Congratulations to PCA's Future Business Leaders of America chapter! They completed the State Leadership Conference this weekend with 5 qualifiers for the national competition and with a new Vice President of the state chapter -- Bennett Velasquez!

The following PCA students will compete at the national level in Baltimore this summer:

• Shelby Muirhead - Business Ethics
• Sarah Spivey - Social Media Campaign
• Reed Elkin - Sales Presentation
• Hannah Christman - Business Communications
• Bennett Velasquez - Job Interview

As South Carolina FBLA Vice President, Bennett Velasquez will focus on creating ways for students to "have a voice" in FBLA matters.  A major plank of his platform is to re-activate the association's social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Look for these at #scfbla to see students across the state in action!

T his weekend, PCA's Senior Class, National Honor Society, Preschool and PCA families participated in Water Missions International "Walk for Water".

It was a beautiful day and more than 4-thousand people participated in Saturday's event in Charleston.

 

Water Missions International helps design, build, and implement water solutions for safe hygiene and sanitation in developing countries. The annual Walk for Water seeks to change lives around the world through the gift of safe water. This year, PCA students and families volunteered in a variety of ways.. from volunteering as sign holders to walking the 5K and carrying buckets of water to raise awareness of the global water crisis.  To date, Water Missions International has provided over 3 million people all over the world with safe water.

Serving in our community is part of the American Heritage Girls oath, and so far in 2018, the girls have participated in several service projects benefiting our city. We started the year partnering with Birthdays For All, a non-profit that provides parties and presents for foster children in the area. Girls brought in gifts from wish lists and personally wrapped and signed cards that would later be delivered to these children. We prayed over all the children in the foster program that would receive these gifts.

As a group we talked about caring for the elderly and the importance that they play in our community. Our Pathfinders (kindergartners) have been working hard learning about each frontier of AHG. These five girls made almost 50 valentine cards for nursing home residents of NHC. Our entire group of girls helped make fleece blankets and each wrote and drew pictures to deliver to Sandpiper Assisted Living. It is our hearts to build young women whose hearts yearn to make a difference in their communities. We have had an exciting year and look forward to continuing our partnership with PCA and ECBC to live out our oath of "Serve in My Community".

 

For many families, the cost of higher education is a daunting proposition. To help de-mystify the college funding process, PCA has invited The College Funding Coach to offer a seminar to parents Preschool through 12th grade. The College Funding Coach is an Association of Christian Schools International partner that shares proven college funding strategies with families of all ages.

What? College Funding Coach Seminar

When? Tuesday, March 20 from  6:30-8:30 pm

Where? The Annex at PCA

The earlier families implement these strategies, the more prepared they will be when college bills come along, so The College Funding Coach welcomes parents of all ages. If parents need assistance implementing strategies, seminar facilitator Demetrius Doss will refer parents to local financial partners after the meeting. Parents are welcome to invite friends from other schools! 

For more information on The College Funding Coach, please visit www.thecollegefundingcoach.org.

If you would like to attend this free seminar, please RSVP to reserve your spot. Again, there is no charge to attend. We simply ask that you register so that materials can be prepared.

Register for The College Funding Coach seminar

There is still time for you to purchase tickets to the intriguing mystery, "Young Sherlock", presented by the PCA Middle School Drama Team. Can Sherlock Holmes solve the mystery of two missing girls from their school, Butterworth Academy? You'll have to join us to find out! We can give you one clue: there is mystery and riddle throughout the show that will keep you guessing until the very end!

 

Performances will be held on the following dates: 

Thursday, March 22 at 7 pm

Friday, March 23 at 7 pm

Saturday, March 24 at 2 pm

 

Tickets are $5 each. All performances will be held in the Worship Center. So join us for an evening of entertaining twists and turns and support our fabulous Drama Department!

Purchase "Young Sherlock" tickets today!

PCA 5th grader Jack Vinzani enjoyed a fabulous learning opportunity as he recently attended a Duke TIP seminar at the University of South Carolina on 3D printing and its use in making prosthetic products!   

 

Jack got hands on experience from the  College of Engineering and Computing in learning about 3D printing and all of the different objects you can make with this cool device. He also discovered how 3D printers are being used in the engineering industry, in architecture and in the medical industry by making prosthetic hands for kids in need. 

 

Jack says he was impressed by the professors who taught the course and he admired how they are dedicating their time to designing and producing prosthesis for those in need. He was also fascinated at the fact that  NASA is using 3D Printers to produce their models and to produce parts for the actual spaceships. All in all, the seminar was a truly special experience according to Jack, "Making friends and meeting other students from other parts of South Carolina was great. Many of them were very smart and want to be scientists".  Jack is now saving his money so he can buy his own 3D printer.

