Eagle Eye 12-18-2016

December 18, 2016

Christmas Hope

This past Friday, I had a front row seat to one of the sweetest traditions our school has to offer - our annual Christmas program. This year, it was our 3rd-5th graders turn to share their interpretation of the greatest story ever told and, I must say, they made this headmaster proud. With costumes, carols, and a few comic lines, they conveyed the familiar story of a virgin birth in the little town of Bethlehem. Though our shepherd’s accents sounded more Appalachian than Aramaic, they were nonetheless faithful to remind us that the angels appeared first to lowly handlers of livestock, not the wealthy or the powerful. The blessed baby Himself would likewise be born into the most humble of conditions. Even in the way God brought His son to earth, He was sending us a message. Jesus has come for all. Your social standing doesn’t matter. Your bank account doesn’t matter. Your good deeds, pleased as God is with them, don’t matter. At the end of the day, what matters is whether we place our faith in Christ as the one, true hope of glory.

When the angels appeared to those shepherds, they were hoping for the Messiah. It was the most earnest and eternal hope you can imagine - far more consequential than most of what passes for hope these days. Christ’s virgin birth, sinless life, death for our sins, and bodily resurrection gives us the most important gift we could ever receive - hope. Hope that we can one day escape the cold grip of a fallen world and spend eternity in the warmth and light of God’s love. That, my friends, is the true spirit of Christmas. May we hold it tight in our hearts even as we share it with all those who will hear.

Christmas blessings,

Jim R. Callis

Head of School

Dates to Remember

December 19 - January 1: Christmas Break

Tuesday, January 3: Re-enrollment Opens

January 3 - January 4: LS & MS Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, January 3: US Classes Resume

Thursday, January 5: LS & MS Classes Resume

Monday, January 16: Martin Luther King Day

Tuesday, January 31: Re-enrollment Ends

Development

GOAL Update: Exciting news!
MBCA is just a few applications away from achieving our highest level of GOAL participation ever! PLEASE take a minute to visit the Georgia GOAL website to secure your 2017 tax credit. Roughly one week remains before all applications must be submitted to GOAL for 2017. GOAL must have your application by December 22.

As you visit with loved ones during this most special season of advent, please share with them the good news of GOAL and ask for their help. The application process takes less than five minutes and you do not have to be a MBCA family in order to participate. With no extra cost to you, you are simply reallocating a portion of YOUR state income tax to Mt. Bethel Christian Academy. Visit www.goalscholarship.org to apply today and help us offer financial assistance to more families than ever before.

If you are a tax-paying Georgian, you can participate in this free program. You do NOT have to be a current MBCA parent. Tell your friends and family!
Individuals filing jointly can claim up to $2,500.
Owners of S-Corps, LLCs and Partnerships can contribute up to $10,000.

If you have questions, please contact the Development Office at 678-202-4056 or email Alison Stephens.

Corporate Matching Gifts
By taking advantage of your employer’s matching gift program, you can potentially double or triple your contribution to MBCA. Matching gift dollars are included in our Donor Recognition Giving Levels. Thousands of corporations offer a matching gift program to their employees and employee’s spouses. Please inquire with your HR department to see if your gift to MBCA is eligible for a match, or utilize the matching gift services provided on your company’s website. If you have any questions, please contact the Development Office at alison.stephens@mtbethelchristian.org .

Stock Gifts to Mt. Bethel Christian Academy
The simplest way to transfer stocks to MBCA is through a depository trust company (or DTC). For more information on how to make a stock gift, please contact Lane Sims, Business Manager, at lane.sims@mtbethelchristian.org or 678-202-4051. Please have the following information available: (1) the name and type of securities to be gifted (public, restricted, mutual fund, etc.), and (2) the number of shares. Please note it may not be possible to reach someone by phone during our Christmas break, which begins Monday, December 19. U.S. stock markets will be closed on December 26 in observance of Christmas, and again on Saturday, December 31.

Thank you so much for the financial support and resources you provided MBCA this year. May this Christmas season be filled with blessings for you and your family, as you are a blessing to us.

Admission

Plan Now for Re-enrollment
When to re-enroll : Re-enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year will begin on Tuesday, January 3 . When re-enrolling for the next grade, there is no need to re-apply. Your child is already a student here and will automatically be promoted to the next grade upon receipt of your re-enrollment contract and a tuition deposit equal to 10% of full tuition. This procedure also applies to students moving to the upper school campus for 9th grade. Families with multiple children enrolled will sign a contract and submit a deposit for each sibling. The deadline to secure your child's placement for next year is January 31.

