OPEN HOUSE insert SECONDARY - Abbotsford Christian School

JAN/FEB 2012 ISSUEABBOTSFORD CHRISTIAN SCHOOLSee page 8 for dates & ticket infoElementaryRead about the potlatchin gr .4 & other eventson pg 5...see who won theSpelling Bee on page 6& other news on pg 7SecondaryMiddle GeneralSee the OPEN HOUSEinsert & read other secnews on pgs 7 - 9...see pgs 2,3, 4, 10Feb.10 ACS GalaFeb. 16 Student Led Conferences (Elem)Feb. 17 Professional Day - NO SCHOOLMar 2 OPEN HOUSE (Sec)Mar 2,3 Drama 9 - 12 PlayMar 8-10 Drama 9 - 12 PlayMar 2 Interims for Sem2.Trm1 (Sec)Mar 9 Last day of 2nd term (Elem/Mid)Mar 13 2012/13 Course Reg Even. (Sec)Mar 15 Grandparents Day (Elem)Mar 16 Second Report Card (Elem/Mid)Mar 19-30 Spring Break - NO SCHOOLMar 21 Nicaragua HANDS team leavesACS MISSION STATEMENT: Abbotsford Christian School, operated by Abbotsford Christian School Society members, seeks to serve Christian familiesby providing a secure learning environment in which God’s children can continue to explore, experience and evaluate all of life under God. We aim tonurture students in the discovery and development of their abilities and unique gifts so that they are enabled to be faithful, discerning, obedient andcreative servants of God and of neighbour, and stewards of His creation.ACS Elementary (P-5)Roy van Eerden, Principal604 755 8101ACS Middle (6-8)Tym Berger, Principal604 755 8102ACS Secondary (9-12)Gerry Goertzen, Principal604 755 8104Administration OfficeJulius Siebenga, ExecutiveDirector 604 755 8103Administration OfficeNilah Lewis, Admin Assistant604 755 1891 ext 4001w w w . a b b o t s f o r d c h r i s t i a n . c o m

ACS MESSENGERGENERAL ACS NEWSFrom the Executive DirectorPurple Cows and RemarketabilityHave you ever seen a purple cow? Of coursenot - although if you did, you would really beimpressed wouldn't you? Imagine drivingthrough the Sumas Prairie seeing pastureafter pasture of Holsteins - only to see apurple cow! You might even stop the car foranother look - maybe even get out and take some pictures. Ifyou were really feeling up to it - you might even research thefarm and find out how a purple cow was bred - becausehaving a purple cow is quite remarkable! "The Purple Cow" isa book written by marketing expert Seth Godin - who sharesabout the importance of becoming and being uniquelyremarkable. He claims that the world of marketing haschanged. We should find our purple cows and celebratethem, and then share this with those who know it best - andallow these people to share it with everyone else (word ofmouth).Among many things, January and February are in large partknown to be "promotion" months in the rhythm of whathappens in the business of school. This is the time of yearthat many Christian families (especially families with youngchildren) truly are in the decision making mode about whatschool they will send their children to. As a result of this,schools (specifically independent ones) spend a lot of timeand energy putting their brand in front of these families so thatthey will indeed choose their school. There are ads in thepaper, on the radio, in magazines, and online, encouragingpeople to sign their children up at their school. ACS is nodifferent as we also need to do this and do it well. Perhapspeople have noticed our advertising push and market splashat the kindergarten level - believing that once families start atACS they will stay for the next 13 years (generally proving tobe true 95% of the time).Although recognizing the importance of marketing ourselves inthe way that people have always done it, at ACS, we believethat the best way to market ourselves has more to do with whowe are. We believe in being remarkable, we believe inproviding "Purple Cow" programs that parents can't help butshare with other parents, we believe that we owe it to ourimage-bearing children to be absolutely remarkable. Once weidentify what makes us remarkable - we then finds ways tomarket this - thus the word "remarketability". Thisremarketability requires us to spend the time, energy andresources into being remarkable - so that we indeed canmarket ourselves in these areas. We would hope that ourparents would then be the ones who share this remarkablestory with others. People have said for generations that thebest way to market yourself is through word of mouth – andwe believe this wholeheartedly.Another reason that we chose kindergarten as a placeto focus our attention is that we truly believe that it is aremarkable place - a Purple Cow! In early January, weheld our annual Kindergarten Information Night: weshared the philosophy of ACS, we shared some of ourstories with those in attendance, and then the currentkindergarten teachers, Nancy Humphries and DebbieGoertzen specifically talked about the kindergartenprogram. We