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Dear NCS family,
"Mr. Brown, what about proposition 305?" That question, whether via text, email, phone calls, or conversations with friends around campus, has been put before me literally a hundred times in this past month. And, I get it. We see hundreds of cardboard placards lining the sides of streets, overwhelming numbers of commercials on radio and TV, and the newspapers and radio are lit up with conflicting perspectives and opinions with both sides pointing at the other and suggesting they intend to usher an educational apocalypse into the great state of Arizona. Because
we have about three dozen students at NCS that are here because of Empowerment Scholarships Accounts, enjoying educational opportunities they may not otherwise enjoy, I understand when parents, students, and friends ask me to provide perspective and perhaps a bit of insight into the issue.
Uh, Mr. Brown, that's all well and fine and a super-duper opening paragraph, but the question remains,
"What about proposition 305?"
I'll cut to the chase. In every instance, my answer remains the same:
it is time for the people of God to pray.
And, if you're curious
about that, here's how I am praying.
Second, I'm praying that the conversation on education in our state changes. I am praying that the tenor, the tension, and the polarity change. Further, I am praying that
the focus changes. Though I won't reveal how long ago it was, one of my mentors in my first foray into educational administration gave me some providentially wise guidance that I have literally thought about every day since then, seeing it shape my every decision as an educator. In effect, she took
Matthew 6:33 and spoke it into the context of a first-year administrator overwhelmed by my failing attempts to keep the many different constituencies I served happy. She said, "Geoff, stop worrying about the school, stop worrying about the teachers, stop worrying about the community, and stop worrying about the parents. Instead, pray that the Lord always shows you how the decisions you make
impact the students." So, these many years later, that wise counsel is my prayer today: that we would begin setting the priority
on the Kingdom purposes that He intends for the lives of students. Further, I'm praying that we recognize that parents are, by God's design, the appointed decision-makers for all decisions pertaining to their children, including education. As educators, citizens, legislators, and voters, if we honor that intent--what is best for students and how best to support parents in their God-ordained roles--the Lord will do what
Matthew 6:33 promises, "adding all these things to us", producing what is best for schools, teachers, the community, and parents.
Grateful for the opportunity to serve this school and your family,
Geoff Brown
Superintendent
Northwest Christian School
(623)225-5573 (cell)
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| Successful "Full Steam Ahead" Dinner and Auction Looks to Next Phase in Campus Improvements |
An evening of tremendous generosity enables the campus facility improvement plan to keep moving forward
The end of September brought with it Northwest Christian's fourth annual fundraising dinner and auction. The evening was an unqualified success, grossing nearly $160,000 to propel the school's multi-year facilities improvement plan forward. The venue was full as 250 Crusaders were updated on the next steps within that plan, an effort called "Godly Generations: Growing and Going".
As you can see within the accompanying video, January 2019 will see the debut of four brand new elementary classrooms. This new building will also include a concessions stand/spirit shop and new restrooms/changing areas for middle school athletics. Following completion of that project, the building team will immediately turn its attention to renovations within the Early Education building as well as another new classroom building on the southwest corner of the ca
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Crusaders Full Steam Ahead, Fundraising Dinner and Auction Event Review
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mpus. Together, these two new sets of classrooms will have a ripple effect throughout the school, providing much needed space at every grade level. This second classroom building is scheduled to open in August 2019.
Once these two classroom buildings are opened, attention will once more turn towards a space that designers and architects are calling the "Crusader Creation Commons". Popularly known within schools across the country as "maker's spaces", the Crusader version of the concept will be a building which will serve as a hub to fuse Christian worldview with what is referred to as "S.T.E.A.M." (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). The Crusader Creation Commons will focus on the creative capacity of God as students learn to emulate His creative efforts within a video production/editing space, music recording studio, 3-D printing space, robotics, eSports, ceramics, and much more. With the generosity that was expressed at the auction, the Crusader Creation Commons remains on track to open in the fall of 2020.
