Making handprint thank you posters for parents serving in Iraq

• Our Daycare/Preschool recently held a Family Fun Night and a great time was had by all.
• We also celebrated Grandparent's Day on September 16th, with the children singing songs and eating lunch with their grandparents.
• Our Sally Foster Sale is drawing to a close, and we have high hopes for spectacular success.
• We are still collecting items to help with Hurricane katrina relief work. If you have anything you would like to donate, please bring it by the Daycare/Preschool (DCPS) office.
• To commemorate Patriots's Day on September 11th, the children decorated posters with their handprints. These are being sent to three of our parents who are serving in Iraq.
• The policemen visited us on September 20th, and firemen will visit in October.
• We have a farm trip scheduled for October.
• We are preparing for our annual Fall Festival and our Walk-a-Thon for diabetes. One of our own two-year-olds, Anders Olson, has diabetes, so we have a special interest in doing well on our Fall fundraisers. T-shirts with "Anders Crew" written on them are available for $10. Each classroom also has a jug for change to help fight diabetes.

Winner, Patriots' Day Essay Ryan Josey On September 9th in our school’s gym, we had a great chapel. Our guest speaker was our very own Headmaster, Mr. Yancey. His speech was about patriotism and how patriots do good things for their country. He quoted some Bible verses to show us how God’s Word can help teach us to be good patriots. By following these guidelines, we can learn to do what is right and not just follow the crowd. Also Mr. Yancey talked about one of his friends Jerry M. Cash. Mr. Cash was a high school buddy who never went to college. Instead Mr. Cash went into the military where he later went to war and died for his country. Finally Mr. Yancey talked a little bit about the American flag and the meaning of its colors. He explained that the blue stood for loyalty, the red for blood, and the white for purity. This chapel made me think of Mr. Piper who goes to church with me. He recently served over in Iraq and lost his eye and almost his life. To me Mr. Piper is a true patriot. God Bless America.

September 11, 2001. Rooted in a day that will remain forever in the minds of Americans, Patriots’ Day is set aside by our nation to remember those lost during the 9-11 tragedy, as well as the heroes born out of that infamous event and all the wars in our nation’s history.

Students at Savannah Christian Preparatory School remember 9-11 in a special Patriots’ Day chapel service that honors the lives of all Americans who have given their lives defending our country. This year, students in Mrs. Ivey’s 5th grade class followed up by writing essays about the chapel, with the promise that the best essay writer would have their essay published and win a free ice cream. Three runners-up were chosen from among the 24 students, and Ryan Josey’s essay won first place. Way to go, Ryan!

Thank you to all who participated in this year’s activities and for honoring our patriots of the past, present and future.

• Runner Up #1
  Erin Barksdale

  "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” I Corinthians 16:13

  On September 9, 2005 Mr. Yancey, SCPS Headmaster, spoke at the Lower School chapel program about being a patriot, in honor of September 11th. He said, “A patriot is someone who is brave, responsible, courageous, and willing to die for his country.”

  A patriot is someone who is willing to pay his taxes without complaining. He obeys the laws. A patriot is not born brave, but is brave by doing brave things. As a kid it helped me understand that even though I do not think I am brave now, there might be a chance for me to do something later that seemed impossible.

  A patriot loves his country so much that if he was asked to fight he would. He is a patriot because he would willingly die in war for our country’s freedom. Everyone appreciated Mr. Yancey’s visit. It was very interesting and helped students understand why it is so important to be a patriot and to remember September 11th.
   

• Patriot's Day Essay Runners Up (L-R): #1 Erin Barksdale, #2 Elizabeth Poole, #3 Callie Barber

  Runner Up #2
  Elizabeth Poole

  On September 9, 2005 the Lower School on DeRenne Campus had chapel at the Lower School gym. Mr. Yancey talked to us about Patriots’ Day, Patriots, Patriotism, and September 11.

  I learned that a patriot is someone who loves their country and obeys the law. A patriot is someone who defends or fights when called upon. Sometimes a patriot will die for his or her country. The country came first in many lives even if it meant that they would be leaving their family and leaving this earth.

  I also learned that the 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states. The red stripes on our flag represent the blood of the people that fought and died in all of our wars. The blue stripes stand for loyalty and the white stripes stand for purity. I think we should all honor our flag and what it represents.

  Mr. Yancey also told us to act like men and women. We should be brave, honest, loyal, pure, responsible, firm, and strong. We should love our family, love our country, and love God. We should also stand up for what is right. Before being a patriot, we should be a Christian.
   

