GraceMay / June 2011

A touch of

Community SchoolCommunity School

Olivia’s Garden GroundbreakingOlivia’s Garden Groundbreaking

Teaching Jesus

I have directed you in the way of wisdom;I have led you in the upright paths.

Proverbs 4:11

GCS School BoardMr. Steve Pinkston - PresidentMr. Brad Blacketer Mr. Chris GlenneyDr. Charley GordonMrs. Janet FulmerMrs. Stacy HamiltonMrs. Jill HickersonMr. Jeff Johnson Mrs. Stephanie NickelMr. Scott PierceMr. Steve SpitzerMr. Greg StrnadelMr. Mark WhatleyMr. Clay WhiteMr. Walter Wilhelmi

GCS AdministrationJay Ferguson – HeadmasterKarla Foreman – Elementary PrincipalTom Taylor – Junior High PrincipalWanda Shaeffer – High School Principal

Teaching Kids to Love About a year ago, I was reading Scripture and praying for our school when I came across I Peter 2:9, “but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” On that same day, God showed me Luke 6:31-33, “if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Through these verses, taken together, God has been teaching me an important truth about how I glorify Him through loving others, and how I teach my children to love.

When I became a child of Christ, I was adopted into a new family, a new nation. As much as I love America and Texas, geography no longer defines my first loyalty. As a citizen of God’s Kingdom, those who belong to the Body of Christ are my people. All of us, regardless of race, nationality, or economic background, are our people. If I treat my people, my fellow citizens, with love, concern, and deference, I “proclaim the excellences of Him who called us out of darkness.” I also model love that my children see and emulate. On the contrary, if I harbor resentment, fear, or suspicion based upon the way that God created my brothers and sisters, or the position in which they find themselves, I dishonor Him. My children see it, and I contribute to a pattern of generational sin that got us to where we are now and does nothing to win others to Christ.

One of the things I love most about Grace is that we are a beautiful picture of Christian community. We’re not perfect by a long shot, but our people care for and love each other in a way that I know glorifies God. But, if we only love and care for those who are like us, aren’t we only incomplete agents of reconciliation? How can we, our school, and our children love in a way that transcends the way the world around us loves, and love as only children of the Kingdom can?

For these reasons, Grace has been and will continue to reach out to all members of our family, of our holy nation, our chosen race. We will continue to grow our community to reach out to our family in reconciliation and love. Will you join us in praying that God will bring strong Christian families from all walks of life to our school? Will you join us by reaching out to those members of the Body who don’t look like you, to serve, learn from, and partner together to train our children how to love and to serve shoulder to shoulder as co-laborers for Christ? Will you help us by encouraging Christian families from diverse backgrounds in your church, in your workplace, on your kids’ teams, and in your neighborhood to seek out Grace for their kids?

The more Grace truly images the whole Body of Christ, the more we as parents testify that the sins of our generational past no longer define us, and that we are a new creation; the more we testify to Christ’s reconciling love, and the more His love will characterize our children.

2 To assist Christian p arents in equipping our

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Important Dates to RememberHigh School AP Exams May 3rd: AP Spanish May 4th: AP CalculusMay 5th: AP English LitMay 6th: AP US HistoryMay 11th: AP English Lang

Awards CeremoniesHS Drama Awards:

May 7th, 10am

6th/7th Awards Assembly: May 10th, 8am

8th Grade Awards Assembly:May 12th, 8am

HS Awards Assembly:May 13th, 11:45am

Elementary Honors Chapel:May 16th, 8am

Concerts: Music to Our Ears! HS Orchestra Concert:May 2nd, 7pm

HS Band Concert:May 3rd, 7pm

HS Choir Concert:May 5th, 7pm

Drum Line Concert:May 6th, 7pm

JH Choir Concert:May 9th, 7pm

JH Orchestra Concert:May 10th, 7pm

Graduations: These Always Get You! 8th Grade Graduation

May 13th, 8am

K-5 Graduations May 17th

Allen - 8:15-9:15amKey - 9:30-10:20am

Davin - 10:45-11:45amHardin - 12:00-1:00pm

5th Grade GraduationMay 18th, 8:15am

High School GraduationMay 20th, 7pm

young people to influence the world for Christ.

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Embrace the Change This year elementary teachers were presented with a unique chal-lenge: Teach a reading curriculum that takes comprehension and un-derstanding to a whole new level. After a two-week intensive training last summer, teachers have taken Foundations & Frame-works to the classroom. Did it make a difference? Well if dinner-time conversation is any indication, I’d say so.