concluded with a couple of parentssharing what was remarkable about kindergarten, fromtheir own experience. It was clear to those who camethat night, that our kindergarten is a remarkable place -something that has remarketability!By now, most parents/guardians have re-enroled theirchildren for next year (unless their youngest isgraduating in June!). We are just entering into openenrolment season and it seems as though what webelieve is remarkable is again making its way into thecommunity - people are asking about us! Maybe evenmore so this year than in others. Even though it’snatural for us to be making a huge push at thekindergarten level, we would love more families atothers level as well (provided we have space). Whatare our Purple Cows, what is it about us that is uniquelyamazing, what is it that you wouldn't hesitate to getexcited about? Feel free to share ACS with others, beour mouthpieces and share with them what makes usremarkable! Julius Siebenga - Executive DirectorTo comment on this article or others go to Julius’ blogentitledSolid Work @ACS http://www.jsiebenga.blogspot.com/Works Cited: "The Purple Cow" by Seth Godin, 2002.Are you on Twitter? Do you Tweet? Are you a Twitterfollower? Are you tired of having to go dig for newsitems about ACS? Do you wish that you would be ableto have more news sent directly to your inbox or yourtwitter account?It’s true! We officially turned on our twitter account forpeople to follow through their twitter account.Because of the power that twitter has in sending immediateinformation out to its followers, we believe it to bea valuable way to communicate. Our goal is to updateit regularly with news items that we believe are worthyour time to read. Our twitter account is entitled“ACS @The_ACS_story”.Clicking on the link will take you directly there.http://twitter.com/the_acs_storyPage 2

GENERAL ACS NEWS CONT’DACS MESSENGERKindergarten Information NightOur Kindergarten Information Night was received veryfavourably. It was encouraging to us to have peopleoutside of our community come for the evening and“check us out”. One of the outcomes of the event wasthe generation of a list of tours for people to come toACS on a tour with the Elementary Principal – Roy vanEerden. If you missed out on the event, but still want atour of the Elementary – call the school – we’d love toset something up.Open Enrolment SeasonWe are now into the time of the year when we are acceptingregistrations from the public. The re-enrolmentdeadline has come and gone (thanks for getting in yourforms), and applications are coming in fast and furious.If you are a returning family and have yet to get your re-enrolment form in to the school – please do so asapas your spot might be taken by a new family. We areexpecting class sizes to fill up at all levels this year, soplease make this a priority – thanks.2012-2013 TuitionIn the season of re-enrolment, the question of what the2012/2013 tuition will be has come up. Although thisdecision isn’t finalized till the month of May and ratifiedby the school board in June, generally speaking, weseek to keep yearly tuition raises at the level of the costof living increase each year. We then take into accountthe projected government funding estimates, as well asthe number of families that have re-enrolled for the followingyear. It is good to assume that 3% is an averagecost of living increase.SNOW AND SCHOOLCLOSURESWe would like to remind you that in case ofsevere weather, school closure announcementswill be made on (in orderof notification):1. www.abbotsfordchristian.com2. Global TV3. KWPZ (Praise FM) 106.54. STAR FM 107.12011 TAX RECEIPTSThe 2011 tax receipts for donations and tuition will be mailedout mid to late February. Your tuition receipts reflect a formulathat has been approved by SCSBC and Canada RevenueAgency and, therefore, are in compliance with Canadian taxlaws. The receiptable amount in tuition paid is different eachyear, as it is based on certain expenses incurred during theyear. If you do not receive your receipt by March 1, please callMarilyn in the Administration office at 604.755.8107.NOTE: Statements will also be sent out indicating fees paid forpreschool in 2011. Please note that this is NOT a donation receipt.There is still room on our buses!(except for the Yarrow bus, which is full)If you would like more information on where our busses arepicking up, as well as rates, please click the link belowhttp://www.abbotsfordchristian.com/admissions/Pages/Transportation.aspx(abbotsfordchristian.com / transportation). If you would likemore information, please contact our transportationcoordinator at:kthiessen@abbotsfordchristian.comGenerations of Attendance!ACS is blessed with many families who have 2 nd and 3 rdgenerations of children attending our school. TheApperloo family (Ted and Edith) began sending their fourchildren to ACS many years ago. This past year, all oftheir grandchildren were a part of ACS. The first twograndchildren (Stephanie Ridder & Ryan Wiens)graduated from grade 12 this past June.Page 3