How to re-enroll : On January 3, each family will receive an email with instructions on how to re-enroll electronically. You will be prompted to sign into your My Backpack account, click on Enrollment/Re-enrollment, review and update your family profile, sign and submit your 2017-2018 re-enrollment contract(s), and remit payment. Plan now (before Christmas) for this important investment in your child’s future!

Re-enrollment Exceptions - If any of the following conditions apply, please conference with the appropriate teacher or administrator before attempting to re-enroll:

Your child may be repeating a grade (Teacher)
You are in arrears in your financial obligation to the school (Business Office)
You are not planning to re-enroll for the 2017-2018 school year (Admission Director)
Any other extenuating circumstances that may preclude your re-enrollment (Admission Director)

Financial Aid
For families anticipating a need for financial aid next year, the deadline to apply is Friday, February 24. Plan accordingly, as your completed 2016 Federal Tax Return must be submitted before a request for aid can be considered. The Parent Statement of Need will also need to be submitted to Jackie Grasty, Director of Admission. If you've received financial aid this school year and will need assistance again next year, please note that you must reapply. Link here to begin the application for financial aid. For more information, contact Jackie Grasty .

Main Campus Open House
4385 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
January 11 at 10:00 a.m.

Mark your calendars for the first open house of the New Year on January 11 at our Main Campus for junior kindergarten through 8th grade. We hope you can join us, and please be sure to spread the news to friends and neighbors as well! Questions? Contact Jackie Grasty , Director of Admission.

Upper School Open House
2509 Post Oak Tritt Road, Marietta
January 12 at 9:00 a.m.

If you missed our Open House at the North Campus, be sure to mark your calendar for January 12 to visit the fully renovated Upper School campus. We hope you can join us, and please be sure to spread the news to friends and neighbors as well! Questions? Contact Cal Boyd , Upper School Director of Admission.

Save the Date

X-drenaline Spirit Event on Conference Day

January 4, 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Calling All Lower School & Middle School Parents:

Does your child have the Christmas break blues because they miss seeing their friends? No worries, we have the answer for you! Come JUMP at X-Drenaline, Wednesday, January 4 starting at 12 p.m. You are welcome to stay for 1 hour, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 hours, whatever suits your schedule. This is not a drop off event, you must accompany your child. The cost is $14 per hour plus socks, and the price includes all access! For every hour you jump, the school earns $8. All proceeds directly benefit the 8th Grade Mission Fundraiser. We need your support to make this event successful!!

Thank you,

8th Grade Fundraising Team

Spring Fling

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Pavillion at Olde Towne

Save the date for MBCA's annual Spring Fling Saturday, March 25 at the Pavillion at Olde Towne. The Spring Fling, formerly known as the Gala, is a wonderful event for the school! Funds raised from past events have been used to purchase playground equipment, AV studio and equipment used for the MBCA morning news, e-readers and a bus used for sporting events and commuting students. Please consider attending as this is the only social event exclusively for parents held for the school.

Announcements

Delta Pilots & Rally Foundation

A big thank you to the Delta Pilots Charitable Fund for supporting the Rally Foundation to raise money for childhood cancer research. Delta pilots can be seen wearing a tie designed by 3rd grade student Grace Detling, who is battling cancer.

Heading Here

Where's the Snowman Tie?

If you're flying Delta over Christmas break and see a Delta pilot wearing Grace's tie, grab a photo and post it to Instagram to tell us where you are!

If you're driving, take your Snowman tie with you, take a picture, post it to Instagram, and tell us where you spent your Christmas break!

#DeltaRallyforGrace

Chippy the Elf

Spring Fling

Chippy the Elf on the Shelf made an appearance after school December 15 to serve hot cocoa and tell everyone about our upcoming Spring Fling.

Chick-fil-A Breakfast

At the North Campus

The Upper School will be selling Chick-fil-A biscuits and calendars at the North Campus on Friday mornings from 7:30 – 8:10 a.m . All profits go toward the Upper School Mission Trips.

We will offer:

$3 - Chick-fil-A Biscuits

$7 - Chick-fil-A 2017 Cow Calendar with coupon card which includes 12 FREE food and drink coupons. *Makes for great Christmas gifts, teacher gifts and stocking stuffers!*

Friday Morning Breakfast

At the Main Campus
Come early and join your classmates for breakfast. All profits go toward the 8th grade mission trip. They start selling no later than 7:30 a.m. Tables will either be outside or in the main foyer of DeVore Hall. Students should be sure to finish their breakfast before going to class.

We will offer:
$3 - Chick-fil-A Biscuits
$3 - Chick-fil-A Minis box
$1 - Donuts (glazed and chocolate glazed)
NEW $3 - Gluten Free Scone from Cherry on Top Delights Bakery

Questions? Contact Nancy Ostergard or Paige Valentine 678-907-0779.