• Runner Up #3
  Callie Barber

  At 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 9, 2005, Mr. Yancey spoke to DeRenne Campus Lower School about Patriots’ Day. A Patriot is someone who loves their country, obeys the laws of his country, defends his country, and fights for his country. A Patriot will give their lives for his or her country.

  On the American flag blue stands for loyalty, white purity, red blood, and the stars stand for the 50 states. When we say the pledge we are honoring our nation.

  Patriots’ Day honors all the patriots who have given their lives to our country. One becomes brave by doing brave things. Our strength is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Patriots are heroes.

First graders celebrate the United States of America

First Graders Celebrate the United States of America
By Mandy Garola

All of the first graders at the Chatham Parkway Campus just finished up a month long unit on the United States. Our students learned about the history of the flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Constitution, as well as other symbols of our country.

As a culminating activity, all four classes made Statue of Liberty crowns and torches. Our class also held a USA party at which we wore our crowns and held aloft our torches.

Our thanks to Mary Kelley, mother of Joshua, who made a giant cookie in the shape of an American flag.

Second Grade Reading Buddies paired with Pre-K students

Reading Buddies Help Celebrate the Letter "P"
By Lisa Tanner

Pre-K and Second grade Reading Buddies from Mrs. James's and Mrs. Tanner's classes recently celebrated the letter "Pp". The children eagerly awaited Mrs. Patrice's perfect pancakes while reading together under a palm tree. Yum, yum!

Reading Buddies is a program where Second grade classes are paired w/Pre-K classes. Each 2nd grader is then paired with a Pre-Ker, and visits each week to read to the Pre-Kers. Students try to focus on what the Pre-Kers are learning each week, and sometimes do special activities to reinforce skills as well. In addtion to helping Pre-Kers learn, 2nd graders benefit by learning to write friendly letters and address envelopes to write to their Pre-K friends.

World Famous SCPS Chocolate! By Andi Carter The 18-wheeler rolled into the parking lot of the Chatham Parkway campus on September 25, 2005 carrying 1150 cases of chocolate. With a lot of help from the fifth grade, the truck was unloaded in about 30 minutes. All of the candy was delivered and our kids hit the streets! Our first collection day succeeded in paying for the chocolate, so it was all profit from then on. Currently, our profit exceeds $23,000.00. In the past, the proceeds of the candy sale have provided new playground equipment, a refurbished teacher’s lounge, new concrete picnic tables and numerous special projects for students and faculty alike! This is always a major fundraiser for the school and the efforts of all the students, parents and faculty continue to make it a wonderful success!

Fifth graders and Faculty prepare for Candy Sale Fundraiser Playground equipment and picnic tables purchased from Candy Sale income

Barnabus Award Winners
Responsibility Winners

The Lower School gave out its first Barnabas Awards of the year for Responsibility. Being responsible means that we do what we know we ought to do. The Bible teaches us to be good stewards and faithful in all that we do. The following students have not only set a good example for others, but they have honored the Lord Jesus through their actions.

• DeRenne Avenue Campus
  • 2nd Grade - B. Daves, Sarah Duckworth, Katlyn Durrence, Aaron Osborne
  • 3rd Grade - Paige Healy, Connor Robertson
  • 4th Grade - Ricky Daring, Tyler Duckworth, Jacquelyn Kennedy, Ryan Su, Jill Williams
  • 5th Grade - Callie Barber, Vanessa Daves, Leigh Hancock, Spencer Hancock, Hunter Hebert, Elizabeth Poole, Katherine Sellers
• Chatham Parkway Campus
  • 2nd Grade - Cameron Fales, Sarah Hawkins, Elizabeth Norman, Alexandra Pulaski, William Schaffer, Victoria Thomas
  • 3rd Grade - Emalee Brown, Mary Katherine Byrd, Madeleine Clarke, Marc Elton, Patrick Maguire, Mia Paletta, Taylor Porterfield
  • 4th Grade - Scotty Brodmann, Carson Carter, Donnie Foster, Kaitlyn James, Matthew Keane, Kylie Muraco, Kasey Siebert, Wil Wade, Dustin White
  • 5th Grade - Dillon Baxter, Abby Cail, Josh MacMillan, Alayna McDaniel, Kishan Patel, Shyam Patel, Sam Otto, Brooke Sapp, Allison Williams

Student Outreach Representatives Selected
Our former "Student Council” is now “Student Outreach," and the responsibilities are the same as in years past. Student Outreach representatives help with upcoming projects such as the Thanksgiving Food Drive, Operation Christmas Child, our Love Gift which helps a family at SAFE Shelter, and our spring project (the past two years we collected needed items for the Living Vine).