Third grader Sara Herber was eating supper with her family when her mom said, “I need that like I need a hole in my head” to something she thought was ludicrous. “You need a hole in your head?” her junior high school daughter asked incredulously. “No, Madison, she’s just us-ing an idiom,” comforted Sara. Both mom and sister’s jaws dropped, “What in the world is an idiom?” Sara gently instructed them in the beauties of an idiom. How did a little third grade child know what an idiom was? Foundations and Frameworks!

Another third grade girl, while chatting with her dad and sisters around the supper table, astounded them when she announced she knew how to spell the word “denouement”. Not only did she proceed to spell it correctly, she even pronounced it right, as well. “But do you know what it is,” Dad asked skeptically. Before she could answer, her older sister said “Duh! It’s a hotel in Paris.” And with a look of “how could you not know that,” she kind of rolled her eyes. “No it’s not! It’s the falling action after the climax of a story,” the little scholar corrected. Given the choice of definitions, I am pretty sure I would have gone with the trip to Paris, but then I didn’t have Foundations & Frameworks when I was in third grade.

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Are you familiar with these three components that describe us and give us direction?

A school board task force was charged with looking at these. The mission statement is unchanged, but the vision statement and core values have been clarified quite a bit. Familiarize yourself with these components. There will be a test. Well, not really, but these are good to be familiar with – they define Grace Community School.

Mission StatementOur mission is to assist Christian parents in educating, equipping and encouraging theirchildren to influence the world for Christ.

Vision StatementThe vision of Grace Community School is to provide a high quality education from a Christian worldview. We desire to work with Christian parents to develop students into dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, so that He will be glorified and His kingdom will be furthered through the next generation.

Core ValuesEducational excellence: God commands us to pursue excellence in all that we do. God has equipped eachstudent with intellect. Grace will strive to develop each student’s intellect to the greatest extent possible. Grace will accomplish this by offering outstanding academics and co-curricular programs designed to develop students’ minds, bodies, and godly character.

Biblical worldview: A worldview rooted in the nature and character of God, as revealed in His Word, HisCreation, and His Son, is the foundation of our educational curriculum, as well as our policies, procedures, and practices.

Family: We believe that God has instituted the family as the cornerstone of society. The family is the primary arena for the education of our children. Therefore, we seek to assist families by providing an education that is consistent with that given to children in homes where Christ is worshipped and glorified. Furthermore, we will be intention-ally pro-family in our policies, practices and procedures.

Discipleship: We believe that the goal of Christian education is to disciple students in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Through intentional mentoring relationships among students, teachers, administrators, and parents, as well as life modeling, we will seek to encourage and exhort students to grow in their relationship with Christ.

Community: Grace is a community of believers, and we depend on each other. Only through strong community can a thriving, learning environment be created. Therefore, we encourage parents, teachers, staff and students to invest in the mission of the school, giving their gifts, time, talent, and resources to strengthen and support the com-munity, all so that God may be glorified and His kingdom furthered within the school and the community at large.

Go to gracetyler.org under the “Facts” tab, to see a comparison of the previous vision statement and core values.

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Congratulations Mock Trial! The team went to state for the second year in a row. They represented Grace well, and Madeline Porter was nominated for Overall Outstanding Attorney and Lauren Keller was nominated for Overall Outstanding Witness. The Grace Community Mock Trial consists of (l-r in photo): Coach Arlie Bice, Seth Bailey (third year), Gabrielle Pfund (first year) (won Outstanding Witness at Regionals), Tyler Forehand (first year), Kirby Edwards (second year), Madeline Porter (third year) (won Outstand-ing Defense Attorney at Regionals), Maddie Shook (third year), Chloe

Robert (second year), Lauren Keller (third year), Cole Birmingham (first year), Abby Crawford (first year). The team is coached by Arlie Bice. Our legal advisors are Chuck Bauman and Michael Crawford.

GCS Mock Trial Team Advances to State

TJC Jazz Festival On March 23, the GCS Jazz band had the op-portunity to perform at the TJC Jazz Festival and received an on-stage clinic with the guest artist for the festival . This year the guest artist was Mark Mullins, recent lead and solo trombonist with Harry Connick, Jr. and currently leader of New Orleans based Bonerama. He teamed up with George Faber, Director or Visual and Performing arts for TISD. The two-day festival was a fantastic experience for our GCS musicians, and the input from a legendary trombonist was priceless. To hear some fun tunes from Mark Mullins, look for Bonerama “Bap Bap” on