Class News

Miracle at Midnight

Christmas Program

Good job to our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students for performing Miracle at Midnight, a Children's Christmas Musical, Friday morning for our Christmas program. And a huge thank you to Mrs. Poe for putting together the wonderful show and getting us ready for Christmas.

Faculty

Ugly Sweater Day

Even our teachers got in the Christmas spirit wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters to school on Tuesday.

Kindergarten

Santa Mystery Reader

Tuesday for mystery reader time, Mrs. Moehler (Grayson’s mom), came to be the mystery reader for Mrs. Johnson's kindergarten class. She brought a very special guest with her! Santa Claus came and read a wonderful story about the meaning of Christmas. He gave everyone a candy cane and posed for pictures. So much fun!

Third Grade

Christmas STEM

This week, Mrs. Kramer's class participated in several Christmas STEM activities! The student's favorite was building "Santa's Parachute." The students had different supplies from which to choose, and had to create a parachute that would land with the cup "bucket" facing up. First, they created a blueprint of what they would build, and then they had several test runs to see what they needed to improve upon. They had to figure out how to balance the weight for the bucket to be even when falling at a slower pace. They wanted Santa to be safe! They did a great job and had fun helping Santa prepare for a parachute landing.

Advent House

Mrs. Davenport’s class has celebrated the anticipation of Christ’s birthday with an advent house. Each day, 2 students get to choose a door to find a surprise reward. The students had so much fun and loved having Cookie Bookie, gum for the day, no homework, and a few other fun activities.

Christmas Wreaths

Mrs. Cohen’s class made Christmas wreaths for their families. They brought cut fabric, a wire hanger, and a bow to school and worked on the wreaths over a couple of weeks!

Fourth Grade

C hihuly Sculpture Assembled

Back in October, 4th graders went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see “Chihuly in the Garden.” Afterward, they created their own “Chihuly-like” pieces using plastic plates, sharpies and heat guns. This past week, they finally assembled all the pieces. Chihuly works with a team of glassblowers to create his magnificent sculptures. Like him, 4th graders worked as a team, stringing the individual pieces together to make a whole. They compared it to the body of Christ, coming together and becoming a fuller expression of what has been created!

Eighth Grade

Shark Tank

Eighth grade students in Mr. Barber's class participated in Shark Tank this week. The aspiring entrepreneur-students made business presentations to a panel of "shark" investors. These investors then chose whether or not to invest in their business plan. Thank you to our guest judges, Kelly Tarter-Rowley, Kristi Boyd, and Chuck Detling.

Upper School

Robotics Team

This past weekend, the US FTC Robotics team competed at the RoboDragons qualifier at the The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. Competing against the "big" schools like Wheeler, Pace Academy, Greater Atlanta Christian School, and Alpharetta High School, Mt Bethel Christian Academy more than held their own coming in first place after the qualifying heats out of 36 teams! While the team was knocked out in the elimination round, everyone did an awesome job throughout the entire qualifier. The team's autonomous mode (where the robot operates without human interaction) worked as intended every round - something no other team could say! The team has done an amazing job building the robot and working together at the competition. They have a second qualifier coming up January 28, 2017 at Clayton State University.

Student Spotlight

Kara Freeman

Bowling

One of our upper school students, Kara Freeman, has been very successful this semester in her bowling competitions. Kara won the GA Scholarship Tournament on November 20 averaging a score of 203. She also won the GYBT tournament on December 4 with a 202 average and won 1st overall in the girls division and 2nd overall for the boys and girls 20 and under. This tournament put her 2nd in line for GA bowler of the year. Here is an action shot of Kara!

House Points
Veritas - 5,547

Fortes - 5,480

Servimus - 4,896

Integritas - 4,851
Fidelitas - 4,674

Humilitas - 4,638

Sports

Holiday Basketball Camp

Coach Boyd and several of the Varsity players are holding a Holiday Basketball Camp on Monday, December 19 through Thursday, December 22 from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. for all boys and girls ages 6 – 14. Please look for the link on Schoology or view the flyer here. For more information, please email Coach Cal Boyd

Upper School

Varsity Boys' Basketball

In front of a great crowd on Friday, December 9 at home, the boys took the floor against a new opponent out of Rome, Ga, Unity Christian. They took the early lead in the first quarter 25 – 3 with some sharp shooting from Jaquez Gilbert. He had 13 points in the first quarter. Jaquez had his first 2 dunks of the season in this game. Every player scored for the team including 8th grader William Kolker with 18 points, Will Ross with 12 points, and Luke Kirk with 11 points, Jaquez Gilbert finished with 22 points and Jordan Meka chipped in 10. The final score was 99 – 42.