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| NCS Auction, Alumni + Construction Update 2018 |
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Looking even further down the line, Northwest Christian's next major projects include replacing classrooms 401 to 408 with a new classroom building and increased play space. Following that project, the school will once more come around our lunch area. Presently, planning is focused on a solar canopy to cover the lunch area as well as the elementary PE field. "I'm excited to be looking this far down the line," says superintendent Geoff Brown, "and seeing the Lord meet these needs. I would even love to see the scope of these projects increase or see the timeline moved forward as we see needs and generosity coming together by His provision. For example, I'd love to see that lunch-area solar canopy become a cafeteria. But, as that we are committed to doing all of this with cash and no debt acquisition in order to keep Christian education affordable, we're waiting on the Lord and His provision to guide our steps. We'll go has far as He provides and as fast as He provides."
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Congratulations to varsity girls volleyball! At the end of September, the team was one of 96 varsity squads to participate in the Chandler Prep Volleyball tourney at Arizona State University. The team played in the highest division of competition, the "platinum division", and took first place! |
| Crusaders Prepare for Ninth Year within Generous Partnership with Needy School Communities |
A project which invites students to see the holidays through a different lens
"There are some truly powerful spiritual formation strategies at play on this campus," says superintendent Geoff Brown, "but the one that pulls us all together as a school community, the one that I have seen move the compassion needle significantly in the lives of students and alumni, is the partnership we have enjoyed with the Isaac School District."
Started in 2010, as part of an effort to provide 125 Thanksgiving meals to families in need at Isaac's J.B. Sutton Elementary, this project has grown to nearly 1,500 meals at Thanksgiving, countless "Missions Learning" service hours contributed by secondary students and teachers, hundreds of Christmas gifts, and a spiritually significant partnership with Calvario Church. As we turn the corner from fall break and towards the holidays, Northwest Christian is once more gearing up for impact within what may arguably be the neediest communities within the state.
The first step in this partnership involves inviting students to participate in an effort that will see stress-free Thanksgiving dinners on tables that would otherwise go without. Student body president Dustin Inness explains: "Not only do these Thanksgiving meals provide physical nourishment to families, but they also provide life-changing nourishment to the soul. These food boxes serve as a sign of hope to those in a broken community. We are able to do this by partnering with Calvario Phoenix. Calvario provides a CD in each food box that has the message of the gospel and an invitation to Calvario services."
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Congratulations to Northwest Christian high schooler Victoria Hendrix! Right before Fall Break, immediately after speaking in elementary chapel, she left to participate in the 2018 USA Shooting National Championships in Colorado Springs. After several days competing against some of the finest shooters in the country, she won decisively in the finals, earning the title of "Number One Junior Female Bunker Shooter" in the United States. The win means that she has officially earned a spot on the USA Shooting Team, which allows the opportunity to compete for a spot on the US Olympic Team.
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Generous Sponsors of Northwest Christian Athletes
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Spotlight on Campus Improvements
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Fall break provided the opportunity for massive cranes to install pieces of the new classroom building that will open in January 2019. The new building includes four new classrooms, a concession stand/spirit shop, and new restrooms and changing areas for middle school athletes. The east end of the building will look out onto the new Crusader Legacy Plaza.
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| Chapels, Community Groups, and Worship Come Together to See Students Grow |
"The vision is that chapel is the best hour of a student's week."
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"The vision," says Northwest Christian spiritual formation coordinator Chris Gardiner, "is that chapel is the best hour of a students week--that students crave this time in weekly worship and in God's word." This year, that aspiration has been a chief area of focus for Gardiner, who the students call "Mr. G". Mr. G has worked well with teachers and faculty to pull together some memorable and moving chapels: "I have been humbled by the number of awesome speakers who have joined us in that vision!" So far this year, depending upon the division of the school, those speakers have included Mark Driscoll (The Trinity Church), Mia Koehne (a speaker from the Aspire Women's Conference), Scott Klusendorf (a pro-life champion and apologist), Damon Evans (the school's partner in it's film efforts), and Jason Feeser (Calvary Church). The week that this edition of the Spotlight hits inboxes, chapel featured Scott MacIntyre, a finalist from television's "American Idol" with an amazing testimony.
