A quarterly publication to share school-related accomplishments of

students, faculty, staff, & alumni of Prince Avenue Christian School.

Seniors Serve in International

and Local Missions

The Prince Avenue Christian School senior class spent a week in March focusing on international and local missions. 

A group of 80 students and chaperones traveled to San José, Costa Rica and ministered in conjunction with Joshua Expeditions. While part of the group built three houses, the remaining group spent time with the children and families of the area.

Seniors ministering locally volunteered at the community organizations Bigger Vision, Sparrow’s Nest, and F.I.S.H. Monroe. Students sorted clothes, organized pantry items, made meals, and helped with the upkeep of the grounds.  

Bray Selected as Rotary Student of the Semester

Pictured Left to Right: High School Principal Dan Knudesen,

Eric Bray, Katie Bray, Ella Bray, and Katie Gilbert

Prince senior Ella Bray is the Rotary Student of the Semester for Spring 2023. Prince teachers chose Ella for her demonstration of the Rotary Club motto, “Service Above Self.”

Ella is the daughter of Katie and Eric Bray and has attended Prince for 14 years. Ella is in the National Honor Society and the National Art Honor Society and serves as secretary of the Interact Club. Ella is a Prince Varsity Cheerleader, and her leadership on the team over the past few years has earned her the Rookie of the Year, Spirit for the Wolverines, Superstar, & Captain’s Award. She also participates on the Varsity Tennis team and received the MVP Doubles Award at the end of the season. She attends Watkinsville First Baptist Church and volunteers in their Vacation Bible School program.

Students Receive Christian Character Awards

Lower School: Brandon Baxter, Evie Budzileni, Tyson Garretson, & Charley Nichols

Middle School: Halee Garrett, Coleman Ficken, Emma Parker,

Nate Murray, Laura Rentz, & Ryder Capps

Each year, Prince teachers and administrators select students in lower and middle school who, throughout the school year, demonstrated Christ-like characteristics toward other students and teachers. The recipients of this award are representatives of the characteristics the administration hopes that all students will strive to embody.

The students awarded this distinction have consistently shown kindness, grace, respect, and patience towards their peers, as well as with younger students throughout the school. These students were recognized at lower and middle school Honors Day ceremonies.

Prince Names Top Reward Recipients

for the Class of 2023

Prince Avenue Prince Avenue Christian School has named the top award recipients of the Class of 2023.

The 2023 Valedictorian is Wade David. Wade is the son of Ashlie and Clark David and has attended Prince for 13 years. The 2023 Salutatorian is Cooper Capps. Cooper is the son of Whitney and Chad Capps and has attended Prince for five years. Claire Gann received the 2023 Prince Epistle Award given to the graduating senior who, in the opinion of the faculty, best represents what Prince values more than anything else – a Christ-like spirit that manifests itself in a desire to grow in the Lord and serve others for the glory of God. Claire is the daughter of Elizabeth and Parker Gann and has attended Prince for three years. 

Prince Honors the Class of 2023

During Graduation Ceremonies

Prince Avenue Christian School held the Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2023 on Saturday, May 20th. Dr. J. Josh Smith gave the charge to graduates.

The Prince Class of 2023 was the largest graduating class in the history of the school, with 88 graduates. The class has an impressive 85% of students on track for the Hope/Zell Miller Scholarship accumulating 1520 semester hours in dual enrollment college credit and 190 Advanced Placement classes. Additionally, the Class of 2023 applied to approximately 250 colleges and boasts a 75% acceptance rate to the University of Georgia. The class has accomplished many regional and state fine arts and athletic accolades throughout their tenure at the school which includes eight college athletic signees and two military academy appointments. Uniquely, almost half of this class has attended Prince since kindergarten, and almost half has older siblings who have graduated from Prince.

Congratulations to the Class of 2023 and their parents on all of their impressive accomplishments.

Robert Skaggs Receives Appointments

to Naval and Air Force Academies

Pictured Left to Right: Trey Skaggs, Mike Collins, Robert Skaggs, and Renee Skaggs

Prince Avenue Christian School senior Robert Skaggs recently received appointment letters to both the United States Naval Academy and the United State Air Force Academy. Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia District 10 visited campus for a special ceremony to recognize this significant accomplishment.

Robert is the son of Renee and Trey Skaggs and has attended Prince for five years. He is a member of the National Honor Society and National Beta Club and has been a multiple sport varsity athlete in football, cross country, basketball, and track where he has won several awards at the region and state levels and participated in region and state championship teams.

Prince Middle and High School Students Recognized for Highest Average

The Wolverine Academian Award is given to the middle and high school students in each grade that earned the highest core average plus Bible class for this school year. 

