Dear PCA Families and Friends,

For PCA, this week marked the beginning of our year-end celebrations.

It began with our youngest PCA Eagles, our preschoolers. On Wednesday, our 3 year old PCAP students celebrated their accomplishments via ZOOM, as did our 4 year old PCAP students on Thursday. Their week was topped off by a special PCAP Parade this morning at the Lower School. Our parking lot was a "packed house" full of our preschoolers and their families-- it was WONDERFUL to see our students back on campus this morning! Check out the photos below.

Tonight is our Baccalaureate program for our graduates. This special time of blessing is a highlight in many ways, but especially as the students are prayed over specifically by a faculty member--an individual, personalized prayer. This highlights one aspect that makes PCA so unique: the personalized attention and investment in your children. As I have been interviewing the seniors, I have been struck that--to a person--they say that the academic strength of PCA is our teachers. "Why?" I asked. Their answers consistently covered four areas: because they care about us, they genuinely live out their faith while giving me space, they really like and know their subjects, and they make time for personal as well as academic questions.

Yearbooks are a key marker for the end of the year and a time of great celebration, too. I am pleased to announce the dedication of the Upper School yearbook to Diane Sipp, and the Lower School yearbook to Ruth Brown.

Diane devoted over 17 years to the PCA community. She has directly impacted innumerable students, family members, visitors, and supporters for good. In her time at PCA, she served as a teacher, Director of Development, Director of Admissions, Director of Guidance, and International Admissions Counselor. Most importantly, she is the mother of two alums. With every hat she has worn, Diane consistently demonstrated the strong Christian values that define our school culture. Her steadfast support of PCA's mission to recognize, nourish, and encourage our students' God-given potential has been felt by us all. She has been instrumental in promoting PCA to countless families through fundraising, tours, and interviews. Her compassionate wisdom as our Director of Guidance ensured that hundreds of alums have maximized their high school years and found the post-high school path that is uniquely theirs. We have been abundantly blessed by Diane's service to PCA and are deeply grateful for all that she has given to students, families, faculty, and staff. Thank you, Diane!

Our 2020 Lower School yearbook is dedicated to Ruth Brown. She has taught PCA for 26 years, and continues to faithfully serve as a kindergarten homeroom teacher. Ruth has also led the Junior High school's trip to Costa Rica for the past 15 years. I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Connie Lawrence who wrote, "Ruth Brown lives out John 13:34 every day. She loves her students and their families from the first visit to their return visits from college. She ministers to us all, carefully listening and providing an encouraging word to every member of the school community. Called to PCA many years ago, Ruth demonstrates what it means to love with the love of Christ." Your love for the children, your excellent teaching, and, of course, your butterflies means you will be remembered by your students for a lifetime. With you, life and learning are reflections of the joy you have in Christ, and that spirit spreads through school because of you. Thank you, Ruth, for your continued service to PCA!

In closing, it is so good to see so many returning to campus in these last few days. We are still on track to run Eagle Camp this summer, and our athletes are back in small groups practicing. PCA remains focused both on finishing well and preparing for next year now. I can say with confidence that we will be educating from PCA, at PCA,--safely and responsibly--always ready to educate beyond PCA as needed. We look forward to seeing you campus soon!

Together in His service,

Mike Runey

Headmaster

Next week, our 34 seniors will be graduating here on the PCA campus. We are very proud of this special group of students and are confident that they will impact the world for good! Foster's published a brief tribute to our senior class which was written by the class president, Jimmy Zeng. READ HERE. In order to keep safe distances, only seniors and their families are allowed on campus that evening. Good news: the graduation ceremony will be live streamed, and a link will be provided to all of our families next week.

Five Students Named Top Seniors

Congratulations to five of our seniors for being named Top Seniors! Erik Diehl, Caroline Brown, Maddie Baggs, Griffin Hotz, and Hannah Pellerin achieved Highest Honors every quarter while they were students at the Upper School! A special congratulations to this year's Valedictorian, Erik Diehl (pictured in upper left corner), and to this year's Salutatorian, Caroline Brown (pictured in lower left corner. To read more about these students, CLICK HERE.

The Class of 2020 has eight students who have attended PCA since preschool or kindergarten. A heart-felt "Thank You" to their parents for allowing them to attend PCA and for their commitment to our school for so many years! Forever an Eagle!

Pictured L to R:  Becca Jones, Erik Diehl, Griffin Hotz, Hannah Abraham, Hannah Pellerin, Joseph Azarian,

Lily Kohl, and Mollie McCormack.

Last week, we showcased the artwork of our students in grades K-5; this week, we are happy to share the beautiful masterpieces of our Upper School and Junior High art students. We are truly grateful for the technology that exists today so that our students can share their artwork with you! A special thank you to our Junior High and Upper School art teacher, Moriah Mazzochi, for spearheading these two virtual art shows!

Click on the image above to view the Upper School students' artwork.

Please note that the link will take a minute or two to download due to the amount of artwork included.

Click on the image above to view the Junior High students' artwork.

Please note that the link will take a minute or two to download due to the amount of artwork included.

Last week, select members of our Grades 4-5 Chorus sang the Finnish folk song "Who Can Sail," led by Fine Arts Director, Carroll Stevens, and accompanied on the piano by Katie Poole. The students sang the first verse in Swedish, then in English. Enjoy listening to these sweet, young voices!