2019 End Of The Year Report Card

We had another successful school year! Memories were made and lots of grades recorded. We hope that you enjoyed this school year and found fellowship with new families, as we continue to grow!

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Walk Down Memory Lane A wonderful tradition that we started four years ago. Our seniors have the opportunity to walk the hallways at Faith one last time, while being cheered on by the entire student body. This year we added another highlight with a send off from our Falcon Orchestra. They played the Falcon Fight Song. Click here to view the Walk Down Memory Lane Congratulations to our Class of 2019!

Mark Your Calendar For Our Good Neighbor Golf Classic Mark your calendar and plan to attend our 15th annual golf tournament at Whitetail Golf Resort, September 16th. Shot Gun start at 1PM. Special thanks to our Presenting Sponsors State Farm Insurance Agents of the Eastern Panhandle and also Chick-fil-A for - Foxcroft for sponsoring our lunch! Click here to register your team.

Berkeley Medical Wellness Center Sponsors Athletic Scholarship Every year Faith Christian Academy presents a scholarship to the senior athlete of the year. This award is given to a senior who has shown excellence in academics, spiritual growth, athletic ability, and sportsmanship. They must also participate in at least two varsity sports during his/her senior year. This year there were two recipients for this scholarship. Michael Stewart and Cameron Doub were both presented with a $500 scholarship from Berkeley Medical Center - The Wellness Center. Thank you to Berkeley Medical Center – The Wellness Center for sponsoring this scholarship.

Changes To Our Achievement Testing For the past seven years, FCA has used the Terra Nova Achievement Test, which had been normed for Christian schools through our accrediting agency, the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). The relationship between ACSI and Terra Nova changed a year ago and the school was encouraged to utilize a new source with new norms. This year the school made the switch to the Iowa Assessments, normed in 2017. Because this is a new test there will be no “longitudinal” scoring available until next year. That type of scoring helps us see the progress of all students who attend FCA from year to year. There is always a transition time for students and teachers when a new test is given. Our students test very well and as you can see from the charts, the composite score for the entire school is over the 70 th percentile (meaning that our students as a whole scored better than 70% of those tested. Our overall scores dropped slightly this year. We believe this is because of the new test. Below are the national percentile scores for each subject area by division. The correct way to read the scores, for example, is that the Faith Christian Academy elementary students scored better than 79% of the elementary students nationwide in Language.

Track & Field Update From Coach Grim Faith’s track teams concluded their 16 th track season on May 11. The following are some of the highlights: After winning two Championships last season, expectations were high for this years team and they did not disappoint. The High School teams competed against over 70 different schools this season and six school records were broken. The High School girls shuttle hurdle relay team of Olivia Bates, Ashley Loy, Maria Cuccio and Shalin Thomas won at Berkley Springs and set our first new record of the season. The High School girls and boys competed against 23 teams at the MACSA track meet and the girls won in convincing fashion, scoring 164 points and outdistancing the next competitor by over 50 points. The boys team earned a hard fought 2 nd place. Winners at the MACSA meet were Shalin Thomas in the 100, Maria Cuccio in the 100 hurdles & 400, Alicia Tucker in Shot Put and Discus, and the 4x100 team of Samaire Thomas, Olivia Bates, Madison Timberlake and Shalin Thomas. Michael Stewart won the 100 and 200 and set a new school record in the 100. Connor Smith won the triple jump. At the ACSI Championship Meet, the High School girls brought home the 3 rd place trophy. Alicia Tucker not only won the shot put, but she broke the school and the 18-year-old ACSI record. Caitlyn Adams took second in the 800 and set a new school record. Olivia Bates won the 100 hurdles with teammates Ashley Loy and Maria Cuccio taking 2 nd and 3 rd . Those same three girl hurdlers did not lose to any private Christian school runners all season. Collin Hoffman had a great throw in the javelin to take 1 st place at Bangor with the 2 nd best throw ever by a Faith athlete. In the middle school competition, Esther Macias took 2nd in both the 1600 and 800 at the ACSI meet, breaking school records in both events.   The Coaches were honored once again to be part of such a great group of athletes. The sportsmanship showed at all the track meets we attended by our athletes, as well as our fans, was second to none. Thanks to all those that supported the track teams this season.

Summer Reading Advice From Mrs. Cooper Encourage your children to read this summer! Tools to help determine what would be a good read for your student(s) this summer. 1. Be aware. Pay attention to what is going on. Librarians and booksellers are aware of national and local trends and events. The goal of librarians is to be as inclusive as possible. The goal of booksellers is to sell books. Did you know that June is Gay Pride month? You can expect libraries and bookstores to promote books that fit into this theme. It does not mean that you should avoid libraries and bookstores for the month, but you should be aware so you can address issues that come up. 2. Use filters already in place. Parents are not alone in their concern over what your child reads. Focus on the Family has a tool called  Plugged In  that can find a plot summary, Christian beliefs, other belief systems, authority roles, and other important markers. Another good source is  Good Reads . This site requires you to create a free account and offers plot summaries, reviews by other readers, and gives suggestions for reading based on books you have read and enjoyed. Good Reads is not a Christian site but it can be useful. Next year we are using  I55  a Christian book fair company that has a good list of family friendly books. You can click on the link and look through a number of categories. 3. Finally, ask questions. When your child is reading a book start a conversation. “It looks like you’re enjoying that book; what do you like about it?” By initiating conversations with your child about books, your child will come to you with questions if the book they are reading has issues or words that they need to understand from a biblical worldview.