Less than 24 hours later on Saturday, December 10, the Eagles headed up to Cherokee/Canton area to take on The King’s Academy. The first half they were down 44 – 25, the largest deficit of the season. In the 3rd quarter the Eagles displayed some incredible plays. Jordan Meka blocking shots, Jaquez Gilbert making tough shots, Coleman Boyd passing incredibly, JaVontae Kruger playing tough defense and Matt Gilliland with some great plays on both ends. By the end of the 3rd quarter the Eagles had cut into the lead and were only down by 6. The 4th quarter continued the run. JaVontae Kruger scored 9 of his 10 points in the 4th, Coleman Boyd hit a big 3 to take the lead for the first time and Jordan Meka was all over the place. Jordan Meka finished with 32 points, 9 rebounds, 8 blocks, 4 assists and 6 dunks! He is only a freshman. Currently Jordan is #1 in Georgia in blocks and #13 in the country. The Eagles came from behind to win 79 – 72. They scored 54 points in the second half! They improved to 9-2 on the season.

Varsity Girls’ Basketball
The Lady Eagles faced their toughest two-game stretch of the season with back-to-back games last weekend. The girls overcame foul trouble and fought their way to a 55-46 victory Friday, December 9 against the Unity Christian Academy in front of a packed house at the Upper School. Alissa Barnes led the way with a game high of 20 points, while Nadia Barnes added 15. Lauren Schwartz continued her double-double mastery as she collected 12 points and 12 boards in the win. Despite early foul trouble on both Barnes sisters, Mt Bethel jumped up to a 9-point lead midway through the second half. But that lead was short-lived, as Unity ended the quarter on a 17-4 run, capped by a pair of threes in the final 19 seconds, to take a 29-25 lead into the half. It was a back-and-forth battle in the third and fourth quarters with neither team gaining more than a four-point lead. Schwartz and Gracie Grogan were good on their free throws to finish the 55-46 victory.

Saturday, December 10 brought a new team and a whole bunch of new challenges as the Lady Eagles hit the road to face The King's Academy Knights in Woodstock. The girls knocked off The King's Academy 48-24 in the first game of the season meaning the Knights were focused on revenge as they handed the ladies their first loss of the season, 45-43. In the loss, Alissa Barnes poured in 14 points and dished out 6 assists while Lauren Schwartz added 13 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. Nadia Barnes added 12 points and grabbed 11 boards while Keegan Jones and Summer Smith each added two-points.

After being down, the Knights battled back in the third quarter to take a 36-33 lead into the fourth. Mt. Bethel was stuck on 33 points for close to 5 minutes as The King's Academy built what seemed to be a safe 40-33 advantage with under three minutes remaining. Both teams added 1-of-2 from the foul line and Keegan Jones scored a basket with just over a minute remaining to give Mt. Bethel a 43-41 lead. But the Knights would not be denied as they added a pair of baskets in the next 50 seconds to take a 45-43 advantage. The loss was the Lady Eagles first on the season as they stand at 6-1.

Clay Targets Team
Clay targets team traveled to Savannah for the GICAA State Shooting Meet. The shoot consisted of 100 targets in 3 disciplines. It was a cold couple of days with the highs in the 50’s and the wind blowing 10-15 mph, but Jordan Milligan and Matt McGlamry represented the Eagles with Matt shooting his best overall scores for the season. Jordan finishing 4th in Skeet and 4th in Sporting Clays; she finished 5th overall in the state with 3 of the 4 that finished in front of her being seniors.

Middle School

Basketball

The B teams were in action on the road against The Intown School. After two fairly competitive games, both teams came away with solid victories. The ladies won 19 - 12 while the boys finished with a 33 - 22 win.

The B teams were on the road at Davis (MAAC) for a game on December 14. Both teams were in control by half, and had convincing wins on great team play. Girls won 28 – 8 and boys won 27 - 8.

Parker School Uniforms December Sale

Parker School Uniforms is having a holiday sale December 1 - 31. All merchandise is 25% off in-store and online. Free shipping when you spend $100 or more.

Lands' End Promo

Lands' End is offering a free school logo now through December 31. Add MBCA's logo to polos, tees, blazers and more. Free shipping on orders $50 and over. Use promo code: LOGO & PIN: 3275.

MBUMC News

DNOW 2017 Registration is Open for All!

February 10-12

Students in grades 6-12 come together for the biggest event MBUMC has all year for Mt. Bethel Student Ministries. Students: sign up quickly to reserve your spot for crazy good music, a dynamic speaker, mission projects, and a deepening of your faith. Adults: they can’t do this without you. They are in need of Host Homes, volunteers for the weekend, donations, and much more. To register, volunteer, or contribute to DNOW 2017 go to mtbethel.org/event/dnow/.