Grandparents' Day Musical Productions Scheduled
“It’s Saturday” and “Hallelujah Hop”
DeRenne Avenue - Middle School Gym, Friday, October 14th, 9:30 a.m.
Chatham Parkway - Upper School Gym, Frdiay, October 28th, 9:30 a.m.

The lower schools at DeRenne Avenue and Chatham Parkway will once again entertain grandparents at the Grandparents' Day celebrations.

This year’s musical production for DeRenne students and 2nd-5th grade students at Chatham Parkway is entitled “It’s Saturday,” a humorous look at Saturday mornings from the kids’ point of view.

The musical production for Prekindergarten, Kindergarten and 1st grade students at Chatham Parkway is entitled “Hallujah Hop” and takes audience member on a journey back in time to the 1950’s with Christian renditions of popular tunes from that time.

Ms. Jan Shaw, the director of the productions, said, “Audiences are sure to enjoy this year’s production.” Indeed, the fall performances are always the highlight for Grandparents' Day!

The DeRenne lower school campus performance will be held on Friday, October 14 in the middle school gymnasium at DeRenne. Chatham Parkway performances will be held on Friday, October 28 in the upper school gymnasium on campus. Both campuses will have a dress rehearsal on Thursday evening (and Tuesday at Chatham Parkway) before their respective performances. Parents will be invited to the dress rehearsals only.
 

Artist-in-Residence: Tony Troy, a visiting portrait artist from England, demonstrates charcoal portrait artistry for SCPS Middle School students

Middle Schoolers celebrate Spirit Week: Shown impersonating local Channel 4 News team anchormen are SCPS students (L-R) Ben McMahon, Preston Mallard, John Burke, and Charlie Ferrell. Submitted by Lee Burke.

Miss Georgia 2005 Visits SCPS: Monica Pang reads to Kindergarten students in Mrs. Justice's Lower School class

Mrs. Boyle holds a sketch drawn by Mr. Troy beside his student subject

Portrait artist, illustrator, and musical composer Tony Troy recently shared his talents with SCPS middle schoolers in Mia Boyle’s art classes. Hailing from Liverpool, England, Mr. Troy showed the class amazing illustrations of characters in his musical, “The Flute Player’s Song”, entertaining them with stories of unusual people he met on the streets of London on whom these characters were based.

Mr. Troy also fascinated the class by selecting students to pose for him while he captured their likenesses on paper, often within a minute. He then completed each drawing for students to take home.

Mr. Troy currently works out of Savannah Christian alumnus Greg McGinty’s Savannah Framing store as a portrait artist. We hope to bring him back to the Middle School soon to share his musical talents as well.

Recent visitors to other middle school classes include:

• Irene Roach, our school secretary, who recently spoke to the Geography class about her experiences in Greece. Mrs. Roach’s grandparents are Greek, and she grew up speaking Greek at home, learning English as her second language. Today she still speaks fluent Greek, attends the Greek Orthodox Church, is an active Greek folk dancer, and recently returned from a trip to Greece sponsored by the Upper School.
• Assistant Principal Stephen Hefner, who visited the Geography class and shared details about his recent encounter with a moose on a summer trip to Canada.
• SCPS alumnus, parent and fitness expert Janet Griner McCarthy ’80, who taught strengthening and stretching exercises to students in every P.E. class.

Miss Georgia visits Middle and Lower School Campuses
SCPS Middle schoolers recently enjoyed a special visit from Miss Georgia 2005, Monica Pang. Traveling across the state throughout her year of service, Pang is promoting the nationally recognized program “America’s Promise” – a national initiative to ensure that all youth have the best opportunity for success in life. Monica also spoke about “Right Decisions, Right Now,” a no-smoking campaign funded by R. J. Reynolds.

Students eagerly participated as Miss Georgia asked questions to encourage them to think through solutions for achieving personal success. Referring to her recent graduation from the University of Georgia, she explained how hard work and determination can pay off. With help from a couple of students, Miss Pang even led the students in “calling the dawgs.”

After playing the piano, she explained how it took her more than two years of practice to learn the piece written by Chopin. Miss Pang also highlighted her upcoming competition, the Miss America pageant, scheduled to air on CMT, Country Music Television.

After questions from the students, she signed autographs and then toured both campuses. She even stopped in Amy Justice’s Kindergarten classroom for a picture and a story before lunch!
 