ACS MESSENGERGENERAL ACS NEWS CONTINUEDHONORARY MEMBERS BANQUETERIC BOMHOF, GRADE12 STUDENT,PERFORMED “TAKE MYLIFE AND LET IT BECONSECRATED…”It’s a tradition to give honor where it’s due at AbbotsfordChristian School. Each year we celebratethose who have given much in time, talents, and contributionsto ACS. The Honorary Members Banquet washeld on December 2 nd . It was a fantastic event. OurHonorary Members enjoyed a wonderful meal preparedand served by our Foods class, and were entertainedby each campus as students performed. PastBoard chairperson, Jack Van Dyke, spoke about rememberingthe past and where ACS has come fromwith a focus on the history of our Special EducationProgram and the important role of Special Education inACS today. Our current board chairperson, Ian VanDeventer, shared the continuing vision for ACS today.There were stories shared about tough times andgreat times and especially God’s faithfulness to ACSduring decades of work with children.THE ELEMEN-TARY SCHOOLCHOIR PER-FORMEDSEVERALNUMBERS FROM“SING NOEL”THE SECONDARY SCHOOL JAZZ BAND PLAYED FOR THE MEMBERSAND CELEBRATED GIFTS OF MUSICThe Development office is also pleased to announcethat since David Broughton, the BC representative forChristian Stewardship Services, spoke at our last banquet,the response has been great. Dave has made anumber of estate planning visits to members of ourcommunity and the future expectations of our Endowmentfund have increased 170% from $263,000 to$710,000. (The donor’s identities remain anonymousand only the estimates of future commitment are givento the charities with the donor’s consent.) Dave’sknowledge and his relaxed approach are being verywell received in our community. Proper structuring ofyour estate can ensure that more money ends up inthe hands of your children and the charities that areclose to your heart and less money ends up lost to taxes.Our partnership with CSS means that these consultationsare a free benefit to our members.The Endowment Committee encourages everyone totake advantage of this benefit.For further information, or to arrange a visit, pleasecontact ACS Development Director, Al Scholing at604.755.8108 or any of the following members of theEndowment Committee:Harry De Jong: 604.853.0234Sid Kingma: 604.859.3899John Ouwerkerk: 604.746.6675John Pool: 604.853.3625Page 4

ELEMENTARY HIGHLIGHTSACS MESSENGERPOTLATCHOn Friday, January 27, all the grade 4 classes held a Potlatch celebration to go alongwith our First Nations unit. We first ate lunch, which was a variety of foods provided byparents. Then, after our extraordinary feast, we had a short program. The Potlatch is atime of sharing and giving, so we performed and shared our time with our parents in variousskits, dances and other ways. The students had many positive things to say aboutour celebration:"My favourite part of the Potlatch was watching the talents of the people, giving out theartwork and teaching a dance to everyone." - Alexi"I really enjoyed the beading, the skit we did called 'Why Chipmunks Have Stripes.' I alsoliked the skit we did with the whole class called 'Th'owxey." - Johannah"I liked all the food - it stuffed me! I loved being the oldest boy in the Th'owxey story. Iliked singing the songs." - ZachMatt Sherwood - gr. 4 TeacherColonies, Creativity and ConfederationAll grade 5 students have been involved in"Adanac", a confederation simulation game.Each class was divided into 5 colonies.Each colony was responsible for choosing adelegate, creating their colony's flag, map,and anthem, and preparing a presentationto teach their classmates about their colony.The delegates had the challenging job ofmeeting together to discuss the issues, totry to create policies and to ultimately jointogether as a new country. Students soonrealized that this was not an easy task!Tons of debating and loads of compromisingwere required.At thetime of this article,two classeshave reachedconfederationbut one classcontinues todebate the issues.This issuch a fun way for students to work togetherand to understand some otherwise difficultconcepts. Simone Scholing - gr. 5 TeacherNathan’s family shows us how to make paper snowflakes& how to eat shortbread snowflakes, yummy!Snow Day!!! Outside and Inside!Winter in January isn’t always so exciting inAbbotsford, so the grade 1’s planned an indoorsnow day on January 19. We had greatfun “skating,” making snowflakes, throwing“snow balls,” and dressing up in big winterclothes! Little did we know during the planningstage that we’d actually