 

On April 21st, Jack plans to participate in the Duke Tip Neuroscience course.

Fifth graders also composed writings based on themes within the novel.  Some students supported the fact that L'Engle's novel is rooted in Christianity, while others opposed it.  Fiery debates ensued during the week that inspired students to use scripture to support claims. Students look forward to seeing the live action film in theaters. 

The students visited The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. They traveled back in time to find out that Charleston was the wealthiest of the 13 colonies, thanks to its abundance of "Carolina Gold", or rice. They learned all about the original leaders of the area, and found that many of our local landmarks are named after those leaders, such as the Cooper River, Ashley River, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, and Francis Marion National Forest.  The children learned about the Patriots who wanted to build and create a new nation, as well as, the Loyalists who wanted to keep things as they were.  

After a tour of the military dungeon and learning about the leeches that were used for curing infections, they finished up the tour with a fun dance lesson in the ballroom.  The day of exploring did not end there, as the classes had lunch at the waterfront park and toured The Powder Magazine. The study of South Carolina's colonial military history was continued in this building, which is the oldest public governmental building in our state. It was built in 1713 and used as an arsenal to defend the the colony from the Spanish, French, pirates, slave rebellion and native attacks.  Throughout the 19th century, the building was converted and used as a print shop, blacksmith shop, wine cellar, and horse carriage. Today, it is a fascinating museum, which helped our children learn a bit about the early stages of the development of our little gem, Charleston.

The first grade classes enjoyed a spectacular field trip to the South Carolina Aquarium last week. It was a fascinating day as students learned about the fish and oceanic creatures God created. According to 1st Grade teacher Melissa Shockley, the kids really enjoyed watching the otters feeding, seeing a scuba diver in the big tank and learning how the animals are cared for, but they especially loved touching some stingrays and baby sharks! 

Kelsey Nelson said her first graders' favorite part was  seeing the turtle rescue. She said they loved learning more about how to care for our environment and wildlife. What an awesome day!!!

Lower School Field Day is scheduled for 

Wednesday, May 2nd!

P lease mark your calendars to reserve the morning for this awesome event because we need approximately 80 volunteers to make this day a success. PCA does field day in a most unique way with students being grouped into "tribes" to represent the tribes of Israel. The students will compete in super fun traditional field day games to win ribbons for their tribe. Field Day is always a highlight of the year for our lower school so we look forward to seeing you there!

Our field day team will meet every Friday at 8 am (starting this Friday!) and we would like to have you involved! It takes a village to make Field Day a success! Please make sure you can attend every Friday morning before you commit to help plan this fun day. Please email us at ptf@palmettochristianacademy.org if you can help or have questions.

This program, presented by ECBC, is designed for any couple to jump in and start improving their marriage at any time.

Marriages in any condition can benefit from "Reengage", whether you are struggling to get along, your marriage is broken, or you simply want to grow closer together as a couple. This marriage enrichment program examines God's design for marriage and applies principles from the Bible to guide couples towards growth in their relationship with each other. 

Reengage meets every Monday night from 6:30-8:30 pm in the ECBC Choir Room.

Learn more about Reengage

What a busy week for our Eagles!  The Track and Field team saw several new Personal Records set and a few people qualified for the state meet!

Here's a look at our athletes who qualified for state in an event for the first time this season:

Charlee Olson - 400 m

Anna Terry - 1600 m

Allison Kammer - 1600 m

Kaila Stoneworth - Long Jump

Brad Chaney, Grayson Silvester, Dalton Welch, Cole Silvester - Boys 4x100

 

Other Notes:

- Hans Payne won the 3200m at Wilson Hall in his first ever track event

- Thomas Patrick won the 800m at Wilson Hall

- Catherine Cave won the High Jump at Heathwood Hall

- Brad Chaney won the 400m at Heathwood Hall

- Lauren Pernell won the 400m hurdles and long jump at Heathwood Hall.  At the Sandshard Invitational, Lauren won the 400 hurdles while placing second in the 100 hurdles and long jump.

Way to go Eagles!!!

Our Varsity Boys soccer team lost to John Paul II in region play last Thursday night by a score of 1-3.  Grant Lonneman scored the goal. Coach Chris Shimakonis says he's looking forward to a rematch!

Our Varsity Girls soccer team lost to St. Andrew's School by a score of 0-10 last Thursday. On Tuesday, the girls lost a closer match to  Charleston Math & Science with a final scor e of 4-1. Abby Landfried scored the goal.