• The Blueprint for Getting Into UGA
  Tuesday, October 11th, 6:00 p.m.
  Chatham Parkway, Upper School Media Center

  Hosted by the SCPS Upper School Guidance Department, Mr. Wade LaFontaine, UGA Admissions Counselor, will give a presentation on Tuesday, October 11th, 2005 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Upper School Media Center. For more information, contact Mrs. Moss at 234-1653 x 211 or amoss@savcps.com.
   

• PSAT Announcement
  Wednesday, October 12th
  Students in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades will take the PSAT on October 12th.

  Students need to arrive at school on time that day. They should bring two #2 pencils with them. 9th and 10th grade students will need to bring a check for $12 to Beth Sasser, counselor, for the PSAT before October 12. Checks should be made out to "Savannah Christian Preparatory School." There is no charge for 11th graders to take the test.
   

• Making College Financial Planning Count
  Monday, October 17th, 6:30 p.m.
  Chatham Parkway cafeteria

  This presentation will cover how to plan for and manage college costs, strategies to help prepare you and your family for your student’s next educational steps, and ways to navigate the college financial aid process . . .
   

• Information for students and parents from School Counselors - Check under "Counselor's Updates" for a link to the College Planning Center, tutoring schedule, schedule of upcoming college rep visits, prep tests and more . . .

Botball
By Morgan Lupton

Botball is a club in which students design, program, and build robots. The team builds the robot to a certain code of rules using only a determined amount of materials. From the beginning of the competition, when the team is given the supplies, to end in which the team competes against other teams, the team has to construct the robot and document the building of it. At the end of the build, the team travels to Macon where teams compete against each other in a tournament-style competition. The robot executes preprogrammed actions which are used to compete in a game versus robots of other teams. The robot earns points by collecting various materials and then depositing them in a specific area. The team with the most points wins and advances in the tournament.

Botball encourages and challenges intellect and creativity by engaging students in writing a program that controls a robot and in building actual robots that perform specific tasks . . .

Student Newspaper Revived
SCPS Media Club members set out to revive the tradition of publishing a regular upper school student newspaper recently with the publication of an October 2005 issue. Distributed to upper school students and faculty, the currently unnamed newspaper primarily included articles and photos on recent homecoming activities, along with an invitation to students to help name the paper. Upper school 10th grader Mark Stevenson is serving as editor of the planned monthly publication, along with Media Club advisor Mrs. Melanie Shepherd and Media Club sponsor Dr. Lewis. To submit name suggestions, articles, photos, or make inquires or suggestions, please contact the newspaper staff at scpsnews@savcps.com.
 

Arts

Adjunct Upper School chorus members perform in Upper School chapel on Wednesday, October 5th, 2005

• Lower School
  - Mon, Nov. 7th, 5:30 pm, Chatham Parkway Cafeteria
• Middle/Upper School
  - Tue, Nov. 8th, 5:30 pm, Chatham Parkway Cafeteria
• Callbacks
  - Thu, Nov. 10th, 5:30 pm, Chatham Parkway Cafeteria

Adjunct Chorus Gives Inaugural Performance
Our newly formed adjunct chorus sang in chapel for the first time recently. Offered as an option for upper school students who would like to sing but might not be able work the chorus class into their regular schedules, the chorus meets on Tuesdays in the Band Room from 12:30 until 1:00 p.m. Directed by volunteer SCPS parent and alumni Jennifer Martin Kicklighter '84, the chorus has already added several more students and scheduled more upcoming performances.
 

Athletics

The Savannah Christian cheerleaders, under the leadership of Coach Debbie Fairbanks, consists of thirty girls in three squads – Football, Basketball, and a Competition squad made up of both football and basketball cheerleaders.

We recently sponsored a mini-cheerleading camp, where girls from the SCPS lower school came to the high school gym on a Saturday morning to learn cheers and dances from upper school cheerleaders. The mini-camp is an annual fundraiser. Along with the Upper School Booster Club, we used funds this year to buy practice mats.

We have an amazing mount of Raider spirit among the cheerleaders this year! This is Savannah Christian's second year offering competition cheerleading, and we can't wait to start competing and making the school proud!

Cross Country Team . . .

Raider Football
By Jamie Lindley

The Red Raiders have achieved a 2005 season record of 5-3, and a regional record of 4-1. The Raiders ended the 2004 season with a record of 9-2. Although the Raiders dropped the first two games of the 2005 season to Calvary and Country Day, they bounced back with a fourth quarter victory over Bleckley County. Fired up, the Raiders dominated the Metter Tigers 27 to 14. Unfortunately, the Raiders gave up 16 points in the fourth quarter against South East Bulloch and lost 13 to 16. The Red Raiders then came back and stomped the Tattnall County Battle Creek Warriors 34 to 0 at the Warrior’s Homecoming, rolled the Claxton Tigers 45 to 0 at our own Homecoming, and recently shut out Screven County 14 to 0 . . .