have a few real snowdays that week. Between inside snow fun andoutside snow fun, everyone in grade 1 enjoyedwinter to the fullest.Donna Stelpstra - gr.1 TeacherIn K/1 we learned about how all ourfamilies celebrate Christmas. Eachstudent took a turn to present howthey celebrate Jesus’ birthday at their K/1 Christmas pageant, Come to the Stable.house. We got to see favourite ornaments,and pictures of Christmas past. We heard wonderful descriptionsof family gatherings and decorations. We tasted delicious homemadecookies, Starbucks hot chocolate, and little dutch cookies. We decoratedcookies and gingerbread houses and made crafts with the parents. It wasa wonderful month filled with all the coziness and magic of Christmas. Wefinished the theme with a Christmas pageant which we performed for theparents. Happy birthday Jesus! Wendy Weaver - K TeacherPage 5

ACS MESSENGERMIDDLE HIGHLIGHTSThanks for supporting the Grade 8 Shoe Drive!On Friday, January 6, Grade 8 students and teachers bravedthe chilly weather to load 17 602 pairs of shoes that werecollected through the Shoe Drive into the back of a 40 footshipping container destined for Guatemala. Grade 8 studentsand teachers began the project back in September,and spent many hours this fall picking up, sorting, counting,and bagging donated shoes.On the final day of the project, students spent about 2 hoursmoving shoes from the donated Big Steel Box and the storagetrailer behind school and packing them tightly into theshipping container. The container was sent to the port inVancouver and then transported to Guatemala, where theshoes will be sorted and many will be re-sold in local marketsas affordable footwear. Proceeds of the sale of theshoes will fund the work of EDGE Outreach. The water purificationsystems that EDGE donates and installs in developingcountries and disaster environments save the lives ofnearly 400,000 people each year. When EDGE staff andvolunteers travel to a developing community to build trainingcenters and install purification systems, they also teach thelocal people how to diagnose their water problems, theyshow them how to operate the purification systems and repairbroken hand pumps, and they educate them on effectivehealth and hygiene practices.The Grade 8 teachers saw this outreach opportunity as away to connect curriculum with service, one of our goals atthe Middle School. Academically, students will relate whatthey have learned about the innovative water purificationsystems designed by EDGE to their unit on the human immunesystem and water-borne diseases in Science classes.EDGE has told us that about 9000 people will benefit fromthe shoes that we collected! Thanks to everyone who donatedshoes, stopped by to help us sort the donated shoes, orhelped us in any other way. Tym Berger - PrincipalMiddle School CoffeehouseComing soon to a gymnasium near you! TheMiddle School Coffeehouse, a celebration of the arts,is quickly approaching! Our date is set forThursday, April 26.This year we are going with a single evening in the HighSchool gym. Watch for ticket sales information comingshortly after Spring Break, you won’t want to miss this!We could also use parent help withsome of the options already being preparedfor. These include photography,cooking, cake decorating, the RedCross babysitting course, and woodworking.Help Needed!We are looking for parents who wouldbe willing to lead Exploratory Mini-Courses for our Grade 6 Exploratories.We are planning to run tworounds of three sessions each. Thedates for the first round are February16, 23, and March 1, with the secondround scheduled for May 3, 10, and 17.These are Thursdays and we plan onusing the entire afternoon each day(1:05 p.m.-2:50 p.m.). The focus for Middle School Spelling Beethe Grade 6 Exploratories is on“practical arts,” and we are hoping for afew additional options for students toselect from. Some possible ideas includecross-stitching, paper crafts,scrap-booking, Spanish (or any otherlanguage), bead work, and leadershipgames. However, we would be veryopen to other ideas as well.Page 6If you would be willing to help us out oryou have questions about the Exploratorycourses, please contact the MiddleSchool Office- 604.755.1891x2001On Thursday, January 19, twenty-eightspelling finalists from grade 6, 7 and 8took their seat on contestant’s row forour 6th Annual Spelling Bee Championship!The top three or four spellersfrom every class (based on a preliminarytest) anxiously waited for the Beeto begin while fellow classmates wavedsupport banners for their classmates.One by one students approached themicrophone and nervously asked, “MayI have a word please?” Faces contortedfrom heavy thinking and phoneticindecision as contestants verballyspelled out tricky words.After 17 (3 in which only 2 spellers remained)exciting rounds of words, aSchool Champion was finally determined.Congratulations go to IsabellaHamm (7C) who placed third in thecompetition, Katelyn Naayer, whoplaced second (6A) and Moira Louw(8C), who won the title of Spelling BeeChampion! Moira’s name has beensubmitted to CanWest CanSpell 2012and she will take a qualifying test todetermine eligibility for the RegionalCompetition on March 10.Tym Berger - Principal