More than a forum to simply 'hear', chapel allows an opportunity for students to 'do'. That takes the form of worship and discipleship.
Worship in chapels is typically provided by student-led worship bands. Up until this year, the bands have consisted primarily of high school students. This year, however, Mrs. Melissa Maguire launched "Middle School Worship Arts", a class that allowed students to hone their musical talents, learn what it means to 'lead' in worship, and then facilitate worship in elementary and middle school chapels.
"I appreciate that Mrs. Maguire had a vision for middle school worship arts," says Mr. G, "that her vision was contagious enough to inspire thirty middle schoolers, and that those middle schoolers are legitamitely leading worship for middle school and elementary."
This year, chapels in both middle school and high school have grown to include a discipleship dynamic in middle school's "Impact Groups" and high school's "Community Groups". "IG's are a bit larger," explains Mr. G, "and are meant to facilitate growth through the relationships that are vital in the lives of middle schoolers. CG's are a bit smaller. They still focus on relationships but they also allow for students to lead a CG and grow through that leadership. They also focus a bit more deeply on the scriptures and principles to which chapel speakers are calling our attention."
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In high school chapel on Wednesday, October 3rd, renowned author and speaker Mark Driscoll, pastor of The Trinity Church, spoke on concretely and confidently understanding who Jesus is after launching his newest book, "Spirit-Filled Jesus", the same week. Driscoll also made copies of all his recent books available for free on students' school iPads.
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On Monday, October 15th, Northwest Christian elementary students enjoyed an assembly during which they were introduced to an honored guest. Rev. Mugabo Evalister is the bishop of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda and he spoke to the students about his country and the reach of the Christian community. He was visiting Northwest Christian as that he was appreciative of the school's efforts in partnership with the City of Joy Christian School in Rwanda. City of Joy has been the destination for summer missions trips over the last three summers. In addition to students, this last summer saw a team of Crusader elementary teachers visit the school to provide professional development training for the Rwandan teachers.
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| Generous Sponsors of Northwest Christian Athletes |
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Alumni Sydney Dennis Creates "Crusader Stickers" in the Apple Itunes Store
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Sydney demonstrates how technology can be used to expand the borders of the Kingdom
As part of September's fourth annual auction and fundraising dinner, class of 2015 alumni Sydney Dennis was featured in a video that focused on Northwest Christian's commitment to technology and the plans for the upcoming "Crusader Creation Commons" technology hub.
The video captured how Sydney was seeing the Lord fuse her passion for Christ with her technology skill set in a way that is expanding the borders of the Kingdom. Sydney, currently a senior at GCU studying animation and graphic design, was the inaugural winner of the NXNW Film Festival, capturing the top prize in both the jury and audience categories. She presently works at Food for the Hungry as a photo specialist within the child sponsorship program. As a GCU student, she was a finalist in the Honors Symposium in which she featured a "sticker pack" she had created. Sticker packs allow users to post school-themed graphics and designs within text messages and emails. In this case, the GCU pack went "viral" across the university's campus.
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| Generous Sponsors of Northwest Christian Athletes |
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The NCS Parent University on Thursday, October 4th drew a capacity crowd. The event featured several break-out sessions that were designed to equip parents with developmentally appropriate strategies and resources in the battle against an increasingly sexualized culture. The keynote speaker for the evening (pictured above) was Cathi Herrod from the Center for Arizona Policy. Cathi informed parents regarding legislative and cultural issues that are increasingly coming before the electorate at the ballot box.
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|  A sell-out event for the past four years! Get your tickets NOW for the 2018/2019 Northwest Christian movie! "The Rise and Fall of Death Chicken" is a 'mockumentary' that tells the inspired but humorous story of a Christian death metal band. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE. 
This year's Northwest Christian fall play will also sell-out. A Christmas-themed dinner theater production at Glendale Civic Center, the evening will feature NCS choirs alongside a "live radio play". Limited capacity and a fantastic evening of dinner and drama both mean GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! |
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