Academic State Competition - 4A TAPPS The points of these students combined to give GCS third place at the state competition held at Concordia University in Austin, Texas.Micah Clark (4th in Persuasive Speaking), Emily Putman (1st in Solo Acting), Joel Edwards (4th in Solo Acting, 4th in Duet Acting), Chloe Robert (3rd in Literary Criticism), Alden Warr (4th in Duet Acting),Jacob Sikes (5th in Poetry Interpretation), Kirby Edwards (3rd in Math-ematics).Left to Right: Joel Edwards, Emily Putman, Micah Clark, Kirby Edwards, Jacob Sikes, Chloe Robert, Alden Warr

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As the school year draws to a close, it’s a great time to say THANK YOU! Thanks to you, our generous donors, we have started work on every component of The Grace Fund.

YOU have made a difference! I can’t wait to share the details of The Grace Fund in our annual report. You will be encouraged and excited by the activity you have made possible. Let’s praise Him together!

Thank you for your support!  Tim Connor, Director of Development

18 young people to influence the world for Christ.

Grace Fund Update

Honoraria and MemorialsGifts given to honor or in memory of family members, faculty, students and friends by the donors listed below.

Gifts are acknowledged immediately by a personal card to the bereaved or honored family. No mention is made of the gift amount.Many find this living memorial more meaningful than flowers. (Gifts received as of printing deadline for this issue.)

In memory of Elmer Lynn Akin (E.L.), grandfather to Mickey AkinGiven by Elaine & Scott Florey

In memory of Jay Kimmey; husband to Paula Kimmey,father to Christina (24), Bethany (8th) & Will (6th) Kimmey

Given by Holly & Jared Shultz

In memory of Thomas Pennell, grandfather of Collin Pennell (12th) and Abby Pennell (10th)Given by Darla & Randy Childress

In memory of Anita Stephens Anderson, grandmother to Hannah Gill (11th) and Campbell Gill (3rd)Given by Darla & Randy Childress

In memory of Sue Hyde, grandmother to Ian Hyde (11th)Given by Darla & Randy Childress

In memory of Andrew K. Henderson, former student of GCS, brother of Daniel S. HendersonGiven by Elizabeth Henderson Young

In honor of Hyung Jin (5th) and Joo Young (3rd) Kim Given by their grandmother Youg Yeol Kim

In honor of Jay Ferguson, Grace Community School HeadmasterGiven by Judy Nolley

In honor of Mario Zandstra, CEO Pine Cove Christian CampsGiven by Judy Nolley

In honor of the Grace Cougar ChoraleGiven by Judy Nolley

In honor of Mike Maddox, Grace Community School Head Football CoachGiven by Judy Nolley

In honor of Casey Reneau, GCS AlumniGiven by Pat & Tommy Nichols

To send an Honoraria or Memorial, you can go to www.gracetyler.org or make checks to Grace Community Schooland send instructions to Grace Community School, 3001 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 75701

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Grace Community School . . . Teaching Jesus

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDTyler, TX

Permit No. 936

Grace Community School3001 University Boulevard • Tyler, TX 75701

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

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TES

TO R

EMEM

BER

2 HS Orchestra Concert 7pm

3 LC Presidential Fitness Chapel 8am JH Blue & White Football Game and Hot Dog Supper 3:30pm HS Band Concert 7pm

4 Sports Physicals in HS Gym 2:30-4pm

5 HS Choir Concert 7pm

6 5th Grade to JH Chapel 8am Drum Line Concert 7pm

7 HS Drama Awards 10am Jr/Sr Prom 8pm

9 LC Book Fair Week of 9-13 Senior Final Exams Week of 9-13 JH Choir Concert 7pm

10 6th/7th Grade Awards Assembly 8am JH Orchestra Concert 7pm

12 8th Grade Awards Assembly 8am HS Blue & White Football Game and Hot Dog Supper 3:30pm NHS Induction Ceremony 7pm

13 8th Grade Graduation 8am HS Awards Assembly 11:45am Jr/Sr Powder Puff Football Game 1pm Athletic Banquet 6pm

16 HS Exams Week of 16-19

17 K-5 Graduations 5th Grade Crud Wars 2pm

18 5th Grade Graduation 8:15am Elementary Dismissal 11am

19 JH Dismissal 11am

20 HS Graduation 7pm

MAY CONTACT INFOLOWER CAMPUS:

3215 Old Jacksonville Road, Tyler, TX 75701(903) 593-1977

UPPER CAMPUS:3001 University Boulevard, Tyler, TX 75701

Jr. High: (903)566-5600 Sr. High: (903)566-5661www.gracetyler.org