ATHLETIC HIGHLIGHTS - MIDDLE & SECONDARYACS MESSENGERThe grade 6 boys andgirls teams are working hard at developing their skills and are excited fortheir Christian Schools play days in February. Girls @ LCS Feb. 5. Boys@ PA Feb. 15.We thank all the coaches for their dedication to our students. Read moreabout our athletics on our website:http://www.abbotsfordchristian.com/middle/Pages/Athletics.aspxVince Van Dyk - Middle School Athletic DirectorMIDDLE SCHOOL AthleticsWe are in the middle of an exciting part of thebasketball season. Grade 8 teams are close towrapping up league play and are gearing up for theplayoffs. The girls’ team captured 4th place recentlyat the Christian Schools Tournament in Langley; while the boys placed6 th out of 13 teams at their tournament.Grade 7 teams have played several exhibition games and are eagerlyawaiting the ChristianSchools Tournamentin mid - February.Girls @ MEI Feb. 14.Boys @ MEI Feb. 15Presently, we are in the middle of the basketball season with our sights set towards the playoffs in mid – February for alllevels. Our senior boys and girls teams are doing well in league and exhibition play. The Senior Boys are ranked #14 in theprovince for ‘AA’ schools. They have a record of 11-5 overall and are 2 nd in league play. The Sr. Girls will finish 2 nd or 3 rd inleague play and also compete in the Fraser Valley ‘AA’ league. The junior teams compete in the Abby-Mission-Chilliwackzone for league play.Recent highlights:♦The ACS Senior Boys captured the Championship Banner at the annual Christian Schools Basketball Tournament (picturedright). It was a total team effort as the Knights had balanced scoring through all three games and played tremendous defensein not letting any team score more than 43 points. Tylan Postma was named MVP and Dan Vaags made the all-star team.♦The Lady Knights went 4-0 to win a tournament at DoverBay, in Nanaimo, recently and are looking forward to theChristian Schools Championships in early February.♦The junior girls finished 3 rd at the annual ChristianSchools Tournament in Duncan.♦The junior lady Knights captured first place at a tournamentin Maple Ridge recently.♦The junior boys hard work has been paying off as theyhosted the Christian Schools Championships and beatSurrey and Richmond to finish 3 rd .Read more about our athletics on our website:http://www.abbotsfordchristian.com/secondary/Pages/Athletics.aspxVince Van Dyk - Secondary Athletic DirectorSECONDARY AthleticsPage 7

ACS MESSENGERSECONDARY HIGHLIGHTSUPCOMING CHAPELSWe have some exciting Chapels planned for the months ofFebruary and March.February is "Dare to Care" month in chapel. Each weekthe theme of daring to care for our school, our families, ourcommunities, and our world will be highlighted through avariety of guest speakers and student presentations. OnFebruary 3rd, we welcome Koenraad Bugelink, YouthPastor at New Life CRC as the guest speaker. Our Bandwill open the day with worship. On February 10th, wehost Cliff Prang and the Food for Laughs comedytour. Food for Laughs is an interactive comedy presentationthat highlights the importance of family and diversecommunity and then motivates and mobilizes students topositive action in our city. Food for Laughs launches aninter-school contest that helps to raise food and suppliesfor the Abbotsford Food Band. Finally, on February 24th,we welcome Pastor Matt Ewert from South Abbotsford MBChurch. He will be speaking on a the topic of living outour love for Jesus through a life of service for others. Therewill be a Praise band and a student presentation in thischapel as well.In March, we have even more exciting chapels! On March2nd, when Abbotsford Christian Secondary School is havingits OPEN HOUSE, we will be hosting Mr. Ryan Walter,president of the Abbotsford Heat, who will address the studentsin two different chapels on that same day. The followingweek, March 9th, we will have a chapel dedicatedto highlighting the Nicaragua service trip and the Zambiaservice project - both teams will be traveling to their respectivelocations to serve others over Spring Break. Thischapel serves as a way of educating the school body aboutwhat these trips are all about, and give the teams a chanceto ask for support and prayer as they prepare toleave. March 16th, our last chapel before Spring Break isgoing to be a