Pictured below (left to right), the bronze award is the third-highest average, the silver award is the second-highest average, and the gold award is the highest average. Congratulations to these students for their excellence in academics.

6th Grade: Jackson Rentz,

Tyler Collins, & Coleman Ficken

7th Grade: Jackson Gibbs,

Alex Hutcheson, & Nate Murray

8th Grade: Yunie Brambhatt,

Ryder Capps, & Anders Ficken

10th Grade: Kasey Eubanks,

Dylan Capps, & Meredith Hale

9th Grade: Maisie Davis,

Brooks David, & Layla Bentley

11th Grade: Madeline Tebeau,

Mimi Culpepper, & Ella Baldwin

12th Grade: Claire Gann, Cooper Capps, & Wade David

Prince Middle Grades Enjoy Educational Trips

One highlight of the spring semester for Prince middle schoolers is trip week. Each class takes an educational trip that becomes the highlight of their school year as a class.

Prince 8th-grade students enjoyed learning about our nation’s history on an exciting and educational tour of Washington D.C. Prince partnered with American Christian Tours allowing students to see our nation’s historical landmarks from a Christian perspective. Prince 7th-graders enjoyed learning about God’s creative power and redemptive love during their trip to Kentucky and Ohio. Students visited the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum as well as the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Cincinnati History Museum. Prince 6th-graders enjoyed a fun and educational three-day trip to Savannah, Georgia where they learned Georgia history and marine biology.

Prince Literary Team Wins

Region Championship and Places in State

Pictured Left to Right:

Front: Georgia Powell, Dylan Capps, Claire Gann, Kaylor Jones 

Middle: Hayden Melton, Wade David, Maisie Davis, Cooper Capps, Natalie Schroeder

Back: Michael Moretti, Daniel Schroeder / Not Pictured: Bella Rosenthal

The Prince Avenue Christian School Literary Team had a successful showing at both region and state GHSA Literary Meet. The team placed first in the GHSA Region 5A | Division 1 competition, advanced to compete in the Single A | Division 1 state competition held in Bremen, on March 25th, and placed third overall.  

Prince Fine Arts Receives

Multiple Nominations for Shuler Awards

The cast and crew of the Prince Fine Arts production of Beauty and the Beast have been recognized for multiple categories by the prestigious Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the Shuler Awards. Fashioned after Broadway’s Tony Awards, the Shuler Hensley Awards program celebrates excellence in high school musical theatre. This year 39 schools from 17 counties participated. Prince received five nominations and four honorable mentions out of 16 categories.

Christian and Bell Sign to Play College Sports

Picture Left to Right: Head Coach Greg Vandagriff, Ethan Christian,

Daniel Bell, and Head Coach Allen Osborne

Prince Avenue seniors Ethan Christian and Daniel Bell signed to play sports at the college level. Ethan signed to play football at Georgia Southern University. Daniel signed to play baseball at Covenant College. 

Congratulations to Ethan and Daniel on their athletic accomplishments!

Athletic End-of-Year Awards

Two varsity athletes were recognized by Athletic Director Richard Ricketts at High School Honors Day for their contributions to Wolverine Athletics for the 2022-2023 school year.

Senior Kaitlyn Ward received the Wolverine Scholar Athlete Award for her excellence in academics while staying active in athletics. During her varsity career, Kaitlyn participated in cross country, basketball, and track.

Senior Charlie Frierson received the Wolverine Christian Character Award for his consistent Christ-like character on and off the court and field. During his varsity career, Charlie participated in basketball and soccer.

Campus of Champions!

Baseball, Track, and Golf Bring Home

Region, Area, and State Accolades

After going undefeated in region play and winning the Single A | Division 1 Region Championship, the Wolverines went on to make school history as the first Prince Varsity Baseball team to win a state championship. The Wolverines defeated Irwin County (4-0, 9-1) in the GHSA State Baseball Championships that were held at J.I. Clements Stadium at Georgia Southern University on May 22nd. Congratulations to this very special team on a historic season!

The Wolverine Track and Field Team had a record-setting season with many area and state accolades.

The Wolverines had 14 individual competitors who qualified for state events (meaning they are in the top 16 for their events in the state). In addition, the runners also had four boys and four girls relay teams who qualified for state competition.

The GHSA State Track Meet was held at Barron Stadium in Rome on May 11th - 13th.

Prince brought home four track state championships.

• The Boys 4x200 and 4x400 - Trey Bennett, Josh Britt, Robbie Bennett, and Luke Darling won gold. They broke the school record in each race.

