In November, it was the Junior/Senior High's turn for Spiritual Life Emphasis Week (S.L.E.W.).  Each year, an entire week of school at CCS is dedicated to growing our students' love for Christ and teaching/reinforcing Christ's example to "live out" our faith.  This mission-minded attitude is meant for all Christians to have daily.  

S.L.E.W. is dedicated to and designed with a different theme each year to show students how to do just that.  This year's theme was "The Salty Life," based on Matthew 5:13-16, for us to be "salt and light to the world."  Shelly Hauer (the parent volunteer who plans and coordinates the mini-missions aspect of S.L.E.W) said, "We must keep students safe, but not necessarily keep them comfortable.  We want to stretch them outside their normal comfort zones to allow them to experience the command to be salt and light to the world around us, as Christ, our ultimate example, did.  We are emphasizing lifestyle, not an event."

Students experienced daily Chapel, with inspirational group worship time, special guest speakers and devotions, daily special workshops (coordinated by parent volunteer, Diane VanWeelden), as well as one day on a mini-mission trip to inner-city Hamilton to live out God's mission for them to serve the "least of these." Some students traveled to Guatemala to serve on-site at Casa Bernabe Orphanage, a spot near and dear to many CCS hearts.

 

On their mini-missions trips, students headed to one or more of the following: New Life Missions, Serve City Homeless Shelter, Crawford Woods Elementary, Boys' and Girls' Club, Riverview Elementary, Living Waters Mission, or "Out and About" where students had a pre-planned path to follow and prayed over specific ministries. (An AA meeting place, Planned Parenthood building, health clinic/pharmacy, Tech Center where many homeless people go to use computers, the courthouse, etc.)

All CCS Kindergarten through 8th graders participated in this national event, organized by the masterminds of Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.

The Hour of Code is the largest learning event in history. Last year, the goal was to have 10 million students participate. They had 15 million students instead!  Every CCS Elementary student was part of the Hour of Code then, and this year we expanded that to include the Junior High students.

What is it? The Hour of Code is a challenge for students of all ages around the world to try computer programming for at least one hour during the week of December 8th, Computer Science Education Week.  The resources are free and there are multiple ways students can write their first lines of code. They can code with Anna and Elsa from "Frozen," use characters from "Angry Birds" to try drag-and-drop programming, create drawings in JavaScript, defeat ogres in "CodeCombat," and the list seems endless.  For example, some of our Elementary students wrote out their names in binary code!

CCS' Mrs. Gina Smearsoll held the event live for every Junior High science classroom on Monday, December 8th, while our Mrs. Susan Fox held the event live the entire week at the Elementary.  All Senior High students and parents were encouraged to try it as well. 

Last month, Asbury University welcomed nearly 100 talented high school musicians to their campus to rehearse, perform and enjoy campus life during the 38th annual Asbury University All-Star Band Clinic.  Five of our Senior High Honor Band students participated.

The clinic was led by guest conductor Dr. Joseph Manfredo, associate professor of music at Illinois State University. 

Musicians selected for the band clinic stayed in university residence halls with student hosts, attended Chapel on Friday morning, enjoyed a Music Department Collage Concert and Jazz Ensemble performance, and pulled together their own performance for friends and family on Saturday afternoon.  Four of these students have been nominated for the NKU Tri-State Band Symposium in January. 

Mr. Goslee and Mrs. Dyer, who attended with these students, expressed great pride in the musicians' talent and in their achievements.

In November, Mrs. Zaffiro arranged for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to perform a special rendition of MacBeth for some of the English students in the Junior/Senior High Chapel.  

The theater group just began their MacBeth tour this year, and the six cast members brilliantly and clearly played multiple roles during this performance.  Bravo!

Our Varsity Cheerleaders took 1st place in our division in the Cheer for Cure competition.  This competition included stunting, which allows an opportunity for our cheerleaders to "show their stuff!" Often, cheer squads in our division don't include stunting, which indicates our girls go above and beyond.

Terence Hubbard, Senior,  Basketball MVC Player of the Week for 12/8:  Terence led the Cougars to a 1-1 record, and was selected to the All-Tournament Team at the Christian School Classic, hosted by Cincinnati Christian Schools in the beginning of December.

 

Emily Reutener and Julie Snyder, Juniors, Basketball MVC Players of the Week for 12/1:  In her first game stepping into a much larger role at the varsity level, Emily had 17 points and five assists in a hotly contested, four-point loss to Deer Park.  In the same contest, Julie had eight points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and five steals in her first varsity start as point guard.

Each school year, it is a CCS Elementary Campus tradition for Mr. Q to be wed to Ms. U!

Principal, Donna Hempelmann, said, "Since the letter Q requires a letter U 99.99% of the time, we have them get married with a full ceremony."  The children dress up, a pastor officiates, and a reception follows the wedding.

What a wonderfully fun and memorable way for the students to learn this spelling rule!