Lady Raider Softball
By Annie Baldwin

Our softball team has done exceptionally well this year. The season kicked off in July at Memorial Stadium with morning workouts running the stadium steps followed by afternoon practices on Grainger Field. In our first competitive outing, we successfully defended our title as the 2003 Dodge County Tournament Champions (the 2004 tournament was cancelled due to hurricane activity). The following weekend, we competed in the Paulsen Invitational Tournament in Savannah, followed a week later by the “The Battle in the Boro Tournament” in Statesboro. We ended regular season play with an overall record of 20-5 and a sub-region record of 10-2, placing us in second place in our sub-region behind Metter. We hope to advance to the state sectionals at Paulson Complex, and then finally on to the “promised land” (a.k.a. Columbus, GA) where the state finals will be played. Our dream is to divide and conquer, and bring home a State Champion Trophy, declaring us the number one team in the state of Georgia . . .

Volleyball
By Allyson Faircloth

Savannah Christian's junior varsity played a strong season, defeating all of their adversaries and achieving number one rank in their division. The varsity team defeated all of theirs as well, except Charleston’s Bishop England and a split with Saint Vincent's Academy. The Varsity team also played tournaments in Atlanta in which they either defeated or played well against teams in much higher divisions. In spite of the loss of outside hitter Carrie George to a knee injury, our varsity team is determined to return to state and bring home the number one trophy . . .
 

1983
Mark Heimes '83 and wife Karyn are proud to announce the birth of "Sam"-Samuel Joseph Lawrence Heimes born on September 26, 2005 in Vero Beach, FL. He is welcomed by his 4-year old sister, Annie, and 19 month old brother, John Thomas.

1984
Kathy Moore Smith '84 lives in Savannah with children Kayli (8) and Ethan (6), and a self-employed accountant.

1985
Chris Barbieri '85 graduated from Emory's Candler School of Theology with a Masters of Divinity degree in May. Chris is currently serving as the Associate Pastor at Sandy Springs United Methodist Church just north of Atlanta. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Chris worked as an Information Systems Analyst for several companies including Wachovia and Georgia-Pacific.

1987
Starr MacMillan Litchfield '87 is living in Pooler, Georgia and works at Morgan Stanley.

1993
Nipun Patel '93 and his wife Anita were married on April 24th, 2004 and now live in Knoxville, Tennessee where Nipun works in the hotel industry as General Manager for Savannah-based Mint Management, Inc. He is starting a new hotel project which should break ground this month. Anita is an Immigration attorney specializing in H1 Visa's and greencards. Nipun writes that he was hospitalized for 6 months for a shattered ankle that is now held together with two 8" titanium plates and 21 screws. He can walk some now, but still faces a number of challenges ahead.

1997
The Class of 1997 is accepting donations in memory of Ernie Schuster '97. Please contact either Katie Crawford at katie_crawford@yahoo.com or Kathryn Ewaldsen Mercer at kewaldsen@hotmail.com as soon as possible.

1999

Joe and Amanda Byerly exiting Dahlonega Baptist Church on May 29, 2005

Joe Byerly '99 was married on May 29, 2005 to Amanda McGarey of Cumming, Ga. They were married in Dahlonega, Georgia at Dahlonega Baptist Church. Groomsmen included Trey Groover '99 and Thomas Browne '99. After the wedding, they moved to Fort Lewis, Washington where Joe is currently serving as a First Lieutenant in the 4th Squadron/2nd Cavalry Regiment. Amanda works as a pre-school teacher at Lakes Elementary.

2000
Megan Ferraro '00 lives in Savannah and works as a Staff RN II in the Emergency Room at Memorial Health University Medical Center.

2001
Tripp Coggins '01 continues to excel in golf, recently leading the No. 4 ranked Armstrong Atlantic men's golf team to a strong 2nd place finish at the AFLAC/Cougar Invitational . . .

2004
Phillip Brooks '04 is currently a student at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.

2005
Brian Harmon '05 is back in the news as he led his new Bulldog team to a smashing victory at the 17th annual Ping/Golfweek Fall Preview. Read more about his victory and his early experience at the University of Georgia . . .

David Hirsch '05 lives in Atlanta and is a student at Georgia State University.

Wills Smith '05 continues to excel in golf during his Freshman year at Armstrong Atlantic, recently helping their men's golf team card the day's best round and finish 2nd at the AFLAC/Cougar Invitational . . .
 

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