• Audrey Vandagriff had an outstanding state meet winning gold in the 100 and 200. She broke her own school record in the 200 with a time of 24.98.

For the third consecutive year, Wolverine Boys Golf brought home the State Championship.

Both boys and girls golf teams captured the GHSA Class A, Division 1, Area 4 Tournament Championship before advancing to the state tournament that was held at Arrowhead Point in Elberton on May 22nd - 23rd.

At the state tournament, Prince boys won first place by 16 strokes after shooting 605. The girls won shot 345 and finished third, their highest finish in school history.

• Senior Will Baker was the State Individual Champion shooting three under par.
• Junior Maddox Drake placed third in state shooting 143.
• Sophomore Claire Bradford was the State Individual Runner-Up with a score of 150 losing only by two strokes.

Congratulations to the Wolverines for another history-making season!

New Prince Student-Led Chess Club Offers Mentorship Opportunity

Because chess is an intricate and sophisticated game, it is commonly associated with adults instead of school children. However, through the leadership of Prince seniors Ian Leierzapf and Robert Skaggs and the aid of Prince’s administration, Prince 3rd-5th grade students have the weekly opportunity to learn the game of chess while under the mentorship of their high school chess coaches. Prince high school students also participate in Chess Club but rather than competing against their fellow high school peers, they join to aid and encourage the elementary students as they learn chess. This unique spin on the traditional idea of Chess Club makes it both a mentorship program and the opportunity for lower school students to develop their academic skills through a popular and sophisticated game.

Prince Students Complete

Youth Leadership Athens Program

Pictured Left to Right: Head of School Seth Hathaway, Mimi Culpepper,

Timothy Furlow, Leila Todd, and Dean of Academics Jennifer Williams

Prince high school students, juniors Mimi Culpepper and Leila Todd and sophomore Timothy Furlow represented Prince Avenue Christian School in this year’s Youth Leadership Athens (YLA) group.

YLA is a multi-month leadership program that exists to help students develop leadership skills, become more aware of problems in their community, and combine their skills and awareness to make a difference in the city of Athens.

Prince Honors Educators of the Year

for 2022-2023 School Year

Pictured Left to Right: Amy Tarleton, Betsy Phillips, and Greg Rentz

The mission statement of Prince Avenue Christian School is “to partner with Christian families to provide scripturally based discipleship while pursuing excellence in academics, fine arts, and athletics from a biblical worldview.”  None of this mission would be possible without the highly qualified and extraordinarily talented, dedicated, and godly teachers that are hands-on with Prince students day in and day out.

In the spirit of recognizing the commitment and dedication of the faculty at PACS, each year the school recognizes individual teachers as the Colossians 3:23 Educators of the Year, nominated by their peers as remarkable and doing “everything as unto the Lord”. Fifth-grade teacher Amy Tarleton, middle school Spanish teacher Betsy Phillips, and high school Bible teacher Greg Rentz are the 2022-2023 Prince Educators of the Year. Each received a crystal vase and a cash donation which are given each year by a generous and anonymous donor.

2023 Prince Yearbook Dedicated

to Morris and Ricketts

The 2022-2023 Prince yearbook staff recently presented the 41st edition of the Koinonia to the Prince student body. This year’s Koinonia was dedicated to two Prince Avenue faculty members – Director of Fine Arts LaMurl Morris and Director of Athletics Richard Ricketts. The theme of this year’s yearbook is “In Focus” inspired by 2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 

"Wolverines Unleashed!"

The Prince Parent Teacher Fellowship planned an amazing last-day-of-school field day event for lower school students. At "Wolverines Unleashed", students and parents enjoyed relay games, inflatables, face painting, snacks, tug-of-war, and much more! Many thanks to the volunteers who worked so hard to make this a fun and special event!

Brambhatt Receives Appointment to Westpoint

Prince alumnus Damian Brambhatt (class of 2022) recently received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Damian, a freshman at the University of Georgia (UGA), officially signed his appointment letter in the presence of U.S. Congressman Mike Collins. While at Prince Avenue, Damian was the STAR student of his class, a member of the National Honor Society and National Beta Club, and competed on the cross country and tennis teams. He received the UGA Certificate of Merit and was recognized as a Wolverine Academian with one of the top three grade point averages in his class for both his freshman and junior years. Congratulations to Damian for this great achievement!

"All in the Family" Prince Alumni

One of the highlights of Prince graduation day is the return of so many Prince alumni who have siblings or family members graduating and joining the Prince Alumni Association. Over 35 graduates in the Class of 2023 had siblings who had graduated from Prince before them. Welcome to the Prince Alumni Family!