of $40,000 to support our educational programs and activities this year.
Our 18th annual Back-to-School BBQ on Friday, September 16 was our largest ever — with over 1,200 parents, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and alumni parents coming together to enjoy an evening of fun and fellowship under beautiful, sunny skies. There were plenty of activities for children young and old, including face painting, Ga-Ga ball, 9-square-in-the-air, and several inflatables. Worship music performed live by a largely faculty-parent band was a welcome new addition to the event and everyone enjoyed taking a hay ride provided by Sleepy Hollow Family Campground, whose owners are ACS alumni parents.
New Art Classroom Tables: Six new art solid maple tables were installed in Mrs. Mirakian’s art classroom, made possible by gifting of $4,800 from an anonymous donor. Over the summer, the art classroom was relocated to a larger room in a modular building to the right of the main school building. The new tables, which are 60-inches long and 42-inches wide, are more moveable than the prior tables that were very heavy and had surfaces well-worn from use. Mrs. Mirakian said she is thrilled with the new tables and with her larger space that allow her to configure the classroom in different ways. During the week of September 12, 4th grade students were among the first to begin using the tables as Mrs. Mirakian guided them in creating their art portfolio packets to store the artwork they create in the coming weeks.
New Stage Lighting and Control System: Just in time for our fall production of Seussical, JR., ACS has purchased and installed new stage lights and portable lights, along with a wireless control system, that replace a 12-year-old incandescent lighting system. The new $13,000 system was paid for by an anonymous donor in response to a Special Projects Appeal mailing sent to ACS families and supporters in August. Lee Martin, ACS parent and Director of Worship and Communication at the Ocean City Tabernacle, oversaw the installation, with assistance from ACS alumni parent and electrician, Mike Darragh, owner of Wire Wiz Electrician Services. The project involved installing 18 new LED stage lights, replacing 16 existing lights, and adding 8 portable LED lighting bars to be used for back lighting on stage. “These new lights and control system will be more reliable, use less electricity, allow us to add colored lighting, and has other features like zoom and strobe,” Martin said. The new lights will be used not only for the Seussical, JR. musical, but will be used for chapel worship time and school concerts and special events.
Upgrades to 10 Commandments Memorial Garden: New landscaping, concrete, and a brick pathway were part of a needed upgrade to the 10 Commandments Memorial Garden to the left of the main school building’s entrance. The facelift and new additions to the garden were carried out by ACS parent David O’Donnell, owner of O’Donnell’s Landscaping, and his team. The garden was first established in 2006 and its main feature has been a black granite sculpture depicting the 10 Commandments, donated by ACS grandparent Kathy Breunig. The project involved removing overgrown shrubbery, adding bluestone and river rock around the sculpture, installing bricks in a former gravel pathway, and pouring concrete over areas where grass was no longer growing or viable. Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen said the garden area is a busy place in the afternoons during student pick-up and the improvements were needed to better accommodate the large number of students who stand waiting in front of the school. Some $5,000 has been donated to this project and ACS welcomes additional donations toward the $9,000 remaining in project costs.
Atlantic Christian will hold a special time of group prayer and worship before school around the school’s flagpoles as we participate in the annual national “See You At the Pole” event on Wednesday, September 28. Family members are welcome to join our students, faculty, and staff from 7:30-8:15 a.m. as we pray for our school, our local community, and our nation.
The fall 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 gymnastics and soccer and to develop creative and musical talents there are classes in art, band, and worship team. There is also a new Robotics Club for 2nd-8th graders that will meet on Mondays starting September 26.
Impact your children’s lives and ACS through prayer. Be a part of the ACS Parents in Prayer Group that meets throughout the school year on Tuesday mornings from 9:00-10:00 a.m. Come out to the entrance of the ACS Track to join other parents and guardians who want to be prayer warriors for ACS.
Ads and boosters to appear in the playbill for the upcoming ACS production of “Seussical JR.” on November 18 and 19 are now available for purchase. The deadline to purchase a booster pride line, electronic ad, or display ad to advertise your business or to congratulate your favorite cast member in the playbill is Monday, October 31. Show tickets will go on sale on October 16.