Volunteers Are The Heart Of An Organization We are so blessed by the number of volunteers that funnel through our classrooms and hallways on a daily basis. Each one bringing their own special touch to add to our students day. Whether it's serving pizza, reading stories, assisting teachers during their reading groups, serving on committees, working the concession stand or helping to keep our campus in tip top shape. Each of you are invaluable to us. It is always difficult to only pick one of you. This year we selected two volunteers of the year. Mr. Ray Schafferman and Ms. Marilyn Sauder. Thank you to all of our volunteers for your faithfulness to our students and your commitment to our mission and vision! Click here to view pictures from our volunteer brunch at The Historic McFarland House

Board Member Highlight - Jeff Dugger Jeff was born and raised in Martinsburg. After attending college in Philadelphia, he and his wife, Chrissy, returned to raise their two sons. Zachary and Maxwell both attend FCA. Jeff accepted Christ as his Savior at the age of 8 and now serves at Westview Baptist Church as a deacon, high school Sunday school teacher, and sound tech. Jeff has a BS in Biomedical Engineering and an MBA in Entrepreneurship. He is employed at Trex in Winchester as a Senior Manager of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering.

Employee Highlight - Kathy Walls Have you had the opportunity to talk with Kathy Walls? She is a blessing to many! Kathy has been at Faith for over 15 years. She has served in several positions over the years at Faith. Kathy's current position is the administrative assistant to Mr. Kerns, but she also wears many other hats. Anyone who knows Kathy knows she gives 110% in every aspect of her job. Thank you Kathy for your faithfulness to our school and all that you do to keep us all in line! Many Blessings to you!

Labors Of Love Wrap-Up We had another successful Labors of Love FUN~Raiser. We were able to raise over $31,000! Thank you to everyone who sponsored, worked and prayed for our event. It was a beautiful day and it was wonderful to come together as a family to fellowship at Poor House Park. (pictured left is our 6th grade class presenting $270 to Horses with Hearts to purchase fencing for their arena .) Click here to see pictures of our day.

Fill Your Summer Days With Speed Training Spend your summer days getting stronger and healthier. Check out this Speed Training Program offered by the Wellness Center. This is the perfect program to get your student athlete ready for fall and winter sports! Get stronger! Run Faster! Jump Higher! Booster Performance! Become a Better Athlete! Click here for more information.

End Of The Year Financial Update The Lord has truly blessed Faith Christian Academy over the past 12 months. The school board made a commitment a year ago to focus on paying down our mortgage debt. Over the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, we will be able to pay $85,000 in additional principal toward the mortgage. This money has come from fundraising and donations to the school from generous families and individuals. This will bring our mortgage balance to just over $905,000. We have been able to reduce the mortgage principal by $120,000 over the past 12 months (including normal monthly principal payments). The previous 12 months principal had only been reduced by around $30,000. Praise the Lord! Our budget for the 2019-2020 school year is pictured below with the “Expenses” chart. We currently have 308 students who have been accepted.

Middle School Coding Competition Middle Schoolers, Luke Snow, Michael Keppley, Jacob Versino, Isaac Schafferman, and Eli Swinehart participated in a statewide coding competition sponsored by NASA.  They spent an hour a week working on the missions and assignments in class, and everything else was accomplished by these students outside of the classroom. Out of 3,000 students and 50 schools statewide, our school was able to send two teams to represent Faith Christian Academy at the Cyber Robotics Coding Competition. Congratulations to these students and their hard work.

A Message From Coach Hobbs There are summer opportunities for athletes to improve their skills before the fall. Open gyms (high school athletes) and all-comer track meets (all ages) have been added to the  athletic calendar  for the summer. Summer is a great time to improve for the upcoming year! The fall practice/game calendar has been added to the athletic calendar. Remember that HS fall practices begin two weeks prior to school and MS practices begin one week prior to school. It is very difficult to be prepared to play the first week of school if there are many athletes missing pre-season practice. Please do all you can to arrange your schedule so that your student-athlete is in practice. These practices are required. If there are necessary absences, please communicate with your coach. Remember that every athlete is required to have a physical on file in the school office before beginning practice. Physicals are good for one calendar year. If you’d like to keep up with happenings in Falcons sports, you can follow the school on Facebook or on twitter @FCAFalconsWV. Schedules are always current on the “Athletic Calendar” on the school’s website. Let’s Go Falcons!