commissioning service, in which all studentswho are going on a service project or missions trip overSpring Break can come forward and receive prayer and ablessing form their school community. Youth Pastors arebeing invited to attend. The Abbotsford Youth ChurchBand will be at our school that day to lead in praise andworship as we send off our students to do the Lord's workin various places around the world and in our community.Dan Olydam - Chapel CoordinatorChapel meets each Fridayfrom 8:15am until 9:00am inthe Middle School gym.WE WELCOMEVISITORS!HIDE AND SHRIEK BY TIM KELLYPERFORMANCE DATES: 7:30pm - March 2 - 3, 8 - 10Performed at the Abbotsford Chrisan Middle School GymnasiumI WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THE FOLLOWING DATE(S):Fri (Mar 2) tickets at $10=Sat (Mar 3) tickets at $10=Thurs (Mar 8) tickets at $10=Fri (Mar 9) tickets at $10=Sat (Mar 10) tickets at $10=ALL TICKETS PURCHASED AT THE DOOR ARE $12I have enclosed $ in the form of cash or cheque (payable to ACSSDRAMA). I realize that this event is general seating. I will pick up my tickets nolater than 7:00 pm the night of the show. Curtain opens at 7:30 pm.My contact info: Name:Phone:Send or bring this order form to the Secondary front office ORto Mrs. Cardow’s office (Rm 106B)FOR QUESTIONS, CONTACT GAYLENE CARDOW AT:gcardow@abbotsfordchristian.com OR 604.755.1891 x3006Hide and Shriekby Tim KellyJune Hungerford is on the run fromEdwina Hyde, a crazy woman who isconvinced June has stolen the manshe loves. June heads to the hills tohide and encounters a bizarre hillbillyfamily: Mom yells a lot, Dad’s nottoo sharp, and their son Aesopdoesn’t seem to have two brain cellsto rub together. Add in some visitorsfrom the city, a swamp creature, alawyer, a body, and a couple of collegestudents searching for a friend,and you are set for an evening ofhilarious melodramatic farcical comedy.The set construction class hasworked their magic once again toproduce a HUGE set, costumes arebeing crafted, the actors are memorized,tickets are on sale, and we areall excited about the fun we have instore for you on March 2, 3, 8-10.Mark your calendar and get yourtickets TODAY!Page 8

SECONDARY HIGHLIGHTS CONT’DACS MESSENGERProject Based LearningProjects and Presentations Take Off and Fly - Gerry GoertzenThe Nicaragua Team is selling tickets to the Friday, March 2nd AbbotsfordHeat hockey game versus the Texas Stars! Tickets cost$20.00 each. ACS has purchases 100 tickets at a reduced rate to besold as a fundraiser for the Nicaragua trip happening over Spring thisMarch 19th-29th. Tickets are available in the Secondary school frontoffice. All profits from the ticket sales will go toward funding the costs ofthe service project. Come out for a fun night of exciting hockey, andsupport a great cause at the same time!We’d also like to send a big THANK YOU to all those who helped supportthe January 2nd Bottle-drive fundraiser that we did. It was ourmost successful bottle-drive ever! We raised over $2300.00 in one day!One of our big initiatives is to implement engaging and effective methods of classroom instruction. We have found projectsto be a great method of increasing student learning. We have been pleasantly surprised by the excitement which these projectshave created throughout our student body. Here are some of the projects we have implemented:“Making Glazes” - Chemistry 11 and Art 11Clarence Janzen and Jake StelpstraMr. Stelpstra has been using various glazes in pottery lessons for years. Mr. Janzen isinterested in the chemistry involved in glazing and together they set out to lead studentstoward an understanding of the nature of these compounds, how they are made and whatgoes on when they are heated. The students gained an awareness of the endless waysin which the materials given in creation can enhance human creativity. They made hundredsof tiles, created glazing recipes and then evaluated both the outcome and the processin their final assessments. The collaboration was incredible and the outcome wasremarkable.“The Epic I Am In” - Bible 12Scott Visser, Trent DeJong, Dan Olydam, Gary Verbeek, Patrick Naayer and Brenda BakkerAll Bible 12 students were required to create a presentation focussing on their personalstory of their walk with God using visual, literary, creative movement or other (or all of theabove) means. They shared stories of growth, gifts, motivation and other facets of whothey are and God’s faithfulness. They shared how our staff has made an impact in theirlives through programs, athletics, performances, chapels, courses, trips and experiences.In addition, they considered their future plans in light of what they have learned. Thepresentations were completed on the first evening of assessment week. They were inspiringand creative presentations and next year we hope to have a much larger turnoutfrom parents and the community to hear these remarkable stories. It was an authenticcelebration of our students, the ACS mission and the impact we are making on families inthis community.“The Bounty of the Ocean…Ours to Enjoy?” – Foods 11 / Biology 11Martin Vanderschans and Rob BakkerIncreasingly, the call to more carefully consider our use of natural resources is resultingin the examination of the ways individuals live their lives, as well as changes in the decisionswe make regarding purchases and lifestyle. As Christians, this is fitting since scriptureclearly calls us to be stewards of that creation. Locally, the Vancouver Aquarium hasinstituted a program called “Ocean Wise” which encourages people to consider the sustainabilityof various types of sea food. This project combined culinary elements focusingon preparing sustainable sea food resources with a close look at the ecological implicationsof continued minimally-controlled harvesting policies. How should we respond asChrist-followers? What are the economic implications? How can we discern truth in thisissue? These topics were all explored in a collaborative environment. The culminatingexperience was a well-attended seafood banquet, prepared by students and attended bymore than 50 people. Students shared their presentations of learning while guest feastedon a delightful sustainable seafood banquet.Page 9

ACS MESSENGERGENERAL ACS NEWS CONT’DSPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTDear ACS Society Members,I am privileged to make a very excitingannouncement on behalf of the ACSBoard! You might recall that in the last"Messenger" I made reference to anexternal evaluation of the school by the Ministry of Education.This evaluation was comprehensive and occurredOctober 11-14, 2011. At the conclusion of the evaluation,the team met with our staff and provided verbal feedback.Staff were very excited to hear that the overall impressionsfrom the evaluation team were very positive.In the January Board meeting we were happy to hear thatthe formal written report has been received and it isVERY complimentary in its findings. Among other things,it comments favourably on the quality of education, thebalance of academic and religious instruction, and theway in which the three campuses collaborate for the sakeof our children's educational experience. Special mentionis also made of the increasing attention that ACSstaff are giving in their staff collaboration time to designingand delivering instruction through project-based learningand creative student presentations of their learning.The report refers to ACS staff as being on the leadingedge of such initiatives (which are considered astrong future direction for education in our Province),even referring to our staff as already having capacity tomodel this work to other schools!Smart Care gives Auto Shop a lift!Jason Wielenga is an alumni and a parent in our community.He is also the owner of Smart Care Auto, abusiness he established 13 years ago.Always looking for ways to add value for his customersSmart Care Auto has just purchased state of the artwheel alignment equipment which can quickly and accuratelyperform a complete check of your alignmentand can do it for a very reasonable price. Properalignment will increase your gas mileage and will prolongthe life of your tires. Checking your alignmentperiodically is one of the best preventative maintenanceitems you can do for your car.In order to make room for this new equipment Jasonneeded to remove one of his existing hoists which hedonated to ACS including installation. (right)The ACS Auto Shop would like to publicly recognizeand a give a great big THANK YOU to JasonWielenga and Smart Care Auto for this generous donationand for his continuing support of ACS. We encouragethose in our community to support the businessesthat support us. Gary Verbeek - Tech EdThis is heady praise for our school and our staff! That isnot to say that ACS is the perfect school, but it does ratherbluntly affirm that ACS is an excellent school in manykey ways. Please join the Board in congratulating thestaff of ACS for their recognition as creative educationalleaders in our province!For more details, please find an Executive Summary ofthe report on our website at:http://www.abbotsfordchristian.com/news/Pages/MOEEvaluation.aspxOn behalf of the ACS Board,Ian Van Deventer - Board ChairPage 10

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ACS MESSENGERTHIS MESSENGER IS SPONSORED BY:OPEN 8:00am - 5:30pm Monday to Friday & Saturdays 8:00am - 4:30pmABBOTSFORD CHRISTIAN SCHOOL35011 Old Clayburn RoadAbbotsford, BC V2S 7L7Postage Paid Post PayéPage 12“Grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ” ll Peter 3:18